Allie Beth Martin's Sausage Balls

Margaret E. Monroe , Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin, School of Library and Information Studies, died this month. Her 90th birthday on May 21, 2004 had been noted in Bi-Folkal Times a project that had its roots in a grant she advised. (see entry under December 19, 2004 for more biographical information about Dr.Monroe).
Thinking about Dr. Monroe I looked at her book, Library Adult Education: The Biography of an Idea. (New York: Scarecrow Press). Out fell a page "from the desk of Margaret E. Monroe." It was a photocopy of a receipe for "Allie Beth Martin's Sausage Balls."
This made me smile as when I was a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin the other students and I were utterly amazed that Dr.Monroe was able to show up at all events with trays of sausage balls (which we came to realize that she made and froze in quantity).
I began then to think of Allie Beth Martin, a great librarian from Tulsa-City County Library who was the president of the American Library Association in 1975. Her Inaugural Address “In Touch with Tomorrow” is poignant to think about as she died while in office. Ms. Martin wrote A Strategy for Public Library Change: Proposed Public Library Goals Feasibility Study (ALA, 1972) which was a key work in the public library shift from standards to planning. The Public Library Association gives an annual award in her memory that provides recognition and an honorarium to a librarian who, in a public library setting, has demonstrated: (1) extraordinary range and depth of knowledge about books or other library materials; and (2) distinguished ability to share that knowledge. The Martin Regional Library in the Tulsa City-County Library is named for her. It is hard to believe it is 30 years since she has been with us.

Margaret E. Monroe and Allie Beth Martin both attended Columbia University, both made such an impact on our profession that major awards are made annually in their memory within the American Library Association, and both shared a recipe.

Allie Beth Martin's Sausage Balls
(as transcribed by Margaret E. Monroe and shared with her students at the University of Wisconsin-- ca. 1979)

3.5 cups Bisquick
1 stick aged cheddar cheese grated
1 lb. Jimmy Dean Sausage (or Jones, in Wisconsin)
(prefer "hot" variety or add dash of cayenne pepper--or Tabasco sauce)

Combine ingredients, crumbling together, and when well combined make into small balls. Arrange on cookie sheet and bake until brown at 350 degrees (about 20 minutes). This makes a lot. They can be frozen and reheated for later use. Good cold or warm but I think they are better warm.
ABM