Homemade goetta 'makes for personal, sometimes secret, interpretation'

Yesterday we woke up to a snowy winter wonderland. Making my way to the chicken pen was an adventure. Huge snow flakes were falling so thickly I felt like I was in a gigantic snow globe.

A perfect day to make my family’s goetta. 

An iconic Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky food with Germanic origins, goetta is one of those recipes that makes for personal, sometimes secret, interpretation. Seems like every recipe is a bit different and touted as “the best.”

The common denominator for classic goetta is pinhead oats. You may know them as steel cut, Irish, or coarse cut oats. Whole oats are processed into small pieces using steel blades, thus the name “pin head." They take a long time to cook.

So here’s my goetta recipe, tweaked just a bit from before.

Do you make goetta? If you like, share the recipe and story – there’s always a story.

Rita’s goetta

The only changes I made from my family’s original recipe were adding beef broth for some of the water, garlic and marjoram. I also use a dual cooking method: stovetop and slow cooker.

Ingredients

3 pounds fresh pork shoulder/butt, bone in or not (mine had bone in)

3 generous cups chopped onion, not sweet onion, and celery

4 bay leaves

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1-1/2  teaspoons dried marjoram

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 quart beef broth

Water enough to barely cover meat in pan – I used 8 cups

24 oz. regular pinhead/steel cut oats, not instant 

Instructions

Put everything but oats in large stockpot. 

Bring to boil, lower to simmer and cook, partially covered, until meat is fall-apart tender, 2-3 hours or so. Liquid will evaporate somewhat.

Dump everything in colander, straining broth. Measure out 8 cups broth. If you don’t have 8 cups, add water. If you have more than 8, save in case you need to add liquid as oats cook.

Set meat and veggies aside. Remove bay leaves.

Spray  large slow cooker and pour in hot broth.

Pour in oats and stir. Cover and cook on high or low, stirring occasionally, until oats are thoroughly cooked. You may need to add liquid if oats look dry before they’re cooked. Mine took 3 hours on high so count on about 6 for low. Stir occasionally.

Cooked oats will be tender, liquid will be absorbed, and mixture will be so thick a big spoon inserted in center will stand up without falling over. The thicker the consistency, the nicer your goetta sets up.

Shred or chop meat mixture finely. I used my food processor using the pulse button.

Mix meat mixture in with oats and continue to cook, on low,  about 45 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally.

Or cook in big pot on stove until hot throughout, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasonings.

Line loaf or other pans. Pack goetta in tight.

Refrigerate uncovered for 12-24 hours. This creates slight crust and allows goetta to set up firmly.Store, covered, in refrigerator 2 weeks or freezer 6 months.

Yield:

I got 3 loaf pans and 3 mini loaf pans of goetta.

To serve:

Cook until crisp with bacon or bacon drippings. It’s heresy in our family to cook any other way.

More goetta recipes:

Check my site abouteating.com