Publishing mostly
cookbooks in the early years, Gwen became known as "The Cookbook Lady"
and was frequently asked which book was her favorite. "An impossible
decision," said McKee. "I began to list all my favorite cookbooks in
Mississippi. Then Barney suggested creating a cookbook that highlighted all the best recipes from all the best cookbooks within the state" Best of the Best from Mississippi soon became a reality and the beginning of a very successful series of state cookbooks: Quail Ridge Press' acclaimed Best of the Best State Cookbook Series.
After the Mississippi book, Gwen enlisted the help of her good friend and golf-partner, 
Barbara Moseley. Barbara is a country girl who was raised on a dairy farm,and Gwen is a city
gal with Cajun roots. Both love to cook and have families that love to
eat, so reading and trying recipes was a natural for both of them. The
two have been traveling the country gathering the best cookbooks from
each state for three decades now. This is the only cookbook series known
to cover all fifty states.
The
editors decided that some of the more exceptional recipes in the series
deserved a special showcase, and consequently, the four-book Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook Collection was established: The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook, Recipe Hall of Fame Dessert Cookbook, Recipe Hall of Fame Quick & Easy Cookbook, and The Recipe Hall of Fame Co
okbook II.
In addition to regional and national cookbooks, Quail Ridge Press publishes a selection of outstanding regional titles.
Quail
Ridge Press has come a long way from the McKee's dining room table. "We
started out as a very small company publishing primarily cookbooks,
then a few regional titles," said Gwen, "but now we are branching
out...there's just no telling where we'll go from here."
