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| Vegan Philly-Style Scrapple |
I saw a
photo of some Vegan Scrapple the other day and thought that it would not meet
the mark with me.
But quite
frankly I can longer eat a lot of meat or meat by-products because of health
reasons. Organ meat from inside the
animal is supposed to be high in cholesterol.
So rather than be disappointed by yet another
too expensive “Vegetarian” meat substitute that tastes like Play-Doh
(figuratively speaking), I decided to make my own Vegan Philly-Style Scrapple.
And the
Philly kind has always been the Pennsylvania Dutch version. The Pennsylvania
“Dutch” were of course “Deutsche” (a corruption of the pronunciation over the
years) who came over at William Penn’s invitation almost as soon as he got here
in the early 1680s.
A lot of the
present Scrapple products do not measure up in my memory to taste like they did
when I was a kid. Of course we are talking decades but the real flavor I miss
most is the hot pepper flavor of fresh ground black pepper which the modern
machine made stuff seems to lack, perhaps lost in the shelf life marketing
thing.
Scrapple in
its inception was a product to use all the extra body parts of the pig that
might not be used otherwise directly. The primary part of scrapple has been
basically ground up pig’s liver and mixed into a basic corn meal mush or
polenta molded food product. This
chilled and sliced and fried on a hot iron skillet without a lot of fat to
facilitate cooking. A lot of that fat in scrapple was already in the product by
grinding up flesh and pig fat along with the liver. As such, a slice of scrapple on a preheated
iron skillet has never needed additional fat in the frying pan when cooking at
a low heat. The product should be
self-lubricated in the frying pan.
I use some
Canola oil in the recipe below to lubricate the molded polenta product in the
frying pan and cooked on a low flame once a higher pre-heated temperature has
been achieved.
I for the
sake of looking for a similar texture to scrapple decided on mixing the corn
meal with Irish oats. I do not use the American style oats of any kind. I
wanted an original European style oats for taste and texture, far superior to
any American big corp. processed oats.
I do not
know how to describe the kind of Irish oats (steel cut, quick, whole,
old-fashioned etc.) I use in comparison to American style recipes. So for the
sake of this recipe I mention a specific product and its cooking time, and I am
certain you may have your own favorite pure food oats product. The product is
Flahavan’s Irish Oats and this particular box is available in American stores.
They cook in three minutes.
The other
product I use is Indian Head Stone Ground Corn Meal for the polenta part of the
recipe.
The recipe has two
pots on the stove at one time. Per careful and take your time. Start with the
Corn Mean cooking as it takes about 20 minutes and the Oatmeal cooking only
takes three minutes.
The two grain
mixtures will be blended together when the corn meal is done. Canola oil goes
into corn meal cooking with the boiling water mentioned below. Natural soy
sauce goes into oatmeal just before blending with cornmeal. The soy sauce is
both a seasoning element and for a natural traditional scrapple color. All dry seasoning
and dry herbs go in last.
Start with assembly
of seasonings and dry herbs.
1 tsp. Marjoram
1 tsp. Thyme
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. ground Sage
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Ground Black
Pepper
Dash of ground
Allspice
Set herb mixture
aside.
Start cooking the
corn meal
1 cup cold water
1 cup Corn Meal
Mix in pot.
Add 2 cups boiling
water from tea kettle
Add 1-1/2 tbs.
Canola Oil
Cook, stirring
frequently, according to package instructions. Approximately 20 minutes.
Meanwhile combine 3/4
cup Irish Oats with 1-1/2 cups cold water. Cook according to package
instructions. Mixture has less water than recommended but you want an oatmeal
mixture thick with less water in terms of combining with cooked corn meal and
molding. Approximately 3 minutes. Set aside. Cover to retain heat.
Finish corn meal
cooking.
Add 2 tbs. Soy Sauce
and mix into oatmeal mixture.
Combine cooked
Oatmeal and Polenta mixture in pot.
Add seasonings and
herbs. Mix. Pour into greased loaf pan. Let sit until completely cool. 1-2
hours.
Cover. Put in
refrigerator overnight or 8-12 hours. Keep refrigerated until consumed.
Take out of frig. Unmold.
Cut into thin slices
or desired thickness. Cook in preheated iron skillet or flat iron griddle on
low to medium heat depending on how close you want to monitor cooking. Cooking
time approximately 10 minutes on each side.
Serve with ketchup,
mustard, honey, maple syrup or whatever you desire. Enjoy.
Yum.
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