Eckerlin Meats in Cincinnati — HO-scale diorama miniature of the shop AI-generated

Eckerlin Meats

Cincinnati, United States

A family butcher at Findlay Market that has held a stand there since the market opened in 1855. It started as Ernie Eckerlin's slaughterhouse; Bob Lillis took it into the fourth generation in 1983. Goetta is the shop's best-known product: pork shoulder, beef cheek and trim simmered with oats for four to five hours and poured into loaf pans, 300 to 500 pounds a week. After a two-year renovation the shop moved back into its original space on Elder Street in April 2025 and now makes all its goetta on site. A small counter sells goetta, egg and cheese sandwiches.

Click to activate map

Sausages from Eckerlin Meats

Goetta

Goetta

Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky

Goetta is the breakfast meat of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky: ground pork and beef simmered for hours with pinhead oats, onion and bay leaf, set in loaf pans, then sliced and fried. A good slice comes out of the pan with a dark, crisp, pebbly crust and a soft grey-brown inside. Locals eat it with a runny egg, argue about ketchup against syrup, and put it in sandwiches, omelettes and on pizza.

porkbeefoats