55 turnover recipes

Flash un Kas are flaky Pennsylvania Dutch appetizer turnovers: a tender three-ingredient cream cheese pastry folded over savory fillings like liver paste, ham, anchovy or caviar, then baked golden. Great party bites.

Calzoni di ricotta are Italian fried half-moon turnovers stuffed with creamy ricotta, diced ham, and provolone, sealed in a lemon-kissed dough and fried golden. A crisp shell, molten cheese center, perfect antipasto or quick lunch.

Cheese pasties, hand-held British turnovers stuffed with sharp cheddar and diced root vegetables (turnip, carrot, leek, celery) in a flaky butter shortcrust, warmed with mace and cayenne. Crimped, baked golden, and even better the next day.

The first chili recipe appeared in West Texas at the turn of the century.

Spaghetti tossed in a beefy bacon-and-beer tomato sauce with sirloin, fire-roasted tomatoes, hot sauce, and Worcestershire, topped with sharp cheddar and crispy bacon bits. A 35-minute weeknight rodeo.

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.

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.