Neddy’s Kitchen

Old-Fashioned Scrapple Recipe - Without the Scraps

The name of this Pennsylvania Dutch dish comes from the chopped “scraps” of pork meat that are the main ingredient. Tradition claimed that scrapple included all that was left of the hog after butchering, except for the scream. These scraps were mixed with a ground cornmeal broth and seasonings and molded into a loaf. After chilling, the loaf was sliced and fried and traditionally served hot for breakfast or brunch. We Maryland children ate this often and loved it. However, once I became aware of the various parts of the pork that were included in scrapple, I began making my own recipe from what I consider the more savory cuts of the hog, such as the loin.

• 1 pound lean chopped pork
• 2 tablespoons butter or oil as needed
• 29 ounces (2 cans) chicken broth
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

In a large saucepan gently saute pork in butter or oil. Add cornmeal, chicken broth, thyme and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes or until mixture is very thick, stirring constantly. Spray with oil and then line an 8x8x2-inch baking pan or a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with waxed paper, letting paper extend 3-4 inches above top of pan. Spoon pork mixture into pan. Cover and chill in the refrigerator 4 hours or overnight. Unmold; cut scrapple into slices. Dust scrapple slices with flour mixture. In large skillet brown scrapple on both sides in a small amount of butter. Serve with ketchup or maple syrup. Serves 12.

At the end of the steps, there is a link to a video, which really helps.

Step 1: Besides the freshly roasted turkey, you will need:

• 1 sharp knife
• 2 cutting boards
• 1 fork

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Step 2: Remove the wishbone.

• Remove a little skin from the base of the turkey’s breast.
• Cut around the V-shaped wishbone and pull it out carefully so as not to damage the meat.

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Step 3: Carve the legs

• Cut along the turkey’s hip joint with your knife, letting the leg slowly separate from the body and remove the leg completely from the joint.
• Cut the leg at its knee joint and set both pieces aside.
• Repeat for the other leg.

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Step 4: Carve the breasts

• Cut into the bird along the side of its breastbone.
• Angle the knife and cut the meat away from the carcass, cutting through the wing joint. The breast should come easily away from the body.
• Repeat for the other side.

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Step 5: Slice the breasts

• Cut off the wing tips from the breasts and slice the remaining meat against its grain.
• Don’t throw away any of the bones! If your roasted bird is an all natural one, you can use its carcass to make a tasty turkey soup.
• Serve.

These tips were devised from VIDEOJUG where you can watch a very helpful video of how to do this, which makes it much easier than reading: The Video .

The image, Turkey Carving Time, was originally uploaded by barneykin. It is posted here from

This year I created a Turkey Pie recipe to serve during the Thanksgiving weekend. I based it upon the French-Canadian tourtière recipe that I sometimes made years ago, using ground turkey breast in place of most of the ground pork.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 pounds ground turkey breast
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons ground sage
• 1 tablespoon marjoram
• 1 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• ground cinnamon
• salt and pepper
• pie-crust dough for 2 double crust pies (I used “Perfect Pie Crust”, omitting the sugar.)

PREPARATION:
Combine ground meats, sliced potatoes, chopped onions and bay leaves in large pot. Add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper. Add 1-2 cups of water or broth and simmer mixture, covered, for 30-45 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and drain excess water, if necessary. Remove bay leaves. Mash thoroughly, using potato masher. If mixture seems too moist, thicken with a small amount of instant mashed potatoes or dry bread crumbs. Mix in sage, marjoram and allspice and add more salt and pepper to taste. Cool.

Roll half the pastry into two 12-inch circles. Line two 9-inch pie plates with pastry. Trim pastry even with rim. Divide the meat mixture among them, smoothing the filling. Roll out remaining dough for tops. Place over fillings; trim to 1/2 inch beyond rim. Seal; flute, sprinkle with flour and cut small slits in the top. Cut out a turkey shaped stencil or use a cookie cutter and place on top of each pie crust. Sprinkle top of pie with cinnamon, then remove stencil. Bake at 400° for 45 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings for each pie.

The image, Turkey Pies, was originally uploaded to the Internet by barneykin. It was posted here by Neddy of .

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I recall those many years when I thought that “Swiss Steak” was a recipe from Switzerland. Apparently it has nothing at all to do with Swiss cooking. In those long ago times, the dish was much more of a production for me to make, as I had to cut the round steak into pieces and then pound flour and seasonings into each piece with a wicket looking heavy mallet. It took about an hour to prepare the meat and resulted in a very messy kitchen. I then had to cut the veggies into pieces. I have that recipe streamlined now, using ready to go ingredients. It seems to taste just as good. I use high quality beef, preferably organically raised.

Edna’s Easy SWISS STEAK

• 1 pound cubed steak cut into serving size pieces
• 1/4 cup oil (perhaps more, depending on your pan)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 can stewed tomatoes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon molasses
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Combine the flour, mustard, and any other herbs or spices into a shallow dish. You may add any favorite herb or spices you like or not. I usually add a teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning. Heat the oil in a large saute pan. One at a time, dredge each cube steak into the flour mixture, and actually knead the dry ingredients with your fingertips into the meat. Dust off the excess flour. When all the steak pieces have been prepared thus, quickly brown them on both sides over medium high heat. Cover with the stewed tomatoes, salt and pepper, and drizzle the remaining ingredients over. Cover the pan, turn the heat to its lowest setting and simmer for 30 minutes. Thicken the liquid in the pan with a teaspoon or two of cornstarch added to 1/4 cup of wine or water. Cook covered until the liquid is thickened and the meat is fork tender.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

I cannot recollect where I learned about this recipe. Long, long ago someone made these delicious spice cookies and told me that the recipe was from the Brer Rabbit molasses bottle. I call them ginger snaps because I doubled the amount of ginger and increased the flour by 1/2 cup to make them crispy instead of chewy.

