Minnesota native Amy Thielen, host of Heartland Table on Food Network, presents 200 recipes that herald a revival in heartland cuisine in this James Beard Award-winning cookbook. Amy Thielen grew up in rural northern Minnesota, waiting in lines for potluck buffets amid loops of smoked sausages from her uncle’s meat market and in the company of women who could put up jelly without a recipe. She spent years cooking in some of New York City’s best restaurants, but it took moving home in 2008 for her to rediscover the wealth and diversity of the Midwestern table, and to witness its reinvention. The New Midwestern Table reveals all that she’s come to love—and learn—about the foods of her native Midwest, through updated classic recipes and numerous encounters with spirited home cooks and some of the region’s most passionate food producers. With 150 color photographs capturing these fresh-from-the-land dishes and the striking beauty of the terrain, this cookbook will cause any home cook to fall in love with the captivating flavors of the American heartland.

"A collection of flavors and feasts that pulse through any Midwesterner's heart."--Dust jacket.

Amy Thielen, author of the James Beard Award-winning cookbook The New Midwestern Table, traces her journey from Park Rapids, Minnesota, to cooking professionally under some of New York City's finest chefs -- including David Bouley, Daniel Boulud, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten -- and then back home again. A love of food and an overwhelming desire to get the hell out of small-town America drive Thielen to New York to seek out its intense culinary world, which she embraces enthusiastically, while her boyfriend finds success in its fickle art world. After years of living in the city, with frequent trips back home in the summertime, the couple eventually chooses life deep in the woods in a cabin Thielen's husband built by hand. There Aaron can practice his craft while Amy takes the skills she learned cooking professionally and turns them to undoing years of processed foods to uncover true Midwestern cooking, which begins simply with humble workhorse ingredients such as potatoes and onions.

With its corn by the acre, beef on the hoof, Quaker Oats, and Kraft Mac n' Cheese, the Midwest eats pretty well and feeds the nation on the side. But there's more to the midwestern kitchen and palate than the farm food and sizable portions the region is best known for beyond its borders. It is to these heartland specialties, from the heartwarming to the downright weird, that Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie invites the reader. The volume brings to the table an illustrious gathering of thirty midwestern writers with something to say about the gustatory pleasures and peculiarities of the region. In a meditation on comfort food, Elizabeth Berg recalls her aunt's meatloaf. Stuart Dybek takes us on a school field trip to a slaughtering house, while Peter Sagal grapples with the ethics of paté. Parsing Cincinnati five-way chili, Robert Olmstead digresses into questions of Aztec culture. Harry Mark Petrakis reflects on owning a South Side Chicago lunchroom, while Bonnie Jo Campbell nurses a sweet tooth through a fudge recipe in the Joy of Cooking and Lorna Landvik nibbles her way through the Minnesota State Fair. These are just a sampling of what makes Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie--with its generous helpings of laughter, culinary confession, and information--an irresistible literary feast.

A Love Letter to America's Heartland, the Great Midwest When it comes to defining what we know as all-American baking, everything from Bundt cakes to brownies have roots that can be traced to the great Midwest. German, Scandinavian, Polish, French, and Italian immigrant families baked their way to the American Midwest, instilling in it pies, breads, cookies, and pastries that manage to feel distinctly home-grown. After more than a decade of living in California, author Shauna Sever rediscovered the storied, simple pleasures of home baking in her Midwestern kitchen. This unique collection of more than 125 recipes includes refreshed favorites and new treats: Rhubarb and Raspberry Swedish Flop Danish Kringle Secret-Ingredient Cherry Slab Pie German Lebkuchen Scotch-a-Roos Smoky Cheddar-Crusted Cornish Pasties . . . and more, which will make any kitchen feel like a Midwestern home.

In comparison to such regions as the South, the far West, and New England, the Midwest and its culture have been neglected both by scholars and by the popular press. Historians as well as literary and art critics tend not to examine the Midwest in depth in their academic work. And in the popular imagination, the Midwest has never really ascended to the level of the proud, literary South; the cultured, democratic Northeast; or the hip, innovative West Coast. Finding a New Midwestern History revives and identifies anew the Midwest as a field of study by promoting a diversity of viewpoints and lending legitimacy to a more in-depth, rigorous scholarly assessment of a large region of the United States that has largely been overlooked by scholars. The essays discuss facets of midwestern life worth examining more deeply, including history, religion, geography, art, race, culture, and politics, and are written by well-known scholars in the field such as Michael Allen, Jon Butler, and Nicole Etcheson.

With a voice as warm as a summer breeze, Nancy Hutchens recalls afternoons in the shade of the back porch, snapping beans for canning...family reunions where the gossip was as good as the food...the serene beauty of the first frost of winter...and other cherished Memories of a Midwestern Farm. Nancy Hutchens grew up on a southern Indiana farm in the 1950s, when horses still plowed the fields. Soap and butter were homemade, and success was a table laden with a hearty meal. Now she shares this bygone time in Memories of a Midwestern Farm, a celebration of country living sprinkled with irresistible recipes, reminiscences, and bits of timeless folk wisdom. Here are the charming poems and journal entries of Nancy Hutchens' grandmother, Mamaw Tribby; reflections on rural life from Willa Cather, Walt Whitman and others; and family photos and original illustrations that adorn the pages of this beautiful memoir. And here are more than one hundred classic recipes handed down in the Hutchens farmhouse kitchen. From "Moist and Crunchy Fried Chicken and Gravy" and "Green Beans Country Style" to "Sweet Cherry Dumplings" and "'Get You a Husband' Apple Pie," these mouthwatering favorites bring back the sweet and savory pleasures of country cooking for any occasion and every season. Memories of a Midwestern Farm is a delightful antidote to modern life, a tribute to the simple gifts that bring farm folks together -- hard work, close ties, and an abundance of good, wholesome food.