Anchovy.

Bagna càuda, which translates to "hot bath" in Italian, is a warm omaggio (thanks, Anna) originating in the Piedmont of Italy, where it was a peasant meal among wine farmers and vineyard workers. It was often prepared and consumed outdoors during cold harvests or to celebrate the production of new vintages.

Its origins are tied to the salt trade routes from Provence through the Alps. In the Middle Ages, salt was heavily taxed, so traders reportedly hid it in barrels under layers of anchovies to evade duties.

Ingredients

• 3 heads fresh garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 jar Ortiz anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained, and chopped 
• ¾ cup high-quality extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• a shot of bold, dry red wine
• 3-finger pinch inch of red pepper flakes 
• black pepper to taste
• chunks of crusty sourdough, salami, pecorino, raw cabbage

Instructions

1. Combine the olive oil and garlic in a cold saucepan or skillet. Turn the heat to the lowest setting possible.
2. Cook gently for 10–12 minutes. The garlic should soften and become fragrant but must not brown or fry, which would make the sauce bitter.
3. Add the chopped anchovies. Using a wooden spoon, stir gently for 2-3 minutes until they completely melt into a paste.
4. Emulsify the butter one piece at a time until melted and the sauce looks creamy.
5. Transfer immediately to a warming dish to keep the sauce from congealing. 
6. Dunk bread, salami, cheese, veggies (raw cabbage is delicious) into the mélange and repeat as needed

Bagna càuda also does well tossed with spaghetti (look for Martelli in the bright yellow bag) finished with a heavy hand of Pecorino Romano (there is no substitute for the famous Locatelli brand).

Naturally.

Steadying.

In our house, this evening marks the beginning of Welsh Rarebit season, an ancient and sacred rite.

WELSH RAREBIT

Ingredients

• A knob of butter
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp Coleman's mustard powder
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 c Guinness
• A very long splash of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 lb. mature strong Cheddar, grated (Look for English farmhouse types such as Montgomery's, Keen's, Quicke's, or my favorite, Lincolnshire Poacher)
• 4 pieces of toast, preferably from homemade bread

Method

1. Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour, and let this cook together until it smells biscuity but is not browning. 
2. Add the mustard powder and cayenne pepper, stir in the Guinness and Worcestershire sauce, then gently melt in the cheese.
3. When it’s all of one consistency, remove from the heat, pour out into a shallow container and allow to set. Spread on toast thickly and place under the broiler. Eat when bubbling golden brown. 
4. This makes a splendid savoury at the end of your meal, washed down with a glass of Port, or as a steadying snack.

I highly recommend the addition of Nueske's Triple-Thick Butcher Cut bacon.

Repeat as needed.  Recipe courtesy of Fergus Henderson, from The Complete Nose to Tail

Thanks to Grandma Chenoweth.

Liquor.

Lucy Buffett's Oyster Dressing is a long-standing tradition in our house (but I've yet to surpass the quality and longevity of Mum's sage dressing, the technique of which will remain a family secret) ...

INGREDIENTS

• 12 tablespoons/1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, divided, plus more for baking dish
• 1 (8-inch-square) baked and cooled cornbread, preferably on the sweet side
• 15 slices white or wheat bread, toasted and cooled
• ½ large white onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery ribs, finely chopped
• ½ large green bell pepper, finely chopped
• ½ cup chicken broth, plus more as needed
• 2 dozen freshly shucked or jarred oysters, preferably Gulf oysters, drained and coarsely chopped (reserve the oyster liquor)
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce, preferably Crystal
• ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh sage, finely chopped, or 1 teaspoon ground sage
• 1 ½ teaspoons truffle salt or sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground white pepper

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Butter a 9-by 13-inch baking dish.
3. Crumble cornbread into a large bowl. Tear toasted white or wheat bread into very small pieces, add to cornbread, and toss to combine
4. Melt 8 tablespoons butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and bell pepper; sauté, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Cover pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are almost translucent, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove cover, add broth, and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, for 2 to 3 minutes. Continue to cook mixture for 1 more minute, then remove from heat, add to bread mixture, and stir to combine.
5. In a medium bowl, stir together oysters, lemon juice, hot sauce, parsley, sage, salt and white pepper. Add to bread mixture and stir well to combine. If dressing seems too dry, add a little oyster liquor and up to 1/2 cup more chicken broth; mixture should be very moist.
6. Pour dressing into greased baking dish (cast iron skillet. -Ed.). Cut remaining 4 tablespoons butter into small pieces and scatter over top of dressing. Bake until top and sides are browned, 40 to 45 minutes.

