This dip is not for most dieters, though it would certainly work on a low-carb plan. Just serve it with celery instead of chips. It can be made up to two days in advance.

Bacon and Cheddar Dip

6 slices bacon, divided use
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded extra-sharp cheddar
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
3 scallions, white and green parts, finely chopped, divided use
Hot sauce, to taste

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until browned and crisp, about 6 minutes (starting the bacon in a cold skillet reduces shrinkage and splattering). Transfer to paper towels to drain and cool.

Chop the bacon. Wrap and refrigerate 2 tablespoons for the garnish.

0060002239[/amazon-productStir the cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, the remaining bacon and two-thirds of the scallions together in a bowl. Season with hot sauce. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

Transfer to a serving bowl and top with the reserved bacon and the remaining scallions. Serve chilled.

What to dip: potato chips, tortilla chips, baguette slices, crostini, flatbread crisps, broccoli florets, carrot sticks, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, zucchini slices.

From “Dip It!” by Rick Rodgers

Dips are not the most visually attractive foods on the planet. Yet few dishes are as easy to make and versatile at parties. So, whenever we can, we haul out the sour cream, the mayonnaise, the cream cheese, the mustard and whatever seasonings  we choose to create something you can sink a carrot or a tortilla chip into, stuff into a rib of celery, or just eat by itself (please, no fingers).

The possibilities are endless. You can even create themed dips to reflect the occasion. Think of a red and blue berry mixture with white yogurt for the Fourth of July, as an example, or pairing red and green salsas for Christmas.

Today, we offer three dip recipes for Super Bowl Sunday. All can be made in advance, all taste much better after the flavors are allowed to meld together. The Bacon and Cheddar Dip is for Colts fans, a reminder of the city where bacon, cheddar and hot sauce are all part of chili. So why not feature them in a dip of their own?

The Saints’ home turf is a known a bit more for its culinary treasures. In its honor, try New Orleans-style Muffuletta Dip or Cajun Shrimp and Artichoke Dip.

But what should you serve to dip with?

For vegetables, think of spears of raw asparagus, pepper slices, radishes celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower as well as strips of jícama, snow pea pods, fennel matchsticks and slightly shocked green beans (blanch with boiling water and set immediately on ice).

For crunchier bases, you can use pita chips, toasted baguette slices or crostini, hearty tortilla chips, hearty potato chips, pumpernickel and rye cocktail squares, bagel chips, crackers, black bread, and melba toast.

Recipe: Cajun Shrimp and Artichoke Dip.

Recipe: Muffuletta Dip

Recipe: Bacon and Cheddar Dip

Serving cabbage on New Year’s is meant to signify that you’ll be rolling in money for the rest of the year. Whether it’s true or not is beside the point when you taste this Scandinavian cabbage dish crowned with dill butter and bacon.

Cabbage With Dill Butter and Bacon

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup salt
1 head cabbage, cored and halved
1/4 pound bacon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Sea salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, using a fork, mix the butter with the dill. Refrigerate.

Combine 4 quarts of water and salt in a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the cabbage, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the cabbages are tender but still offer some resistance when pricked with a fork.

Meanwhile, fry the bacon in the unsalted butter in a skillet over medium heat for 7 to 9 minutes or until crisp.

Drain the cabbage well and cut into quarters. Place on individual plates. Add the dill butter and bacon. Season each with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Adapted from “Kitchen of Light” by Andreas Viestad

Serve this on Christmas morning, as an appetizer, crumbled on top of green beans or in a Candied Bacon Apple Pie.

Five-Spice Bacon

16 thick slices bacon, about 1 pound
2 tablespoons five-spice powder
4 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Carefully separate slices of bacon. In a small bowl, mix five-spice powder and powdered sugar. Sprinkle each slice lightly with mixture. Place on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then pour off fat. Bake for about 10 minutes longer, or until crisp. Remove from oven and let sit for 1 to 2 minutes before serving.

Makes 16 slices.

From “Christmas 1-2-3″ by Rozanne Gold

Dan Lewis of the Plaza Club developed this version of macaroni and cheese while working at Ironstone Vineyards. You can make it in individual dishes or in a family-style casserole dish. This variation combines three cheeses and a few herbs in a way that makes “this every day dish really stand out,” he says in the “Discover Ironstone Vineyards” cookbook. “Any type of pasta can be used, so here is your opportunity to use that guitar-shaped pasta that seemed like a good idea when you bought it three years ago!”

Ironstone Macaroni and Cheese

2 cups whipping cream, divided use
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup finely diced pancetta or applewood-smoked bacon
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon chopped shallot
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 cup crumbled blue cheese or roquefort
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
8 ounces pasta, cooked
1 tablespoon minced chives
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon minced parsley
2 tablespoons freshly grated Romano cheese
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
8 oregano sprigs

Whisk 1/4 cup of the cream with the cornstarch and set aside. Sauté the pancetta in the butter over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, shallot and oregano and cook for 1 minute. Add the blue cheese, goat cheese and the remaining whipping cream and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pan and stir for 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the cooked pasta and chives.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pasta in 8 individual baking dishes. Combine the breadcrumbs, parsley, Romano cheese, salt and pepper, and sprinkle over the pasta. Bake for 20 minutes, or until browned. (This can also be made family-style by putting it in one large casserole dish and baking for 30 to 40 minutes.) Top each serving with an oregano sprig and serve immediately.

