photo by CAROL SHETLER/The Luminary Heather Shultz and Bob Knouse, hold from a plentiful inventory, loaf pans of scrapple cooling before patrons pick up the finished product at the Northern Montour Sportsman”s clubhouse on Sunday, March 4, 2021.

WHITE HALL- A ‘Kettle Cook’ has been a 60-year attraction held the second weekend each March by the Northern Montour Sportsman Association. The event takes place at the clubhouse and grounds located on Sportsman’s Road south of White Hall bordering the waters of Chillisquaque Lake, locally known as PPL Lake.

The group bypasses part of the usual butchering practices by purchasing dressed meats from the Economy Locker Plant at Pennsdale. The order consists of hog shoulders, livers, kidneys, hearts and tongues. From this, members make scrapple and liverwurst. On Sunday, March 14, and to complete the process, volunteers labored 12 hours beginning at 6 a.m.

The designated spice man is Melvin Betz who determines the amount of pepper, corn meal and buckwheat flour necessary to thicken to the correct consistency. “Betz seasons it but its tasted by many,” voiced someone within the gathering of two dozen or more volunteers.  

Although Betz is not the eldest, fellow members agree he’s been involved the longest, coming six decades with his father John Betz. “I was about this high,” the 66-year-old said as he lowered one hand to his knee cap.

Most present attested to being part of other gatherings for butchering earlier in their lives. For Betz, it was his father’s family who came to participate in the Thanksgiving Day event on the farm on Betz Road near Exchange.

photo by CAROL SHETLER/The Luminary Melvin Betz (left) known as ‘The Spice Man’ oversees amounts of pepper, corn meal and buckwheat flour incorporated in the making of scrapple at the clubhouse of the Northern Montour Sportman’s Association near White Hall on Sunday, March 14, 2021.

Jim Tanner, formerly of Turbotville and the son of the late Walter and Lorraine Tanner said, “Thanksgiving was also our butchering day with my father’s family. Its best if the weather is cold, I remember sometimes we brought the meat in on sleds.” Tanner explained as he stirred the concoction with a long wooden stick, “Some people call this pudding, the scrapple and liverwurst. After meat is cut, cooked and ground, it takes about 45 – 50 minutes to complete a batch.”

Members collect orders with this years output being 250 loaf pans of scrapple and 30 of liverwurst. “The excellence of our product is due to using lots of shoulder meat and skimping on filler for thickening. As its more meaty, it tastes much better than commercially made,” Tanner said.

Heather Shultz of Millville, granddaughter of the late Harold Schultz of Anson Hill Road in Madison Township, is a younger member now two years with the club. “I don’t recall butchering at grandpa’s farm, but I think of myself as a farm girl. I was involved in baling hay and raised calves then rode along taking them to the Dewart Livestock Auction.”

Member Bob Knouse of the Danville area recalled old time butchering days. On Sunday, he was part of a production line who as pans were filled, slid them down a table shelved to cool.

With the exception of the past two years due to the pandemic, the butchering day ‘Kettle Cook’ fundraiser is held simultaneously with a modestly priced, all you can eat smorgasbord meal featuring almost everything imaginable and open to the public.

The club provides sites for more than 100 active members the use of an archery range, plus trap and pistol shooting areas.