A savory, sliceable loaf of cooked pork scraps and trimmings bound with cornmeal and spices, then pan-fried before serving.
Scrapple originated with German and Pennsylvania Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania, who used every part of a butchered pig to avoid waste; the practice and an earlier dish predate the English name "scrapple," which isn't recorded until the 1820s and is thought to combine the English word "scrap" with a German dialect word for leftover food — not, as sometimes claimed, a direct translation of the earlier Pennsylvania Dutch dish name Pannhaas ("pan rabbit"), which names a related but separate preparation. To make it, pork trimmings, often including organ and head meat, are boiled until tender, then the broth is thickened with cornmeal and wheat flour and seasoned with sage, thyme, and black pepper; the mixture is poured into a loaf pan to set, then sliced and pan-fried until crisp outside and tender within. It's a regional specialty of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic, traditionally served as a breakfast meat alongside eggs and potatoes. Some recipes substitute or add beef or chicken, and crumbled scrapple is sometimes used as a topping or stuffing ingredient.