Pfanne hash?

by Janice Conner
(Piney Flats, TN)

Dear Oma,
Your recent email about breakfast and the word “pfanne” made me wonder if you could help me solve the mystery of how to spell/pronounce the name of this German breakfast recipe that has been in my family for generations.
My father’s grandfather, with the last name Ott, was of German ancestry. In his old age he lived with my grandfather (his son) and my grandmother. He insisted on having a particular food for breakfast which my grandmother made for him regularly. My father, growing up, also ate it regularly. So later when my mother and father met and married, my grandmother insisted my mother learn to make it too, for my father. Since my mother made it for my father I also grew up eating it for breakfast and learned how to make it. So now at 73 years old I still make it, and enjoy it.
My mother’s pronunciation was “Pahn Hosh”. I don’t know how she would spell it, I don’t think it was ever written down. It is corn meal mush made with finely chopped beef and beef broth, mostly corn meal mush. It was probably used as a way to use up bits of leftover meat. (“Sparsam Kochen” from your previous email.) My mother only made it with beef. It is cooked then packed into a cake pan, chilled, then sliced into quarter inch slices, 1 ½ inches high and about 3 inches long, about the size of a bar cookie. The slices are placed on a heated skillet (Pfanne?) and lightly browned on both sides and served hot with pancake syrup.
I am wondering if Pfanne is the German word my mother tried to say when she said Pahn. I’m wondering if Hosh is a word she said when she meant another German word. I just don’t know what it is, perhaps the word for hash. Could you help me with the German word for what this breakfast food would have been called?
My mother always cooked the mush on the stove top in a large pot, stirring constantly to avoid sticking, a labor of love, the way she was taught by my grandmother. However, I now cook it in the microwave so I don’t have to stand and stir for half an hour. The results are the same. I’ve included the recipe that I cook in the microwave. Thank you so much for your emails, I do enjoy reading them.

I use a 2 quart clear pyrex microwave safe mixing bowl with a handle, a spatula for
stirring, and an 8” or 9” square cake pan.

4 cups of water and beef broth combination, more water than broth (I’ve also just stirred
leftover beef gravy into water as a replacement for broth, as long at it’s a total of
only 4 cups)
1 ½ cups plain yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup leftover beef roast, minced

Pour the 4 cups of water/beef broth into the pyrex bowl and heat in the microwave until very hot. Stir in the butter, salt, and cornmeal till well blended. Microwave on high 4 minutes stirring after each minute until very thick. Stir in the leftover minced beef and microwave two more minutes. Hash is done if after drawing a spoon through the dough the spoon leaves a ditch and the hash doesn’t move. It should be rather stiff. Spray the cake pan with PAM or lightly grease it with oil. Pack the hash into the pan evenly. Place in the refrigerator uncovered and allow to cool completely. Cut into six blocks, remove a block and slice into ¼ inch slices. Fry on a dry non-stick griddle over medium heat until lightly browned, flip and fry on the other side. Serve with pancake syrup. Blocks can be individually wrapped and refrigerated or frozen for later breakfasts. (My mother would fry them on a well seasoned iron skillet that she greased lightly with bacon grease to keep from sticking. I use the dry non-stick skillet.)

Thank you for your help and for emails I look forward to reading!
Janice