A weekend at the grandparents’ house provided a rare opportunity for Miles to try a meat product that even I, a voracious omnivore, can’t help but feel a little uneasy about: scrapple.
While Jaclyn has become known for making Miles eat lentils, chickpeas, and other unfortunate non-meats, Miles has come to not just recognize, but trust, that the food I offer him will be savory and delicious. And so it was that Miles merrily masticated the mysterious meat morsel with his mandible.
For the uninitiated, here’s how Wikipedia defines scrapple:
Scrapple is typically made of hog offal, such as the head, heart, liver, and other trimmings, which are boiled with any bones attached (often the entire head), to make a broth. Once cooked, bones and fat are removed, the meat is reserved, and (dry) cornmeal is boiled in the broth to make a mush. The meat, finely minced, is returned to the pot and seasonings, typically sage, thyme, savory, black pepper, and others are added. The mush is formed into loaves and allowed to cool thoroughly until set.
It isn’t often that you get the words “mush,” “sage,” and “offal” in one food description, which should give you at least a small idea of what a “special”* dish this food is.** And what did Miles think of it? To quote his mother: “Well…he didn’t spit it out.”
The Perils (& Pride) of Paternity 