Additional provisions.

Embutidos.

Saveur has your guide to embutidos ...

The robust, funky meat — streaked with sweet, nutty fat — gets its characteristic flavor from a combination of the pigs’ all-acorn diet, and their moderately active life roaming free-range through oak forests on the Spain-Portugal border.

When it comes to hams and sausages, kids, anything that Italy does, Spain does better.  

For best results, pair the jamon with gildas. Skewer the following on an old-fashioned wooden toothpick:

1. An Spanish anchovy filet (I bet my lungs, even if you think you don't care for anchovies, try the Ortiz brand)
2. A pitted Manzanilla olive stuffed with a generous sliver of garlic or manchego
3. A guindilla pepper
4. Prepare a copious pile of skewers and drizzle with Desierto Picual
5. Consume lustily with the ham

Wash your hands well, put the needle down on the Gipsy Kings' Tierra Gitana album, then wash it all down with rioja quaffed straight from the bottle, repeating as needed.

Festive.

MUM'S BLUE CHEESE DIP

For a festive afternoon's-worth of family snacking ...

• 2 8-ounce packages Philadelphia cream cheese
• 4 cups Maytag blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 pound Nueske's Triple-Thick Butcher Cut bacon, baked on a rack, diced
• 1 head garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup heavy cream 
• 4 hefty shakes Lea & Perrins Worcestershire
• 1 large pinch kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Fully combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Warm.

For best results, serve with pumpernickel toast, coarsely-chopped green onion, and a roaring fire.

My Pop would smear this on a sandwich of leftover rib roast on the day after Christmas.

Thanks, Buff.

Pudding.

Mrs. Crocombe of Audley End House demonstrates plum pudding ...

Liquor.

Lucy Buffett's Oyster Dressing is a nearly thirty year-old tradition in our house (but I've yet to surpass the quality and longevity of Mum's sage dressing, the technique of which will remain a family secret) ...

INGREDIENTS

• 12 tablespoons/1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, divided, plus more for baking dish
• 1 (8-inch-square) baked and cooled cornbread, preferably on the sweet side
• 15 slices white or wheat bread, toasted and cooled
• ½ large white onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery ribs, finely chopped
• ½ large green bell pepper, finely chopped
• ½ cup chicken broth, plus more as needed
• 2 dozen freshly shucked or jarred oysters, preferably Gulf oysters, drained and coarsely chopped (reserve the oyster liquor)
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce, preferably Crystal
• ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh sage, finely chopped, or 1 teaspoon ground sage
• 1 ½ teaspoons truffle salt or sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground white pepper

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Butter a 9-by 13-inch baking dish.
3. Crumble cornbread into a large bowl. Tear toasted white or wheat bread into very small pieces, add to cornbread, and toss to combine
4. Melt 8 tablespoons butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and bell pepper; sauté, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Cover pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are almost translucent, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove cover, add broth, and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, for 2 to 3 minutes. Continue to cook mixture for 1 more minute, then remove from heat, add to bread mixture, and stir to combine.
5. In a medium bowl, stir together oysters, lemon juice, hot sauce, parsley, sage, salt and white pepper. Add to bread mixture and stir well to combine. If dressing seems too dry, add a little oyster liquor and up to 1/2 cup more chicken broth; mixture should be very moist.
6. Pour dressing into greased baking dish (cast iron skillet. -Ed.). Cut remaining 4 tablespoons butter into small pieces and scatter over top of dressing. Bake until top and sides are browned, 40 to 45 minutes.

Repeat.

SMOKED COD ROE

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. smoked cod’s roe
• 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 c. creme fraiche
• white pepper, to taste
• zest and juice of 1 lemon

Technique

1. Whisk olive oil into roe, 1 tbsp at a time, until incorporated. 
2. Whisk in creme fraiche.
3. Add white pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, and whip it good.

Serve with soft-boiled egg, grilled rustic bread, and Guinness.  

Repeat as needed.

Jerk.

Saveur's guide to jerk ...

