After a weekend of putting down some mulch and top soil (with high
grade organic fertilizer IYKWIM), it was good to "rest" on Sunday and
have some people over to grill out.

Ground chuck was on sale for $0.99 a pound (US). Mixed a package with a
few eggs, some onion, bread crumbs and a few herbs and spices. Patted
out burgers.

Also some lean boneless pork ribs were on sale, so I got a package of
them as well. Boneless ribs ? I didn't ask. I put a bit of sage and
black pepper on them and they were good.

We also had some brats, metts, and dogs. I threw a few dinner rolls
into the oven, no matter how heretical that sounds.

Made a veggie tray. Carrots, celery, cucumbers, broccoli, olives,
cherry peppers, pickles, salami rolls, and dip. Yes, salami rolls are a
vegetable.<g>

Made a garnish tray. Heirloom tomatoes, sliced onions, and red lettuce.
So the pickles and olives were on the wrong tray. No one complained.
Maybe the chips and beer helped out there.

Someone brought some potato salad and pasta salad. Both were very good.
The pasta salad was angle hair with mozz, feta, diced tomatoes, herbs,
and a vinagette. Don't know what was in the tater salad, but it was
good as well.

I halved (jalapenos, and a few others of similar size) peppers and
destemmed some shrooms. Into both I put a mixture of cream chesse,
horseradish, a small bit of parm, and black pepper. Grilled on top
shelf until cheese started to brown.

I never did get around to a salad or beans, but again, no one
complained as there was plenty of food.

Finally, someone also brought some peanutbutter fudge.

Life is good.

Dean G.

wrote:
> [snip]
> We also had some brats, metts, and dogs. [snip]
>
> Life is good.
>
Sure sounds like it. What are metts? -aem

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> After a weekend of putting down some mulch and top soil (with high
> grade organic fertilizer IYKWIM), it was good to "rest" on Sunday and
> have some people over to grill out.
>
> Ground chuck was on sale for $0.99 a pound (US). Mixed a package with a
> few eggs, some onion, bread crumbs and a few herbs and spices. Patted
> out burgers.
>
> Also some lean boneless pork ribs were on sale, so I got a package of
> them as well. Boneless ribs ? I didn't ask. I put a bit of sage and
> black pepper on them and they were good.
>
> We also had some brats, metts, and dogs. I threw a few dinner rolls
> into the oven, no matter how heretical that sounds.

Potato salad for us yesterday and tenderloin. That always heralds the
arrival of spring. The brats and dogs were around too. My daughter was on
meds for allergies (something else that heralds spring). Oops you said
metts. What's that?

Life is good here. Great to get out in the garden. I filled 8 bags of
garden weeds, dead grass etc...................am a bit stiff today, but the
garden looks so much better. Well - sort of - it would look better with
flowers...............

Elaine, Brampton, Ontario, Canada

I sould have said mettwurst, but we just call them metts around here
(Cincinnati, OH).

Mettwurst is a strongly flavoured German sausage made from raw minced
pork, which is preserved by curing and smoking. The southern German
variety is soft and similar to Teewurst, while the northern German
variety is harder and more similar to salami, due to longer smoking.

Ours are apparently the southern version. They are about the same size
as bratwurst, and of similar consistency, only reddish instead of
white. And yes, I did mean bratwurst on the grill, not brats.

Wow, next people will be asking about goetta<g>. We have a Goettafest
comming up in August.

Dean G.

Ah yes, I have noticed spring in the air as well. Burning eyes,
constant sneezing, and a relative indifference to the discomfort. So
far I have avoided the meds, but have a few handy just in case it gets
bad.

Fortunately, the place I just moved into had some bulbs, and we have
daffodils and something else without any effort of our own.

Metts are mettwurst, which is a sausage. See my reply to aem for
details. Brats are bratwurst. Dogs are hotdogs. We had some of the
other kind of brats as well, but we didn't grill them.

Dean G.

A little birdie told me that said:

>Wow, next people will be asking about goetta<g>. We have a Goettafest
>comming up in August.

