That's because, Ruth, he said you can spice it any way you want. He likes it a bit spicy, but others don't. So he wouldn't give me any spices for it. He also said that you needn't use ham -- you could use any bits of meat you had around, as "they did during the Depression."

My Uncle would not give me his recipes for either sauerkraut or hausenpfieffer -- he said they "weren't very good."

Goetta (pronounced "gerta") is a similar dish from the Cincinnati area.