Best Recipes of ’94 : Our Greatest Hits

Life is good here in the Food Section. Each week we get to taste the results of some wonderful cooking.

Still, the work load is heavy for Times Test Kitchen Director Donna Deane, her co-food stylist and cook Mayi Brady and prep cook Ana Oviedo. The writers in the section are constantly bringing in difficult or sketchy recipes that would test the skills of even many restaurant chefs. And there’s a lot of griping from the tasters when a dud turns up--”It’s too sweet,” “It’s not sweet enough ,” “Who thought of that, anyway?” But when we encounter something great there is little talking--just the sound of happy eating punctuated with several oohs and ahs. By the time the year is through, we’ve tried enough good, bad and really ugly recipes to find more than 1,500 to publish.

Not every one of those is worth reprinting, but the following recipes are a dozen of our favorites.

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It’s hard to imagine that the year’s clear winner would be a recipe for oxtails. But no recipe got more votes or more praise. Michelle Huneven developed the recipe for her cover story on braising. Despite the name of the dish, the meat is not sweet; the orange juice and zest add a subtle citrus undertaste that balances the fatty richness of the oxtails.

OXTAILS WITH ORANGE

2 cups fresh orange juice

20 whole cloves

5 whole allspice

2 teaspoons peppercorns

2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 pounds oxtails

4 medium-large onions, chopped

2 carrots, peeled, chopped

2 tablespoons orange zest

1 cup beef stock

Reduce orange juice in skillet to 1 cup over medium heat, stirring often. Set aside.

Grind cloves, allspice, peppercorns and salt. Rub oxtails with ground spices, using only as much as needed.

Heat olive oil in heavy Dutch oven or enameled cast-iron pan with lid.

Brown oxtails thoroughly on all sides over medium-high heat, about 20 minutes. Set aside. Unless oil is scorched, use same oil, adding more if necessary, to fry onions, carrots and orange zest quickly until just brown at edges.

Add enough stock to fill pan scant 1/2 inch, about 1 cup. Loosen particles sticking to pan and bring to boil. Set oxtails on top of vegetables and simmering stock. Drizzle reduced orange juice over each oxtail. Cover and bake 2 1/2 to 3 hours at 300 degrees, until meat on bones is tender and caramelized.

Remove oxtails to platter or individual plates. Skim fat off pan drippings. Serve oxtails with pan drippings spooned over them. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

230 calories; 960 mg sodium; 35 mg cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 22 grams protein; 0.66 gram fiber.

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New York chef and cookbook author Zarela Martinez contributed this recipe for her October cover story on spice rubs. It was, she wrote, the first spice paste dish she ever learned to make. This is how she described it: “The cowboys at our ranch in Chihuahua used to slather (a spice rub) on whole cows or steers, which they then wrapped in gunny sacks wet with sotol, a rustic cousin of tequila. Previously they’d have dug a hole in the ground big enough to accommodate the whole animal and set a gigantic fire in it, using the scrub oak that surrounded the ranch house. Once the embers were blazing hot, they would arrange big rocks on them, place the cow or steer on the rocks and cover the hole. It would take 24 hours to cook, but the result was definitely worth the wait -- succulent, garlicky, peppery, herb-infused hunks of meat.

“My mother would make her salsa de chile verde, a roasted green chile sauce, and we’d flavor the meat with the salsa and roll a flaky flour tortilla around it. Here I suggest a recipe for chipotle salsa. In Guadalajara, they put this roast pork on French-type rolls called bolillos to make sandwiches called tortas ahogadas. Plenty of sauce goes on top so that the sandwiches are ‘drowned’ in it-which is what the word ahogada means. My mother cooks wonderful meatballs in (the salsa), and in Veracruz they poach fish and shrimp in this sauce. It also makes a delicious sauce for pasta. For a milder version, leave out the sauce that comes with the canned chipotles, or remove some (or all) of the chipotles before pureeing.

“You can use (the oregano) paste on chicken or beef for roasting, or spread it on fish before grilling or baking. I add a teaspoon or two to plain vinaigrette to add some zing to a salad. I also put some in olive oil or herb butter. When I want something hot, I add minced jalapeno and use it to saute shrimp or boneless chicken pieces. With fresh mint, I use it to flavor a seafood stew.”

