I am a firm believer that anything deep fried is pretty damn good. So, the thought of eating Scrapple didn’t make me cringe, unlike the other diners at my table. We were with friends at Rotisserie & Wine in Napa, Tyler Florence’s new restaurant (no, I am not stalking him!). Though the establishment has only been open a couple of weeks, I had already heard the buzz surrounding these strangeEATS. Scrapple lends itself to the old country school of thinking of not letting any part of the animal go to waste. This includes, but is definitely not limited to, tails, feet, tongue, offal & ears. When inquiring the server about its contents she simply said, “it is all the animal parts that fall to the bottom of the rotisserie.” She must not have wanted to scare us off with the complete list of bizarre ingredients. This is then mixed with cornmeal and fried.
It arrived at the table looking much like a deep-fried mozzarella stick with a to-die-for honey mustard sauce. Noone would suspect that it contains an array of piggy parts. The texture was falafel-esque though less dense. Our dining companions opted to share one while I, of course, dug into a whole piece. It was hard to identify the different tastes that exploded in your mouth, for I have never eaten pigs tail or ears or any kind for that matter. It was a mild blend of bacon, sausage and browned crust with a hint of liver. Put an egg on top and you could call it breakfast.
Oink, Oink
Beyond Nose to Tail: More Omnivorous Recipes
For the Adventurous Cook