Wine suggestion: Light and fruit or semisweet white wine

Makes 8 servings.

From “Discover Ironstone Vineyards” by Dan Lewis

In “A Christmas Story,” the narrator gleefully describes all of the leftover turkey dishes that won’t be served in his household that winter after the neighbors’ dogs have made away with their dinner: “No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey a la King! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, all gone!”

Not on his list of leftover ideas is one that I grew up with in Louisville, Ky. It’s known as the Hot Brown, and it originated at one of the city’s finer hotels, the Brown.

According to the dish’s history on the hotel’s website, chef Fred Schmidt created the Hot Brown in the 1920s after patrons of the nightly dinner dance grew tired of the same ham and eggs to sober them up before leaving. He combined a Mornay sauce and bacon with turkey breast meat and broiled the dish until it was bubbly. A culinary tradition was born.

The state also had something of a signature dish with the Hot Brown, which I remember in my younger days being served at political functions, at fancy dress dinners, at derby parties, in people’s homes. It was, and is, a staple.

As with any good dish, variations have cropped up over the years. If one is to believe the recipe offered by the Brown, Texas toast is used as the base. I have had it served more often on homemade biscuits. Food Network star Bobby Flay’s gussied up variation uses an egg-batter bread.

Some swear the original did not come with slices of tomato. I like the addition because the freshness and brightness of the tomato’s acid cuts through the rich sauce.

The Brown’s recipe is also served with parsley on top. I don’t recall ever seeing that on a Hot Brown in the past, even when I’ve had it at the Brown Hotel. Nothing about this dish calls for a touch of green. And why would you want to hide the bacon?

I even devised a low-fat version one year using fat-free half-and-half, reduced-fat cheese and turkey bacon. It wasn’t bad, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it as more than an experiment.

I visited my folks at the beginning of the month, and we shared a Thanksgiving feast a little early. The next day, Mom whipped up some Hot Browns for us, and she offered a new version: To cut the carbs somewhat (though not completely when you count the flour in the sauce), she left the bread out completely. No biscuits, no Texas toast, nothing. She also served the leftover cran-raspberry relish on the side, which added to its luster. A glass of white Burgundy and you’re all set for some good eats.

So, don’t feel tied to tradition when making your own version. The beauty of this dish is that it will make you forget you’re using leftover turkey.

Cabbage is a fall staple that gains brightness from coriander and citrus juice.

Sautéed Cabbage With Bacon

2 tablespoons butter
2 strips bacon
1 small head cabbage, core removed and cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground ginger
Salt, to taste
Lemon juice or orange juice, to taste

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add bacon and cook until crisp. Remove to paper towels and dry.

Add cabbage to the pan and sauté. Stir in coriander and ginger. Add salt to taste. When the cabbage is soft, stir in the bacon and squeeze a spritz of lemon juice on top before serving.

Makes 6-8 servings.

From John Griffin

This twist on the classic apple pie grew out of years of playing around with the original, first by adding nuts, then raisins, etc. I like to use a mixture of apples, such as a golden delicious, Braeburn and Gala, to get a mixture of textures as well as varying levels of tartness and sweetness. Of course, you can leave out the bacon, if the idea doesn’t appeal.

Candied bacon:
4 slices bacon, preferably maple-cured or applewood-smoked (not pepper- or garlic-cured)
Sugar, to taste
Cinnamon, to taste

Pie filling:
5-6 large pie apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, or to taste
4 slices candied bacon, cut into tiny strips
1/3 cup pecan pieces
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of flour

2 pie crusts
1 egg white
Sugar, for garnish
Sharp cheddar, for garnish, optional

For candied bacon: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place bacon on a baking sheet. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Turn bacon. Sprinkle more sugar and cinnamon on top. Continue baking until crisp, another 5 minutes. Remove to a rack over paper towels. Let cool.

When ready to make pie, preheat oven to 425 degrees.

For filling: Prepare apples, toss with melted butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, bacon strips and pecans. Let sit while you roll out the pie crust.

Place bottom pie crust in pan. Fill with apple mixture. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over the top and a pinch of flour you’re using to roll out the crust on top. Then top pie with second crust. Fold top crust over bottom crust and crimp the two together using a fork or your finger. Cut vents into the top crust.

Mix egg white with small bit of water. Brush over top crust. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30-40 minutes more, until pie crust is golden brown and juices and bubbling through vents. Serve warm with melted cheddar on top, if desired.

Makes 1 pie.

From John Griffin

I love cocktail books. I hate cocktail books.

