"Amish Cooks Across America" Review

The popular columnist and cookbook author The Amish Cook explores the traditions of Amish settlements across America, with more than 100 new recipes from Amish and Mennonite communities, as well as profiles of the communities themselves.

In Amish Cooks Across America: Recipes and Traditions from Maine to Montana, the celebrated columnist and cookbook author known as The Amish Cook explores why one Amish community in the Northeast makes Shoofly Pie while another settlement in the South favors Muscadine Pie.
   
Divided into chapters highlighting Amish groups in the North, South, East, West, and Midwest, with side trips to Canada and Central America, this recipe book doubles as a travelogue, sampling the cultural and culinary differences among Amish and Mennonite communities across the nation.
   
The Amish are the original locavores. In this collection of fascinating recipes, you'll find favorites from middle America, such as Scalloped Corn, alongside coastal specialties such as Grilled Lime Fish Fillets and Avocado Egg Scramble, as well as Western staples such as Elk Stew and Huckleberry Pancakes, and Southern classics such as Sweet Potato Surprise Cake.
     
This more-than-a-cookbook is filled with full-color photographs of food and the places visited, along with profiles that explore the origins and cooking traditions of each community. This is a book like no other--a delicious melting pot and a fascinating armchair tour of Amish America.


Amish Cooks Across America
Lovina Eicher & Kevin Williams
Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication date: May 28, 2013
192 pages


My Take:

I love cookbooks.  And I love home-style food.

So I really enjoyed this Amish cookbook. Not only does it have good recipes but it has neat photographs and interesting insights into the places where these recipes were produced.

Most of the recipes in this cookbook were simple to prepare and used easy-to-find ingredients. There were a few that were not to our liking - we don't have elk where we live, and I'm not sure I would want to eat it even if we did - but most of the recipes I would try.

Some of my favorites were the Potato Chowder, the Homemade Baking Mix, and the Cheesy Enchiladas. My husband really liked the Broccoli Salad and the Apple Cake.

For some tasty recipes and a good look into the lives of the Amish in America, this might be one cookbook to pick up.






Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Andrews McMeel Publishing. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."