Variants of food preparation sometimes typify nationalities better even
than variants of language or clothing. Take the lowly corn meal, for
instance. We find that Italian polenti, Spanish tamale, Philadelphia
scrapple and Southern Darkey crackling corn bread are but variants of
the preparation of corn meal in delectable foods. It is a long step from
plain corn meal mush to scrapple, which we consider the highest and best
form of preparing this sort of dish, but all the intermediate steps come
from a desire to please the taste with a change from simple corn meal.
Crackling corn bread is the first step, and here we find that the
darkies of the South found good use for the remnants of the pork after
lard was tried out at hog-killing time, by mixing the cracklings with
their corn meal and making a pone which they cooked before an open fire
on a hoe blade, the first of this being called "cracklin' hoe cake."
Good scrapple is one of the finest breakfast dishes that we know during
the winter, and when prepared after the recipe given here it precedes
all other forms of serving corn meal. To mix it properly one must know
the proper values of herbs and condiments, and this recipe is the result
of much discriminating study. Modesty prevents us giving it more than
the name of "scrapple." It is prepared in the following manner,
differing from that made in Philadelphia: