Grits as southerners know it are made from cornmeal. What you are describing is similar to PA Dutch scrapple or our livermush/liver pudding. I would look up recipes for scrapple and see if it sounds what your grandmother made.

Teresa

I agree with Teresa, it sounds like scrapple to me, more like a headcheese than the southern American grits.

I've never made or eaten scrapple, but I found this recipe. I see the directions call for "cereal", and suggest cornmeal mixed with other grains, but maybe oatmeal would be a good substitute.

Does this look anything like it might be close? If so, maybe someone here makes scrapple and can help with directions. I know BizzyLizzy at Harvest makes her own scrapple, if you think it's close to what you are looking for.

Annie

Scrapple is from the Pa "Dutch" country....and the Pa. Dutch are really Germans....
Also sounds to me like what I call scrapple.
It was all part of using every part of the hog but the squeal!
Scrapple can be made with sausage meat....AKA ground pork.
Everyone's scrapple is different, some heavy in thyme some with mostly sage....some with lots of pepper and other's with very little.
Is your page telling me you live in Iowa? When I first came here from "scrapple country" and asked why I couldn't find scrapple, I was told that Iowa has so much hogs and corn that we didn;'t need to eat all the stuff that scrapple was made from....we could eat "real sausage".
My advice is to read lots of recipes for scrapple and do your own adaptation of those recipes. I made scrapple years ago out of sausage meat....but was disappointed as it didn't sluice really well. I think I didn't cook it long enough.
Good luck!
Linda C
Grits and corn meal are "same thing only different"...both corn that is cooked as cereal. Perhaps that's why you had grits in your scrapple.
I would suggest

Oops, here's the recipe:

Real Scrapple

Here is why you don't see any real scrapple recipes on Zaar. This is not "the" Scrapple recipe. This is A scrapple recipe. Each family developed its own. When I was a kid, every family had its own. It is becoming a lost art. They can tell you Grandma made scrapple but not what her recipe was.
8 pans (change servings and units)

Ingredients

4 lbs ground meat. NOTE: the meat involved is Pork head, meat, feet, heart and tongue, or other pork trimmings, if desired, including liver.
water
cornmeal
buckwheat flour, see recipe
3 ounces salt
1/4 ounce black pepper
1/4 ounce sweetened marjoram
1/4 ounce nutmeg
1/4 ounce thyme or sage
2 1/2 ounces onions
1 pinch mace (optional)
1 pinch red pepper (optional)
Directions

Place meat in a water in a covered container and boil until the soft tissue separates readily from the bone. Separate tissue from bone and grind with a fine grinder. Return the ground meat to the strained soup container and boil. Cereal is then added. A common cereal mixture is seven parts cornmeal and three parts of either buckwheat, white, or rye flour.

Approximately 4 lbs of the ground meat combined with 3 lbs of soup (liquid) plus 1 lb of cereal is sometimes used. Gradually moisten the cereal with a cool liquid (water or the cooled soup) to prevent lumping. Add this premoistened cereal to the ground meat-soup mixture slowly then boil for 30 minutes.

Prior to finishing boiling, add seasoning.

A suggested seasoning combination for 8 lbs of finished scrapple would include 3 oz salt, 1/4 oz black pepper, 1/4 oz sweetened marjoram, 1/4 oz nutmeg, 1/4 oz sage or thyme, and 2-1/2 oz onions. Some prefer to add a pinch of mace and a pinch of red pepper also.

After the seasoning is mixed thoroughly and the onions cooked, pour the scrapple into pans (not bowls) and refrigerate to 30 - 32F degrees immediately.

Note: this is usually made in large batches and saved throughout the year until the next butchering. It uses every part of the pig so nothing is wasted. It wasn't a throwaway society. This is also NOT a city recipe. They didn't butcher as they did in the country.

number of pans is a guess.

Now, again, I've never made scrapple or eaten it so this is not a tried and true recipe, just a guess as to whether it might be close to what you are looking for.

Annie

The German word for Grits is GrieÃe (Griesse)

This recipe is out of my Penna.Dutch cookbook:

from "The New Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book" by Ruth Hutchinson, page 77

Philadelphia Scrapple:
2 pounds pork shoulder
1+1/2 quarts water
2 cups cornmeal (approximately
1 teaspoon summer savory
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper

Boil the pork in water with salt and pepper, until meat comes from the bone. Remove meat and strain liquid. There should be 4 cups. Shred the meat, return to kettle with liquid, add seasoning and cornmeal,stirring constantly as the cornmeal goes in to prevent sticking. Simmer 15 minutes, or until the mixture is the consistency of mush. Pour into pans, cool; cool and fry lightly.
-----------------------------------------------------
This is something the farm families made in the Fall during slaughter time. Think they also used more of the pig than just the shoulder. (Everything but the "squeek")

I can remember when some would not eat store-bought scrapple because it was not known what (unsavory) parts of the pig went into the finished product.

OK, I just got an email from a friend/lurker/prior member, who thinks that the OP might be looking for something called "Goetta", and the wikipedia description sounds like it could be it and it's apparently very popular in Cincinnati, Ohio!

"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 shoulder or "Cali", but occasionally contains equal parts pork and beef. Goetta is typically flavored with bay leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper, and thyme. It contains onions and sometimes other vegetables.

While similar to scrapple in that it contains a grain product and meat for the purpose of stretching out the meat over several days, goetta looks very different. Scrapple is made with meal while goetta uses steel-cut or chopped oats. The oats in goetta are much coarser than the fine powder used in scrapple, and 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 apple butter, ketchup, syrup, sugar, grape jelly,honey, 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. As the meat in goetta is precooked during the process of making the loaves, goetta can be kept in the freezer.

Due to the popularity of goetta in the Cincinnati metro area, a number of commercial distributors produce and sell it in the parts 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[1][2]. Glier's Goetta is based in Covington, Kentucky, part of the greater Cincinnati area."

So, maybe SharonCB has some input, since her husband is German, or maybe Peppi can help because her Dad is from Germany....

Annie

lisbet - Griesse? Never heard of that; we call them Gruetze. Could that word is Penn Dutch specific or otherwise regional?

FOAS- Greisse is like farina or cream of wheat, while the Gruetze is similar but served as a dessert- Rote Gruetze IIRC.

A traditional German dessert posted in response to a recipe request. I estimated the measurement of the cornstarch

Rote Grütze
Ingredients
2 1/4 lbs currants or raspberries or brambleberries or strawberries or sour cherries or plums (assorted red fruits, in any combination)
1/2 cup Sugar (or more to taste, depending on the tartness of the fruit)
1 quart water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup rum (optional)
milk or cream, to serve with the dessert

DirectionsWash fruit and pick through for stems (reserve 3/4 cup).

Combine the remaining fruit with water (reserving 1 cup), and Sugar in a saucepan.

Bring to a boil and cook fruit over medium heat until done but still holding its shape.

Sweeten to taste with more Sugar, if needed.

Stir corn starch into reserved water until dissolved and stir into the juice.

Bring to boil, cook until thickened, and remove from heat.

Blend in the rum if desired.

Mash reserved, uncooked fruit in blender and stir into the thickened juice.

Eat Rote Grütze either hot or cold and serve with cold milk or cream

Pasted in from Wiki.

Foodonastump, that is exactly what they called it, but as I said I didn't know how the Germans spelled it!!! Thanks so much and to all of you who were kind enough to answer me. I have been down south and seen their 'grits' and I knew it wasn't the same. What they have down there looks like cream of wheat. Gramma definitely used steel cut oats. and as I said raisins and thyme. Have no idea what else she put in there.
Again, thank you so much for the time you took to answer me. I can see some other recipes that sound delicious to try. Gonna do that soon. Wish me luck--if I get this mastered, you're all invited for breakfast. lol BT

BT - I just stopped by my mom's house. She wasn't of much help as your description of the dish didn't sound like something she's ever had. So I guess me thinking grits = Gruetze was more because they sound the same. I wonder if something like that is going on in your case.

