Pennsylvania Dutch pork-mush loaf made from pork trimmings, cornmeal, buckwheat and sage, sliced and griddled crisp. Served with eggs and pancakes at breakfast counters.
Scrapple is the oldest distinctly Pennsylvanian food. Pennsylvania Dutch (Deitsch) farmers of the 17th and 18th centuries used every part of the slaughtered hog; the trimmings, offcuts and liver were simmered with cornmeal and buckwheat flour to make a savoury mush, set in a loaf pan, sliced cold and fried at breakfast. The Habbersett family (founded 1863 in Media, PA) and the Rapa Scrapple Company (founded 1926 in Bridgeville, DE) industrialised the recipe. In Philadelphia, scrapple appears on diner breakfast plates with two eggs over easy, hash browns or fried apples, and a single slice of toast. Sliced 1cm thick and fried until the outside is mahogany-crisp and the inside soft, then drizzled with maple syrup or ketchup depending on which family you grew up in.
2 editor picks for Scrapple in Philadelphia, ranked by editorial score. All Philadelphia signature dishes · Scrapple across every city.
Reading Terminal Market ★ 4.8
51 N 12th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia is the 1893 enclosed public market under the old Reading Railroad train shed at 12th and Arch, with 80 vendors and Pennsylvania Dutch counters.
Tommy DiNic's ★ 4.7
51 N 12th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tommy DiNic's in Philadelphia is the 1980 Reading Terminal Market counter that won Travel Channel's Best Sandwich in America 2013 with its roast pork, rabe and sharp provolone roll.