Hearty cookery of the Amish

"The Amish Cook: Recollections and Recipes from an Old Order Amish Family" provides a unique and fascinating peek not only into the rhythm of one family’s life but into that of an intensely private society as well.

By:Pat Tanner

"The Amish Cook: Recollections and Recipes from an Old Order Amish Family" offers a glimpse of a unique community through traditional recipes.

   "The Amish Cook: Recollections and Recipes from an Old Order Amish Family" (

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) provides a unique and fascinating peek not only into the rhythm of one family’s life but into that of an intensely private society as well.
   The book is a compilation of unprecedented weekly newspaper columns written, beginning in 1991, by Elizabeth Coblentz, an Indiana Amish woman. The column grew out of a chance encounter between Ms. Coblentz and a young newspaper journalist, Kevin Williams. Until her death in 2002, Ms. Coblentz wrote the column in longhand by the soft glow of a kerosene lamp, from her clapboard farmhouse that lacked plumbing and electricity, as required by the Amish order. By that time her column had been picked up by more than 100 newspaper and continues today, with her daughter, Lovina, as writer.
   The cookbook contains Elizabeth’s wonderful recipes, but more uniquely, the joys and sorrows of an Amish life, including weddings, births, funerals, barn raisings and quilting bees. After her own 90-year-old mother died, Elizabeth published her mother’s recipe for chicken salad, and described her passing: "She peacefully fell asleep on Saturday, November 2, at 9:25 a.m. Mother left behind 7 living children, 80 grandchildren, and 302 great-grandchildren."
   Kevin Williams, Ms. Coblentz’s non-Amish editor for both the columns and the book, does an outstanding job of explaining the seemingly contradictory ways of the order. "The Amish reject most modern technology, but not all. They can’t own cars, but they can ride in them (driven by non-Amish) to far-away funerals or for important errands. It’s not the technology the Amish reject, it’s the baggage the technology brings," he writes.
   I’ve included snippets of Elizabeth Coblentz’s words with each of the recipes below, to help convey her style, which goes well beyond recipes and resembles something more like a letter from a cherished friend.


BREAKFAST CASSEROLE
"The Amish Cook," Elizabeth Coblentz
   With Kevin Williams (Ten Speed Press 2002)
   
"This dish is so easy and quick to prepare, and nutritious, too. We made four pans full on New Year’s Day of 2000, for our annual family Christmas gathering. We also served fried potatoes, ham, bacon, cheese, toast, and leftover Christmas goodies like cookies, fruitcakes, and pumpkin rolls." (Elizabeth Coblentz)
   8 slices white or wheat bread, crumbled
   6 eggs
   2 cups milk
   1 onion, diced
   ½ teaspoon salt
   ½ teaspoon dry mustard
   1 pound crumbled bulk sausage, fried and drained
   1 pound grated Colby cheese
   ¼ cup butter or margarine
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put the bread in the bottom of a greased 9-by-13-inch baking dish. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs then add the milk, onion, salt and mustard. Sprinkle the sausage and cheese over the bread. Dot the butter over the cheese and pour the egg mixture over all. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until golden brown.
   Serves 6 to 8.
VELVETY CHEESE SOUP
"The Amish Cook," Elizabeth Coblentz
   With Kevin Williams (Ten Speed Press 2002)




"Some people around here still make their own cheese. I often make homemade cottage cheese, but not the cheese used in this recipe. This soup has a good, cheesy flavor." (Elizabeth Coblentz)
   ¼ cup butter
   ¼ cup minced onion
   ¼ cup all-purpose flour
   4 cups milk
   Salt to taste
   1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
   2 cups fresh (or frozen, unthawed) vegetables pieces, such as corn, diced carrots, or peas
   
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until clear. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the flour, milk and salt. Return the saucepan to the heat and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Add the vegetables. Let simmer for 30 minutes over low heat and serve warm.
   Serves 4 to 6.
EASY OATMEAL PIE
"The Amish Cook," Elizabeth Coblentz
with Kevin Williams (Ten Speed Press 2002)
   "This pie resembles a pecan pie in look, taste, and texture, but it has its own flavor. (It) is rich and easy to make. It keeps for days after being baked, and it seems that the longer it sits, the better it tastes." (Elizabeth Coblentz)
   1 8-inch unbaked pie crust
   ½ cup butter or margarine
   ¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
   2 eggs
   ¾ cup light corn syrup
   ¾ cup rolled oats
   ½ cup walnut pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and eggs. Add the corn syrup, oats and walnuts, and mix. Pour into the pie shell and bake for 1 hour, until thickened inside and golden on top.
   Makes 1 8-inch pie.
Pat Tanner will interview Kevin Williams on Saturday on her radio show, "Dining Today with Pat Tanner," on MoneyTalk AM-1350 from 9 to 10 a.m.