Deep Fry

These deep-fried dessert pastries, which are sweetened with honey, are known as sebadas.

These are called arancini (little oranges).

Janet and Travis Kuhl of Cranford, New Jersey, writes: "We recently went to chef Ming Tsai's Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Our entire meal was top-notch, but the shrimp cocktail was our favorite." Poured carefully side by side into a cocktail glass, tomato puree and avocado puree make a colorful dip for the lightly battered and quickly deep-fried shrimp.

Baccalà Fritto Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 3 days (includes soaking)

A sophisticated, do-ahead hors d'oeuvre.

Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 40 min

Sausage and Potato Mini-Turnovers The dough for these little turnovers may be pressed either by hand or with a tortilla press.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Crisp, golden onion rings have never been so pretty or so simple to make.

These are great for salads and canapés.

Bilko's spice mix is a closely guarded secret, but Donna King shared with us its fundamental ingredients as well as the basic technique—a long marination, at least 24 hours. This results in some of the juiciest chicken we've ever eaten. The chicken must also rest five or ten minutes after being dredged in the seasoned flour to, as King told us, "get doughy." The Bon Ton recipe calls for Ac'cent (monosodium glutamate) in both the marinade and the dredging mixture. We tested it with and without, and the chicken mainly tasted saltier with the Ac'cent, which some people preferred.

Crispy. Golden. Fluffy. Bubbe would approve.

Hawai‘i's beloved fried chicken is crispy, sweet, and savory.

Shrimp, fennel, and mushrooms make for an impeccable version of this light and crispy Italian starter.