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Goetta is a regional food found in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the greater Cincinnati metro area including Northern Kentucky. It is primarily composed of ground meat and oats. Pronounced gétt-aa, ged-da or get-uh Pronunciation), this dish originates from German settlers from Oldenburg, Hannover, and Westphalia who immigrated to the Cincinnati area in the 19th century. The word "Goetta" comes from the Low German word götte. (ö) umlaut pronounced like ur in turn.
Goetta was originally considered 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, but occasionally uses equal parts pork and beef. Goetta typically is spiced with bay leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper, and thyme. Occasionally it contains onions or 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 is a unique food that in fact bears little resemblance to scrapple. While scrapple is a pudding made with meal, goetta is a unique style of food in which loaves and not pudding are made, and which uses steel-cut or chopped oats, and not a 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, 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 partment 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 highly populated Cincinnati metro area, a number of commercial distributors produce and sell goetta in areas 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. Glier's Goetta is based in Covington, Kentucky, part of the greater Cincinnati area.
Goettafest
In the Greater Cincinnati area, there have been two annual celebrations with the central theme of Goetta since 2004.
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 which is an area of Covington a few blocks from the Ohio River. In 2006 this celebration was held June 17 2006 and June 18 2006.
Goettafest is a similar event which is held at the Newport, Kentucky Levee on the Ohio River. The festival celebrates both the unique dish and Greater Cincinnati's unique German American heritage. While the main focus of the festival is of course goetta, it also typically includes music, dancing, and other public entertainment. In 2006 the festival will be held August 4th through 6th.
No specific festival celebrating Goetta is actually held in Cincinnati.
External links
"Goetta"