Oh, to be in Philadelphia this weekend! Specifically, to be in Reading Terminal on Saturday, for what will be a wondrous day of pork consumption: ScrappleFest!
From the Philadelphia City Paper:
Check out ScrappleFest this Sat., March 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free to the public, the event is a celebration of Philly’s favorite “what exactly is in it?”-inspiring breakfast treat. (Read this to get the idea, novices.)
In addition to live tunes, scrapple-themed souvenirs and samples from the likes of Dietz & Watson, Hatfield, the Pennsylvania General Store (chocolate scrapple!) and the Fair Food Farmstand (the illustrious Vrapple), there’ll also be a recipe contest pitting RTM merchants against each other to see who’s got the strongest scrapple game. Judging the competition will be chef/author Aliza Green, Rx chef Greg Salisbury, Where magazine’s Laura Burkhardt and yours truly.
I adore scrapple. Dusted with flour, cooked on a hot pan, served with fried eggs and rye toast: my dream breakfast. And dream lunch or dinner.
Actually, the only scrapple my family eats is Habbersett brand; it has a particular combination of spices and a certain texture that is perfect. It’s not easy to get Habbersett’s on this side of the state, but we bring it back when we visit family and friends out east.
The lack of good scrapple in western PA has led me to consider trying to make it myself. I won’t be able to duplicate the Habbersett flavor exactly — or maybe with enough experimentation I will. I have a recipe from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook, and it doesn’t look too complicated. And of course I can choose the meats and ingredients I want to include, so the result will at least be of good quality.
I will report back on my results.
(Thanks to Uncle Crappy for pointing out the ScrappleFest to me. Or maybe no thanks, as now I’ll be consumed with jealousy of Philadelphians for a few days.)
UPDATE: Scrapple for dinner! Hooray for mom and her stash of Habbersett’s in the freezer.
Top photo credit: “30 days of pork – day 23” by mandydale
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
You have inspired me and my mouth is watering. If you want to come to dinner, I have some scrapple in the freezer. bring the rye bread.
Hooray! Now my mouth is watering too. I will be there.
I don’t remember. Do you prefer catsup or maple syrup?
I’m not so fond of catsup in general. Maybe I’ll have a bit of maple syrup. But probably I’ll just have it plain.
Are we having eggs too? I’ll take mine over easy.
Uncle Crappy: Bringing families together over mysterious pork products.
Scrapple-apple o-dee-ay
Come from Phila-delphee-ay
I can eat it every day
Scrapple-apple o-dee-ay!
Very funny, both this and the ketchup/catsup entry. Damn I loves me some regional food, especially when it contains pork parts!
Habbersett is where it’s at. In fact the first time I went to buy scrapple on my own I was confused, I didn’t realize there were other brands.
Also check out leahmackin.com
The “Ode to Scrapple part 2″ cover is based on Habbersett’s packaging.
Might I suggest the scrapple at Willie’s Meat Market in nearby Harrisville? It’s made on premises.