Gritwurst or Gritzwurst or Gritwist
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ND Mike my wife like eating them with just a slice of buttered bread. They are pretty versatile. Good luck with your next “first” batch. I know my father-in-law has even added beef to his in the past. As you mentioned, it was traditionally made from the scrap pieces of meats to prevent any waste. Nothing went to waste in those good old days. I’d like to talk to the first person who stuffed meat into a hog gut; just to ask, what made you think this would be a good idea? And to shake their hand for doing it. I’m always amazed at human ingenuity and imagination.
GWG8541 very well said!
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You might be talking about what we would call Balkenbrij or Scrapple. My wife and I are from German communities in central Missouri and my in-laws made it with other folks in the area using a big kettle and making it a all day process. They used hog heads and other parts, cooked it down, ground or chopped it up, added cornmeal, spooned it into trays to set up, sliced, fried and topped with apple butter! Loved it! These days, we run across it in German meat markets now and then and have to buy a chunk of it! But it’s never as good as what I remember from back home!
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You might be talking about what we would call Balkenbrij or Scrapple. My wife and I are from German communities in central Missouri and my in-laws made it with other folks in the area using a big kettle and making it a all day process. They used hog heads and other parts, cooked it down, ground or chopped it up, added cornmeal, spooned it into trays to set up, sliced, fried and topped with apple butter! Loved it! These days, we run across it in German meat markets now and then and have to buy a chunk of it! But it’s never as good as what I remember from back home!
Walkeg scrapple is a close cousin. I found a lot of people in ND made it with buckwheat groats.
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You might be talking about what we would call Balkenbrij or Scrapple. My wife and I are from German communities in central Missouri and my in-laws made it with other folks in the area using a big kettle and making it a all day process. They used hog heads and other parts, cooked it down, ground or chopped it up, added cornmeal, spooned it into trays to set up, sliced, fried and topped with apple butter! Loved it! These days, we run across it in German meat markets now and then and have to buy a chunk of it! But it’s never as good as what I remember from back home!
Walkeg it is similar, but the oats give it a different texture and taste. I have put apple butter on gritz before and it was great.
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You might be talking about what we would call Balkenbrij or Scrapple. My wife and I are from German communities in central Missouri and my in-laws made it with other folks in the area using a big kettle and making it a all day process. They used hog heads and other parts, cooked it down, ground or chopped it up, added cornmeal, spooned it into trays to set up, sliced, fried and topped with apple butter! Loved it! These days, we run across it in German meat markets now and then and have to buy a chunk of it! But it’s never as good as what I remember from back home!
Walkeg Two reasons you like it more from home: those people didn’t waste ANYTHING and 2, made with LOVE
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I am also of German decent. My mother fixed a dish that sounds a lot like the dish you refer to. I do not remember what the name of it was. I do know that she fried sausage which she then crumbled up and drained the grease. She cooked up a batch of oatmeal using milk . Mixed the oatmeal and sausage, put in a well buttered loaf pan, then put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning she turned the loaf pan over and removed loaf pan. It formed a nice loaf which she then sliced into approximately 1/2 inch slices. Put butter and cooking oil in a fry pan covering the bottom with a thin layer. Used a thin flat metal spatula to transfer the sliced oatmeal/ sausage slices to the frying pan. Browned the bottom and then carefully turned the slices over and browned the other side… To serve place on plates and added maple syrup, or corn syrup, sometimes just sprinkled sugar on.
I make it every once in a while using our home made German sausage, Jimmy Dean Maple sausage or plain ole breakfast sausage. I use the old fashion oatmeal. The 5 minute quick stuff won’t hold the mixture together as well as the old fashion stuff does. Our great grand kids love it!! -
scrapple suit pudding corn meal mush head cheese beef Toung so many things are about to be lost to the past
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and yes I am of mostly German decent
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GWG8541 It will be interesting comparing the two recipes.
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Seems like every thrifty culture has some version of this. Common theme is head meat, meat scraps, offal, a cereal of some sort and seasoning.
One of my favorite variations on this theme is jaternice, and uses bread for the cereal.
