59 century recipes

Appetizers have long been a part of the culinary tradition in Europe, but they're relatively new to America. One of the first to appear in American cookbooks, at the turn of the century, was shrimp cocktail.

Learn to make authentic Chinese century eggs (pidan) at home. Duck eggs cured for 100 days in a black tea, salt, ash, and lime coating transform into a prized delicacy with translucent whites and creamy green yolks.

Moggy is a traditional Manx and Lancashire sweet bread loaf made with flour, lard, and golden syrup. Crumbly, dense, and faintly molasses-like. Sliced and buttered thick the way the British Isles have done it for centuries.

Over here, and in England, these are just called "muffins", and are the ones in the song about the Muffin Man who lives in Drury Lane. They did actually sell them door-to-door every morning in London until the turn of the century or thereabouts.

Andouille was a great favorite in nineteenth-century New Orleans. This thick Cajun sausage is made with lean pork and pork fat and lots of garlic. Sliced about 1/2 inch thick and greilled, it makes a delightful appetizer. It is also used in a superb oyster and andouille gumbo poplular in Laplace, a Cajun town about 30 miles fromNew Orleans that calls itself the Andouille Capital of the World.

Tiramisu ("pick me up") is a modern version of a dessert first created in Siena, where it was called zuppa del Duca (the Duke's soup!). From there it migrated to Florence, where it became very popular in the nine- teenth century among the many English people who came to live in the city at that time. And so it was called zuppa inglese--English soup. Only recently, the same dessert with some variation--chiefly the substitution of rich mascarpone cheese for the original custard--has come to be called tiramisu.

A decadent and delicious Passover layer cake. The center is filled with apricot preserves and the cake frosted with a rich whipped chocolate frosting.

A buttery, custard-like chess pie loaded with earthy black walnuts and baked until the center is just set. Simple Southern baking with a rich, caramelized filling that needs no fancy technique.

Secret kiss cookies hide a whole chocolate kiss inside a buttery, walnut-flecked shortbread, baked until just set and rolled in powdered sugar. Bite in and the soft chocolate center is the surprise. A Christmas cookie tin favorite.

All root vegetables can be sautéed. However, because of their density they must be cut into thin slices or a small dice. If not, the exteriors will burn before the center is cooked.

One of my favorites. These are the cookies I make when I am trying to impress someone or cheer a person up. Though they are made with milk chocolate they are not too sweet. The edges are airy and crunchy and the center is soft and chewy.