The Goodness of Goetta

WELCOME
This week we welcome the Hellebusch family to our delicious memories community. Since goetta is one of the most delicious recipes enjoyed by generations in the Hellebusch family, this post highlights GOETTA and its makers.

GOETTA & ITS MAKERS
Were you raised in the Cincinnati-NKY area? If so, you know the goodness of GOETTA. Whether you are fan or foe, there are generations who were raised on this meat extending recipe. The Hellebusch family goetta recipe comes down through the Rombach family via Laura, who is my husband’s paternal grandmother. Born September 13, 1872 Laura Gertrude Rombach, a second generation German-American, lived almost her entire life in Covington, KY. Her father, Lewis, was one of the first commercial photographers in Cincinnati. Her mother, Elizabeth (nee Dalheim), along with her grandmother Gertrude, cared for a large extended family at 802 Willard Street. Laura had only one sibling, her sister, Ida. Three generations of Laura’s family would occupy the Willard home at the turn of the twentieth century. Laura married, George Hellebusch in 1904 and he moved into the Willard house as well. Through these years Laura would be tutored by her mother and grandmother in the art of cooking and keeping a house. One dish they prepared often in the winter for the family was goetta.

THE WHY, WHEN & WHERE OF GOETTA
The why and when of goetta is simple; just an easy way to extend meat which was an expensive food item in the eighteen and nineteen hundreds, then well into the twentieth century. The interesting story is the where of goetta. Inventive Germans in the Cincinnati-Northern KY area immigrated in great numbers from northwest German villages. Laura Rombach’s family all hailed from this region. During the early 1800s, after the defeat of Napolean and the chaos that followed, many Germans simply decided to leave, literally for greener pastures. First came Francis Xavier Rombach, Laura’s paternal grandfather, who came from the Black Forest region. Laura’s maternal grandmother, Polly Fleischner was born in Obernau in the Badin-Wuttenberg area. Her maternal grandfather, John Dalheim, immigrated from Prussia. Laura’s beloved paternal grandmother, Gertrude Zeirenhorst, the cook in the Rombach household, hailed from Oldenburg where immigrants found the Cincinnati area very similar to their hometown Hunte river communities. Why any of these family members immigrated is lost in time.

YEAH FOR GERMAN IMMIGRANTS!
While we know little about these individuals, we do know they were movers and shakers. According to “Building Institutions, Shaping Tastes,” by the Library of Congress, “German immigrants … brought their reforming zeal to America’s recreational life–it can even be argued that Germans invented the American weekend. Before the arrival of the Germans, many communities in the American colonies observed a Puritan sabbath, with an emphasis on rest and family time spent at home. Germans, however, had a long tradition of organized Sunday recreation and were enthusiastic devotees of the Sunday outing. After the arrival of German immigrants, new large-scale recreational facilities began to appear in U.S. towns–picnic grounds, bandstands, sports clubs, concert halls, bowling alleys, and playgrounds, all suitable for a weekend excursion with the family. Germans were also fond of social clubs, and formed singing societies, theater groups, and lodges. Anyone who uses one of today’s theme parks, civic orchestras, swimming pools, or urban parks owes a debt to the German passion for recreation.” We can also owe our love of hamburgers and hot dogs to the Germans. And, for those in the Cincinnati area, their love of GOETTA.

GO GOETTA!
Goetta is a simple dish that combines meat, pinhead oatmeal with a few other ingredients. Inventive German cooks had the availability of all types of pork cuts as Cincinnati (known in the 1800s as Porkopolis) was the largest producers of pork in the world. Eventually over taken by Chicago, Cincinnati lost its edge in the pork industry but the story of goetta would continue on due to Robert Glier. I just love this all-American story. Here’s an excerpt from Liz Gray’s article Porkopolis: Cincinnati’s Pork-Producing Past.

“Just as the pork-producing industry wound down in Cincinnati, Robert Glier created a new pork delicacy — goetta. When he returned from World War II in 1946, Glier, who trained at his family’s butcher shop and apprenticed as a sausage maker at H.H. Meyer Packing Co., opened his own meat shop. He began to sell a version of a traditional German peasant food made of ground meat and pin oats called stripgrutze, literally translating to “dunking grits.” Glier added more meat and made the mixture thick enough to sell in a loaf. He called it “goetta,” and the breakfast food caught on fast with the locals. Today, Glier’s Goetta produces more than 1 million pounds each year — around 99 percent of which is consumed in greater Cincinnati.”

Goetta’s Great
Funny, but while I’m goetta fan, I’m not a Glier’s enthusiast since I shy away from goetta made with a sausage base. This, of course, is a traditional way to make goetta but I prefer the 2:1 ratio of pork shoulder to stewing beef with less oatmeal. The addition of vegetable also gives our family’s homemade goetta a unique flavor packed with delicious memories. I learned to make goetta with my mother-in-law. We’d enjoy many hours of cooking together making batches for family members. We’d always cook up two pots: one for the Hellebusch families and a smaller recipe for the Driscolls. Charlotte (AKA Auntie, my mother-in-law’s sister) would buy all the required ingredients and we’d make her batch along with ours. During our cooking time and the hours after our goetta dinner, we’d enjoy Manhattans and I would hear tales of the Hellebusch and Belding families. There are many tales to tell and many recipes to share. For this week, goetta is the recipe remembered. Plan to try it and cook up some delicious memories for your family.