Key West Woman's Club Cookbook

LUCY BURDETTE: This isn't a traditional recipe post, but with the Key West Woman's Club celebrating their 110th anniversary this weekend, I thought this would be a perfect time to talk about the Key West Woman’s Club Cookbook, including the new edition which I edited last year, and is now out in the world!

The first iteration of the cookbook was published in the 1949. It’s a wonderful piece of history even if you wouldn’t go anywhere near most of the recipes. (Turtle steaks anyone?) It’s all written in the handwriting of various women who worked on the book and contributed recipes, and it has wonderful drawings like this one:

As we mulled over the new edition, we knew we wanted to retain the spirit of both the book published in 1949 and the one published in 1988. Although some of the recipes were the same in 1988, the handwriting was replaced by standard typing, and many of the quirky drawings were also removed.

My job was to figure out what should be retained from both versions and then to add in some modern day recipes from current members of the woman’s club. Luckily, I didn’t have to do the work of scanning or anything else technical. I had to choose, organize, and send it off. Here is T-bone helping me with the layout:

My suggestion was to use some of the hand written introductions and actual recipes as intros to each section. For example, we couldn’t possibly leave out this quote:

I had a spare copy of the second cookbook into which I could sandwich photocopies of the old sections that we did didn’t want to lose. I thought we would be overwhelmed with new recipe submissions, but luckily the number was manageable. I included the banana cream pie that I used in Key West food critic mystery number 12, A DISH TO DIE FOR. I wrote that before I got involved with the Woman’s Club, though there are several scenes that take place there. In fact, Hayley finds clues to the mystery in a box of old drawings that has been stashed at the back of a drawer for years and years.

The cookbook team is still working on marketing. As of today, there is no way to buy the cookbook online. However, there are copies available through our local bookstores, Key West Island Books ( 305-294-2904), and Books and Books Key West (305 320 0208). If you are a local or a visitor looking for a copy, they are also available at the Key West Art and Historical Society, the Woman’s Club, and also will be available at the brand new cooking school.

With fellow cookbook teammate, Marlene

We're so glad to have helped save this bit of Key West history. If you're lucky enough to be in Key West this weekend, check out the celebration!

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. 

Book 15 in the Key West series, THE MANGO MURDERS, will be in bookstores on August 12!

And the new trade paperback edition of A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS is out now!