She could offer no word for "grits" because corn products were not available - or at least not common - in her day. (She turns 80 next week and I believe she came here in '57.) As for Rote Gruetze she was very insistant that it is traditionally made with "Sago" which according to her German-English dictionary is tapioca.

FOAS, Mom is right, it is made with tapioca. Now tell me where Mom is from please, I am curious.

Offenbach. Frankfurt area. My relatives are all south now, closer to Munich. And what about Dad, while we're at it?

There is a butcher north of Dayton named Landes
They are descendents of German Baptist Brethern and still do some of their own butchering, they have..Menonites or something similar working in there.
If you were to call them if you run into questions you might get some answers.

From your description I suspected right away it was goetta, which is similar to scrapple. Cincinnati being heavily German in heritage, it would make sense that goetta is the German version. My son lives there, which is why I knew about goetta.

Jim

FOAS, both parental units are from Dusseldorf, right on the Rhine. Mom was an only, but Dads brother and his kids are all still there. He came in 56, right off a boat, went back, married Mom in 58 and both came here.

Annie, you just solved a mystery for me. When we were in KY, we have friends from the northern part of the state who kept talking about how they couldn't find this particular product where we were. I thought they were saying "gouda", but the description didn't sound like anything I'd heard of. They wanted goetta!

Liver pudding it the only thing I'll eat that has liver in it (and I miss it very much), but I can't imagine it with raisins.

While we were discussing this someone sent me a recipe for goette. I made it last night and fried some up this morning. Served it on top of toast and mixed berry preserves from my new favorite diner. Yum!!!

Well, I sure do want to thank everyone for their help. I did make some, whatever 'it' is called lol, it really didn't turn out too bad, even though not exactly like Gramma's. Guess she had a special touch that I don't have. Anyway I bought some pork ribs, (thought I may get the flavor out of the bones like they did with the hog's head.) I boiled them with a little salt, slowly, for a long, long time. When the meat fell off the bones I removed most of the meat, added the thyme and steel cut oats to the juice, slowly cooked them for about 15 minutes then added the raisins and cooked for about 5 minutes more or until done. The amount fit nicely in a bread pan. When totally cooled, I sliced some, fried it and ate it with sugar or you can use Karo syrup.
Goodness me, maybe this was Gramma's own made up recipe, I don't know but it did bring back fond memories of going to her house and eating 'it'. LOL
Again, thank you so much for your trouble, bless you all, I think it's great that so many are willing to help.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year!!! Stay safe and well!!

brownthumbia

Grandma was from Germany and made what she called "Hava grits". You need (steel cut) oats for this. You cook a pork roast for dinner the night before.(always get a bigger roast than will be eaten). Keep the drippings and any left over pork(put in fridge). The next day cut pork up into very small pieces almost shredded. In a skillet sauté 1 large onion. Put pork, dripping and onions in pan, add water and beef base use real beef base (google "Minors beef base"). Bring to a boil for a while(till pork becomes very tender). Add steel cut oats and cook till done let cool then put in fridge. End product should have consistency of mashed potatoes.

To cook hava grits. Grandma used real butter I like using lard. If you use butter use clarified butter it doesn't burn. In a skillet melt butter/lard over high heat. Patty the hava grits then put into skillet and cook till golden brown on both sides. It's like a breakfast potato cake.

I haven't made this in many many years so I don't have measurements Sorry. I don't ever remember there being any I/grandma just added what looked good. After a few times making this you learn how much to add. Taste the beef base it has some salt in it so don't use any salt you can add pepper if you like. I also remember using garlic cloves a few time. I may have used some chicken base also to off set the beef base a little. Like I said before it's been years since I've made this.

