Long-time readers of The Amish Cook column may remember various mentions of "Pon Hoss" through the years. This Amish pork favorite is usually enjoyed around butchering day. In many Amish settlements, February is prime butchering time. Butchering a hog is a messy affair and you really don't want to be doing it on a hot July day, so many Amish families make an all-day event out of butchering. Pon Hoss is made up of some of the scraps from butchering time. Some people know this dish as "scrapple." How many of you have heard of or tried scrapple. This is a video (some of you have have seen it on the old site) I made on a visit to Lovina's last winter. Makes for a yummy breakfast along with some eggs. The school-age children had left for the day, so it was just Rachel and I and Lovina and some of the older ones...makes for a quieter time in a usually pleasantly chaotic kitchen:)
Martha Hollingsworth
I live in Indiana. My family always called it Cripple, and I have never heard anyone else use that word for it. : )
Kevin
Martha, welcome...where in Indiana are you from? I have never heard the term Cripple as a Pon Hoss variation...
Linda from KY
I've never had scrapple, but I have made and eaten goetta many times. Goetta is not supposed to be made from scraps, though a local brand makes their goetta that way. It's wrong, wrong, wrong. It's a combination of pork and beef with pinhead oatmeal. It's a holiday tradition in my husband's family.
Barbara Weber
Scrapple is Goetta made with cornmeal instead of oats. We eat one or the other for breakfast all year. Both, start out with a Boston butt,slow cooked for hrs.(slow cooker) if you want to go from scratch.
Kevin
Welcome, Barbara...and thanks for that clarification....a lot of people outside of the Cincinnati area haven't heard of goetta, I have found...
Tammy From Virginia
I grew up eating Pon Hoss. We always butchered our own hogs and fresh Pon Hoss for breakfast is so good. We make it from the scraps and add corn meal for it to set up. I slice it and lightly flour the slice and fry in oil. Server it with maple syrup...yummy!
Kevin
Tammy, welcome. Sounds yummy! Where in the great state of VA are you?