September Sunrise Sandwich Spree, Day 5: Scrapple & Egg on Toast

Scrapple & Egg on Toast

Jack’s Fresh Three locations downtown Open weekdays from 6:00 a.m $2.79

If the influence of the snout-to-tail renaissance is now evident in even the finest of the District’s dining rooms, scrapple seems to have been left out of the party. While belly, trotters, head cheese and numerous other 0ffal-based pork products have become mainstays of some of D.C.’s  most fashionable restaurants, the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch meatloaf hasn’t quite graduated from Mid-Atlantic state fairs and freeway diners. The preparation calls for a mash of butchering scraps including organs and head to be mixed with corn meal or other filler, spiced and allowed to set into a loaf-like block, slices of which are pan-fried or roasted until crispy. The final product has a look similar to a sausage patty, and although its consistency is much lighter and delicate, scrapple can be every bit as spicy and flavorful. Paired with scrambled egg and cheesed and set between two sliced of wheat toast, the scrapple at Jack’s Fresh, while a little milder than I had hoped, made for a more than adequate, appropriately no-frills  breakfast.