No comments about Classic Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking: 300 Classic Homemade Hand-Me-Down Favorites.

5 comments about Recipes From The Old Mill.

1. `Recipes from the Old Mill' by sisters, Sarah E. Myers and Mary Beth Lind sits on the boundary between a document of ethnic recipes and manual of baking with whole-wheat flour and allied grain flours.
   
   The first clue to the volume's inclination is the fact that it is published by Good Books, a publisher of a wide variety of Pennsylvania German (Dutch) cookbooks. The dissonance arises when we discover that the sisters grew up on the site of an old water powered flourmill in the mountains of West Virginia. The authors themselves say they feel a bit split between the `Dutch' and Appalachian Mountain influences. A look at the recipes reinforces this dual heritage, as there are many traditional Pennsylvania German recipes such as apple dumplings, molasses cake, scrapple (corn meal is a major scrapple ingredient) and chicken pot pie along with many more Southern dishes such as hush puppies, (unsweetened) corn bread (many varieties), and buttermilk biscuits. The ties to being a manual of whole wheat baking is found in the fact that there are so many recipes from many different parts of the world using whole wheat flour which are not commonly made with this ingredient. Some obvious examples are scones, hot cross buns, and brioche. One is tempted to include Irish soda bread, but as I recently discovered, the most traditional Irish soda bread is in fact made with whole-wheat flour.
   
   The authors are true to their word in one very important respect. Virtually every recipe which includes flour also includes whole wheat flour as an ingredient. And, the authors open with a brief discussion of flour types with a bit of a sneer at `All Purpose Flour', and a total absence from specifying `all purpose flour' in any of their recipes, although it is clear that this product will work in virtually every recipe which calls for `flour'. This is one symptom that the authors, who are `food professionals', but unlike our best baking specialists such as Peter Reinhart, Rose Levy Beranbaum, and Nancy Silverton, they are not professional bakers (Sarah is an occupational therapist and Mary Beth is a consulting dietitian). This does not mean their recipes are poor, it just means that there is enough vagueness here and there that an experienced baker will do better with many of these recipes than will a total amateur.
   
   One symptom of the authors' vagueness is the fact that they specify `dry yeast' in all their yeast recipes. I'm certain they mean `Active Dry' yeast (Fleishman's brand name), but there are at least three different types of readily available yeast in the local supermarket, it is easy for a newbie to pick cake yeast which is sort of dry or `Rapid Rise' yeast which behaves a bit differently from `Active Dry'. Other vague references are to ingredients such as `1 egg' (what size?) and `oil' (what kind, or what kind should we avoid?) Oddly, sometimes the egg size is specified and sometimes it is not. Another little vagueness is in the apple dumpling recipe where the procedure writeup seems to specify folding a single square of dough around the apple, while the diagram makes it look like the dumpling is formed by sandwiching the apple between tow squares of dough. Having done a fair bit of apple dumpling folding in my time, I thought the diagrammed approach was very good, but the text simply didn't follow through. I also sort of miss the glaze or butter sauce typically used to top the baked goodies, but the authors are trying to be just a bit healthy here.
   
   There are two standard ingredients in a large number of these recipes that really date the recipes. Even though the book was first published in 1995, the heavy use of margarine and instant non-fat fry milk makes so many of the recipes read and feel like they come from the 1950's. Another ingredient that tends to date the recipes is carob, a chocolate substitute. Once upon a time, I know carob was considered a healthy, low fat alternative to chocolate, but all that changed when chocolate got a good health makeover, revealing that it is on the healthy eating hit parade.
   
