Whatever didn't make the cut to get into scrapple was used to make hot dogs.

That realization would have changed my order.

you should try it sometime...

In that pre-heart attack kind of way.

It's just cornmeal mush with your side of pork mixed in.
Now chitlins, that's a whole 'nother ballgame.
I sure could go for some cracklins straight out of the grease right now.
Growing up, used to butcher a couple of hogs every winter.
Didn't throw nothing out.

Is the recipe consistent throughout the south, or are there regional variations?

It's a norther mid-Atlantic thing. I never had it growing up in Mississippi.

It's cornmeal, a syrup of some sort, and pork. I'm a fan.

When I was in college, I worked summers in a pork processing plant. Started out on Night Cleanup but the next summer I landed a day job and spent most of the summer in the casings and chitlins processing department. Never have been able to bring myself to try them.

As far as anything that didn't make the cut, did not go into hot dogs, it went to rendering which as night cleanup, I was very familiar with.

Hot dog meat is usually meat trimmed from the head and trimmings from other cuts plus some fat and filler.

Scrapple is a charcuterie item, a forcemeat.

Forcemeats are meat products made of ground scrap meats, the same ones alternately used to make hot-dogs, mixed with extra fats and sometimes gelatin in order to allow them to be formed into loafs or molded. Terrines are also forcemeats, as an example.

In the case of scrapple, the mix usually consists of ground pork from sub-prime cuts, pork liver, heart, snouts, cheek meat, salt, lard and grain-meal. Onions, black pepper and other charcuterie pork products like ham, salt pork and bacon are also frequent inclusions more often found in housemade scrapples. It's formed into a loaf, then sliced and fried to order. It's a Pennsylvania Dutch thing.

It tastes like a more-fatty ground pork, alternately like unspiced sausage patty. I'm not a fan, I think it has a greasy mouth-feel. If you're the sort of person that likes pork products generally and prefers your hamburgers on the extremely-greasy side...scrapple might be your thing.

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I'll have to admit feeling a little uncomfortable, and that might have influenced my decision. Being a west coast long hair, in my head, I hear the theme music to deliverance when I step out of my truck in the rural south..

I guess I will have to work on my own prejudices..

It was a staple of my childhood in Md. It is also popular in Pa. and Del., except that those heathens serve it with syrup instead of catsup as the Creator intended.

I trust you washed your breakfast down with a nice tall glass of water.

We're next door neighbors, KamaAina!!!

but always figured scrapple was a Mid-Atlantic delicacy, rather than Appalachian.

I forgot the highway number, but it crossed PA, WV, VA and MD in a 20-30 mile stretch.

as far as I know that's the furthest west its found. My dad (from DE.) conned the sausage shop into ordering it from the east coast.
I've never seen it on any restaurant menu out here.

Bette's Oceanview Diner in west Berkeley makes their own. Seems Bette's from Philly. But I didn't get it because it was served with sour cream.

When I was a child in Philadelphia, my mother fixed for breakfast all the time. Then we moved to South Florida and could not find it there. I am now a vegetarian and would not eat it, but I do remember it fondly from my childhood.

As much as I dislike my boss sending me on side trips, I hope I pass that way again during breakfast time.

Probably.

the way there we stopped into a truckstop for breakfast. On the menu board, 'brains' were listed. I
said hey Mom and Dad they have a spelling error on their menu board, thinking that what they were
intending to list was bran.

Nope.

It was between Frederick MD, and Winchester VA. The highway crossed from PA, to WV, to VA in a very short distance,

Wide spot in the road next to a U-haul dealer?

Rainbow Diner and Truck Stop. US 340, Charles Town, WV.

Mighty fine sleuthing jmowreader.

I used Google Maps' street view and satellite view to find the building. And it took a while.

We like it with scrambled eggs and ketchup. If you use good quality pork, you can make a low-fat version.

I don't know but in western PA, Heinz ketchup is pretty much its own food group!

It's actually pretty good. WVa is probably as far south as you'll find it.