Amish Cooking....

Freda Yoder is the wife of an Amish bishop in Inola, Oklahoma, a small, somewhat progressive Amish settlement that is part of the larger community of Chouteau.  I first came into contact with Freda when working on our cookbook, Amish Cooks Across America. Chouteau's Amish community is the largest and oldest in the Sooner State, a place that has had a small Amish presence for years. I recently received a copy of Freda's own cookbook (which she wasn't shy in promoting to me:).   I'm not in the habit of promoting the cookbooks of others, but I thought it would be fun for a change. Her book is entitled simply "Home Cookin" from The Amish Church of Chouteau, Oklahoma. Freda's cookbook is a compilation of recipes from the community and in many ways it is a typical softcover Amish style packed with hundreds of recipes, many of them for old-favorites like monster cookies, cinnamon rolls, and soft pretzels.

There are some recipes that made me chuckle, as in "how did this find it's way into an Amish cookbook?", namely the "Red Lobster cheese biscuits" and recipe for "Red Lobster cheddary bay biscuits."  Someone there obviously has a taste for the seafood lover in them.

Oklahoma is situated in a prime position to catch the wave of Hispanic culinary influence infusing itself into Amish cooking and that is reflected in the cookbook.  Recipes like chicken fajita pizza, taco skillet meal, Mexican chicken lasagna, southwest chicken rice casserole, and cheesy enchiladas.appear alongside traditional Amish favorites like potato haystacks, grilled pork chops, and dairy casserole.  Also, true to Oklahoma's culinary tradition as a haven for amazing barbecue, the book is packed with a lot of great-sounding barbecue recipes.  To purchase a copy of the book, send $20 (that covers shipping) to:

Freda Yoder

9621 West, 600 Road

Inola, OKlahoma, 74036

She sends them by media rate and she's a busy woman, so expect to wait a month to get your book.  Some of the recipes have massive ingredient quantities (40 pounds of potatoes in one recipe!), but those are needed at large Amish church gatherings.  Most of the recipes are geared towards smaller crowds, thankfully.  A few recipes are really spare on instructions, but that is some of the fun of Amish cooking.

Here are a couple of recipes from the book:

SAUSAGE CASSEROLE

3 pounds sausage, crumbled

8 large potatoes

2 quarts peas

2 small onions

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

4 cans water

1 cup grated cheese

Brown sausage and onions in a frying pan.  Peel and slice potatoes thinly.  Put the meat and vegetables in a roaster.  Mix soup and water with salt and pepper and pour over the meat and vegetable mixture.  Top with cheese.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour covered and then uncover and bake 1 more hour until the potatoes are done.

OLD-FASHIONED CREAM PIE

2 cups cream

1 /2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

Mix the sugar and flour, then add cream. Beat well.  Bake in an unbaked pie crust at 350 until firm.