Feeding the Masses
By: Tim Kelchner
Updated: January 25, 2013
Franklin Township, Lycoming County - Hymns ring out on Sundays at Pine Summit United Methodist Church, but one day a year the congregation makes a not so joyful noise.
Those hands that clasp in prayer, lovingly rip, tear, and shred apart 6 hogs each January for a buckwheat cakes and sausage dinner.
"It started as a social for the people in the church," said Ola Stackhouse of Millville.
Using the old J.E. Brown garage for cook space, the members of the tiny community have turned the dinner into an event that draws over 500 people from Wilkes-Barre to Pittsburgh.
Longtime butcher Herman Morris oversees the operations. When I pressed him for a recipe, he said was all in his head, and that's fine, because after 75 years, everyone knows the routine.
"Got to keep a good fire going," explained Jay Brown as he hovered over a large steaming cauldron filled with pork. "You got to keep stirring every whipstitch to help the meat come off the bone."
Saturday, you'll see buckwheat cakes, sausage and all the fixin's, but ask anyone about their favorite dish and it's no contest.
"Scrapple is one of the mainstays in pork," said Lynn Robbins of Pine Summit. "I love my scrapple."
If you've never dined on the "hot dog of breakfast meats" I'll let Shirley Brown explain it.
"We use every part of the pig, except the oink"
The church dinner starts Saturday at 11 AM.
Those hands that clasp in prayer, lovingly rip, tear, and shred apart 6 hogs each January for a buckwheat cakes and sausage dinner.
"It started as a social for the people in the church," said Ola Stackhouse of Millville.
Using the old J.E. Brown garage for cook space, the members of the tiny community have turned the dinner into an event that draws over 500 people from Wilkes-Barre to Pittsburgh.
Longtime butcher Herman Morris oversees the operations. When I pressed him for a recipe, he said was all in his head, and that's fine, because after 75 years, everyone knows the routine.
"Got to keep a good fire going," explained Jay Brown as he hovered over a large steaming cauldron filled with pork. "You got to keep stirring every whipstitch to help the meat come off the bone."
Saturday, you'll see buckwheat cakes, sausage and all the fixin's, but ask anyone about their favorite dish and it's no contest.
"Scrapple is one of the mainstays in pork," said Lynn Robbins of Pine Summit. "I love my scrapple."
If you've never dined on the "hot dog of breakfast meats" I'll let Shirley Brown explain it.
"We use every part of the pig, except the oink"
The church dinner starts Saturday at 11 AM.