From grandma Lil Owens kitchen (may she rest in peace)

Dear Impossiable- Try this one an old family recipe, A hogs head not used anymore but substituted pork butt or pork shoulder for beef we used chuck roast. Recipe- 2/3 pork, 1/3 beef, Steel cut oats, salt pepper and allspice to taste. Boil all meats until tender(several hours) let cool. We Cook the oats in the microwave but can be done on the stove if you keep sturring they will burn. stove top takes several hours. microwave 15 to 16 minutes, sturring every 5 minutes.
WE make about 10 pounds at a time. 7 lbs. pork, 3 lbs. beef, 1 lb. steel cut oats, 1 1/2 Table spoons salt, 1 1/2 Tablespoons Allspice, 1 tsp. pepper.
After meat has cooled, grind it(fat included) then add the oats cooked (oats take about 2 qrts. of water, not to DRY) add spices and mix.
We packaged it up, about one meal amount, in freezer bags
and freeze.
To serve- Brown meat in a skillet and eat this pancakes or waffels or white bread. mix the meat mixture with Mapel or Karo syrup. Take a portion of your meat mix on your choice bread and enjoy.

I just came across this web site while looking for the grits or scrapple my great uncle (who was from Germany)used to make. All the receipes were helpful, as he hardly ever wrote anything down!! He used to make this and used barley!! It was absolutely delicious, so I am going to use some of the spices in these receipes and make a batch!! I already have a pork shoulder and the barley. So,on the weekend I will try making it and thanks to all of you on this site, thank you, and I will let you know how it comes out!!!

been reading about "Greutze"
this is something my grandpa pape made after they butchered hogs and a very fond memory
they always made it with cracklings that were the byproduct of rendering pork fat to get lard
i am making a batch right now waiting for the lard to render completely .when the cracklings float the hot lard will placed in a sieve to strain out the cracklings.
boil up some steel cut outs,salt to taste,add pepper then add the cracklings to the cooked oats,let cool a bit and place in loaf pans before the mixture "sets"
once the mixture firms up "overnight" place half inch slice in skillet over medium heat.ias it starts to brown turn and press down so final product will be a quarter inch thick and crisp.add a couple eggs on top or eat as is

4 cups steel cut oats cook as directed on package
add 4 cups or so of hot cracklings to the oats when they are done cooking
salt

add your favorite meat herbs
pour in loaf pans
cool overnight

and enjoy one of the best treat you have ever ate

i have not meet one person who did not love this

Chickenman, you haven't met me but I can tell you I do not like this.

Both of my parents are from Germany, and even Mom hated it.

Sorry!

Chickenman - welcome to the forum! I see you just joined today.

I don't think I will be trying your recipe - but glad to have you on board!

Teresa in Minnesota

My Grandmas family was from Germany.... she used to make something like you describe (pork head meat, oats, etc). She called it Hobble Grits.....maybe a variation of the previously mentioned Hava Grits.
My mom made them for us..... good stuff!

FOAS recipe please - It looks kinda like the sausage patty at McD's

Oh not at all, CL, about as close as asparagus, LOL! I'm interested in the cracklings recipe but wouldn't know how to come up with all the cracklings. Anyway here is what I made:

Goetta

Ingredients:
1 lb Boneless beef chuck
1 lb Boneless pork shoulder
8 c Water
2 1/2 c Pinhead oatmeal
1 Chopped large onion
1 To 2 bay leaves optional
2 ts Salt
1/4 ts Black pepper

Directions:

Grind beef and pork together, twice through the fine plate of a meat grinder.
Set aside in refrigerator.
Put water in a good-sized heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
Reduce heat, add oats, cover and simmer gently for two hours, stirring often.
Add meat, onion, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
Cover and continue cooking for one hour, stirring often.
Pour hot mixture into oblong loaf pans that have been rinsed with cold water.
Let stand in refrigerator until cold and firm.
Keeps nicely for a week or two.
Can be frozen.

