The staff at Collectors Press, headed up by editor and chef Richard J. Perry, knew that to get more than 1,000 recipes tested in the space of a few months would require the input of a large group of people. But how to find them — and quickly?

“We created a news release for The Good Home Cookbook saying that we were looking for recipe testers across the country that went to magazines and newspapers, as well as food blogs and editors,” Perry explains. “We had a tremendous positive outpouring,” says Perry. “More than 1,500 people originally responded.” Here are just a few of them:

J. Leasum: “I would love to be chosen to test your new recipe book, as I find the older recipes to be easier and also they remind us of our childhoods. After all, there is nothing as fantastic as our mother’s home cooking. Also, I come from a farm family, my mother used to bake homemade bread every Saturday, as well as pies for our evening supper, and a cake for our Sunday dinner. I was raised in a meat and potato family, how lucky I was!”