fried scrapple meatloaf

When I went to a supermarket at least 10 miles away from my home, I found this interesting loaf of meat called "scrapple". I've heard about the dish before when I was doing my research for my 7th Toastmasters speech, "The History of Meatloaf".

It was only $1.99 for a pound of this scrapple. I showed my sister this block of meat and she thought it was disgusting. My dad tried some of the finished dish and he spit it in the garbage! Heck, I even fooled my grandma by giving her a piece of the finished dish by first telling her it was a type of sausage I fried. She said it was good, and then I told her the contents in scrapple:

Water
Pork
Pork with skins
Pork livers(!)
Pork tongue(!)
Pork hearts(!!)
Flour
Onions
Spices
Corn starch

Then she got pissed. But it was a good prank! Later, she told me the scrapple was bland. I loved it, so that's what counts.

Scrapple is actually a regional dish you can find in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. I was actually surprised I found some scrapple in NY state. You're probably not going to find scrapple anywhere else in the USA or even the entire world. Though I have seen some homemade "scrapple" recipes that use breakfast sausage on the Internet(example: http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/breakfast/meat-breakfast/sausage-scrapple.html) . But scrapple is normally made in factories.
The Amish eat scrapple for breakfast, traditionally. Scrapple originated in the 17th and 18th centuries.

I called this dish I made a meatloaf because the scrapple I started with technically was loaf-shaped. Also, I didn't fry the scrapple without any coating or breading, which is the traditional way to cook scrapple. In hindsight, I should've called this a deconstructed meatloaf, which it kind of is. But I took creative liberties to call this dish a meatloaf.

You might be wondering, "Why not bake the scrapple loaf?" Based on my past experience with the unsuccessful chicken liver meatloaf I baked, I learned if it's offal, it can only taste good if it's fried.

Of course, I haven't made any sort of batter in months, so in the video, I thought you mix flour and egg together, but it turns out that doesn't really work. I even considered not including the first failed method of coating and breading, but then looking at the footage, my cat Emily was meowing during that failed attempt. Come on, cats are adorable! I thought if I gave my cats fresh food and water before recording these videos, they would be quiet throughout the recording but apparently that isn't the case.

My dad taught me a method of coating and breading that he learned from his mom(my grandma): put the flour and egg in separate bowls. Dip whatever you're frying first in the flour, then the egg, and last, the breadcrumbs. It looks like he passed down this technique to me- and now I'm passing it down to you all.

Fried scrapple doesn't taste good on its own, but it's delicious with ketchup. I also tried eating it with maple syrup and grape jelly on top but it didn't taste as good.

You will need:

For the cooking equipment:

2 small bowls
A medium bowl
A frying pan
A spatula

For the meatloaf:

1 pound of scrapple
1 cup of all-purpose flour
2 eggs
3 cups of breadcrumbs(I used whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs, but you could use whatever seasoned breadcrumbs you like. If you're using plain breadcrumbs, add spices to the breadcrumbs)
Enough canola oil to fill a frying pan an inch deep

1. Cut the scrapple loaf into half-inch square-shaped slices.
2. Pour the flour into one small bowl.
3. Beat and whisk the eggs in the second small bowl.
4. Pour the breadcrumbs into the medium bowl.
5. Dip the slices into the flour, then the whisked eggs, and then coat them in breadcrumbs.
6. Pour enough canola oil to fill a frying pan an inch deep.
7. Light the stove to heat up the oil.
8. Once the oil is heated up, put the breaded slices into the frying pan. You will need to make at least 3 batches to fry all the slices. Watch out for splashing hot oil!!
9. Let the slices in the pan cook on one side for 1-2 minutes.
10. After 1-2 minutes, flip the slices over using a spatula. Let the slices cook on the other side for 1-2 minutes.
11. Repeat steps 6-10 for the remaining batches.
12. After each batch is cooked, put them on a plate.
13. Serve with ketchup.
14. Bon appetit!