Few Caribbean dishes are as well-traveled, or as beloved, as Jamaican jerk, a humble meal of bone-in chicken or pork parts doused in a blend of spices and hot peppers, and cooked slowly over smoldering pimento wood branches. Peppered across the island, roadside jerk stands entice passersby with wafts of fragrant smoke rising from makeshift grills encased in sheets of tin siding. Supple, juicy, and crispy in spots where the meat has been charred by the fire, jerk is an integral part of Jamaica's economy too, with restaurants like the perpetually busy Scotchies or the relaxed Pepper's Jerk Center serving tourists and locals year-round. It's typically eaten with your hands alongside fried cornmeal "festivals" (dumplings), scorching-­hot Scotch bonnet pepper sauce, and cold beer.

We usually serve jerk with fried plantains and peas and rice.  The plantains are bias-sliced thinly, tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I do these in a cast iron skillet on the grill.

The rice and peas are a must ...

Ingredients

• 2 cans red kidney beans
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1 head garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups rice
• 1 Scotch Bonnet pepper, whole

Preparation

1. Saute onion, garlic, thyme in olive oil in a medium sauce pan.
2. Drain beans; pour into two-quart measuring cup; add coconut milk and enough water to make 4 cups of liquid.
3. Add liquid to sauce pan; boil.
4. Add rice; stir; reduce heat, add pepper, and cook covered until rice is cooked.
5. Remove pepper and serve.

I have been a fan of Walkerswood jerk seasoning for thirty years.  Recent study has made me a disciple of Grace based on its balanced, depth of flavor. 

Use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs.-Ed.

Must.

Thanks, Pop!  The tradition continues!

Crumble.

After the buns are toasted, spread bacon jam on the bottom bun, and add a layer of peanut butter on the top bun. Then crumble about 2 oz. of Maytag Blue Cheese on top of the peanut butter.

Authority.

To make a pitcher of Bloody Marys (any smaller amount is worthless) take a good sized pitcher and put in it as big a lump of ice as it will hold. (This to prevent too rapid melting and watering of our product.) Mix a pint of good Russian vodka and an equal amount of chilled tomato juice. Add a tablespoon full of Worcestershire sauce. Lea and Perrins is usual but you can use A1 or any good beef-steak sauce. Stirr (with two rs). Then add a jigger of fresh-squeezed lime juice. Stir. Then add small amounts of celery salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper. Keep on stirring and taste to see how it is doing. If you get it too powerful, weaken with more tomato juice. If it lacks authority add more vodka.

For combating a really terrific hangover, increase the amount of Worcester sauce – but don’t lose the lovely colour.

I introduced this drink to Hong Kong in 1941 and believe it did more than any other single factor except perhaps the Japanese Army to precipitate the Fall of that Crown Colony.

After you get the hang of it you can mix it so it will taste as though it had absolutely no alcohol of any kind in it and a glass of it will still have as much kick as a really good big martini. Whole trick is to keep it very cold and not let the ice water it down. Use good vodka and good tomato juice. There is a vodka made in N.J. by Russian process that is ok. Can’t remember the name and don’t want to tout you onto the wrong one.

Ernest Hemingway, from a 1947 letter to Bernard Peyton

Grand.

'Tis the season for pickled shrimp.

INGREDIENTS

 2 T Old Bay seasoning

 1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

 1⁄2 t celery seeds

 1⁄4 t allspice berries

 1 c+ extra-virgin olive oil

 At least 1⁄3 c fresh lemon juice

 1⁄4 c packed flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

 1 t kosher salt

 1 T crushed red chile flakes

 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

 12 dried bay leaves

 1⁄2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced lengthwise

1 lemon, sliced thinly, latitudinally

PROCEDURE

Shrimp

1. Bring Old Bay and 8 cups water to a boil in a stockpot
2. Add shrimp, reduce heat to low, and cook until pink, about 2 minutes
3. Drain and transfer to ice water to chill; drain again

Pickling Funk

1. Grind celery seeds and allspice berries
2. Transfer to bowl and add oil, lemon juice, parsley, salt, chile flakes, garlic, and bay
3. Mix well

Finish

1. Fill a quart jar with shrimp and onions
2. Add oil mixture
3. Cover with lid
4. Chill well before serving

IMPORTANT!  I promise, you will consume this quickly.  As Harrison says, "It's important not to get caught short."  We never make less than a triple batch.  It's a grand feeling knowing there's plenty of pickled shrimp waiting in the 'frig for the Happiest of Hours (gin, rocks olives, or crisply-chilled dry rosé), but it's also glorious with a bagel and sun tea in the morning, or on well-buttered pumpernickel toast and a Narragansett at lunch.

Sardine.

