No Kitchen in Tuscaloosa or Alabama Should Be Without This Yellow Cookbook

If I think about it long enough, I can envision my Granny's kitchen: it was small but seemed infinite to a child like me. Were the countertops really five feet tall? Were the cupboards as spacious as a closet?

I know my memory has made her kitchen seem larger than life because that one room holds such a huge part of my heart. I spent so many hours in reverent awe watching my Granny cook everything from fried chicken to chocolate cake from scratch, and although she knew many recipes by heart, she often consulted the wisdom of one special cookbook: Calling All Cooks.

Get our free mobile app

Granny had a copy. My mom has a copy. I think literally every woman (and most men) in my family has a copy.

This yellow cookbook is like the Holy Grail of Southern Cooking. Originally published in 1982 (before I was born!) by the Alabama Chapter of the Telephone Pioneers of America, this cookbook is full of hundreds of carefully collected recipes.

And there are hundreds of recipes in this special cookbook, y'all. My mom has used her copy of Calling All Cooks so many times that the book has literally snapped in half. I love going back to my copy to recreate the recipes of my childhood, and I love knowing that I can pass my copy on to my daughter to carry on the traditions that have made our family gatherings so special.

Do you have a copy? What's your favorite Calling All Cooks recipe? Hit me up with the app chat and let me know.