Scrapple

Yes, oyster scrapple!The latest strutter on the scrapple scene (suddenly featuring crab scrapple and vegetarian scrapple and - was it inevitable? - foie gras scrapple) has surfaced on Oyster House's brunch menu, with two sunny-side-up eggs in the entourage. It's chef Ted Manko's take on the once-resolutely pork breakfast loaf - an oyster scrapple that dawned on him at the counter of a local diner. It's hot and creamy inside, a bit of fritter in character, the oysters nicely seasoned with toasted fennel seed and cayenne pepper, its requisite cornmeal and buckwheat filler cooked polenta-style in the oyster juices.

The world is all a fleeting show Since Adam ate the apple Its smiles of joy Its tears of woe Deceitful shine Deceitful flow - There is nothing true but - scrapple. - From a dinner speech in 1906 Pigs. Squealin' before the slaughter. Their breakfast-plate fate. Soon they will be scrapple. Or a hot dog at the ball park. Maybe ham hocks for soup base. Chitterlings, anyone? Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm. Christian butchers - gourmet scrapple chefs transforming hogs into haute cuisine - slaughter, dismember, grind, process, cure, cook, slice and package the 30,000 oinkers that become meat for the eating every week at Hatfield Quality Meats Inc.'s massive pork and beef processing plant on Funks Road.

Scrapple must be the ultimate mystery meat. "What's in this?" I asked 30 years ago at my first breakfast in Philadelphia. "You don't want to know. Just eat it," said the future father of my children. And so I did. Yum. Thirty years later, a vague "pig stuff" is all I want to know about what's in scrapple, a local staple for more than 130 years. In the interests of accuracy and education, it could be time to help your kids get the facts straight. The Howell Living History Farm plans to do that on Saturday during four hours of bacon-, sausage- and, yes, scrapple-making.

The scrapple education of Marshall Green began in earnest three years ago, maybe a little longer. It was a mysterious meat to him, the great-grandson of the operator of a Jewish deli, Abe's by name, which eventually begot Murray's, the Bala Cynwyd fixture. Green had opened his own place, Cafe Estelle, on a hidden stretch of Fourth Street, south of Spring Garden. And soon it became known for extraordinary brunches (the "Spring Scramble" last week featured fiddlehead ferns, English peas and asparagus)

Habbersett Bros. Inc., a leading maker of that uniquely Philadelphia dish, scrapple, may be moving from its home in Delaware County to Wisconsin. Sale of the company to Johnsonville Foods of Sheboygan, Wis., in 1985 ended years of wrangling within the Habbersett family over the ownership and management of the firm, family members said. But a new controversy erupted this month between Johnsonville Foods and officials of Middletown Township, where the scrapple-maker has been located since it was founded by Isaac Habbersett in 1840.

October is Philly Plays Scrabble month - organized by ASAP and the Free Library of Philadelphia to promote literacy. What started out as a series of Scrabble tournaments last year has expanded into 42 clubs with 700 children playing weekly in elementary, middle and high schools across the city. As a result, Philadelphia is known as the nation's first Scrabble City, according to the National Scrabble Association. This year's Philly Plays Scrabble events will take place in 17 library branches and are open to children and adults, thanks to support from Comcast, Hasbro, the Knight Foundation, the National Scrabble Association, PNC Bank and Verizon.

When Sean McDonough and Tim McCarver discussed the ingredients of Philadelphia scrapple during a telecast of the National League Championship Series, they inadvertently threw the audience a curve that would have made even Jim Bunning jealous. "Intestines," said McDonough. Yes, McCarver concurred. And then, wounded Philadelphia scrapple-ites let out a hog squeal of hurt, followed by shipments of scrapple to CBS in New York along with details on how it was really made. Scrapple lovers were determined to set the record straight.

The cut of scrapple was sliced thin, a robust quarter of an inch, with a soft, creamy interior sandwiched between its crisp top and bottom. Since this was a buffet, more than one of the triangular slices made a generous leap - with help, of course - onto my plate. To some, it might seem curious that I would be at the Swann Lounge, in the Four Seasons Hotel, at a $45 Sunday brunch, and at this particular moment the focal point amid all the lavish opulence and wealth of selection would be, well, scrapple, the very embodiment of frugality.

E. Harper Habbersett 3d, 79, of West Chester, who made scrapple for half a century, died Saturday at Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media. Mr. Habbersett was co-owner and vice president of Habbersett Bros. Inc. of Middletown Township, Delaware County. The sausage-maker was one of the first companies in the nation to mass-produce scrapple, the Philly breakfast favorite. Mr. Habbersett didn't like suits and ties. He would usually be found in the factory off Knowlton Road, wearing a white smock, white cotton pants and rubber boots.

