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A Recipe for Scrapple

Scrapple is a savory loaf made from pig's head, cornmeal, rye flour, and seasonings, boiled, chilled, sliced, and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

A Recipe for Scrapple

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Boil the cleaned pig's head in enough water to cover it until all the meat leaves the bones.

  2. Chill the broth until the grease can be removed.

  3. Chop the meat finely.

  4. Return the chopped meat to the broth.

  5. Bring the broth to a boil.

Make the mush

  1. Slowly add the corn meal and rye flour, stirring constantly.

  2. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.

  3. Cook for 1 hour, stirring for the first 10 minutes.

  4. Let it simmer for the remaining time.

  5. Pour the mixture into molds.

  6. Chill thoroughly.

Slice and fry

  1. Slice the chilled mixture.

  2. Fry the sliced mixture in hot fat before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Corn + ryetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together182 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Corn + marjoramtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together89 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Flour + marjoramtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,265 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pig's head
Supplies meat and collagen that gelatinize into the broth, giving the scrapple its body and bind.
Corn meal
Thickens the broth as it cooks, forming the starchy base that sets when chilled.
Rye flour
Adds more starch to thicken the mixture and help it hold its shape when sliced.

The step that matters

Adding the corn meal and rye flour. Adding the flours slowly while stirring constantly prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom. Starch needs continuous stirring to hydrate evenly and thicken smoothly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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