Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp sage
• a pinch of allspice
• 3 1/2 cups of water
• 4 oz of ham
• 1 cup of polenta

Instructions

Step 1

Scrapple Ingredients
We're going to take a pound of pork shoulder, cube it up, and add:

* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 tsp black pepper
* 1/4 tsp white pepper
* 1/2 tsp cayenne
* 1/2 tsp sage
* a pinch of allspice

This is kind of a spicy recipe, so you can cut down on the cayenne and pepper if you want.

Step 2

Simmer the Scrapple Ingredients
Cover that with about 3 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a slow simmer, cover, and on very low heat simmer for about 2 hours, or until it's fork tender.

Step 3

Chop the Ham and Pork
Originally this was made with pork scraps - and you don't want to know which scraps - that's how it got the name, but we're going to do a modern version and use nice pork shoulder. Any excess fat can be skimmed off the top. We're going to also use 4 oz. of ham, so I'm going to slice that up. I'm going to also roughly chop up the cooked pork.

Step 4

Mix in the Polenta
Back to the reserved liquid, there should be about 3 cups left (add water if needed). Add 1/2 tsp of salt, and 1 cup of polenta. The original recipe uses cornmeal which makes it much denser and thicker. This is more of a modern, lighter version. If you like fried polenta, you'll love this.

Step 5

Cook the Scrapple
Simmer that for about 1/2 hour, and it will become really thick, which is what you want otherwise it's not going to fry later. If you need to add a little water to stir it, you can, but you want it as thick as you can. After about 1/2 hour the polenta is cooked, it's thickened up, and it can't really be too thick, so don't worry.

Step 6

Chill the Scrapple
When done, stir in the meat mixture. This recipe looks horrible until it's done - look at that, you would not eat that, but it's not done. Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and spoon in the scrapple mixture, and tap it down. Wrap it up, let it cool to room temp, and refrigerate overnight, or at least until completely chilled - at least a few hours.

Step 7

Fry the Scrapple
Unwrap it and slice some 1/2 inch slices. We're going to give it a light dusting with cornmeal to kind of dry the surface. You can also pat with a paper towel because water will splatter in the oil.

In a non-stick pan, with some vegetable oil, we're going to cook those on medium until browned and crispy. So you have your aromatic spiced pork, your slightly smoky ham, that delicious creamy-inside, crispy-outside corn - that is a modern version of scrapple.

Hey, with a name like scrapple, you know it's going to be good! I hope you give it a try. Enjoy!