Did You Know The Amish Are Great Cooks

Cooking With Amish Excellence

If your like me and have been to Amish country and seen the giant gardens by the Amish homes! You have to ask yourself where do all of those vegetables go? We All know that some of the vegetables are sold, while others vegetables are canned and stored away for future use.  So, it should come as no surprise that the Amish communities have some great cooks. Now if you love to cook or are looking for that special recipes, that you remember your grandmother cooking, this Blog's for you. The Crockett Cooner is here again writing for The Amish Of Ethridge. I've done some sniffing around for Amish cookbooks and I've found some great information for you chef's out there !!!

What To Expect In An Amish Cookbook

With such large families it will come as no surprise that the average Amish family has a lot of  mouths to feed. As, hard working laborers the Amish do enjoy great food after a hard days work. Usually made from fresh ingredients, many times grown right from their personal gardens. So this made me wonder, what do the Amish house wives cook for meals and special events to feed such large families? I wondered, are the Amish recipes any different from what I'm used to eating? I have to say that I was in amazement to find that the recipes in the Amish cookbooks, sound really tasty. 

If you enjoy good hardy home cooked meals, the way your grandmother cooked them then the Amish cookbooks might have just what you love. Everything from salads, homemade from scratch chicken and dumplings, breads, soups, and great desserts. It seems in the Amish cookbooks I looked into, they where perfect when looking for that special meal for dinner or for traditional chocolate cake recipes that are so sweet an moist, you will have to have a glass of milk, just to wash it down!!! 

"Coming from the southern United States, the old Cooner here knows his way around a good hardy dish of food. If it could be deep fried, cooked with real butter, or cookies with so much sugar it will pucker you mouth, I've enjoyed it in times past. The taste of all the different dishes at the pot luck dinners, I remember as a kid, where popping off the pages of the Amish cookbooks above"   

                   Crockett Cooner 

Lets Look At A Recipe I Want To Try

One recipe that caught my eye that I'm definitely going to try is an Amish casserole, that seemed very hardy and easy to make. It just felt like a great comfort recipe, food to eat after a day in cold weather to warm up for dinner. The recipe seemed very basic starting with the usual 9x13 pan for baking, sprayed with non stick spray. Next using a package of egg noodles cooked until done and drained. You put that aside and brown a pound of hamburger meet, when the hamburger is fully cooked, the greases is drained a splash of Worcestershire is added to the meat. Then in a large mixing bowl you combine a can of, cream of mushroom, one can of thick and creamy tomato soup,  2 cups of whole milk, 1 tbsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. onion powder, and salt to taste, optional   (1 tsp. garlic minced). Then you combine the mixture with egg noodles stir ingredients together layer the mixture in 9x13 pan bake in the oven on 350f uncovered. Lastly remove when cooked 30-35 min top with parmesan cheese. Now! talk about your comfort food, it seemed like a basic enough dish and would be great for left overs for lunch the next day.

Other Great Amish Cookbook Dishes Included

• Amish Chicken Corn Soup
• Amish Pot Pies (chicken/beef)
• Amish Beef Stew
• Amish Sweet Pot Roast with Brown Sugar
• Amish Dumplings
• Amish casseroles of all types!!

One point that I found very interesting while looking into the Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook. Was in the above  picture from the 'Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook' where, author J. George Frederick compared the dutch Amish cooking to southern cooks by saying "They relied on flour in cookery quiet as frequently as did Southern cooks with their hot biscuits, pot-pies, and pancakes." This statement is so accurate, I'm taken back. It is well known here in the southern United States that a great biscuit for breakfast will always have a large amount of flour and baking soda to give you that good taste we all desire first thing in the morning with coffee. But, as we all know eating food prepared this way will do two things for sure, keep you full and make you as big as a barn!!!