ROAST PORK WITH MEXICAN OREGANO SPICE PASTE (Puerco con Pasta de Oregano)

1 (4 1/2-pound) pork butt

Oregano Spice Paste

Chipotle Salsa

Using small, sharp knife, make gashes 1 inch deep all over roast and rub Oregano Spice Paste into gashes. Place meat in shallow roasting pan and roast at 475 degrees 20 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees and continue to roast until tender and thoroughly cooked, about 2 hours 15 minutes.

Remove roast from oven. Let stand 20 minutes. Carve into thin slices. Serve with Chipotle Salsa. Makes 12 to 14 servings.

Each of 12 servings contains about:

388 calories; 583 mg sodium; 94 mg cholesterol; 31 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 22 grams protein; 0.64 gram fiber.

Oregano Spice Paste (Pasta de Oregano)

8 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon Mexican oregano, crushed between palms

2 teaspoons salt, preferably kosher

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Put garlic, oregano, salt and pepper in mortar, blender or food processor. Process into paste.

Chipotle Salsa (Salsa de Chipotle)

2 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 large cloves garlic, minced

Pan drippings from roast pork, optional

5 to 6 large tomatoes, or 1 (28-ounce) can plain-style tomatoes without liquid

1 1/2 teaspoons Mexican oregano

Sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

2 to 3 canned chipotles en adobo, with adobo sauce to taste

Heat lard in medium saucepan until almost smoking. Add onion and garlic. Saute over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onion is translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add pan drippings, tomatoes, oregano, sugar, salt and chipotles. Stir thoroughly and simmer uncovered over low heat 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often. Puree sauce in blender. With wooden spoon, force through sieve.

May be frozen or stored, tightly covered, up to 3 days in refrigerator. Makes 3 to 4 cups.

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A couple tasters called this the best ice cream they had ever eaten. It’s not too icky sweet, yet it’s got a luscious flavor and texture that makes it difficult to put down . It’s a wonderful, grown-up ice cream. Kathie Jenkins featured the recipe in May as part of her Party Line column--the ice cream was served by Campanile co-owner and pastry chef Nancy Silverton over apple pie at a benefit dinner for the Los Angeles Opera. With ice cream like this, who needs pie?

NANCY SILVERTON’S SCOTCH-CARAMEL ICE CREAM

1 pound sugar

1 vanilla bean

1 1/2 cups Scotch

1 quart milk

1 quart whipping cream

16 egg yolks

Place sugar, vanilla bean and Scotch in large pot and cook until dark caramel color. Add milk and cream and bring to boil. Remove from heat. Let stand 30 minutes. Bring mixture again to boil and pour over egg yolks while whisking. Strain through fine mesh strainer into bowl. Whisk to release heat until cool. Chill.

Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instruction. Makes 1/2 gallon.

Each 1/2-cup serving contains about:

456 calories; 64 mg sodium; 360 mg cholesterol; 32 grams fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 0 fiber.

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Barbara Hansen got this recipe from film producer Ismail Merchant for her cover story on dal. “I can’t live without dal,” Merchant wrote in his cookbook “Passionate Meals” (Harry N. Abrams: $39.95) of India’s great genre of legume cooking, “I am a dal junkie.” As the producer explained to Hansen, “Every household in India has its own version. It is a rich man’s food, a middle-class man’s food and a poor man’s food.” This recipe is one delicious way Merchant feeds his obsession.

ISMAIL MERCHANT’S LEMON LENTILS (Nimbu Masoor Dal)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons oil

1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced

2 (2-inch) cinnamon sticks

1 pound masoor dal (orange lentils), picked over and rinsed

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped ginger root

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

Water

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

Salt

1/2 lemon

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 small clove garlic, chopped

1/2 serrano or jalapeno chile, chopped, with seeds

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Heat 6 tablespoons oil in large, deep saucepan over medium-low heat. Add sliced onion and cook, stirring, until tender. Add cinnamon sticks, dal and ginger. Cook, stirring often, 10 minutes. Add stock, 2 cups water, red pepper and salt to taste. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Squeeze juice from lemon, straining seeds, and add lemon juice and lemon to lentils. Cook 50 minutes, stirring often. Add up to 1 cup more water, if dal dries out too much.