   While these observations make the book just a bit challenging for the baking newbie, the book remains a major source and find for lots of important recipes, especially if you don't have an extensive library on baking and do not live near a well-stocked Public Library. I was most impressed by the fact that there were recipes for brioche, hot cross buns, English muffins, yeast pancakes, chapatis (East Indian flatbread) and `Native American Fry Bread'. This last item made a major guest appearance on Alton Brown's recent `Feasting on Asphalt' special where AB made one, making it look very much like the technique for making pizza dough, even though it is really a lot simpler. We even have recipes for pizza, tortillas, and bagels. A bread for every ethnicity! I was just a bit disappointed with the doughnut recipes, as some of what the authors called doughnuts may have been better labeled as Beignets. On the other hand, I was especially happy to see cardamon among the ingredients for the hot cross buns, plus the warning that hot cross buns have a tendency to be very heavy.
   
   The recipe chapters are:
   
   Corn
   Wheat
   Rye
   Buckwheat
   Multigrain
   Spreads (what, no recipe for marmelade!)
   Breakfast and Holiday Breads (especially good chapter)
   Cultural Foods
   Main Dishes (including homemade noodles)
   Desserts (mostly cookies, crumbles, and crisps)
   
   If you are fond of country style cooking and baking (and have some experience with baking), this book is a real find. And, please recognize that virtually every whole wheat recipe in almost every book will include all purpose flour to add required gluten.



2. I've owned this book for many years. I have had wonderful reviews from my family on almost every item I've baked from it. I've tried several of the bread/roll recipes and they are well done. Our family's current favorite is the recipe for butterhorns - I made a batch of 24 yesterday and all but 2 are gone now! My only complaint is that a couple of the recipes I've tried have been a little on the dry side when finished. Other than that everything has been excellent that we have tested. My copy of the book is also nicely laid out - easy to read, and plenty of room to make my personal notes.



3. Before I had this cookbook, I tried to add whole grain to my recipes and often ended up with very dense foods. With this cookbook, my pancakes and muffin are fluffy and delicious, but much healthier than regular recipes.



4. I make a lot of bread and I have recently decided to concentrate on whole grain artisan loaves. I found this title on a shelf and decided to give it a chance.
   
   The subtitle of this book is "Baking with Whole Grains". Based on this, one would be led to believe that a typical recipe from this book would be very much based on whole grains, be it wheat flour, rye, or cornmeal. Unfortunately, a good percentage of the recipes in the book come off as normal recipes based on highly refined flours, with a little whole grain goodness added in just to meet the criteria of the subtitle. Perhaps this meets the requirements to the letter, but it seems that it violates the spirit of the idea of whole-grain baking.
   
   For "real" whole-grain baked goods, there are better choices in cookbooks.
   
   So, in spite of this issue, the recipes within are actually quite good! I have made several of these and my family has been very pleased. Perhaps the most interesting surprise from this book has been "Skillet Custard Cornbread", a cornbread with a soft custard layer on top, baked in a cast-iron skillet. The breakfast breads (pancakes, waffles, etc) are also exceptional and are among the more requested things I make for my family now.
   
   While this book is not the whole-grain baking book I had hoped for, it is still full of good recipes and I will use it regularly. I cannot give it 5 stars because of the deceptive title; if you can find a copy on a shelf somewhere, take a look at it before you decide to buy. If its shortcoming is something you can overlook, it is still a very good bread/baking book in its own right.



5. If you want your bread to taste like cardboard, don't buy this book. If, though, you want palatable and practical recipes, then you have come to the right place.
   
   My mother in law purchased Recipes from the Old Mill for me at the Tamarack tourist shop in West Virginia - at full price, no less! She could just tell it was going to be great and she was right. I've tried about a half dozen recipes now and they have been so delicious that I purchased another copy through Amazon to keep at our mountain home. I have even gotten rid of a couple other cookbooks. The banana cinnamon buns alone are worth the price of this book. I really like the tips on freezing them for later. (Contrary to the instructions, I have put frozen banana buns in the oven at bed time with the oven set to come on and bake them before we get up. They don't rise fully that way but they are still wonderful to wake up to...)
   
   If you read the back cover, you will see that the recipes are adapted from ones handed down from a family of millers over the past couple generations, so it is only reasonable to expect to use grains actually milled there, and yes, that means wheat, buckwheat, oats, corn, barley, rye. Buckwheat is every bit as different from cereals as quinoa or amaranth, just not as exotic or in vogue right now.
   
   So, unless you really, really, really can't abide wheat, then there is no reason not to enjoy this terrific book.

4 comments about Cookbook From Amish Kitchens: Jams (Cookbooks from Amish Kitchens).

1. The bulk of the jams in the book are simple and quick( relatively) to prepare.

   The directions are easy to follow and written at the level any begineer cook could follow. Most of the ingredients are easy to find (and you'd have most on hand probably if you were making Jam anyway).




2. Hard to believe this collection in 32 pages is really based on Amish ways. While I am not Amish and don't know a whole lot about their goings on, I find it hard to believe Pineapples (required in at least a couple recipes) grow in Ohio/Pennsylvania (or is their an Amish family living in Hawaii?). Some recipes called for orange and Strawberry jello, commercially prepared mayonaise, and a freezer (to store pickles in). This leads me to think the authors know less than I do about the Amish.



3. I have to disagree with the previous review. Growing up in PA Dutch Country and spending 42 years there, more than 30 of them cooking these foods, I think this book is a fair representation. Lots of PA Dutch recipes use commercial mayonnaise and Jello (look in any amish/pa dutch/mennonite cookbook and you'll find salads made with Jello). We're not living in the dark ages anymore! Pineapples are available in almost every grocery store and the amish DO have refrigeration. All in all, I'd say this book was worth the money.



4. I have all of these adorable little 'Cook Books from Amish Kitchens', and have really enjoyed them. The are very small and simple... the complete opposite of a coffee-table/display-style cookbooks we see most often today. This is a thin pamphlet with matte paper and does not include interior photos of any recipes (excluding the cover). The text is in a handwritten-style font and clearly explained. The recipes are very homey with basic ingredients and techniques; nothing fancy. Simple, delicious recipes in a simple, small booklet. RECOMMENDED.

3 comments about The Wooden Spoon Cookbook: Authentic Amish Cooking.

1. this is SUCH a great cookbook! i love the stories and amish wisdom interspersed with the recipes. the baked goods have never flopped, and are always a big hit! i don't even need to double them to feed my big family! the only caution- read the recipe all the way before starting, because sometimes they add unlisted ingredients in the middle...



2. I got to meet the author and she was as pleasant as the the stories in the cookbook. I have used the book more than once and found the simplest recipes to be the best. The stories make the book worth reading even if you are not in the mood to cook. She produced another cookbook the "Wedding Sampler" and the sweets are very fun and delicious. Great book and wonderful young lady.



3. I was really disappointed with this one. The majority of the recipes were for desserts and it doesn't seem like "authentic" Amish cooking would use so much Jello and Velveeta. I did add a few simple dishes to my meal plan to try though.

No comments about Mrs. Miller's Amish Cookbook.

3 comments about Plain and Happy Living: Amish Recipes and Remedies.

1. Mr. Gail and Emma byler have done a fine job helping us remember all those skills that our grandparents grew up with. Today, with everything brought to us at a supermarket, we have lost much of the knowledge that was common sense years ago. This book lets us in on some of that knowledge that has been forgotten in this fast paced world of today!!



2. Five hundred years ago, it was illegal to own a Bible written in any language other than the dead language of Latin. But the invention of the printing press created a vibrant black market in vernacular Bibles in Germany, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, - thus the Reformation was born. Out of this came a group of Bible readers called the Anabaptists (again baptized) from which the Amish emerged along with the Hutterites and Mennonites, who in time took their beliefs and philosophy of nonviolence to North America. The Native Americans found the Amish to be friendly and not warlike as the English were. Hence, the Amish learned of many native plants and herbs, and how to grow them.
   