To serve: Slice the goetta into 1/4 inch thick slices and fry in butter or bacon fat until crisp and brown.
Serve with hot maple syrup.

What is pinhead oatmeal? We have steel cut, regular, and instant here.

Pinhead oats are steel cut oats. To refine the definition, pinhead oats are a fairly coarse grade of steel cut oats, but really the same thing.

Thanks

docude_att_net

Dear Impossiable- Try this one an old family recipe, A hogs head not
used anymore but substituted pork butt or pork shoulder for beef we used
chuck roast. Recipe- 2/3 pork, 1/3 beef, Steel cut oats, salt pepper
and allspice to taste. Boil all meats until tender(several hours) let
cool. We Cook the oats in the microwave but can be done on the stove if
you keep sturring they will burn. stove top takes several hours.
microwave 15 to 16 minutes, sturring every 5 minutes.
WE make about 10 pounds at a time. 7 lbs. pork, 3 lbs. beef, 1 lb. steel
cut oats, 1 1/2 Table spoons salt, 1 1/2 Tablespoons Allspice, 1 tsp.
pepper.
After meat has cooled, grind it(fat included) then add the oats cooked
(oats take about 2 qrts. of water, not to DRY) add spices and mix.
We packaged it up, about one meal amount, in freezer bags
and freeze.
To serve- Brown meat in a skillet and eat this pancakes or waffels or
white bread. mix the meat mixture with Mapel or Karo syrup. Take a
portion of your meat mix on your choice bread and enjoy.

I just located this post. My Grandparents called this Grits but the term Gruest with a heavy German accent could easily be Grits. I just completed a 9 pound batch with this same recipe that is almost identical to hers. Difference being the meat is roasted in the oven for 4-5 hours at 300Deg F., giving that wonderful caramelized flavor, and then picked off the bones. Allow the broth to cool and separate the fat to the top. Once cooled remove and discard fat. Course grind the meat and mix in the spices and steel cut oats. Mix in the broth, that has been brought to a boil. I soaked the oats overnight vs cooking. Then place all into a large roaster and bake for 2 hours uncovered in a 350 oven for the first hour lower to 300 for the remaining time. Pay attention to the consistency. Once it is completed cool package into 1 pound packages. I fry mine and then serve on a piece of white bread slathered with Dark Molasses. YUM!

Tom K.

My dad always made something similar. He called it Hova Grits. He used pork steak. Boiled in salted water til tender. Saved the water. Add steel cut oats and barley grits. Boil with meat,stirring constantly, til cooked like a porridge. Add raisins. Put into cake pan and chill. Slice and fry. Serve with Karo syrup.

I think you are all wrong with answering what this person asked. My folks would take the hog head and cook it to get the jowl meat out which is mostly fat.....also cook the liver and heart and tongue. Then we would grind in all together with the jowl meat supplying the needed grease for the organ meat. Then it would be further cooked in original juice and the heavy grease that came to the top would be skimmed off and saved. After the ground meat was seasoned with pepper and salt it was put in meal sized containers or bags and frozen. We called it "PUDDIN" and would fry it and put it on top of pancakes using Karo syrup or dad liked Black Strap Molasses. Then the grease that was skimmed off is added to steel cut oats along with whatever extra water needed to be absorbed.....then cooked and cinnamon and raisons and probably salt and I wouldn't doubt a little sugar (my mom put a little sugar in everything) then cooked more and packaged the same way as the "Puddin" we called the steel cut oats dish "Grits" Does that ring a bell with anyone? I don't have a recipe but this is from memory and I have a hog head coming today.....

I look forward to your step by step pictorial!

(That’s a request. Please!)

