Her cooking was so good that eventually she was asked to hold a cooking class as a benefit for the Unitarian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. The classes were a success.
In 1930, newly widowed and with her children nearly grown up, Irma (now in her 50's) decided to spend a quiet summer in Charlevoix, Michigan. She took along her recipe collection to work on a possible cookbook.
Her book, The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat, was privately published in 1931. Five years later, it was picked up by the Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Company. The Joy of Cooking has been in continuous print ever since.
On the cover of The Joy of Cooking, Irma chose a silhouette of St. Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus, and the patron saint of cooks. Irma's daughter, Marion, drew the illustration which shows St. Martha (a purse dangling from one arm, her left hand flourishing a broom, and a dinner plate above her head as a halo) slaying "the dragon of kitchen drudgery."
- Little Blue Book, Diocese of Saginaw