From Pilot Knob to Main Street: A Collection of Recipes and Stories from Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

"We are going to Aunt Ethel and Uncle Tom's for dinner tonight." With those words from mom, I knew my brother Keith and I would be putting on ties and "dressing up" for dinner at Aunt Ethel's. We would usually be seated in the sun room with Bill and Bohn Frazer, our "cousins-in-law." Keith and I are the sons of Howard and Imogene Stout (Howard, who died in 1978, is the brother of Ethel Tucker) and Bill and Bohn Frazer are the sons of Bob and Dorothy Frazer (sister of Thomas Tucker). Uncle Tom passed away in 2001. He was generally regarded as the foremost Crittenden County historian. Aunt Ethel is often referred to as the matriarch of our community. Even as I have grown older, I have come to realize how special meal time at Aunt Ethel's is. On Wednesdays, we often gather there as well as for Sunday dinner after church. From the simplest lunch to the most extravagant dinner party, the food is always delicious and the presentation is always enticing. To this day, the most coveted dinner reservation in our community is a dinner party invitation to Aunt Ethel's. This book is not just a recipe book. It tells the story of living in a small town. It also explores the fellowship developed when "we break bread together." Thanks to Aunt Ethel for all she has done. Alan C. Stout

"From Pilot Knob to Main Street" is not your ordinary cookbook. But then, Ethel Tucker is not your ordinary author. This publication tells a story that has been a lifetime in the making. The pages herein contain more than blueprints for elegant appetizers, tasty vegetables, dinner parties and unique desserts. What the reader will find is a true taste of Ethel Tucker''s penchant for storytelling and preparing fine meals. At age 87, Ethel Tucker has compiled decades worth of recipes and anecdotes that are shared in this cookbook. Years of encouragement from her late husband, Thomas, and family and friends, eventually prompted her to embark upon this project in 2004.The author spent nearly all of her life in Crittenden County, Kentucky. This book also recounts Tucker's rearing in the area north of Marion off of Fords Ferry Road known as Pilot Knob, her life as a small-town businesswoman, her long marriage to Thomas Tucker, their entertaining in Crittenden County homes and her involvement in many community and church activities. Indeed, she gives credit for all of her many abilities and blessings to her Lord Jesus Christ.Ethel Tucker has been described as the "Matriarch of Marion." The accounts, cooking lessons and life''s stories contained in this book are testimony to her remarkable character and culinary taste.