Prairie Home Cooking: 400 Recipes that Celebrate the Bountiful Harvests, Creative Cooks, and Comforting Foods of the American Heartland

by Judith M. Fertig

The food of the Heartland is comfort food - and is certainly back in style. Judith Fertig interprets and perfects 400 homespun classics of the prairie table, from Homesteaders' Bean Soup to Breslauer Steaks and Chicken and Wild Rice Hot Dish. She serves up new dishes like Walleye Pike with Fennel and Herbs and Herb-Crusted Loin of Veal. Also included are the very best ethnic dishes, such as Bohemian Spaetzle, Czech Potato Dumplings, and Swedish Turnip and Carrot Charlotte.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction

434 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Judith Fertig is an award-winning novelist and cookbook author. Flavor speaks to her in stories and recipes, whether for baking or barbecue.

She resides in Overland Park, Kansas, which is not quite somewhere-over-the-rainbow, but close.

Reviews

[Jennifer]

I have spent most of my 50 years on the Prairie, mostly around Kansas. (My husband & I have also lived in or have family in Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Iowa, and we are now settled in Indiana). This is the most realistic reflection of the food I actually cook and eat at family dinners and local events. It is great to see some of the more ubiquitous Mennonite/Amish foods i grew up on, right alongside all of the other Midwestern immigrant groups, from Italian, to Polish, Swedish, French, Mexican, and then Native American and Soul Food from emancipated slaves headed to Nicodemus. The little pieces of history and literary food references were also a treat. I just love this book!

My copy looks different and has a woodcut style illustration on the front and throughout. Publishing date was 1999.

[Autumn]

I recently picked this book up at a Goodwill, not knowing how much I would love it! The recipes I’ve tried so far are solid and there’s a good variety in here that I don’t have in any other cookbooks. With the over abundance of under-tested recipes available online (anyone can post a recipe), I’ve been turning to cookbooks for more reliable results. I will definitely be referencing this one often!

[Sarah]

Strangely dated--not in a historically rich way. I loved that my copy had wonderful marginalia, however.

[Anne]

Excellent tome on Midwest cooking per my experience growing up in Michigan. The inclusion of information about specific foods and immigrant populations enhances the book.

[A.]

Gift from Merry Ann Baker

[Kathleen]

i fell in love with this cookbook years ago when i was still eating meat. Fertig does an excellent job of presenting the simple food of the midwest and plains states. there's no condensed soups used in this book. it's all farm fresh food served in season or preserved for the winter. along side the fantastic recipes, Fertig also gives a cultural history of the groups that settled in the midwest, like the swedes and hungarians, and the food that they brought with them. i've neglected this book in the past few years since i haven't been eating meat. what a mistake! there are so many great meatless recipes (or vegetarian adaptable recipes) in this book that it took me by surprise.
my favorite part of the book are the recipes for canned goods and dried egg noodles to stock your own pantry with homemade goods. i would love to put up batches of the pickles, sauces, and preserves in this book.

[Marian]

This is a 10 star book for sure! I give it my absolute endorsement. Many ideas from making homemade "farmer's" cottage cheese , and then other forms of cheese from it to pickling and preserving and salads and entrees. Pretty page layouts with Prairie facts, It is my new favorite cookbook! I am off to buy some, How did I miss this one, it was published in 1999? I have been missing this from my book shelf for 10 years.

[Christa]

This cookbook rocks! Any cookbook that includes brats boiled in beer,
lefse and pumpkin pie made from the pumpkin...that's my kind of cookbook.

[Christine Burnham]

Best cookbook ever for people who love homecooking! If you grew up on food from the midwest (or just wish you did), this is the book for you! Try the ginger spiced cookies. YUMMY!!!