   Emma Byler is Amish. Her father taught her the Native American foods and herbal medicines such as golden seal for a sore throat. He and the Amish community also taught her Amish Biblical wisdom. Her subsequent life experience taught her the rest: she raised ten kids on her own beginning at age 33 after her husband died. "We had to make do with what we had", she wrote. Through the years, she recollected the home remedies she had learned and wrote them down; she also wrote down recipes and even an occasional memo of a memorable event. As her writings grew, she found an empty shoe box to keep them in while she kept writing and adding to her library.
   
   One day an anthropologist, Peter Gail, met the now 70-some year old Amish woman and learned of her library. Seeing the treasure there in recipes, Native American home remedies, homemade household goods, food preservation, and decorative knot-tying, Dr. Gail helped her to compile this book. The food list for a 200 guest wedding dinner alone is worth the price of this book.
   
   In addition, Mrs. Byler shares her Amish wisdom brightened by a wonderful sense of humor honed by her faith in God and many life experiences. She offers much food for thought in addition to her recipes for many foods - a delightful chairside companion!



3. In chapter 7 under "Pregnancy" the author writes:
   
   "Strawberry or red raspberry leaf tea may be used until about three weeks before birth only." I don't know about strawberry leaf tea but I know that any herbalist will tell you that you can use red raspberry leaf tea before the last three weeks before the birth. Although, there is some controversy over whether or not it should be used in the first trimester. In the same paragraph, the author writes, "Black cohosh and blue cohosh teas are also good." But, the author doesn't specify a time-frame in pregnancy in which the cohoshes could be used which may lead one to believe that they are okay to use at any time in pregnancy, which they definitely are not.
   
   A couple of books I recommend for herbs in pregnancy are "The Complete Woman's Herbal" by Anne McIntyre and "The Naturally Healthy Pregnancy" by Shonda Parker. Both books are written by professional herbalists.

1 comments about Cookbook From Amish Kitchens: Salad (Cookbooks from Amish Kitchens).

1. I have all of these adorable little 'Cook Books from Amish Kitchens', and have really enjoyed them. The are very small and simple... the complete opposite of a coffee-table/display-style cookbooks we see most often today. This is a thin pamphlet with matte paper and does not include interior photos of any recipes (excluding the cover). The text is in a handwritten-style font and clearly explained. The recipes are very homey with basic ingredients and techniques; nothing fancy. Simple, delicious recipes in a simple, small booklet. RECOMMENDED.

3 comments about Amish Cooking.

1. What a great cookbook! The recipes are easy to understand. Recipes vary from dinner entrees, breads, soups, desserts and candies to canning, making juice from grapes and much more. It contains helpful hints throughout. This would make a great gift for all! There's a recipe for making taffy that would be lots of fun for children, too. Take a look and see for yourself.



2. I bought this book to see different recipes. These recipes are good for a person that's fixing for an Army. I know the Amish fix bulk when they cook. Like there's one recipe that you are casin and you need 50 pounds of meat and lots of spices. If I was feeding for my entire family that would be different. Overall this book has some great recipes and tips that's why I gave it three stars.



3. This is a great Amish cookbook, try the shoo-fly pie, yummy...and the Cherry pudding, it is not really a pudding!!

No comments about The Amish Cook's Family Favorites & Facts.

2 comments about Cookbook From Amish Kitchens: Vegetables (Cookbooks from Amish Kitchens).

1. I have all of these adorable little 'Cook Books from Amish Kitchens', and have really enjoyed them. The are very small and simple... the complete opposite of a coffee-table/display-style cookbooks we see most often today. This is a thin pamphlet with matte paper and does not include interior photos of any recipes (excluding the cover). The text is in a handwritten-style font and clearly explained. The recipes are very homey with basic ingredients and techniques; nothing fancy. Simple, delicious recipes in a simple, small booklet. RECOMMENDED.



2. This is a very petite book but I have tried several of the recipes and they are quite delicious! Only downside is that the book is small and that there are no pictures