The Ultimate Philadelphia Scrapple Sandwich: The Forefather

 

Close your eyes and imagine the most amazing sandwich your mind can create. It involves scrapple right? Of course it does, but what else? Before you answer, let me try this out on you: Take some thick-cut, crispy Habbersett scrapple and put it on top of dry-rubbed smoked sirloin. For toppings add some sharpAmerican cheese and a sweet, homemade barbecue sauce. Cram all that between a fresh baked South Philly roll that is drizzled with pure maple syrup. Was that what you envisioned? Is your mouth watering? 

 

That, my scrapple-loving friends, is in fact a real sandwich. It's name is The Forefather. The sandwich was invented by Founding Fathers BBQ in Philadelphia, specifically its co-founders -- Andrew Goldberg and Chris DeFino.

 

Andrew and Chris first concocted this beast as a scrapple cheesesteak stromboli. Says Andrew:

Chris and I are from Philly, and whenever we would get together with a group of friends to watch a big Eagles or Penn State game, we would make strombolis, pizza, sandwiches, etc. As we got more creative, we came up with a scrapple cheesesteak stromboli that was just absolutely dynamite. Now we knew we had something special, but we wanted to make it in sandwich form for when we are actually tailgating at the stadiums and not in our living room.

And The Forefather was born. It was a hit.

"Whether somebody loved, hated, or was just straight up freaked out by scrapple, it didn't matter. Everybody loved this sandwich!" says Andrew.

Initially, the sandwich featured chip steak instead of sirloin. The guys felt it needed a bit more class. "We decided to replace the chip steak with thinly sliced smoked sirloin. Which came from a roast that was dry-rubbed and smoked to medium rare." A sandwich masterpiece.

Now, before you run out the door to try and cram one of these into your mouth, at the moment The Forefather can only be found at tailgating events, BBQ competitions, and street fairs and festivals attended by Founding Fathers BBQ. So keep an eye out for them popping up around the Philadelphia area, or better yet, have them cater your next event and ask them to serve nothing but Forefathers!

Have you eaten The Forefather? Or do you have a crazy scrapple creation of your own? Tell us in the comments!