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

by Kevin Williams (Author), Lovina Eicher (Author)
Key Phrases: homemade pie dough, chicken soup base, teaspoon ground pepper, Some Amish, Parke County, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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

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

Product Description
"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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; illustrated edition edition (October 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740773720
• ISBN-13: 978-0740773723
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,566 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 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

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.

5 of 6 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)

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!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What an amazing book!, October 28, 2008

By	Book Momma "Ruth" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This book is a beautiful collection of recipes, photography and stories. The recipes can be made from things you have in your home, and are good old fashioned comfort type foods. The amazing photography was all done at the Eicher farm and was taken during all four seasons of the year. The best part are the stories, which talk about cultural events in the life of the Amish, plus personal stories about life in the Eicher house. This is SO much more than a cookbook! It is a wonderful opportunity to take a peek into the life of an Amish family. You will love this book!