Artist’s “Palate” Cookbook: A Book of Favorite Recipes from Our Artists and Friends compiled by the Cook Book Committee of the Art Department The Woman’s Club, Fort Worth, Texas 1979
This one has a cute and unusual cover, not only is there a drawing of an artist in the kitchen on the cover, the “paint” on the palette is covered in daubs of actual paint. I don’t know if all the covers were like that but if they were, what an undertaking!
There are fewer illustrations in the book than you’d think but there are some on the section divider pages- Bror Utter (entrees), Barbara Millican (desserts), Thelma Park (salads), Josephine Mahaffey (vegetables) and Susan Harrington (bread). There are other chapters but their artists weren’t named.
I’ve never heard of a woman’s club having an art department but anything’s possible! It must have been quite a large club. The contributors of the recipes are all named.
Most of the recipes are less elaborate and artistic than I might have guessed but some do have some helpful tips. Annie Lou Goldthwaite is very emphatic that nothing should be substituted for Doritos in her recipe for King Ranch Casserole. Marylee Drysdale’s Chicken and Dumplin’s! recipe does start with “wash brushes, put away paints, wash hands” and follows it with opening cans of Sweet Sue Chicken & Dumplings, stirring in some sage and chicken broth before sprinkling it with parsley and notes it’s a “fairly easy dish”. She also tells you to wash your hands and brushes before making her Spinach Souffle recipe which involves you parbaking two Stouffer’s Frozen Spinach Souffles in your own dish and then smushing it to the edges before finishing baking and serving. “It will serve five or six people, maybe. Just great and fairly easy!!”. Is Helen Willemim’s Border Buttermilk offensively named or just strange? I’m honestly not sure.