BRER RABBIT’s MOLASSES COOKIES

3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup Brer Rabbit molasses
2 cups flour for chewy cookies (I use 2 1/2 cups flour for crispy cookies.)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt or bring butter to room temperature. Stir in sugar and molasses, then add egg and beat well. Sift together the dry ingredients and mix with the first mixture. Chill several hours. Roll into 1- inch balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until bottom is lightly brown.

I created this recipe in an attempt to duplicate the wonderful “French Apple Pie” that I remember from the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s when I was growing up in Maryland. My husband remembers it being served often in the dining hall when he was a midshipman at Annapolis. He says it was always accompanied by a slice of American cheese.

The Crust:

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar or Splenda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick chilled unsalted butter (4 ounces), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 3 tablespoons walnut oil (or vegetable oil)
• 5-7 tablespoons cold milk or ice water

Mix flours, sugar and salt in bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture is consists of pea size lumps. With a fork stir in the oil and liquid. When dough is moist and holds together, form into two balls. Place each ball of dough in a plastic kitchen bag and flatten into a disk. Wrap and chill until dough is firm enough to roll out, about 30 minutes.

Food Processor Method: Mix flour, sugar and salt in processor. Cut in the butter using six on/off pulses, or until the mixture consists of pea size lumps. Pour the combined milk (water) and oil into the running food processor, just until moist clumps form, aAdding more cold milk if the dough seems too dry.

Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured work surface making two 12-inch round. Transfer dough to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold overhang under. Crimp edges decoratively. (If the crust is prepared ahead, cover and refrigerate for up to two days.)

Makes one 9-inch double crust.

The Filling

• 4-5 large fresh apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced. (I usualy leave some peel on the apple as it gives a bit of a crunch to the texture of the filling.)
• 5 tablespoons corn starch (corn flour)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground dry ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 cup raisins soaked in 1/4 cup rum or brandy
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

Wash the apples and remove any grocery stickers as peelers often get stuck on them. Core and thinly slice the apples. You may do this with an ordinary paring knife or with the nifty Oxo “Good Grips” apple corer. Remove seeds, stems, and pithy parts near the seeds and brown or soft spots. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, corn starch and spices.

Now begin preheating your oven to 425 degrees F.

Place one of the crusts in a 9 inch pie pan. Sprinkle about five tablespoons of the sugar-spice mixture into the pie crust and place a layer of apple slices, one slice deep, on top. Sprinkle some of the rum raisins on that. Continue layering the sugar-spice mix, apples, and raisins, keeping all snug so the air space is minimized. The apples cook down considerably, therefore they should be piled between 1 - 1.5 inches above the top of the pan. Place the top crust and seal and crimp edges and slice steam holes. Put the pie in the oven and cook at 425 degrees F for ten minutes. Turn the heat down to 375 degrees F and cook for another 45 minutes to one hour.

The Icing

When pie has cooled, beat until smooth 1 egg white with 1 cup of confectioners sugar and 1 tablespoon of rum or vanilla. Spread or pour on cooled pie and sprinkle with toasted walnuts.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
1/2 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons mace
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 cup brandy
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 large orange, juiced and rind grated
1 teaspoon baking soda disolved in 2 tablespoons warm water
1 cup raisins tossed in flour (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together the softened butter and brown sugar.
Fold in molasses, warm milk, spices and brandy.
Beat eggs until very light and thick.
Sift the flour with the cream of tartar and add dry misture alternately with the beaten eggs into the batter.
Mix in the juice and the grated rind of the orange.
Dissovle soda in a little warm water, and stir in.
Beat until very light.
Fold in raisins if desired.
Bake in a 9 x 13 pan for about 40-45 minutes (325 degrees for glass pan).

This gingerbread recipe is based upon one served at Kenmore Plantation in Fredericksburg, Virginia and published in “Virginia Hospitality”, 1975.

From My Kitchen

My favorite utilitarian cookware is shiny stainless steel All-Clad. I use it for everyday cooking. It is so hard and shiny that food does not stick to it when cooking and it is a breeze to clean. There is no need at all for the Teflon coating. The above photograph is from my kitchen where you can see that I have three All-Clads hanging in a row, right along with my collection of antique copperware. I recommend only the shiny steel finish as it looks beautiful too. The anodized gray finish does not wear well, and of course the copper, although beautiful, needs constant polishing.
All-Clad MC2 7-Piece Cookware Set

How to Make Your Own Easter Egg Dye

Mix 1/2 cup boiling water, 30 to 40 drops of food coloring, and 1 teaspoon of white vinegar. Let the dye cool completely before dipping eggs. You can use crayons to write and draw lines or stripes on the eggs before dipping.

The image, Easter Eggs, was originally uploaded by jbrownell. It is posted here from