Goetta : Cincinnati's Amazing Breakfast Food

Ever since I was a kid growing up in Northern Kentucky, goetta has been my favorite breakfast food. The rich, heavy scent of goetta cooking on the stove mixed with the smells of coffee brewing and biscuits baking was enough to get me out of bed no matter how tired I was. Every Sunday my father would cook us up a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, sausage and, you guessed it, copious amounts of goetta.

Those Sunday breakfasts will forever go down as legendary in my mind, and now I love creating my own little Sunday feasts whenever I get the chance, complete with goetta of course.

Never heard of the stuff? Don't feel bad. Most folks outside of the Greater Cincinnati Area haven't heard of it either, but let me tell you that it is a savory part of any breakfast.

What the heck is goetta? Good question. Basically, goetta is a combination of whole grain oats, pork and beef. It is a fairly greasy, fattening food, although there is now a very tasty low-fat goetta product made by the Glier's company that is my staple. Normally, goetta is prepared like a sausage patty but can also be purchased in "bricks" producing large, square pieces. It can be cut to any thickness you like and looks beautiful sitting right there next to your eggs and bacon. It is also very good with a squirt of ketchup on top!

The history of goetta is somewhat convoluted. It was possibly created by German immigrants living in Cincinnati in the later part of the 1800's. There is some evidence to show that goetta recipes came to Cincinnati directly from these German immigrants. But according to The Insiders Guide to Greater Cincinnati by Jack Neff and Skip Tate, the Finke family of Covington, KY (just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati) has claimed that they

invented goetta right around the turn of the 20^th century. The family owned a small store that butchered meat for the Covington markets and sold their combination of oatmeal and meat as "Irish Mush". Over time, the product spread across the river to Cincinnati and took on the more German name, goetta. These days goetta is produced primarily by the Glier's company here in the Cincinnati area.

While goetta does have an unmistakably "meaty" flavor, it is thickened and softened by the mix of oatmeal. A perfectly prepared piece of goetta will have a slightly mushy oatmeal-like center but will be crunchy on the outside.

I know, you are just itching to try goetta the next time you are in the Greater Cincinnati Area. Where can you find it? Many local restaurants carry goetta on their breakfast menus, however, I know for sure that it can be found at most Perkins and purchased at any local Kroger or Remke's Market. You can also purchase a wide array of goetta products directly from the Glier's website (including a goetta recipe book).

Goetta is a big part of Cincinnati tradition as evidenced by the highly anticipated Glier's Goetta Festival held every summer. There you can find every possible combination of goetta imaginable. Goetta pizza, goetta balls, goetta sandwiches, and my all time favorite, the goetta rueben. My current favorite way to eat goetta is combined with an egg, slice of cheese and mayonnaise, all stacked onto an English muffin!

It is actually quite amazing to me that goetta has never caught on across the American Mid-West. As a simple food with plenty of flavor, it would seem that goetta would be gobbled up from here to Utah. I know many people who've moved to Cincinnati, never heard of goetta, and who became full fledged "goetta-heads" in just a short period of time.

But, as you know, it's hard to get folks to adopt new things, even something as delicious as goetta. In a way, it's probably a good thing. As far as I'm concerned goetta can remain one of Cincinnati's best kept secrets.