Goose Scrapple

This is an adaptation of one of my absolute favorite breakfast foods. After a long night of partying, I used to go down to a local diner for hot food and bad but endless coffee. Scrapple and eggs became my go-to order during those years. It’s got everything I want in a breakfast- it’s salty, crunchy, and mushy, the perfect foil to runny egg yolk & hot sauce. Add some toasted bread and sandwich fixins and you have yourself a breakfast sandwich that will fight off some hangovers.

This version, made with fowl leg meat and organs has less of that porky, fatty heaviness to it but retains all the textures and flavors that I appreciate about the Pennsylvania Dutch original.

There is a surprising amount of organ meat in a duck or goose. Even the giblets in a small duck might even outweigh the legs. This is a great way to maximize your usable yield from your ducks and geese.

Goose Scrapple

Prep time: 24 hours

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 lb duck or goose legs (bone in)

1 lb goose livers, hearts, & gizzards, cleaned, trimmed, and sliced

½ cup fine cornmeal

½  tsp  ground allspice

1 tsp dried sage, rubbed

1 tsp dried thyme

½ tsp grated nutmeg

⅛ tsp ground clove

2 tsp salt

Method

In dutch oven, combine legs and gizzards and add enough water to cover. Cover and cook at a medium simmer until meat is easy to flake from bones with fork. Once tender, strain out legs and gizzards, returning liquid to dutch oven. Bring liquid back to a simmer, add livers and hearts, and simmer until just cooked through (approx 3 minutes). Strain out hearts and livers, returning liquid back to dutch oven. Bring to a boil. You should have about 3 cups of liquid at this point. If you have a lot more, reduce it down a bit. If you have a lot less, add some water.

While leg meat is warm but cool enough to handle, remove skin and discard. Remove meat from bones, discard bones. Finely chop leg meat, gizzards, hearts and livers.

Once liquid is back at a boil, add in spices and salt. Slowly add in cornmeal, stirring often. It will take about 15 minutes to cook down to the right texture. The mixture should be thick enough to support a spoon standing upright. If too thick, add a small amount of water. Add all chopped meats, stir and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Pour into non-stick loaf pans or plastic wrap lined loaf pans. Allow to allow to cool uncovered for 30 minutes, then spread a layer of plastic wrap or wax paper over the top of loaf and place a flat, even weight on top. A small cutting board or identically-sized pan with some cans in it works well. Place in refrigerator to completely cool and firm up overnight. Slice ¼-⅓ “ thick and fry. Serve with eggs, toast, and plenty of hot sauce.