Mrs. Whaley Entertains: Advice, Opinions, and 100 Recipes from a Charleston Kitchen

When Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden came out in spring 1997, it took the gardening world by storm.You didn't think she'd keep the rest of her strong opinions to herself, did you? Not on your life. She's back, with her other favorite hobby--cooking delicious meals. And she's just as "quotable" as ever: "If the hostess is all a-flutter like a butterfly caught in a net--then, as the Irish say, 'I wish I was to home and the party was to hell.'" Don't serve guests' dishes "you haven't made successfully two or three times--and quite lately." And after supper, "Leave the dishes on the table, blow out the candles, shut the door and serve finger desserts and coffee in another room . . . do not let your guests help you clean up!" In addition to advice, Mrs. Whaley has opened her personal scrapbook of receipts and selected one hundred of her favorites, including regional delectables like "Edisto Shrimp Pie," great dinner dishes like "Louisa Hagood's Ginger Chicken" and "Miss Em's Pork Tenderloin," old-fashioned breakfast breads like "Nan's Little Thin Corn Cakes," and true discoveries like "Dancing School Fudge." Just as he did in their first acclaimed, best-selling collaboration, novelist William Baldwin perfectly captures the octogenarian cadence: "Inviting people to break bread with me challenges my skills at cooking and fielding a congenial gathering of people. And I love a challenge."

Charleston, that slightly starchy though gracious Southern city, seems an unlikely place to have made a heroine of the decidedly unstarchy Emily Whaley. Yet Mrs. Whaley's remarkable garden was a standard stop for many years on the Historic Charleston Foundation's annual garden tour, and Mrs. Whaley (who, despite her gregarious informality, had impeccable Southern bloodlines) was a popular social fixture, having founded the Cotillion, the city's most upscale dancing school. Entertaining was Mrs. Whaley's second-favorite hobby, and Mrs. Whaley Entertains is a slim, delightful collection of family anecdotes and timeless Southern recipes, salted liberally with Mrs. W.'s strong opinions ("Never serve anything to a guest that you haven't made successfully two or three times and made quite totally yours") and abundant good humor ("A good hostess simply wants you to enjoy yourself and won't care a whit if you refuse something as ungodly looking as an oyster"). Emily Whaley died in June 1998; this pleasant guide to Southern hospitality is a fitting memorial. --Barrie Trinkle