I love the pictures of all the crazy drinks with their swizzle sticks loaded with pomegranate seeds, fresh rose petals or cherry blossom garnishes. And I usually find one or two recipes worth shaking up.

But at the same time, who has even half of the ingredients mentioned in most of the recipes? I mean items like elderflower liqueur, Velvet Faernum (a clove-spiced liqueur), bottled ginger juice (not ginger beer or ale, mind you) and passion fruit liqueur?

Yet all of those items are key to some of the recipes in “Mix Shake Stir” (Little Brown, $29.99), a glossy, collection of mixed drink recipes from Danny Meyer’s New York restaurants, which include the lauded Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern and Eleven Madison Park.

For the Turf Race, to cite just one recipe, the bartender is asked to mix 3 1/2 ounces gin, preferably Hendrick’s; 1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur, preferably Luxardo; 1/2 ounce absinthe, preferably Lucid; and 1 generous dash of orange bitters (not Angostura).

All of these ideas are grouped under the laughable subtitle “Cocktails for the Home Bar.” Whose home? Certainly not Meyer’s patrons, people with Manhattan apartment so tiny that the book would take up too much space, not to mention the volume of bottles of pear cream liqueur, drunken cranberries, Campari cocktail mix, cardamom syrup, rosemary-infused pear nectar, verjus,  and ginger-infused rye. I have a fairly well-stocked bar and I don’t have room for any of these.

Still, I did enjoy sipping my way through a few recipes. The few I found that weren’t too sweet, mind you. Cocktails, like very other drink nowadays, have gotten too sweet in recent years. Blame the cosmo-crazed women on “Sex in the City” or the sugar-coated American palate, but it’s hard to find a drink that isn’t sickeningly sweet. I can’t even order a margarita in San Antonio any more without asking first if it has been polluted with some sort of sweet-and-sour mix, syrup or sugar infusion.

One elixir called Hang Time mixed together muddled thyme with citrus-infused vodka and lime juice to great effect. Well, the printed recipe did call for sugar, but it was more refreshing without it.

The same is true of the Thai Basil Bliss, which gets enough sweetness from fresh pineapple that, in my opinion, makes the addition of simple syrup cloying and superfluous. To make the drink, muddle 4 basil leaves and 4 (1-inch) pineapple cubes in a shaker. Add ice. Then pour in 2 ounces silver tequila, 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice and an optional splash of sparkling wine. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a basil leaf. (Sweeten with syrup, if you must.)

Another plus of the book is a collection of bar snack recipes, from Five-Spice Cashews to Grilled Watermelon With Heirloom Tomatoes. Here’s a recipe for Dried Cherry, Bacon and Pecan Mix that the book promises is a great match with the somewhat fussy Modern Old-Fashioned, also below.

Dried Cherry, Bacon and Pecan Mix

Candied Bacon:

3 slices thick-cut applewood or other wood-smoked bacon
1/4 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix:
1 pound pecan pieces, divided use
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries
1/4 cup chopped candied orange peel, optional

For the bacon: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay the bacon on a rimmed baking sheet and bake, rotating the pan after 10 minutes, until the bacon starts to crisp, about 15 minutes. Drain off any fat from the pan. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cayenne and cloves. Sprinkle the mixture on the bacon, return to the oven, and bake until the bacon is very crisp and the sugar mixture is bubbling, about 5 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a cutting board and let cool. Leave the oven on.

In a saucepan over high heat, combine 1/2 pound of pecans, sugar and water. Cook, stirring often, until the sugar melts and thickens to a syrup, 6-8 minutes. At this point, stir constantly until the sugar syrup crystallizes and is sandy, 3-5 minutes longer. Pour onto another baking sheet and let cool.

In a bowl, stir together the egg white, salt and cloves. Add the remaining pecans, toss to coat and spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Let cool.

Cut the bacon into 1/2-inch pieces. In a bowl, toss together the bacon, praline, toasted pecans, cherries and orange peel, if using, and serve. The nut mix, without bacon, can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Makes about 5 cups.

Adapted from “Mix Shake Stir: Cocktails for the Home Bar”

The Modern Old-Fashioned

4 dried cherries, divided use
1 1/2 ounces Poire William or other pear liqueur, divided use
5 slices ripe but firm red Bosc pear
Splash of fresh lemon juice
Ice
2 ounces bourbon, preferably Michter’s
1/2 ounce simple syrup
Dash of Angostura bitters

In a small bowl, soak 3 of the cherries in 1/2 ounce of the pear liqueur until plump. Thread the cherries onto a small skewer and set aside. Fill a rocks glass with ice. Muddle 4 of the pear slices, the remaining dried cherry and the lemon juice in a cocktail shaker. Add ice, then the bourbon, the remaining 1 ounce pear liqueur, the simple syrup and the bitters, and shake vigorously. Strain into the glass, garnish with the skewered cherries and the remaining pear slice and serve.

Makes 1 drink.

From “Mix Shake Stir: Cocktails for the Home Bar”