Cooking From Quilt Country

Marcia Adams had a PBS program Cooking from Quilt Country, a 13-part series in 1989 and 1990 – I watched as much of it as I could and was impressed by her food knowledge, (and the fact that her demonstration kitchen was equipped with not one but two food processors – fairly new in the US at the time) but even more because the recipes reflected much of the traditional cooking I remembered from our own family.  Myrna showed me the book related to the series – and after reading it – yes, it is good enough to actually read – I realized why she was printing Grandma’s recipes.  The Amish community in Indiana that she based the book and series on immigrated from Alsace-Lorraine in France–our mother's families emigrated from Colmar in Alsace Lorraine in the 1870’s.

Colmar, Alsace-Lorraine

Marcia points out that many of those recipes are still served in homes and restaurants in France – almost identical to the Amish recipes in this book.  They are actually classic French country cooking.  This book is almost worth owning simply because of the beautiful photographs and descriptions of Amish life.  If there is a flaw in this book, it is that there are plenty of photos; just not of the recipes themselves. 

I have purchased Marcia Adams’ later Midwestern cookbooks, but none are as good as this first, wonderful cookbook.  It is like having our Grandmother write down those recipes we remembered that she made without a recipe!  Actually, both of us have made a number of the dishes in this book without a written recipe most of our lives.

We had no trouble finding plenty of favorite recipes to share from this book, and in fact we have already shared some recipes that are similar to ones in this book like Noodles with Cracker Crumbs.  Both of us make that recipe like the Amish do – without Marcia Adams’ changes - and it's one of our family's favorites.  Actually, we had to seriously negotiate to see who would get which favorite recipe to make! 

Here are some of the recipes from this book.

Meringue Topping

Rhubarb Conserve

Ham Loaf

Coleslaw with Peanuts

Escalloped Potatoes

Orange Beets with Sauce

Velvet Custard Pie

Whipped Cream Topping

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Apple Cake

Buttermilk Bread

Sour Cream Raisin Pie

Oatmeal Cinnamon Bread

Blueberry Streusel Cake

Baked Rice Pudding

German Potato Salad

Amish Fruit Cake

Amish Apple Pie