The Amish Cook at Home: Simple Pleasures of Food, Family, and Faith [Hardcover]

Kevin Williams (Author), Lovina Eicher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2008

This cookbook couldn't bend to the fast pace of our e-mail driven world. Like a slow Sunday pot roast, it had to simmer . . . culminating many months of conversation, writing, and Amish wisdom." --Kevin Williams

Part almanac, part cultural overview, part culinary calendar, The Amish Cook at Home is the harbinger of a new era in home cooking.

As the follow-up to Elizabeth Coblentz's The Amish Cook, The Amish Cook at Home by her daughter, Lovina Eicher and her editor and friend Kevin Williams introduces a new generation to Amish cooking and culture.

Structured around the four seasons, which heavily influence Amish life and cooking, The Amish Cook at Home offers recipes teaming with seasonal vegetables, fruits, and meat. Culinary traditions like Dandelion Jelly, Asparagus-Potato Soup, Chicken and Dumplings, and Concord Grape Streusel Pie are featured alongside Amish history, culture, and lore. Stories of Old Order days and glimpses into events like weddings, funerals, tax time, and the holidays are included, as well as anecdotes from Lovina's own family life shared with her husband Joe and their eight children.

The Amish Cook at Home offers a welcome return to nature and community that is centered on the family table.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Part cookbook and part cultural exploration, the book is beautifully written in anecdotal stories that illuminate the Amish respect for the natural world around them. --inmamaskitchen.com

Much more than a hands-on tutorial...also offers an inside look at Amish culture and daily life. --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

About the Author

Together with editor Kevin Williams, Elizabeth Coblentz founded "The Amish Cook" newspaper column and later coauthored the column's namesake inaugural cookbook. Today, Lovina Eicher, Elizabeth's daughter, pens the column that continues to share Amish culture, tradition, and cooking with a nationally syndicated audience of more than 130 newspapers throughout the United States.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (October 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740773720
• ISBN-13: 978-0740773723
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 10.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #206,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lovina Eicher and Kevin Williams write the newspaper column "The Amish Cook," which brings Amish culture, traditions, and recipes into the homes of readers each week. The column is syndicated in over 130 newspapers across the United States. Lovina lives in Michigan with her husband, Joe, and their eight children. Kevin is a frequent speaker and author on Amish topics. He lives in Middletown, Ohio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book about seasons, food, and the Amish way of life, November 28, 2008

By 

Karen Marie (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Amish Cook at Home: Simple Pleasures of Food, Family, and Faith (Hardcover)

The Amish Cook at Home is a wonderful book. I learned more about the Amish culture from this book than in my whole life previously. I appreciated Lovina sharing her family with me and Kevin's comments and insights as an editor, friend, and outside observer.

The recipes are straightforward. I liked Lovina's comments at the beginning of each recipe, whether a hint about what she does, or a comment about when the recipe is used. Inexperienced and experienced cooks can both use and learn from the recipes.

The book takes you through a year at the Eichers, with food to define the seasons, activities, and holidays. Dandelion greens in the spring, zucchini in the summer, Sourdough starter and bread in the fall, meat dishes in the winter. All with contributions from the children, Lovina, and her husband Joe. I especially loved reading what the children wrote.

Best of all are Lovina's Sourdough Starter, Sourdough Bread, and Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls recipes. The book is worth acquiring and reading for many reasons, but most of all for these three recipes. The cinnamon rolls are light and flavorful and the bread is marvelously light and delicate. We just took some out of the oven and ate it warm with butter - heavenly.

This is a good addition to any cook's kitchen and to anybody interested in the Amish way of life.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Savor the Photographs not the recipes, May 20, 2010

By 

Antigone Walsh - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Amish Cook at Home: Simple Pleasures of Food, Family, and Faith (Hardcover)

While the photographs are truly a feast for the eyes,sadly the recipes are not a feast for the tongue or tummy. The Amish have a reputation as superb cooks and bakers and I was looking forward to trying some truly delicious,wholesome recipes. Imagine my surprise when I found the recipes filled with ingredients such as Velveeta,hot dogs and Miracle Whip!!!!Many of the recipes are just not appetizing, ie chicken slopped with condensed soup and cheese. However as I don't think it is fair to review a cookbook without trying at least a few of the recipes, I made two,the strawberry pie and the rhubarb dessert. The pie was the bigger disappointment. The filling was gummy and did nothing to enhance the flavor of the berries. The crust which contained cooking oil and milk was not flaky. The rhubarb concoction is pretty much a meringue topped bar. It was passable but not something I would add to my repertoire of recipes.

Visually, the photographs are stunning. Most are of pastoral scenes, animals and produce. Very few are of the recipes. The text is wildly uneven, with inane remembrances and almost embarrassing essays by the author's kids. However there are some interesting tidbits about the Amish religion and practices and some lovely prayers. I could have done without the description of the chicken butchering where the children partake by pulling out the innards.

If you chose to get this book savor the photos,skim the text and skip the recipes.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book!, November 13, 2008

By 

M. T. Guzman "squeakychu" (Rockville, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Amish Cook at Home: Simple Pleasures of Food, Family, and Faith (Hardcover)

I really love this cookbook book for its down-home simplicity. Lovina Eicher, the daughter of the late Amish food columnist Elizabeth Coblentz, continues her mother's sharing of recipes and Amish culture with the rest of this world in a book with stunning photography, articles which read like personal letters, recipes which are easy to make and tasty as well, and precious writing from her closest family.

The fact that the book centers on the seasons is a plus for me, not only because local is now "in", but also because I started my own vegetable garden this year as well as joined a CSA (community-supported agriculture) group. I closely identified with what the author wrote about seasonal produce and took special interest in each individual vegetable and fruit. The most beautiful part of the book for me was the section about the pumpkins because I grew my own (first) pumpkin this year. I could feel the author's excitement about her family's experiences raising their own food from the tilling of the soil all the way through to the end of the harvest.

I identified with almost all of what she had written except for her religion which was different from my own, but very interesting nevertheless. Some of Eicher's recipes I'd not make because I come from a tradition of not mixing milk and meat, however they are easy enough to modify so that I expect to have great fun adapting them to my own way of cooking.

While I was talking excitedly about this book, a friend asked to borrow it. I'll certainly lend it as it is truly a beautiful book to share. The fact is, though, that I'll soon be wanting it back. It's lovely. Don't miss it!