Homemade Lamb Scrapple

Scrapple is a classic American recipe from the Mid-Atlantic states. A hold-over from leaner times when whole animals were raised and every part was used, traditional scrapple recipes were a way to use, and stretch mixed parts of pork offal by cooking them with cornmeal, buckwheat flour, and spices, cooked into a thick porridge that sets when chilled, after which it’s sliced into thick pieces and griddled until crisp. Our lamb scrapple recipe is essentially the same, just without pork.

For those wary of eating organ meats because of a stronger flavor, scrapple might just be the answer. Cooking the meats with cornmeal smooths out and mellows the flavor, and mixing the cornmeal and buckwheat gives it a smooth, even texture that fries up beautifully in a pan. Odd as it may sound to some, the traditional way to eat scrapple is often for breakfast, garnished with maple syrup or fruit preserves. We think it’s delicious.

Chef Bergo’s is special in that instead of pork, it features lamb or goat offal, or a mixture of both. The proportions listed could be easily changed to what’s on hand too. Only have liver? Just use that, or maybe experiment with a combination of liver, heart, and kidneys in whatever amount is available to you.

Think of the recipe as a formula that you could make your own. One thing Chef definitely recommends though is to cook the flours in the cooking liquid from a lamb shank, or other stock made rich with collagen through slow cooking with a bone. The collagen helps ensure a solid, firm set when the scrapple is chilled, and adds a great, complimentary flavor to the finished product. The recipe in this post is modified from Chef’s more Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Scrapple Recipe.

This recipe is by James Beard Award-winning Chef Alan Bergo. He’s a chef from Minnesota and author of The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora. Learn more about Chef Alan at foragerchef.com.

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How to Make Scrapple Step by Step

The recipe takes some time, but it will taste much better than scrapple from a store. The images below describe the process.

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