Well-known Nashville restaurant critic and music writer Kay West has been mixing country music and country cooking for years. With her new cookbook, Around the Opry Table: A Feast of Recipes and Stories from the Grand Ole Opry (Center Street, $24.99), she’s combined food, music and Grand Ole Opry history in one package.

Around the Opry Table includes recipes from country superstars and legends, including Martina McBride’s White Chili, Brad Paisley’s Fishin’ Supper, Alan Jackson’s Pimento Cheese Salad and Minnie Pearl’s Chess Pie. But unlike a conventional cookbook, it also includes stories and photos from Opry members, such as how McBride began making her chili for her crew when they grew tired of catering on the road. “There’s not a single picture of food in the book,” says West. “All the photos are of artists, along with vintage photos from the Opry.”

West searched the Opry archives for photos and recipes in an effort to create more than just your average country cookbook. As publicist for George Strait for many years, West says, “I was always getting asked for a recipe from George for various cookbooks, and I’d always give them George’s King Ranch Chicken recipe,” says West. “I’ve seen that recipe everywhere. So when I started this book I wanted to get recipes that hadn’t been used everywhere else.”

Being a thorough researcher, West naturally had to sample the concoctions. “I tried almost all of them,” she says. “You have check them out, especially because on some of the older ones you have to adapt the measurements. For example, Texas Ruby’s recipe called for a box of marshmallows. And a couple just said a can of this or that, and I really needed them to be a little more specific.”

Her favorites? “I think Martina’s chili is really good, and Marty Stuart’s mother’s applesauce cake is really good. And Alison Krauss’ Pretty Good for a Yankee Chicken Pot Pie really is pretty good for a Yankee!”