Front cover of Never Trust a Hungry Cook
Whimsical illustration by Laura Evans
Back cover of Never Trust a Hungry Cook
Ferris Robinson
Most of the year I try to cook fairly healthy meals. I’m great about sneaking in the leafy greens whenever I get the chance. My husband has started making his own smoothies because the ones I make him are “too green.” But at Thanksgiving, which is just around the corner, all bets are off.
I actually do make a spinach-artichoke casserole for this holiday, but it’s loaded with so much cream cheese and parmesan cheese that any former leafy green is unrecognizable. But, that’s okay as far as I’m concerned.
This is the time of year I pull out my very first cookbook, “Never Trust A Hungry Cook- A Riverview Collection.” I wrote it when I was in college – actually there wasn’t much writing involved, just typing on a manual typewriter. I stuck notes in all my mother’s friends’ mailboxes requesting their best recipes, and they sent their finest! Renowned cooks, these women sat right down and carefully wrote out their favorite recipes, many handed down from their own mothers and grandmothers. This cookbook was originally published around 1980, way before the ease of quick cell phone pics of recipes that could be texted in a zippy flash. No, there was time involved, as well as finding a pen and note card and a postage stamp.
Every year that goes by, and every year I flip through the pages of this cookbook around this time of year, I think of Susie Hunt stopping in her tracks and taking the time to carefully write her recipe for lemon pie. I remember Cotty Kale taking time to copy her recipe for tomato pie, and Flo Satterfield, Cotty’s mother, writing her instructions for beer muffins and all getting these recipes to me.
The original cookbooks are in tatters. The pages are splattered with cake batter and butter and hardly any of the worn pages are still attached to the spine of the book. Over the years, people have sent pictures of their cookbooks held together with rubber bands. But these cookbooks, or should I say stacks of pages, all seem to stay on folks’ shelves. And that’s because of the lovely women who shared their delicious and timeless recipes.
Mary Davis’s shrimp dip, made with Italian dressing, is a year-round favorite in our household because it’s so easy and so yummy, as is Mrs. Paul Thompson’s artichoke dip. Susan Cobb’s Mississippi Mud Cake is ideal for any occasion. Judy Street’s banana bread is divine and perfect to have on hand over the holidays, as is Jane Ragland’s beer cheese spread. With Christmas coming up, Barbara Murray’s seafood gumbo is a crowd pleaser for the holiday gathering.
I flip through this cookbook looking for the recipe for boiled custard, but am always distracted – both the recipes and the special women who sent them. But mainly I am absorbed by the art. The late Laura Evans illustrated this book, and her whimsical, vibrant, delightful personality comes out in every single sketch.
Maddin Corey asked me to republish this little book a few years ago, and I did. I’m thankful to have these recipes in a real book that opens and closes without scattering pages everywhere. But mainly I’m thankful for the remarkable women for bringing out their best, not just for holidays, but most every day of their lives.
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Ferris Robinson is the author of “Never Trust A Hungry Cook – A Riverview Collection.” She also wrote three children’s books, “The Queen Who Banished Bugs,” “The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds,” and “Call Me Arthropod” in her pollinator series “If Bugs Are Banished.” “Making Arrangements” is her first novel. “Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity” is a collection of true tales about man’s best friend. Her website is ferrisrobinson.com and you can download a free pollinator poster there. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror.