In the past I’ve posted some pretty uncomplimentary generalizations about the Amish here. My bad experiences with the local Amish colored my perceptions when new Amish neighbors moved in next door.
They have a puppy mill on the property that I kind of have a moral problem with, but I have to admit they’ve been good and considerate neighbors (the new guys.)
On Christmas morning they brought me a home made shoo-fly pie (I would gladly kill your mother for another one, that’s how good it was,) an apple pie with thick flaky crust that was also worthy of homicide, and a quasi-decent cheese log.
Of course, as I accepted this unsolicited thoughtfullness, I thought of my earlier threads and felt like shit. Especially since when I saw the buggy pulling in I was quite annoyed, assuming they wanted to hunt or were otherwise here to bother me.
I must live in the wrong country. It’s only the SDAs the JWs and some of LDS that we have to deal with here : up until now I thought that the Amish pretty well left other people alone…
I guess the Trib closed that page…the article was published in 1998.
From New Recipes from Quilt Country: More Food & Folkways from the Amish & Mennonites, by Marcia Adams
Makes one 9-inch pie; serves 8
This is the best shoofly pie I’ve eaten, and believe me, I’ve tried many. Some versions are dry and soft; others are quite gooey and moist. This one falls somewhere in between, and is thick and unabashedly pleasing. Shoofly is authentic American pie that comes to us from the Pennsylvania Amish and Mennonites and the Pennsylvania Dutch; we should be grateful to them forever.
Surprisingly, shoofly pie is not as popular in other Amish and Mennonite communities. It is found in Ohio; but in Indiana, if you ask for a piece of shoofly pie in a restaurant, the Amish girl who serves it will rather disparagingly tell you it’s made only for the tourists – a thousand pities.
Pastry for a 1-crust 9-inch pie (page 270)
1 cup all-purpose flour
Two-thirds cup light brown sugar, packed
1 rounded tablespoon cold butter
One-fourth teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup light molasses
Three-fourths cup cold water
One-fourth cup hot water
1 tablespoon baking soda
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the pie pastry and line a 9-inch pie pan; set aside.
In a food processor bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, butter, and salt. Remove one-half cup of the mixture and set aside. Transfer the rest to a medium mixing bowl. In a small bowl, beat the egg lightly. Add the molasses and cold water, and blend but do not beat; you don’t want bubbles in the batter. Set aside.
In a small bowl, mix the hot water with the baking soda and blend into the molasses mixture. Add to the flour mixture and mix well. Pour into the pie shell and top with the reserved crumbs. Bake for 35 minutes. The pie will appear quivery but will firm up as it cools. Transfer to a rack to cool completely before cutting.
Cram dogs in a wire cage above ground so their feces and urine falls to earth. Feed and water them just enough to keep them (relatively) healthy, while breeding them as often as is possible to sell the results.
That puppy mill thing is totally evil. Aren’t the Amish Christians? Do you think Christ would have a puppy mill? Are the Amish considered fundamentalist?
Puppy mills are common with the local Amish. After 6 or 7 months next to this one, I’ll conclude that the dogs are not abused, they’re just treated like livestock. To my knowledge they’re never let out of their kennel.
Rural people commonly treat animals (including dogs) like livestock. Making a living as a farmer is very difficult and most people and animals are pushed to their limits.