Gabrielle Hamilton's Sardine Sandwich ...

Layers.

Chef Bottura's Cacio e Pepe risotto ...

First, he simmers the cheese in water, then refrigerates the mixture until it separates into three distinct layers: protein solids on the bottom, a thick broth in the middle, and a Parmigiano cream on top. The broth is slowly stirred into the risotto, taking the place of chicken stock, while the cream is added toward the end of cooking, giving the risotto a luxurious texture and little need for any additional salt.

For breakfast, I would suggest topping the leftovers with a lightly fried egg.

Krautstrudel

KRAUTSTRUDEL

Ingredients

• 1 lb. bacon, diced
• 2 yellow onions, chopped
• parsley, chopped
• 3 Yukon gold potatoes, boiled 
• 1 1/2 lbs. sauerkraut, drained
• 1 tsp. whole caraway seeds
• 1/2 tsp. ground caraway seeds
• freshly ground black pepper
• 6 T butter
• frozen strudel dough
• 1 1/2 c. sour cream 

Instructions

Filling

1. Put bacon and onions into a large skillet and cook until bacon is browned but not crisp, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley and transfer to a large bowl. 
2. Coarsely grate potatoes into bowl with bacon mixture. 
3. Add sauerkraut and whole and ground caraway and mix well. 
4. Season to taste with pepper.

Strudel

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Melt butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat and cook until lightly browned. Pour clarified butter into a small bowl, discarding milk solids.
2. Roll and stretch strudel dough. Position dough and cloth with a longish edge parallel to edge of work surface closest to you. Brush dough with half of clarified butter. Pile sauerkraut mixture evenly along edge of dough closest to you, 3" in from long edge and 1" in from shorter side edges, covering about one-third of the dough. Spread sour cream over sauerkraut mixture.
3. Roll up and bake strudel according to instructions.  
4. Serve krautstrudel warm, with additional sour cream.

Wassail.

On Twelfth Eve, in Devonshire, it is customary for the farmer to leave his warm fireside, accompanied by a band of rustics, with guns, blunderbusses, etc., presenting an appearance which at other times would be somewhat alarming. Thus armed, the band proceed to an adjoining orchard, where is selected one of the most fruitful and aged of the apple trees, grouping round which they stand and offer up their invocations in the following doggerel rhyme: 

Here's to thee

Old apple tree!

Whence thou mayst bud,

And whence thou mayst blow,

And whence thou mayst bear,

Apples enow:

Hats full,

Caps full,

Bushels,bushels, sacks full,

And my pockets full, too!

Huzza! huzza!

The cider-jug is then passed around, and with many a hearty shout, the party fire off their guns, charged with powder only, amidst the branches.

London News, January 11, 1851

The WASSAIL

Give way, give way, ye gates, and win

An easy blessing to your bin

And basket, by our entering in.

May both with manchet stand replete;

Your larders, too, so hung with meat,

That though a thousand, thousand eat,

Yet, ere twelve moons shall whirl about

Their silv'ry spheres, there's none may doubt

But more's sent in than was served out.

Next, may your dairies prosper so,

As that your pans no ebb may know;

But if they do, the more to flow,

Like to a solemn sober stream,

Bank'd all with lilies, and the cream

Of sweetest cowslips filling them.

Then may your plants be press'd with fruit,

Nor bee or hive you have be mute,

But sweetly sounding like a lute.

Last, may your harrows, shares, and ploughs,

Your stacks, your stocks, your sweetest mows,

All prosper by your virgin-vows.

--Alas! we bless, but see none here,

That brings us either ale or beer;

In a dry-house all things are near.

Let's leave a longer time to wait,

Where rust and cobwebs bind the gate;

And all live here with needy fate;

Where chimneys do for ever weep

For want of warmth, and stomachs keep

With noise the servants' eyes from sleep.

It is in vain to sing, or stay

Our free feet here, but we'll away:

Yet to the Lares this we'll say:

'The time will come when you'll be sad,

'And reckon this for fortune bad.

Robert Herrick

Then here’s to the heartening wassail, 

Wherever good fellows are found; 

Be its master instead of its vassal, and order the glasses around.

Ogden Nash

TWELFTH NIGHT

      Now, now the mirth comes

      With the cake full of plums,

Where bean's the king of the sport here ;

      Beside we must know,

      The pea also

Must revel, as queen, in the court here.

      Begin then to choose,

      This night as ye use,

Who shall for the present delight here,

      Be a king by the lot,

      And who shall not

Be Twelfth-day queen for the night here.

