Meat Pies Beat Scrapple or Pancakes with Turkey Gravy Hands Down

Most people think that my husband is the one that married into an "exotic" family because my parents are immigrants (Dad from France and Mom from Belgium) and still speak French as their first language in the house. We eat European foods and as such have had a pretty cosmopolitan upbringing (I even got to see Rudolph Nureyev perform in Chicago).

What folks don't realize is that even though my beloved was born in Ohio, his upbringing is all Pennsylvania. His parents "immigrated" to Ohio shortly before he was born so even though his birth certificate says he's a Buckeye, his blood runs Penn State blue or Steelers yellow (which is fine with me since I'm a big Troy Polamalu fan).

The Pennsylvania Dutch have had an influence in the area in which my in-laws' family grew up in south-central area of the State. I hear it a little in the way they talk but I definitely see it in the food. The first time my mother-in-law brought purple pickled eggs with beets in a jar to our house at Easter, I said, "huh." My husband devoured them. I nibbled politely. It's a little odd for my taste. It's definitely Pennsylvania Dutch.

I knew I was in trouble when I sat down to breakfast at a cousin's house in Orbisonia, Pennsylvania and everyone crowded around me with huge grins on their faces. In front of me was a plate that included beautifully fluffy scrambled eggs and something else. It wasn't SPAM and didn't even look as good as SPAM (and SPAM doesn't look good). It didn't smell good either. But, I am willing to try everything once. This is why I tend to be a bit lenient with our daughter at the table. This mystery food on my plate made me gag. I couldn't get it down. People weren't smiling anymore; they were laughing.

Unfortunately, my mystery food is truly mystery meat. They call it Scrapple, which tells the consumer absolutely nothing. At least SPAM stands for "Shoulder of Pork and Ham." You know what it is (supposedly). According to Wikipedia, Scrapple is, everything but the oink' or made with 'everything but the squeal.' Scrapple is typically made of offal, such as the head, heart, liver, and other scraps, which are boiled with any bones attached (often the entire head), to make a broth. Once cooked, bones and fat are discarded, 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 thyme, savory, black pepper, and others, are added." Offal. Anyone else grossed out?

Thankfully, more benign foods have been introduced to me by my PA family, including having pancakes with turkey bits and gravy for breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving, Lebanon Bologna, and meat pies. Ahhh, meat pies. There's a winner, and, thank goodness, my husband's favorite of all the Pennsylvania-originating foods.

After the couple of meals that I've passed in front of my family lately, like the Gnocchi with Wild Mushroom Ragu (which I loved...except for the gnocchis) and the Spicy Lentil Soup, which ended up going down the drain, I knew it was time for some hubby comfort food; Meat Pie. There is no real recipe for this because it's the best way to use up leftovers.

I used some good chuck roast that I had already cooked and browned chunks of it in a pan while making up my pie crust. Once the meat was well browned and had left bits in the pan, I put it in the shell, topped it with cooked carrots and potatoes, added the top crust and threw it in the oven. Meanwhile, I deglazed my pan with beef broth, added half an onion, seasoning and a few bay leaves and let it simmer down while the pie cooked.

All this happened after bringing our daughter home from Tae Kwon Do and before I had to run out the door for an Association board meeting. Unfortunately, deciding what to do with the trees and bushes that are starting to compromise the dam to one of our neighborhood lakes took precedence over eating with my family this evening but they were able to enjoy the meat pie themselves. My husband was even kind enough to try his hand at photography so I could get a picture of the whole pie before they dove in.
The meat pie is served up on a plate with the seasoned meat juice in a bowl. The pie is broken open, and the juice is poured over crust and insides. The pie itself shouldn't be very wet, which is great for keeping the crust flaky and crisp (this one turned out perfectly).

This dish is a great way to use up leftovers from a pot roast or beef stew, or if you want to make it on purpose, just double either of those dishes and save the second portion for a couple of pies. Who can resist a whole meal in a crust.

I won't let them play the Scrapple trick on our daughter, but she's on her own when it comes to the pickled eggs.  At least she loves Meat Pies.