{"id":296757,"date":"2025-10-12T07:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T07:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/296757\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T07:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T07:45:13","slug":"philadelphia-scrapple-sculpture-winner-pays-tribute-to-tush-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/296757\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia scrapple sculpture winner pays tribute to ‘tush push’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the contest for best scrapple sculpture in Philadelphia on Friday it was the \u201cMush Push\u201d fashioned from the regionally popular pork breakfast meat that got Patrick Moser\u2019s entry over the goal line.<\/p>\n

The Havertown tattoo artist\u2019s tribute to the Philadelphia Eagles\u2019 trademark short yardage play, known as the \u201ctush push,\u201d took the top honor at a lighthearted art competition to kick off the Scrapple & Apple Festival.<\/p>\n

The celebration of all things scrapple at Reading Terminal Market began with the contest to fashion art from 5 pounds of scrapple.<\/p>\n

Moser and 11 other volunteer contestants were given sculpting tools and 90 minutes to come up with their best scrapple creations. The \u201cexpert judge\u201d was Sasha Suda, chief executive of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.<\/p>\n

Moser described his work as \u201cCaravaggio meets Siriani\u201d \u2014 Nick Siriani is the Eagles\u2019 head coach, and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a Baroque painter in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries. The tush push<\/a>, also sometimes called the \u201cbrotherly shove,\u201d is a play by the reigning NFL champions that other teams have been unable to counter.<\/p>\n

As for scrapple? Although it\u2019s sometimes the butt of jokes, it\u2019s a food that\u2019s popular among the German families who settled in eastern Pennsylvania in the colonial period. When made properly it\u2019s a porcine delicacy and commonly available at diners and on farmhouse tables across the state.<\/p>\n

It takes hours to properly cook, according to Marlin Dietrich, owner of Dietrich\u2019s Meats & Country Store in Krumsville. He sells about 300 pounds of it per week.<\/p>\n

Dietrich boils down beef and pork bones and seasons it all with salt, pepper and coriander. His scrapple is thickened with buckwheat flour and roasted cornmeal. Dietrich fries it to a crisp exterior and enjoys it with another Pennsylvania Dutch staple, apple butter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like it once or twice a week for breakfast,\u201d Dietrich said. \u201cMaking a sculpture? That\u2019s a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moser\u2019s lumps of indistinguishable football players won him a trophy and a $100 gift card. The public is also getting a chance to weigh in on Saturday, when the artworks were to be on display at the market. Last year\u2019s scrapple sculpting contest winner was a cookie jar decorated with a rooster and an egg inside.<\/p>\n

If a football themed sculpture isn\u2019t enough scrapple, the festival also features such culinary offerings such as scrapple fries, an andouille scrapple breakfast sandwich, scrapple apple cookies and scrapple quiche. There\u2019s even a scrapple cheesesteak.<\/p>\n

Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 11, 2025 at 1:40 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the contest for best scrapple sculpture in Philadelphia on Friday it was the \u201cMush Push\u201d fashioned from…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":296758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,728,1266,9631,50,151438,1448,2830,15273,1311,20348,2083,13165,62,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-296757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-montgomery-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-norristown","14":"tag-pa","15":"tag-pennsylvania","16":"tag-pennsylvania-news","17":"tag-philadelphia","18":"tag-philadelphia-county","19":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","20":"tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-things-to-do","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115360086386762874","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}