So. What the hell is Goetta?

Carol
--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon

Goetta is a mixture of pork, beef, oats, herbs and spices "created" by
the Cincinnati German-American community in the late 1880s.
Some people say it is like scrapple, a mush of ground pork and cornmeal
that has to be molded. But it isn't like scapple. It is more solid, and
tastes better. It is usually cut in thin slabs and pan fried like many
other breakfast meats.

Of course, it can also be put in a sausage casing and put on the grill,
and the locals have many, many other ways of using it. So many, that
they started a festival. Four or five Octoberfests a year just isn't
enought for us.<g> Beer, goetta, live music : life is good.

Dean G.

In article .com>,
wrote:

> Goetta is a mixture of pork, beef, oats, herbs and spices "created" by
> the Cincinnati German-American community in the late 1880s.
> Some people say it is like scrapple, a mush of ground pork and cornmeal
> that has to be molded. But it isn't like scapple. It is more solid, and
> tastes better. It is usually cut in thin slabs and pan fried like many
> other breakfast meats.
>
> Of course, it can also be put in a sausage casing and put on the grill,
> and the locals have many, many other ways of using it. So many, that
> they started a festival. Four or five Octoberfests a year just isn't
> enought for us.<g> Beer, goetta, live music : life is good.
>
> Dean G.

When I was a child in Cincinnati I don't remember anybody selling goetta
in the stores ... but then I never looked for it cause mom made it from
scratch. Here's a recipe that I think I posted here a couple of years
ago. Is it authentic? Can't answer that. If you like it, its authentic.
If you don't, modify it till you do and then it will be authentic. ;^)

GOETTA
The quantities below just barely fit in my 4 quart pressure cooker. If
you are using a smaller cooker (which is doubtful), scale down the
quantities so it fits! Relative quantities are approximate and, IMHO,
goetta is so good that you really have to do something radical to mess
it up.

2 quarts water
5 bay leaves
2 1/2 cups pinhead oatmeal
1 lb pork and 1 lb beef, chopped into 1/4 inch chunks
-you can cheat and grind the meat, but its not soulful
1 med. to large onion, chopped
1 Tblspn minced garlic
1 Tspn sage
1 Tspn oregano
1/2 Tspn nutmeg
1 Tblspn black pepper
Salt to taste

Bring water with bay leaves to a boil in the open pressure cooker. Add
oatmeal, stirring until it boils again. Add onion and simmer, stirring
often, for 10 to 30 minutes.

Add all other ingredients, mix well, close pressure cooker and cook at
moderate pressure for 40 to 50 minutes. Keep heat low or the goetta will
stick to the bottom of the cooker.

Mold the finished products into bricks, wrap, and freeze.

Notes;
Goetta is easy to make. The only thing to worry about is burning and
sticking during pressure cooking and that¹s no real problem. Stir often
when simmering the oatmeal and once the cooker has been closed up, keep
your burner real low. I usually place the cooker off to the side of the
burner and rotate it occasionally so excessive heat doesn¹t build up on
any point on the bottom of the cooker. If the goetta appears to be
excessively soggy after pressure cooking, you can simmer it for a while
with the lid off to drive off excess moisture.

A wet goetta will take a while to fry. Just keep the fire low till it
dries out a bit and don¹t be too hasty in adding oil to prevent
sticking. It will usually act like its going to stick real bad but then,
as it browns in the skillet, you will find that it scrapes right off the
bottom and the stuff you scraped up really adds to the taste of the
finished product. If you panic early in frying and add a bunch of oil or
butter to prevent sticking, you may get stuck with some pretty greasy
goetta. If you used fatty meat, you may be able to put the goetta in a
³dry skillet² with no oil at all and it won¹t stick. If you used meat
that had little or no fat, you can drop a bit of oil in at the beginning
of the fry, or better yet, put some in when you do your pressure cooking.

Regards,
Dave W.

--
Living in the Ozarks
For email, edu will do.

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth
becomes a revolutionary act. - George Orwell, (1903-1950)