I've seen "kopfkase" in Germany (head cheese) and had a friend actually eat a sandwich made of it before we told her what it was. She said, "This is good, what does "kopfkase" mean and we said, "head cheese" and she said what is that, and we said ground up head and guts. We didn't know all the details. Also scrapple is very popular in PA. Being mostly vegetarian now, I avoid such things. Back when I ate meat, I could not bring myself to eat tongue, only because it looked so much like what it was . . .

Fun topic . I happen to be eating scrapple for the first time today, purchased from a local Amish market, Pennsylvania Dutch brand pork scrapple , made in Ohio by Streb Meats in Dalton Ohio. The corneal is prominent , though when fried consistency resembles grits.

By grits I mean west central Ohio grits , which are a bit different that goetta. Here is an interesting read on the grits/goetta debate..

https://www.google.com/amp/s/dannwoellertthefoodetymologist.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/minster-ohios-meat-grits-and-the-cincinnati-goetta-connection/amp/

Here I am replying to a comment from 2010 on the one who made the comment about grits. We lived on a farm in Iowa and when we would butcher a hog my mom would take parts of it. (don't ask me what, I was just a kid) She would grind up everything together, and then put it in a roaster in the oven. The fat juices from the meat would keep it moist, Then she would add barley and raisens and cooked until done in the oven. In the mornings she would slice off , fry it up and we would put syrup on it or she would heat it up like cereal and we would have it that way. I don't have much for family to ask anymore but I can try to find out. My family, both sides were from Germany. Now to me that is GRITS

Funny, I’m seeing this bumped up post literally as I’m sitting here eating goetta. It’s become a staple here, I always have slices in the freezer. I’ve switched recipes since the one I posted seven years ago, and now use:

https://www.daringgourmet.com/goetta-cincinnati-sausage-grain-patties/

Adjusted a bit to make it a touch healthier, I think.

We have hobblegrits at Christmas every year. Salt and pepper a 4lb. pork roast, cook it, let it cool and then put it through a meat grinder with the onions. Take the juice from your roast and add water to make two quarts. My mom used quick cooking oats but I like the steel cut. Bring the liquid to a boil, add 4 cups of oats, cook and then add your ground meat and onions. Put it in bread pans, let it set up at least overnight, slice thin and fry in butter, eat with salt and pepper.

My brother and I are trying to find the recipe for what my grandparents from Germany called grits. We remember that they used a hogs head and barley and cooked it in a large kettle outside. I'm sure there was other ingredience but we don't know what other than garlic. It was not something that became solid, more of a hash consistency that they would cold pack in jars. is anyone familiar with this type of grits?

Maybe you are looking for Grütze: "geschälte, grob bis fein gemahlene Getreidekörner (besonders Hafer, Gerste, Buchweizen) zur Herstellung von Suppen, Brei, Grützwurst."

My husband's family made what they called grutze made with pork liver, pork fat and rind and pork shoulder and boiled with onion. Then the solids were ground in a meat grinder while barley cooked in the boiling liquid. This was all mixed back together to cook down and seasoned with salt, black pepper, cloves and white pepper. It was put in pans where it 'set up' and was fried in a cast iron pan and eaten with rye bread as a breakfast meal. Some liked it cooked with a crust, and some not. Not sure if this is the same as what you are looking for?

it coulgve been called gritzwurst as thats made with parts of the pigs head boiled down for a while with oats added to it as wel. i dont know the full recipe we use at work but thats part of it. if you search for gritzwurst it will bring up results similar to what we make at work

What ever you call it. The best place that I have found what I call meat grits is Winner's meats in Ozgood Ohio.

Found this thread when looking for a "Grit" recipe. We have a family recipe that has steel cut oats, sugar, cinnamon, salt, raisins & beef tongue cut up. Looks very similar. Maybe the Iowa variation.

Monnins fruit farm carries this in their market in Dayton near the airport. Other Amish markets as well. Sorry I don't have a recipe but will keep looking. It is called hava grits.