Amish Meals For Those That Watch Their Weight

Now understand the Amish do love a great meal and are hard physical laborers, able to burn off a few extra pounds after a breakfast, with their usual labor intensive day. An Amish breakfast could consist of fried salted smoked country ham, real butter on biscuits covered in sorghum molasses, with some over easy eggs fresh from their farm. But, much like anyone else the Amish are  also very health conscious people. Did you know the Amish make great salads? From a light Amish broccoli salad too a Amish broccoli and cauliflower recipe the greens that the Amish usually make their salads from are very fresh, many times just picked from the garden minutes before eating.  Not to mention the Amish love a good cold fruit salad, on a hot summers day. Usually straight from their orchards or their many varieties of strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, and watermelon plants. 

For those of you that would like something light just a few bites of something to tide you over. Possibly a light cold pasta type of dish on the side of your main course. The Amish cookbooks also show a great potato salad recipe and macaroni salad recipe. Macaroni salad makes a great dish for cookouts, family gatherings, and to go with a good homecooked hamburger. The macaroni salad recipe I looked at was quiet impressive. With elbow macaroni, hard boiled eggs, onions, celery, red bell pepper, dill pickle, miracle whip, yellow mustard, white sugar, white vinegar, salt, and celery seed. I could almost taste the macaroni salad as I was reading the recipe, dreaming of it all together and chilled on a hot summers day for a barbecue.    

I've saved the best for last, dessert and I can assure all my readers that this part of the post is so sweet, its not for the faint of heart.... I noticed one area of cooking that I agree with the Amish on for sure. I have a unhealthy  passion, an unnatural attraction, for  cakes, cookies, and pie the sweeter the better!!! In the Amish cookbook 'Cooking With The Horse And Buggy People II' by Amanda Mast & Henry E. Mast, I found a great large chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookie recipe. The Horse and Buggy People cookbook is a collection of recipes from Amish cooks, with some of the recipes dating back to the first of the century. Real old world styles, of made from scratch dishes with natural ingredients.

I was amazed at how the Large Chocolate Cake Recipe used the normal things such as eggs and water but also called for shortening, vanilla, and the use of sour milk or buttermilk!! Now I have to say that buttermilk is not really an ingredient you see on a cake mix from the local supermarket in these days. The more I read my taste buds really went wild, when I saw the recipe called for sugar, cocoa, and vanilla...It took me right back to being a child and helping my grandmother in the kitchen. Like all of you know, a good cookie is hard to beat!!! The recipe that appealed to me the most in the Horse and Buggy People Cookbook, had to be the chocolate chip cookie recipe. It called for what you would normally thank of with all purpose flour and corn starch, and baking powder. The part of the cookie recipe that really intrigued me the MOST where the  the last ingredients. Brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and fresh chocolate chips. Now I have to say for a fellow that loves all things chocolate, this really was going to make it hard for me to stay on my Keto diet, it just made my mouth water!!!    

Here Are Some Steps To Take For Readers That May Be Interested In Collecting Amish Recipes By Word Of Mouth.  

1. If you are wanting to speak with some Amish ladies that cook and will share their recipes, my suggestion would be to take your trip to Amish country during Winter months. Usually there is not as much work around an Amish homestead at this time of year. 
2. The time of day plays a great roll in what time the Amish ladies can spend speaking with you. My suggestion would be NOT around any major meal times, or on days that have been set aside for things such as laundry day, canning or major holidays. 
3. When you have found a few Amish cooks to speak with, know your Amish etiquette. If the ladies of the Amish home appear busy thank them, and plan on another day. Remember taking notes on cell phones or laptops my not be a great idea, I suggest pen and paper. 
4. If you happen to miss something when taking notes on a recipes. Make sure to ask the Amish ladies for their home address before leaving. Sending a letter would get you in contact with the Amish cooks, on information you might have missed.

Sadly we have come to the end of this post, I really hope the next time you are looking for a Cookbook. That you keep the Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book in mind or my other all time favorite Amish cookbook, Cooking With The Horse & Buggy People. I believe you will be amazed at the great recipes you find inside of them. They really have great recipes for people that love comfort food. Thank you again for reading this post. Please feel free to check out the rest of our blog and our other websites, and leave us a comment and review at the bottom.  We love to find out new and interesting things in our comment section. Make sure to subscribe to our news letter to get more fascinating post on Amish subjects. Lastly, make sure to check us out at Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Have a wonderful day, and keep an eye out for our newest post.