Lug, hippie, check out this guy on the youtube. He has a lot of great dutch oven recipes.

Correction Catch, I just checked my notes, I use two parts dark buckwheat flour to one part roasted cornmeal. Sorry I almost steered you wrong.

No worries Lug. I'm sure because it's gonna be my first time making it there's gonna be some trial and era. Hopefully it doesn't crumble!! That's my biggest fear and that's why I'm asking a lot of questions and trying to watch the videos that are out there. I love scrapple and hope I can get to making it good.

stove is gas and I use almost exclusively cast iron

black eyed peas on the stove right now

If scrapple falls apart when cooking, its usually because of too much water in the mix. Ya have to learn when its "done" in the kettle which is mostly determined by feel when stiring and amount of steam coming off.

My biggest issue when I first started making it on my own was getting it too wet. I was afraid to thicken it up too much because the thicker it gets the harder it is to stir. And you have to keep stirring as you thicken it because if even a small amount burns it will ruin the whole batch. So I tended to err on the side of caution and pull it off the fire while it was still too wet.

I’ve pretty much got it dialed in now but it can be pretty crumbly. That’s just the nature of it. Think of it as a meat cake. It’s denser but similar in texture. I suppose I could use some more fat or something as a binder but I haven’t done that yet. After the initial cooking off of the bones, we scoop the juice out and let it sit overnight. The next day all the tallow and fat has risen to the top of the 5 gallon buckets, like 1.5- 2 inches thick that we take off and discard. I have started putting some of that back in to act as a binder.

Hippie, Lug, y'all are awesome. Thanks for sharing your scrapple wisdom!! I feel bad cause I went in a scrapple direction on a CI thread so heres a pic of my CI loaf pans. They make some good bread.

Love cooking with cast iron . Makes the food taste better.[img]http://[/img]




Mostly during camping and hunting season . But I my wife says at home is good too !

Great corn bread too..

I need some vintage cast iron ( where’s the best place to score some ? )

I have saved searches on eBay, they notify me when specific items are listed. I always contact the seller and ask if the pan is flat, no warping, etc. That way I have a reason to return it if it is defective.

I found my Iron Mountain set in an old farm dump while small game hunting decades ago. Took them home, cleaned them up and have been using them daily ever since.

Nessy, ebay is a source, but usually they bring the big bucks. Garage sales, thrift stores and sometimes the Goodwill has them. If you want to get into CI I suggest a lot of research on brands, logo's, years made and value. Also like Lug said, condition. Warped, bowed, cracked, etc.

A lot of the CI makers ran a economy brand for the poor folk. Griswold had Iron MTN and Victor, Wagner had National ( which is the #9 in my pic and my go to skillet. She's 100 years old and is awesome), Wapak had Oneta, Favorite had Miami and so on.

I see your skillet is from Taiwan or China. The older Taiwan skillets from 30-50 years ago are really good users with smooth bottoms and can be found cheap. I have one that's my go to cornbread skillet, my buddy give it to me. Lug, that's cool as heck you found them skillets and are using them!!

I was in an antique shop last week and they had a big section of cast iron skillets and such. May try checking some antique shops

I have got to try that. Folks here in KS dont know what scrapple is

Just finished dinner and now I'm hungry again,

There are many online resources to find out how many coals/briquettes on the top and bottom of a Dutch oven to get the correct temp for baking.

For cooking stews and other things it really doesn't matter to much.

When baking it does. I also found that until you've learned how many to put on it's best to place a bundt pan in the Dutch oven. You're definitely going to have some mistakes, and those mistakes can be fun to clean.

Awesome thread

Check out Smithy cookware. It's not vintage,but is super slick. Made in Charleston, SC

This one is the flagship of my collection Catch. It’s an Erie 719 #12. The last one was made in 1909. It’s not a daily user but it does get used frequently. It’s big enough to cover two burners. I recently saw one for sale on Etsy for $1000.00.

And here I am using a small farm and fleet lodge to fry venison loins in and thought I was doing good haha.

What is the best way to clean these each time?