Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking

Produced by Mark C. Orton, Barbara Tozier and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net





Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking




                               Dutchland
                              Pennsylvania

           [Illustration: Kissin wears out ... cookin’ don’t]

                Jacob’s at the table and half et already

                     PROVEN RECIPES FOR TRADITIONAL
                        PENNSYLVANIA Dutch FOODS




[Illustration]

PENNSYLVANIA Dutch COOKERY


In 1683 the Plain Sects began to arrive in William Penn’s Colony seeking
a land of peace and plenty. They were a mixed people; Moravians from
Bohemia and Moravia, Mennonites from Switzerland and Holland, the Amish,
the Dunkards, the Schwenkfelds, and the French Huguenots. After the lean
years of clearing the land and developing their farms they established
the peace and plenty they sought. These German-speaking people were
originally called the Pennsylvania Deutsch but time and custom have
caused them to be known to us as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

The Pennsylvania Dutch are a hard working people and as they say, “Them
that works hard, eats hearty.” The blending of recipes from their many
home lands and the ingredients available in their new land produced
tasty dishes that have been handed down from mother to daughter for
generations. Their cooking was truly a folk art requiring much intuitive
knowledge, for recipes contained measurements such as “flour to
stiffen,” “butter the size of a walnut,” and “large as an apple.” Many
of the recipes have been made more exact and standardized providing us
with a regional cookery we can all enjoy.

Soups are a traditional part of Pennsylvania Dutch cooking and the Dutch
housewife can apparently make soup out of anything. If she has only milk
and flour she can still make rivel soup. However, most of their soups
are sturdier dishes, hearty enough to serve as the major portion of the
evening meal. One of the favorite summer soups in the Pennsylvania Dutch
country is Chicken Corn Soup. Few Sunday School picnic suppers would be
considered complete without gallons of this hearty soup.

Many of the Pennsylvania Dutch foods are a part of their folklore. No
Shrove Tuesday would be complete without raised doughnuts called
“fastnachts.” One of the many folk tales traces this custom back to the
burnt offerings made by their old country ancestors to the goddess of
spring. With the coming of Christianity the custom became associated
with the Easter season and “fastnachts” are eaten on Shrove Tuesday to
insure living to next Shrove Tuesday. Young dandelion greens are eaten
on Maundy Thursday in order to remain well throughout the year.

The Christmas season is one of the busiest times in the Pennsylvania
Dutch kitchen. For weeks before Christmas the house is filled with the
smell of almond cookies, anise cookies, sandtarts, Belsnickle Christmas
cookies, walnut kisses, pfeffernusse, and other traditional cookies. Not
just a few of one kind but dozens and dozens of many kinds of cookies
must be made. There must be plenty for the enjoyment of the family and
many holiday visitors.

Regardless of the time of the year or the time of the day there are
pies. The Pennsylvania Dutch eat pies for breakfast. They eat pies for
lunch. They eat pies for dinner and they eat pies for midnight snacks.
Pies are made with a great variety of ingredients from the apple pie we
all know to the rivel pie which is made from flour, sugar, and butter.
The Dutch housewife is as generous with her pies as she is with all her
cooking, baking six or eight at a time not one and two.

The apple is an important Pennsylvania Dutch food. Dried apples form the
basis for many typical dishes. Each fall barrels of apples are converted
into cider. Apple butter is one of the Pennsylvania Dutch foods which
has found national acceptance. The making of apple butter is an all-day
affair and has the air of a holiday to it. Early in the morning the
neighbors gather and begin to peel huge piles of apples that will be
needed. Soon the great copper apple butter kettle is brought out and set
up over a wood fire. Apple butter requires constant stirring to prevent
burning. However, stirring can be light work for a boy and a girl when
they’re young and the day is bright and the world is full of promise. By
dusk the apple butter is made, neighborhood news is brought up to date
and hunger has been driven that much further away for the coming winter.

Food is abundant and appetites are hearty in the Pennsylvania Dutch
country. The traditional dishes are relatively simple and unlike most
regional cookery the ingredients are readily available. Best of all, no
matter who makes them the results are “wonderful good.”




PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH

[Illustration: “Make with a smile for once”

“Some folks are wonderful nice”]

Salads


FRUIT SALAD DRESSING

  ½ cup sugar
  1½ tblsp.