Goetta facts for kids
Goetta sandwich
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| Type | Sausage or Mush | ||||||
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| Course | Breakfast | ||||||
| Place of origin | Cincinnati metropolitan area | ||||||
| Associated national cuisine | American | ||||||
| Serving temperature | Hot | ||||||
| Main ingredients | Pinhead oats; pork and/or beef | ||||||
| Ingredients generally used | Onion, spices, herbs | ||||||
| 180 kcal (754 kJ) | |||||||
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| Similar dishes | Knipp, scrapple | ||||||
Goetta is a special food that's a mix of meat and grain. It's a bit like a sausage or a thick mush. This dish is very popular in the Cincinnati area of the United States.
It's mostly made from ground meat (like pork or beef) and a type of oats called pin-head oats, along with different spices. Goetta was first created as a way to make a small amount of meat feed more people. It's similar to other dishes like scrapple and livermush, which German immigrants also developed.
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The Story of Goetta
Goetta likely came from German settlers who moved to the Cincinnati area in the 1800s. These settlers came from parts of Germany like Oldenburg, Hannover, and Westphalia.
The first company to sell Goetta was Sander Packing.
What's in Goetta?
Even though Goetta can look a bit different sometimes, it always has ground meat and pin-head oats. Using oats was a traditional way for cooks in Germany to make a small amount of meat feed many people.
Goetta is usually made with pork. Sometimes it has equal parts pork and beef. It gets its flavor from spices like bay leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper, and thyme. It also contains onions and sometimes other vegetables. Rules say that Goetta must have at least 50% meat.
Goetta is similar to scrapple from Pennsylvania and livermush from North Carolina. All these dishes were created by German immigrants. They all use a grain to make pork go further. However, scrapple uses cornmeal, and livermush uses cornmeal or rice, while Goetta uses pinhead oats.
How to Make and Eat Goetta
To make Goetta, you cook meat, oats, broth, spices, and often onions. You simmer it until it's thick. Then, you pour it into loaf pans and let it cool completely. Once it's firm, you can slice it. The slices are usually fried, often in butter.
Goetta is traditionally eaten for breakfast. But people also put it in sandwiches. You can even find it as a topping on burgers and pizza!
Where to Buy Goetta
Many companies make and sell Goetta in the areas of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana near Cincinnati. Glier's Goetta, which started in 1946, makes over 1,000,000 pounds (about 450 metric tons) every year! Almost all of this is eaten right there in the Greater Cincinnati area.
Queen City Sausage is another big producer. There are also many smaller, local businesses that make Goetta in and around Cincinnati.
Goettafest!
"Glier's Goettafest" is a fun festival held every August. It takes place on the Ohio River waterfront near Newport, Kentucky's Newport on the Levee. The festival celebrates Goetta and the German American heritage of the Cincinnati area.
At the festival, you can try Goetta in many different ways. There's also music, dancing, and other entertainment. In 2019, the festival became so popular that it was held over two weekends!
Is Goetta German?
Glier's Goetta is sometimes called "German Breakfast Sausage." This might make people think it's a common breakfast food in Germany. However, food expert Dan Woellert says you won't find something called Goetta on a menu in Germany. But he notes that dishes like grützwurst and knipp are similar "meat gruels" found there.