      Which known, let us make

      Joy-sops with the cake ;

And let not a man then be seen here,

      Who unurg'd will not drink

      To the base from the brink

A health to the king and queen here.

      Next crown a bowl full

      With gentle lamb's wool :

Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,

      With store of ale too ;

      And thus ye must do

To make the wassail a swinger.

      Give then to the king

      And queen wassailing :

And though with ale ye be whet here,

      Yet part from hence

      As free from offence

As when ye innocent met here.

Robert Herrick

LAMB'S WOOL

Ingredients

• 1 liter traditional ale or traditional hard cider
• 1/2 liter cider 
• 6 apples, peeled and cored
• 2 tbsp Calvados
• 1 nutmeg, freshly grated
• 1 tsp fresh ground ginger

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 120C
2. Prepare the apples 
3. Core the 6 apples fully, getting rid of the pips. Lightly butter the baking tray. Sprinkle optional Calvados on apples. Place the apples on the baking tray about 6cm (2 inches) apart – they will swell up a little. Bake the apples at 120C for about an hour or so – so they become soft and pulpy and the skins are easy to peel away.
4. In a large thick bottomed saucepan (which is quite tall to avoid splashes when whisking) add the sugar. Cover the sugar in a small amount of the ale (or cider) and mead and heat gently. Stir continuously until the sugar has dissolved.
5. dd in the ground ginger and grate in the whole of the nutmeg. Stir, and keeping the pan on a gentle simmer, slowly add in all the rest of the ale (or cider). Leave for 10 minutes on a gentle heat as you deal with the apples.
6. Take the baked apples out of the oven to cool slightly for 10 minutes – they should now be soft and pulpy.
7. Break open the apples and scoop out the baked flesh into a bowl, discarding the skin. Then take a fork and mash this apple pulp up, while it is still warm, into a smooth purée with no lumps. Add the apple purée into the ale (or cider) lambswool, mixing it in with a whisk.
8. Let the saucepan continue to warm everything through for thirty minutes, on a very gentle heat, until ready to drink. When warmed through use the whisk again for a couple of minutes (or use a stick blender) to briskly and vigorously froth the drink up and mix everything together.
9. The apple and light froth will float to the surface, and depending on how much you have whisked it, the more it looks like lamb’s wool. Note: to traditionally froth drinks up they were normally poured continuously between two large serving jugs to get air into the drink.
10. Ladle the hot Lambswool into heat-proof mugs or glasses and grate over some nutmeg, or pour the drink into a communal bowl (with several thick pieces of toast in the bottom) to pass around if wassailing.

FARMER'S WASSAIL

Ingredients

• 1 quart hard cider
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 5 or 6 pieces cracked ginger or 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 2 cups dark rum
• Juice and thinly pared rind of 1 lemon
• Sugar, to taste
• 2 slices toasted bread (if desired)
• 6 or 8 baked crab apples or 2 or 3 baked large apples

Instructions

1. Heat ale in saucepan until just about to boil. 
2. Stir in spices, rum, lemon juice, slivered rind and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves.
3. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes. Do not boil at any time. 
4. Remove from heat and either pour into punch bowl or individual cups and add toast and apples. 

WASSAILING the APPLE TREES

Tradition.

In Piedmont, winemakers celebrate the end of the grape harvest each year with a dinner that traditionally begins with bagna cauda and ends—according to Piedmontese tradition—with eggs scrambled in the last traces of the sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 1⁄2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 10 salt-cured anchovy filets, rinsed, boned and finely chopped
• Kosher salt

(Add some chili flakes, to taste. --Ed.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oil and butter in a pot over medium-high heat until butter begins to foam. 
2. Add garlic; cook for 10 seconds. Reduce heat to medium-low and add anchovies. 
3. Cook, stirring and mashing anchovies with a wooden spoon, until anchovies are broken into very small pieces and dip is cloudy, 3–4 minutes. 
4. (Add chili flakes, if desired)
5. Season with salt to taste and serve immediately as a dip for an assortment of raw vegetables.

Makes a great late-night, early-morning paring with pasta.  Don't forget the Locatelli Pecorino.

Encased.

Saveur has the recipe for lunch (repeat as needed) ...

A hard-boiled egg encased in sausage and bread crumbs, and then deep-fried, is a fixture of modern pub menus, but London department store Fortnum & Mason claims to have invented the hearty snack in 1738.