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Whether served by the slice or tucked into a breakfast sandwich, this crispy meat-and-oat staple tells the story of Cincinnati’s immigrant history and butcher shop tradition.
Meat and oats might sound like a strange combination. To Cincinnatians, it’s breakfast.
Goetta, a crispy-edged pork, beef, and oat loaf, may have originated as a thrifty way for German immigrants to stretch meat, but today it is a beloved local specialty in its own right. Here’s everything to know about the deeply regional dish, including why it inspires fierce loyalty and how chefs are reimagining it.
What is goetta?
Pronounced “get-uh,” goetta is a Cincinnati-area staple. Pork, beef, steel-cut or pinhead oats, onions, and spices are cooked into a loaf, chilled, sliced, and fried until the outside gets browned and crackly while the inside stays soft and savory. On paper, it can sound like a hard sell: meat and oats together in breakfast-patty form. But on a plate, preferably next to eggs and toast, with perfectly crispy edges, it makes immediate sense. It’s hearty and salty, with a deeply browned savoriness and the kind of texture that demands you go back for one more bite.
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When I met Josh Lillis, fifth-generation owner of Eckerlin Meats at Cincinnati’s historic Findlay Market, he described goetta as “an oat sausage or kind of like a meat oat hash.” While that’s technically correct, I thought the description missed some of the appeal. The magic is in the contrast: crisp edges, tender middle, the richness of pork and beef mellowed by the oats. “I think the texture is what is misunderstood with goetta,” Lillis says. “You have to have a little crispiness with the soft oats.”
Like many great regional foods — scrapple and livermush among them — goetta was born from practicality. German immigrants in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky used grains to stretch meat, making something filling, economical, and sustaining out of what was available. In a city once known as Porkopolis for its meatpacking industry, goetta turned thrift into breakfast. “Plus the oats and meat combination was a great way to fuel the working man for the day,” says Lillis.
Glier’s in Covington, Kentucky, is widely credited with popularizing goetta. In the 1950s, founder Robert Glier started selling the German-American staple at his small sausage shop, and by the 60s had opened a full-scale meat processing facility to meet demand. Today the company says it sells over two million pounds of goetta per year.
The butcher shop keeping the tradition alive
Eckerlin Meats, family-owned since 1852, has long been known as one of the city’s essential goetta stops. Lillis says Eckerlin has always used his great-grandmother Frieda’s recipe, though the way the shop makes it has evolved. Years ago, goetta production varied depending on what meat was available. Eventually, his father decided that Eckerlin’s goetta needed consistency and its own stamp.
From that point on, Lillis says, the company began using whole-muscle pork shoulder and beef chuck instead of scraps, with more standardized cooking times and temperatures. The result was goetta that still tasted rooted in tradition, with a consistency customers could count on.
Cincinnatians talk about goetta with the particular tenderness reserved for foods you miss desperately once you leave home. It is breakfast and memory from Saturday mornings, at diners, at grandparents’ houses, in the cast-iron pan before anyone was fully awake.
“Goetta in Cincinnati represents the hard-working Midwest town that we are,” Lillis says.
That emotional pull explains why goetta inspires such fierce loyalty, especially from people who have moved away. Lillis says that around the holidays, when Cincinnati transplants return home, he hears the same phrase again and again: “Gotta get the goetta.” For the homesick, goetta is edible reentry. One bite and they are back.
From breakfast staple to restaurant favorite
At Libby’s Southern Comfort in Covington, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati, goetta gets a playful Southern spin in the form of goetta hush puppies. The dish, made with Glier’s goetta and served with remoulade, is the kind of regional mash-up that feels obvious once someone else is smart enough to think of it first.
The idea for goetta hush puppies came before the restaurant even opened. Libby’s owner Brad Wainscott says he and his family were sitting around the kitchen table, talking about their dream of opening a Southern restaurant that reflected their Cincinnati roots.
Goetta was personal. Wainscott’s wife’s grandmother, Grandma Sis, made homemade goetta, and his sister had introduced many people in Lexington to the dish through her breakfast restaurant, Josie’s. When the family started thinking about hush puppies with a local spin, “goetta was the obvious answer,” Wainscott remembers. “It has such a strong connection to Cincinnati and family, and paired with a crispy hush puppy, it turned out to be a great combination.”
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Before they even finalized the recipe, a local radio station heard through a mutual friend that Libby’s planned to serve goetta hush puppies and started talking about them on air. “At that point, we figured we’d better come up with the recipe,” Wainscott says. “Thankfully, it worked. They’ve been one of our signature items ever since.”
That’s part of the joy of goetta now: It’s deeply traditional yet endlessly riffable. It can show up as a humble slice beside scrambled eggs, tucked into a sandwich, or folded into something that would have made a German ancestor blink twice.
Where to try goetta in Cincinnati and beyond
At Sleepy Bee Cafe, a Cincinnati breakfast favorite, goetta appears in several breakfasty forms, including the Queen City Bee sandwich, made with Eckerlin goetta, an over-easy egg, apple, arugula, and nectar sauce on a toasted milk bun. Vegan goetta is also available, including in a sandwich with marinated portobellos, avocado, arugula, ginger pickles, chimichurri, and ember oil.
Camp Washington Chili, one of the city’s classic chili parlors, combines two hometown heroes on one plate: the “513 Way” is a riff on Cincinnati chili that swaps goetta in for spaghetti (though you can have both if you prefer).
 Glier’s Goettafest takes place every summer in Newport, Kentucky. Credit: Photo by Byron Photo |  |  |  |
In Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, the historic Greyhound Tavern serves goetta eggrolls, crisp wrappers filled with Glier’s goetta and cabbage slaw and served with Thai chile dipping sauce.
At Glier’s Goettafest, held over two summer weekends in Newport, Kentucky, the region’s devotion gets the full festival treatment, with dozens of goetta creations ranging from traditional to wonderfully unexpected.
Enjoy it at home
Still, for all the modern riffs, the best way to understand goetta may be the simplest: sliced, pan-fried, and served hot. Lillis likes to cook his in a little butter to help brown each side, flipping only once so it doesn’t fall apart. He eats it with scrambled eggs, and, “if I’m feeling fancy,” a little strawberry jam.
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For those who can’t make it to Cincinnati, goetta is available by mail. Glier’s sells original, hot, turkey, bites, and variety packs through Cincy Favorites, which ships perishable foods frozen via FedEx. Eckerlin Meats ships its housemade goetta sealed airtight; out-of-town customers can call or use the shop’s online order inquiry form to arrange delivery.
For Cincinnatians, goetta goes far beyond breakfast. It demonstrates that the most beloved foods are rarely the fanciest, prettiest, or easiest to explain — they’re the foods that make a place taste most like itself.
Read the original article on Food & Wine