In the early-morning hours of June 13, six Philadelphia chefs began filling their trunks with meticulously organized containers and coolers, each vessel stocked with the raw materials necessary to execute an elaborate, $170-a-seat dinner at New York's James Beard House. One unmistakable foodstuff, however, had been fully prepared ahead of time. "We wanted to bring a little Philly up with us," said the event's organizer, Mémé's David Katz. "So we brought scrapple. " This was no processed slab of gray, store-bought mush.

The scrapple education of Marshall Green began in earnest three years ago, maybe a little longer. It was a mysterious meat to him, the great-grandson of the operator of a Jewish deli, Abe's by name, which eventually begot Murray's, the Bala Cynwyd fixture. Green had opened his own place, Cafe Estelle, on a hidden stretch of Fourth Street, south of Spring Garden. And soon it became known for extraordinary brunches (the "Spring Scramble" last week featured fiddlehead ferns, English peas and asparagus)

Geechee Girl Rice Cafe (6825 Germantown Ave., 215-843-8113) is having a Global South Tasting Dinner featuring food inspired by the recent Southern Foodways Symposium, held in Mississippi, where chef/owner Valerie Erwin was a guest speaker. Six-course tasting menu with a complimentary Caribbean Mixer (BYOB), 6-9 p.m. Nov. 16. $40. Reservations suggested. The menu will include Braised Short Rib with Sweet Potato Gnocchi, Roast Pork Bao and "Tamale" Soup. Chestnut Hill's Night Kitchen Bakery (7725 Germantown Ave., 215-248-9235)

Subject: The goetta city So the NLDS heads back to Cincinnati. You guys ever been there? For a Bengals game? College hoops? A Pete Rose gambling seminar? Subject: The goetta city No. But I had a nightmare about it once.  What's this goetta stuff I keep hearing about? Did they steal our scrapple idea and just rename it? Subject: The goetta city I made an annual college hoops visit to Cincinnati and never heard of goetta, unless that's what they call their signature chili over spaghetti.

We asked for your help in naming Sunday's Eagles-Redskins showdown and here is a sampling of your suggestions: Mike & Mac Mania - Bob Bross, Abington The Vick-tory Bowl - Darryl Bigner, Palmyra, N.J. D vs. V - Joe Bley, Levittown Odd Couple Bowl - Jonathan Stears, Marlton, N.J. MicVick vs. McNabb - Carl Morey, Wayne The McVicker - Patrick Casselli Red Eagle Returns Home - Marjorie Harris, Philadelphia ...

For the Phillies' seventh season at Citizens Bank Park, concessionaire Aramark wanted to throw a little change-up in the hot dog routine. Not that hot dogs are unpopular. Last season, Aramark sold 1,314,223 hot dogs at the ballpark. The Center City-based food giant wanted to create a signature variety for its home team - something memorable, something that says Philadelphia and baseball . Aramark decided that the meaty matter would be put to a fan vote. Three choices were unveiled online last month, and all were sampled at the ballpark during last week's two preseason games.

Yes, oyster scrapple!The latest strutter on the scrapple scene (suddenly featuring crab scrapple and vegetarian scrapple and - was it inevitable? - foie gras scrapple) has surfaced on Oyster House's brunch menu, with two sunny-side-up eggs in the entourage. It's chef Ted Manko's take on the once-resolutely pork breakfast loaf - an oyster scrapple that dawned on him at the counter of a local diner. It's hot and creamy inside, a bit of fritter in character, the oysters nicely seasoned with toasted fennel seed and cayenne pepper, its requisite cornmeal and buckwheat filler cooked polenta-style in the oyster juices.

Merely farm-to-city concepts having achieved the status of what-else-is-new?, perhaps the time is ripe for MidAtlantic, which at 37th and Market (on the ground floor of a sterile ice cube of a Science Center, no less) is taking a slightly different bite of that chestnut. It's milking the soul foods of the Pennsylvania Dutch for inspiration for a menu that includes, as a side, a cocktail called Rumspringa, named for the freewheeling teenhood of Amish youth before the hammer comes down.

Part of the list is runovers, unfinished business, cryptic notes to self: A fireside dinner at the Carversville Inn once again seems like the venue for good winter material; and has for about three years running. Its problem is that something always jumps the line in that neck of Bucks County (up toward New Hope) - a gorgeous lavender farm where they're making their own honey, or Solebury Orchard in cider season, or the homespun pork and oyster dinner they've been holding at the Carversville Christian Church since 1871.

October is Philly Plays Scrabble month - organized by ASAP and the Free Library of Philadelphia to promote literacy. What started out as a series of Scrabble tournaments last year has expanded into 42 clubs with 700 children playing weekly in elementary, middle and high schools across the city. As a result, Philadelphia is known as the nation's first Scrabble City, according to the National Scrabble Association. This year's Philly Plays Scrabble events will take place in 17 library branches and are open to children and adults, thanks to support from Comcast, Hasbro, the Knight Foundation, the National Scrabble Association, PNC Bank and Verizon.