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Scrapple

Scrapple is a pork-based dish made with boiled pork hocks, cornmeal, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Scrapple

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the pork

  1. Place the pork hocks in a pot and cover with cold water.

  2. Boil slowly until the meat falls from the bones.

  3. Remove from heat and chop the meat very fine.

  4. Strain the water and return it to the pot.

Make the mush

  1. Add the chopped meat, sage, salt, and peppers.

  2. Ensure there is enough water to cover the meat.

  3. When the mixture begins to boil, stir in the cornmeal.

  4. Cook for about 30 minutes.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into a large pan or bowl to cool.

  2. Slice and fry 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. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Pork hocks
Provide meat and collagen that give the scrapple its savory flavor and body.
Cornmeal
Thickens the cooking liquid and sets the mixture into a sliceable loaf as it cools.
Sage
Adds the characteristic aromatic, herbal flavor of the dish.

The step that matters

Stir in the cornmeal as the mixture begins to boil. Cornmeal added to liquid that is not yet simmering can clump and scorch on the bottom. Stirring it in steadily keeps it smooth, and the mush must then be cooked long enough for the starch to gelatinize so the loaf holds together when sliced.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper):

  1. Sagethe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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