I often get asked what a "typical" Amish supper is like. My answer: there is no such thing. Some Amish cooks are locavore to the core, eating seasonally and sustainably from scratch. Others will open a package of noodles and a can of cream of mushroom soup and make supper from that. And there are a whole range of variations in the middle. But I can put together an idea of what a typical menu might look like. A meat dish is rarely not served. But for the most part the meats would be home-butchered. You don't find much store-bought meat in Amish kitchens. So let's begin with pork chops:
Amish Pork Chops
Ingredients
- Butterflied pork chops
- 1 can mushroom soup
- 1 c. ketchup
- 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- ½ c. onion, chopped
Instructions
- Lay butterflied pork chops in a baking dish.
- Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over top.
- Bake 2 hours at 375 degrees.
And then move on to a salad (which would not be served before the meal like in a restaurant, it'd just be served with the meal). A layered salad like the one below is common.
Overnight Layered Lettuce Salad
Ingredients
- 1 head of lettuce
- ½ cup celery
- 1 /2 cup chopped green pepper
- 1 /2 cup of chopped onion
- 1 cup peas
- 1 pint of real mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 8 ounces of grated cheese 8 strips of crispy bacon
Instructions
- Shred lettuce in bottom of a 9 X 13 pan.
- Layer, one at a time, the celery, onion, green pepper, peas, mayonnaise, bacon, and cheese. Chill overnight.
A soup is commonly served during meals in Amish home. Interestingly - quite often - everything is just eaten out of the same bowl: soup, pork chops, corn, rolls. Ah,what the heck, it is all headed for the stomach anyway!:) Here is a common (and delicious) Amish potato soup recipe:
Saturday Special: A Typical Amish Supper
Ingredients
- AMISH POTATO SOUP
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 6-7 large potatoes, chopped and precooked.
- ½ stick butter or margarine
- 4 cups milk
- Chopped celery to taste
- ½ onion, finely chopped.
- Salt & pepper to taste.
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flour
Instructions
- While boiling potatoes, in a separate pan mix all the other ingredients except for the egg and flour and bring to a boil.
- Drain potatoes when tender and add to milk mixture, bring all to a boil.
- Simmer for 15-20 minutes (until celery and onions are tender).
- In a small bowl, mix 1 egg and 1 cup flour until grainy.
- With soup almost boiling, add flour mixture into soup, stirring constantly.
- Let simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
- This is great topped with shredded cheese or croutons. Crumbled bacon can also be added.
This green bean recipe which was given to me by Gloria Yoder in Flat Rock, Illinois is truly one of the best I have tasted. Ever.
Delicious Amish Green Beans
Ingredients
- DELICIOUS AMISH GREEN BEANS
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 pounds green beans
- 1 /2 pound bacon, cooked to desired crispness and cut in small pieces
- Salt and black pepper
- Seasoning salt
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook until browned.
- Add the green beans to the butter, and stir to coat.
- Continue heating until the green beans are steaming hot.
- Add the cooked bacon, along with the salt, pepper, and seasoning salt, and serve.
Most Amish suppers will feature some type of bread, most often slices of homemade white bread. But dinner rolls are also popular, these homemade top-notch ones are awesome.
Top Notch Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Warm Water
- 2 Packages Active Dry Yeast (for those who buy in bulk, use a little less than 2 Tbsp)
- ½ Cup Plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 !/2 Cups hot Water
- ½ Cup Softened Shortening
- 2½ teaspoon Salt
- 5 Cups Bread Flour, plus more as needed
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine warm water, yeast, and tablespoon of brown sugar. Stir and let sit for around 10 minutes or until yeast are activated and top of mixture becomes foamy.
- In a large mixing bowl combine hot water, brown sugar, softened vegetable shortening, and salt. When the mixture is no longer hot (don’t want to kill the yeast), add yeast mixture and stir to combine.
- Add bread flour one cup at a time, stirring between each addition. After the 5 cups of flour the dough should begin to shape into a ball and no longer stick to the sides of the bowl. Work in just enough more flour to make a soft but not sticky dough.
- Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour give or take. After the dough is done rising, punch down, and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Begin to form rolls.
- Leave enough space in between the rolls for another period of rising & doubling in size.
- If they touch a little bit after they rise/bake that is OK, they’ll pull apart easily.
- After you’ve filled your baking sheets, cover the rolls and let rise another 45 minutes or so until doubled.
- While the rolls are rising, heat the oven to 350 Degree Fahrenheit.
- Bake until golden brown… about 25 minutes. (use the higher racks in your oven. You can coat your rolls in melted butter (before baking), honey, or and egg wash.
- Once you’re finished baking the rolls, let them cool on a wire rack before serving.
Other items you'd find on the table would be sliced cheese. There's almost always a plate of sliced cheese, often two kinds of meat can be found on the table, and....ah, dessert...didn't even get to dessert...that is another post:)
Terese Zelones
Nice article, but checking the spelling of "meat" at the end of the first paragraph.🙂
Kevin Williams
Thanks, Terese, I corrected it!