Crockpot Goetta

5 cups water
2 1/2 cups pinhead oatmeal (rolled oats won’t do. You can find pinhead or steel-cut oats under the Dorsel label at grocery stores)
3 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. pork or pork sausage
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp. sage
1/4 tsp. thyme
4 bay leaves
1/2 cups cornmeal to thicken

Place the water, oatmeal, salt and pepper into a crockpot and mix well. Cook covered one hour on high, stirring two or three times. Add the beef and pork and break up well. Add the onion, sage, thyme and bay leaves and cook for four hours on low, stirring occasionally. Uncover again, add the cornmeal and cook another 30 minutes uncovered. Spoon into two or three loaf pans and let cool. Chill and remove from the pans. Cut each loaf in half, wrap it in freezer paper or plastic and place one or two blocks in the refrigerator, freezing the remainder. Slice or form into patties. Dip in flour if desired. Fry in a small amount of hot fat. Do not allow the slices to touch in the skillet or they will run together. Brown each side until crusty.

Old-Fashioned Goetta
This recipe comes from Rita Heikenfeld, a Batavia food writer and cooking teacher, who passes it along from her mother-in-law, Clara.

2 to 3 lbs. pork shoulder, bone in
8 cups water
3 cups chopped onions
2 large bay leaves
1 to 2 ribs celery, chopped (with leaves)
1 tbls. salt
1 to 2 tsp. pepper
3 cups pinhead oats

Cut meat into several large pieces, leaving bone in one. Place meat in large, heavy-bottomed pot (11 quarts or larger) with water, onions, bay leaves, celery, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and lower to simmer. Cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, for two hours. Meat should fall from the bone. Strain meat and vegetables from liquid when cool enough to handle, chop finely. Set meat and vegetables aside. Pour liquid back into pot and add oatmeal. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer. Cook uncovered, stirring often, for two hours. Mixture will be thick. Add chopped meat and vegetables. Simmer for another 1 to 2 hours. Line three to four loaf pans with aluminum foil; spray each with nonstick vegetable spray. Pour goetta into loaf pans and allow to cool for 30 minutes at room temperature. Place loaf pans in refrigerator overnight to cool. (Option: cover pans overnight to produce a creamier, softer goetta or leave uncovered to produce crust.) After goetta has set in the refrigerator, cover pan well and store up to two weeks there. It can also be frozen. To serve, slice goetta into half-inch pieces and fry in bacon fat, vegetable oil or pan sprayed with nonstick spray. Serve with bacon, eggs, fried apples or applesauce. Makes three to four goetta loaves.