Goetta

Goetta is a peasant food of German origin that is popular in the greater Cincinnati. It is primarily composed of ground meat and oats. Pronounced "gétt-aa", "ged-da" or "get-uh" Americanized Pronunciation, this dish originated with German settlers from the northwestern regions of Oldenburg, Hannover, and Westphalia who emigrated to the Cincinnati area in the 19th century. The word "Goetta" comes from the Low German word "götte."

Goetta was originally a peasant dish, meant to stretch out servings of meat over several meals to conserve money.

The modern popularity of goetta in Cincinnati has led to it being called "Cincinnati Caviar". Glier's Goetta, the largest commercial producer of goetta, produces more than 1,000,000 lb (450 metric tons) annually, around 99% of which is consumed locally in greater Cincinnati.

Composition

While goetta comes in a variety of forms, all goetta is based around ground meat combined with pin head or steel cut oats. Usually goetta is made from pork shoulder or "Cali", but occasionally contains equal parts pork and beef. Goetta is typically flavored with bay leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper, and thyme. It contains onions or, occasionally, other vegetables as well.

While superficially similar to scrapple in that it contains a grain product and meat for the purpose of stretching out the meat over several days, goetta bears little resemblance to scrapple. While scrapple is made with meal, goetta uses steel-cut or chopped oats, instead of meal. The oats used in goetta are thus not reduced to a fine powder, and are left large to add texture to the dish.

Preparation

Goetta is typically formed into small loaves, and then cut into squares and fried, often in the oil left over from browning the meats or in bacon drippings. Traditionally a breakfast food, goetta is often served with ketchup, syrup, sugar, grape jelly, or eaten by itself. More recently, goetta has become an all purpose food eaten with any meal. New goetta products in the Cincinnati area include goetta burgers, goetta dogs, and goetta pizza. The meat in goetta is cooked during the process of making the loaves, so it is possible to freeze goetta; if well wrapped, it will keep in the freezer for a long period of time. Serving frozen goetta is easy: preslice the loaf, place pieces of parchment paper between each slice, wrap and freeze. When ready to eat, simply remove the number of slices needed and add directly to a hot frying pan.

Commercial distribution

Due to the popularity of goetta in the Cincinnati metro area, a number of commercial distributors produce and sell it in the parts of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana near Cincinnati. The most popular of these brands is Glier's Goetta, the largest producer of goetta in the world [http://www.covingtonky.com/index.asp?fn=news&id=1528] [http://www.cincinnati.com/visitorsguide/stories/052501_goetta.html] . Glier's Goetta is based in Covington, Kentucky, part of the greater Cincinnati.

Goettafest

In the Greater Cincinnati area, there have been annual celebrations since 2004 with the central theme of Goetta .

The "Original" Goettafest is an annual cultural and culinary celebration held in Covington, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. Covington has a rich heritage of German immigrants and this festival is held in MainStrasse Village, an area of Covington a few blocks from the Ohio River. In 2006 this celebration was held June 17 and 18. It also includes a small German based Renaissance festival across the street from the main Goettafest.

Glier's Goettafest is a similar event held at the Newport, Kentucky Levee on the Ohio River. The festival celebrates both the dish and Greater Cincinnati's German American heritage. While the main focus of the festival is goetta, it also typically includes music, dancing, and other public entertainment. In 2006 the festival was held August 4th through 6th.

No specific festival celebrating Goetta is actually held in Cincinnati.

External links

* [http://www.goetta.com/splash.shtml Gliers's Goetta]
* [http://www.goettafest.com/ Goettafest]
* [http://www.abouteating.com/goetta.shtml A recipe for homemade goetta from AboutEating.com.]