OP: KWBA Cook Book

Woman’s Bowling Association, Knoxville, TN, 1967. Comb bound. Very Good.

If you’re wondering whether a bowling league can be full of enough reliable cooks to make a cookbook, consider your expectations appropriately tempered for the offerings of the Knoxville Women’s Bowling Association. There are plenty of totally reasonable dishes too, but the standouts here might be considered less-so.

Some notable favorites include:

• Busy day burgers, which seem like a little more work than actual burgers, involving browning the ground beef and combining it with a can of onion soup for a sloppy-joe consistency
• Shrimp wiggle—in this case, canned shrimp cooked in béchamel with peas, served in toasted bread cups
• Fruited meat roll—a thin layer of ground beef and pork layered with raisins, toasted bread, and seasonings, made into a roulade

The casserole and salad sections come with winners like:

• Party casserole—peas, cream of mushroom soup, and pimiento, topped with potato chips
• 24-hour salad—pineapple custard mixed with canned fruits, marshmallows, nuts, grated cheese (unspecified), and whipped cream
• Coke salad—lemon and cherry Jello with crushed pineapple, celery, pecans, and Coke

The majority of the recipes are baked goods and desserts with masterpieces like “calories delight”—a bar type of cookie with crushed vanilla wafers on the bottom with layers of coconut, nuts, and chocolate chips, baked with sweetened condensed milk; and ting-a-lings—dried chow mein noodles and peanuts coated in semisweet chocolate.

Our copy is Very Good, overall, though lightly worn about the edges. Comb bound. Some marginalia throughout and additional handwritten recipes to the inside of both the front and rear covers.