Cured Meat

The mashed sweet potatoes with sage butter are a great side dish for calf's liver. We recommend asking the butcher for the freshest calf's liver available, since it can vary in quality. Soaking the liver in milk, a method typically used for pork liver, helps soften and mellow its flavor.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

The following hors d'oeuvre, a variation on the BLT, can be put together quickly if the ingredients are prepared a few hours ahead and assembled just before serving. Finely diced mozzarella would be a nice addition to the salad filling. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

In the South, this dish is called Limping Susan. To make the version known as Hoppin' John, add cooked black-eyed peas.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

You can form the patties a day ahead, leaving only a quick frying job for the morning.

Greens are a direct part of African-Amercans' African heritage. Dishes using leafy greens abound in the cooking of the African Atlantic world. They turn up as a couve in Brazil, as a callaloo in the Caribbean, as sauce feuilles in French-speaking West Africa, and simply as greens in the southern United States. The African-American twist with greens is in the manner of cooking. We cook 'em long and slow —down to the proverbial "low gravy"— (but then again that was the way all vegetables were cooked in much of the past). The real innovation is in the eating: We savor not only the greens but also their cooking liquid or "pot likker," a rich source of vitamins and iron.

Pancetta, the salty Italian bacon, forms a crust around the chicken. Offer a bottle of Pinot Grigio, a crisp Italian white wine, with this entrée. For dessert, try spumoni and sugar cookies.

Buttermilk adds the tang, while bacon lends crunch to this dish.

Mrs. Alvin Schreiner and her mother, Mrs. Lackner, were old-time German cooks. Everything they made was a work of art. This pea soup recipe came from them and is one of our favorites. Do not omit the bacon fat; it is the secret ingredient.