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I am also of German decent. My mother fixed a dish that sounds a lot like the dish you refer to. I do not remember what the name of it was. I do know that she fried sausage which she then crumbled up and drained the grease. She cooked up a batch of oatmeal using milk . Mixed the oatmeal and sausage, put in a well buttered loaf pan, then put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning she turned the loaf pan over and removed loaf pan. It formed a nice loaf which she then sliced into approximately 1/2 inch slices. Put butter and cooking oil in a fry pan covering the bottom with a thin layer. Used a thin flat metal spatula to transfer the sliced oatmeal/ sausage slices to the frying pan. Browned the bottom and then carefully turned the slices over and browned the other side… To serve place on plates and added maple syrup, or corn syrup, sometimes just sprinkled sugar on.
I make it every once in a while using our home made German sausage, Jimmy Dean Maple sausage or plain ole breakfast sausage. I use the old fashion oatmeal. The 5 minute quick stuff won’t hold the mixture together as well as the old fashion stuff does. Our great grand kids love it!! -
Walkeg it is similar, but the oats give it a different texture and taste. I have put apple butter on gritz before and it was great.
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Seems like every thrifty culture has some version of this. Common theme is head meat, meat scraps, offal, a cereal of some sort and seasoning.
One of my favorite variations on this theme is jaternice, and uses bread for the cereal.
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This has been a staple breakfast for most my life. My mom made it all the time. We always had a block of it in the freezer. My grandparents were both german. My grandpa was a Schmelzle and my grandma was a Wilhelm. We always called it porridge for some reason, even though it really wasn’t. I remember seeing pigs head in the kitchen when I was growing up. As that became less common and available, Mom just used whatever pork she had later on. We always ate it fried as a sandwich between buttered bread. Oh so good!
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Have any of you guys from ND, SD, MN, WI, maybe IA that have German heritage ever heard of this or eaten it? It is very similar to goetta from what I am reading. I grew up eating this for breakfast at my Grandparents house. It was a common food among German immigrant farming families. It was traditionally made from the pig head meat but also a lot from pork butt. It is a cooked down mixture of ground pork meat with the fat, steel cut oats, spices, and my Grandma always put dark raisins in it (which was a northern Germany thing from what I have read). It is then fried in a bit of oil and topped with maple syrup or karo syrup. It is sooo good. I haven’t had it in 20 years but I am going to remedy that. My Dad got his Grandmother’s recipe from his great aunt!
ND Mike When we butcher we make Scrapple or Pannas. we cook entire beef and pork heads, livers, hearts, meaty bones in a slow boil all day. sieve out the meat and stuff it in casings. the juice at the bottom we add corn meal to. that is what we call pannas or scrapple. the Germans would do basically the same thing and add oatmeal instead of cornmeal and they called it “Pruetals?” we never used any muscle meat, that was for traditional sausage. you would put the mixture in loaf pans, let it set. when you were ready to eat; cut a slice, flour and fry…heavenly
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Well folks. Im working on putting a version of my wife’s family recipe together. As you can tell from this post, there are various versions based on family and regional recipes. Most of these were never written down as recipes on paper, but passed on from one generation to the next, and as mentioned was a way to use the scrap meat which may have been in various amounts at any given time. So recipes were adapted each cook. This morning I called my father-in-law and after that, I called his brother which is my wife’s Uncle David. Its funny, but neither use a recipe since it was something they learned from their dad. They are both in their upper 80s and still making “gritz”. The funny thing is although they learned from the same person, they have each adapted it to their personal taste and the recipes vary a little. I wrote a lot of notes today and will combine them into a recipe to post soon. I already have a written ingredient recipe from Uncle David, but there are no processes included. Today we talked through it on the phone as I took notes… The process was just learned in person and I have always managed
to muddle through it after the one time he taught me how about 25 years ago. Its nice to see all of the post on how each family has the same basic traditions. Its our jobs to make sure these traditions stay alive. -
not only recipes but many skills and traditions need to be passed down or they will be lost ,my wife is teaching the granddaughters to make quilts
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