An essential food in Mid-Atlantic kitchens for hundreds of years, scrapple is the often-overlooked king of breakfast meats. Developed by German settlers of Pennsylvania, the slow food byproduct was created to avoid waste in the day's butchering. Pork trimmings were stewed until tender, ground like sausage and blended with the originating broth, cornmeal and buckwheat flour. Crispy slabs of scrapple sustained regional ancestors through frigid winter months and hard-worked harvests. Today, companies such as Habbersett and Rapa still produce scrapple as new generations of chefs create exciting ways to eat the staple. Join author Amy Strauss as she traces the sizzling history and culture of a beloved Pennsylvania Dutch icon.

Amy Strauss is a food and drink writer and editor living in Philadelphia.

Description courtesy of The History Press.

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