Recipe for "scrapple-1"

NAME

     SCRAPPLE-1 - Eastern-style scrapple (a breakfast  food  like
     sausage)
     I grew up in Maryland, and in Maryland people  eat  scrapple
     for  breakfast.  Among my schoolmates, the story was that if
     you ever found out what was in commercial scrapple you would
     stop eating it, and I did stop eating it for many years. But
     now I know how to make my own. I got this  recipe  from  the
     University of Maryland poultry farming people, though I have
     added more seasonings because  they  seem  to  like  blander
     foods than I do.

INGREDIENTS (serves 6 hungry farmers)

     750 ml    chicken broth
     225 g     cornmeal (yellow)
     15 ml     flour
     7.5 ml    salt
     1 ml      sage, ground fine
     1 ml      thyme, ground fine
     1 ml      cayenne
     1 kg      chicken parts
     1         onion, chopped
     6         peppercorns (cracked - hit  them  with  a  hammer,
               perhaps)

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Bring the chicken broth to  a  boil;  add  chopped
               onion and peppercorns.  Add chicken and cook until
               the meat falls off the bones (about 1 hour).
          (2)  Strain the cooked chicken out  of  the  broth  and
               save  the  broth.  Remove  the  bones and inedible
               parts from the cooked chicken, then chop or  grind
               the  cooked  meat  into fine pieces. Be careful if
               you use a food processor, so that you don't pur ee
               the meat.
          (3)  Simmer the chicken broth in a large pan.
          (4)  Mix cornmeal, flour, salt, thyme, sage,  and  cay-
               enne  with  250  ml  of cold water. Stir well. Now
               slowly stir this mixture into the simmering broth.
          (5)  Add the cooked, ground chicken  to  the  simmering
               pot. Simmer and stir for about 5 minutes.
          (6)  Pour hot  mixture  into  well-greased  loaf  pans.
               Chill until firm.
          (7)  To serve: remove from pan, cut into  slices,  roll
               in  flour or cornmeal, and fry in a greased frying
               pan.

NOTES

     Vary the amount of salt in this recipe to suit  your  taste.
     You can make scrapple out of almost any meat, though chicken
     and pork  are  traditional.   For  a  different,  and  truly
     authentic Maryland taste, leave out the salt and cayenne and
     substitute 10 ml of Old Bay seasoning.
     A loaf of home-made scrapple will keep for 10  days  in  the
     refrigerator, or it can be cut into slices and frozen.

RATING

     Difficulty: easy.  Time: 1  hour  preparation  and  cooking,
     several hours cooling, 5 minutes to fry.  Precision: no need
     to measure.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Carole Miller