Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House Cookbook: A Celebration of Traditional Southern Dishes that Made Miss Mary Bobo's--An American Legend (Hardcover)

~ Pat Mitchamore (Author), Lynne Tolley (Author) "In 1908 Lacy Jackson ("Jack") Bobo and his wife, Mary, took over the Salmon House from Dr. E. Y. Salmon and his wife..." (more)
Key Phrases: large ice ring, floured bread board, cornbread crumbs, Miss Mary, Joan Crutcher Ferguson, American Festival Cafe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Discover the hallmark of Southern food and hospitality with Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House Cookbook. For years, travelers have come to Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House, in Lynchburg, Tennessee, for the finest home-cooked meals anywhere. Two meats, an abundance of vegetables and side dishes, homemade breads, desserts, and beverages are all made with the same special care that Miss Mary Bobo used since 1908. This unique cookbook includes over 250 of Miss Mary’s favorites still served today, including:

-Hummingbird Cake
-Spiced Grape Punch
-Raisin Biscuits
-Baked Chicken with Cream
-Hot Potato Salad
-Yankee Limas
-And more!

Give your guests the same delicious Southern dishes served at Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House. None are difficult to cook, but all are best when prepared by caring hands and served with friendship—a recipe that all boarding houses have found to be foolproof!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Rutledge Hill Press (November 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558533141
• ISBN-13: 978-1558533141
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,430 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #2 in	Books > History > United States > State & Local > Tennessee
  #67 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Regional & International > U.S. Regional > South

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The next best thing to eating at the Miss Mary Bobo's, March 11, 2003

By	Tammy Roehrick (Saint Cloud, FL United States) - See all my reviews

I have actually had the opportunity to visit Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House. The only problem I had was that I visited in August and the first available time for a reservation was in December. Everyone in Lynchburg had nothing but wonderful things to say about the Boarding House and the food that is served there. So the next best thing to being able to eat there was to buy Miss Bobo's cookbook. The dish that my family and friends like the best is the Tenderloin Tips. I serve the beef up with a big heap of mashed potatoes and there is total silence because everyone is just enjoying the flavor of the food. I am ordering a copy for a dear friend of mine who is a true southern belle. I cannot wait to present her with her very own copy. The recipes are very easy to follow and you do not have to be a gourmet chef to use any of them. Another neat thing about this cookbook is the wonderful stories and pictures that are included. Miss Bobo had a very interesting life with many interesting visitors. Any American history buff of the 1880's to 1980's would really enjoy reading just the stories.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Childhood Revisited, July 14, 2001

By A Customer

Earlier write-ups about Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House Cookbook intrigued me so I added it to my collection. Reading through it brought back memories of dishes I hadn't thought about -- much less made -- since my Georgia childhood. Then I started preparing them! I could swear that Miss Mary and my mother must have been bosom buddies, maybe even swapped recipes over a pitcher of homemade lemonade. From Southern Iced Tea to Sweet Deviled Eggs and Country Sausage and Gravy on Baking Powder Biscuits and from REAL Cream of Tomato Soup to Best Fruit Salad, the tastes of rich (read lots of cream and butter!)Southern food once again overwhelmed me. Not that every dish was cholesterol-laden -- try the sweet-sour mouth-tingling pleasure of Fresh Tomato Hash or vinegary Garden Fresh Cucumber Salad, for example. The breads are terrific -- and the main yeast one, Country Loaf Bread, adapted easily to the bread machine, producing a light, tasty, "mile-high" loaf. Fresh Zucchini Bread makes great toast and Our Favorite Raisin Bread, lightly glazed, was perfect with Cheese Soup and that wonderful fruit salad. The sauced Boarding House Meat Loaf pleased everyone, as did Our Famous Pork Ribs, Salmon Loaf, Southern Fried Catfish (AND Chicken, of course)and such beloved side dishes as Yankee Limas, Macaroni and Cheese, Southern Corn Pie and Creole Grits (even my grits-despising Minnesota-bred husband had seconds, Summer Squash Casserole and Our Best Baked Beans. Have only started to re-visit the delights of Southern desserts, sampling Old South Butter Cups and Fresh Strawberry Pie -- more to come! Obviously we can't continue at this rate with daily excursions into this wealth of memories and calories, but I plan to highlight at least one dinner a week with such! With thanks from a Southern California gal with happily-renewed memories of an earlier time and place!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sinfully Good Eating, October 13, 2005

By	Katie Osborne (Portland, Oregon and the sunny Caribbean) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Once upon a time when folks made the trip to Lynchburg to visit that famous distillery, they had to stop at Mary Bobo's boarding house, because to pass up one of her home-cooked meals if your were so close would be nothing short of a mortal sin. Mary lived to be a hundred and one, leaving us in Nineteen Eighty-three, but you can still sample her delicious home-cooked fare by faithfully following the recipes in this book.

However, this is more than just a cookbook. There are many wonderful boarding house stories housed within these covers, so you can read a bit about Miss Mary Evans and her Beau during her courting days, or learn a bit about porch sitting, or even see a picture of Al Gore with Mary on her 99th birthday.

Last night I made up Miz Crutcher's Convent Pudding, which is a whole lot like the Macaroni Pie you can get anywhere in Trinidad. It's delicious and easy to make. In the book it explains that this was served a lot during WW II, because of shortages and the fact that people didn't have very much. Well it's still being served in the Caribbean, probably for the same reasons.

I've also done Mary Bobo's Baked Turkey with Cornbread Dreassing and let me tell you, scrumptious. Don't be lookin' for low fat, fancy dancy, new age cooking here, but what the heck, once and a while you just have to have an old-fashioned, down home, doggone good, sinful meal. And if that's what you're looking for, look no further. Five stars from me for this super book.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne