Mennonite Community Cookbook [Plastic Comb]

Mary Emma Showalter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1992

Showalter has collected 1,100 recipes--tantalizing dishes brought to this country directly from old Dutch, German, Swiss, and Russian kitchens--from hundreds of Mennonite women noted for their excellent cooking. Each chapter is introduced by the author's own nostalgic recollection of cooking in her grandmother's day. Color photos and illustrations throughout.

Product Details

• Plastic Comb: 494 pages
• Publisher: Herald Press (VA) (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 083613625X
• ISBN-13: 978-0836136258
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic!, June 16, 2004

By 

Michael Cornett "Madman" (Takoma Park, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mennonite Community Cookbook (Plastic Comb)

OK, it's a little old-fashioned, but it's a relic of a bygone age, and many of the recipes deserve to be given new life.

The weaknesses are mostly in some of the main-course recipes that, by all appearances, can be extremely fatty and greasy. Speaking as someone who just lost 30 pounds, I don't need that! But they're probably good for an occasional indulgence.

The cookie, cake and pie recipes are the book's strongest point. Saucepan Fudge Cake is easy and unbelievably good, and Rochester Cake (also labelled as Grandmother's Favorite Cake) is outstanding, a layered spice cake with a raisin filling and topping. It's a great favorite of mine for parties.

The recipes for pickles, jams and jellies will probably interest a lot of people in reviving the dying art of home canning.

There are recipes that probably don't work at all in today's world, or are probably not up to modern tastes. A Russian "birthday cake" is pumpernickel bread, sliced and spread with cottage cheese, and the recipe is probably presented more as a historical curiosity than anything else. Another recipe, for a "Pork Cake", is something like a cross between a fruitcake and a meatloaf and will probably make modern cooks gag.

Still, there are many good good good recipes in this book. Hearty old-fashioned fare, not something to base one's diet from, but a great addition to a cook's library.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent general cookbook for any one, October 7, 2003

By 

A. L. Miller "windsparrow" (Minneapolis, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mennonite Community Cookbook (Plastic Comb)

This cookbook often gives more than one recipe for a given dish, some simpler, some more difficult. That makes this a great cookbook for a beginner, as well as for those looking for good old-fashioned recipes. I was a vegetarian from the big city when a college roommate introduced me to this cookbook. Even though this is not a vegetarian cookbook, there is a wider variety of meatless recipes, particularly soups than one might expect. Not only are there many terrific recipes, there are also helpful household hints - my favorite being a list of what to cook for a barn-raising. Not that I expect to need that, but it is very interesting.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mother's home cooking, October 26, 2005

By 

A. David Mundt (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mennonite Community Cookbook (Plastic Comb)

I acknowledge the Madman's points: most of the recipes in this book do not conform to today's dietary standards. But bear in mind that this book was first written over 70 years ago. That's when my mother got her copy. She still has it with the cover's half-torn off and pages stuck in loose and scribbled on. This was a Pennsylvania Dutch housewife's book of recipes for Pennsylvania Dutch housewives. They weren't worried about waistlines or BMI numbers. They needed to feed their families who worked in the fields or guests over for a holiday feast.

I also agree that the strength is the desert section, but that is the specialty of the PA Dutch. My brother, sister, and I would spend winter days with mother making cookies from the recipes and I even took a turn at making the cream puff recipe once for a church social. They turned out great!

Not only is this a wonderful recipe book, but to me, it is a family treasure.