Heat remaining 1/4 cup oil in small pan. Add chopped onion, garlic, chile and bay leaves. Cook, stirring, until onion is browned. Add mixture to lentils and stir. Remove bay leaves. Turn into serving bowl and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve hot. Makes 5 to 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

487 calories; 382 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 25 grams fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 24 grams protein; 4.23 grams fiber.

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The secret of great Indian saag is simmering mustard greens for hours to bring out the full flavor. For her April cover story on Indian vegetarian cooking, Barbara Hansen talked Chameli owner Hari B. Alipuria into giving us this relatively quick recipe for his restaurant’s saag, an adaptation of his family’s traditional slow-cooked greens. The mustard greens cook in about 40 minutes and they don’t ooze with as much butter as they would in India because Alipuria tries to reduce some of the fat that normally is so much a part of traditional Indian cooking. Even so, Hansen wrote, “a pat of butter should go in th e center of a bowl of steaming saag. One can skip the butter and sprinkle the saag with Chameli’s alternative topping--fried chopped ginger. Or make a good thing even better by using both.”

The saag makes a terrific meal when it’s served with makki ki roti, pancake-flat Punjabi corn bread. You can also eat it with rice or dal.

CHAMELI’S SAAG

1 1/2 pounds mustard greens

3/4 pound spinach

7 inches ginger root, peeled and chopped

1 jalapeno chile, chopped

Salt

1 quart water

3/4 cup oil

3 medium onions, finely chopped

4 teaspoons ground coriander

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

3 small juicy tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon dried methi (fenugreek) leaves

1 tablespoon butter

Punjabi Corn Bread, optional

Rinse mustard greens and spinach thoroughly. Remove only coarsest bottom portion of stems. Chop roughly. Place in Dutch oven and add 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped ginger root, chile, salt to taste and water. Boil, uncovered, about 30 minutes.

Heat 1/2 cup oil in large pot. Add onions and fry until tender but not browned. Add 1 tablespoon chopped ginger root, then coriander, cumin and turmeric. Fry 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, garlic and 1 tablespoon salt, or salt to taste, and cook until tomatoes are tender. Add methi leaves.

Drain any liquid remaining with greens and reserve. Place greens in food processor or blender and blend until finely chopped but not pureed. Add greens to onion mixture with reserved cooking liquid. Boil, uncovered, 40 minutes, until well combined and liquid is reduced but mixture is still moist.

Meanwhile, in skillet fry remaining ginger root in 1/4 cup oil until lightly browned. Turn cooked saag into serving bowl. Place butter in center. Sprinkle with fried ginger, or serve ginger on side to add as desired. Accompany with Makki Ki Roti. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Note: Dried methi (or fenugreek) leaves are available at Indian grocery stores.

Each serving, without Punjabi corn bread, contains about:

258 calories; 150 mg sodium; 4 mg cholesterol; 23 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 2.02 grams fiber.

Punjabi Corn Bread (Makki Ki Roti)

3 cups water

3 cups yellow cornmeal

Butter

Place water in large saucepan and bring to boil. While boiling, add cornmeal. Stir to make soft dough.

Turn out onto board and cool slightly. Knead mixture thoroughly, occasionally picking dough up and slapping down hard on surface. Form mixture into 9 balls. With moistened hand, pat each ball into flat circle about 1/4-inch thick. Re-wet hand occasionally.

Place bread on ungreased griddle over medium heat. Cook until bread is browned on bottom and slips about easily on griddle. If using gas range, place cooked bread directly over flame for few moments to brown. Place on plate and brush with stick of butter. Cook remaining breads as directed and stack on plate so top of each roti butters bottom side of roti above. Makes 9 roti.

Each roti contains about:

414 calories; 882 mg sodium; 10 mg cholesterol; 24 grams fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 2 grams fiber.

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This is the first of two lamb dishes that made the cut. And both happen to have originated from cookbook author Patricia Wells. We couldn’t decide between them, so we included each recipe. Ironically, this one turned up when we were looking for recipes that didn’t work. When Kathie Jenkins was researching her August cover story “The Trouble With Cookbooks,” several people, including an important cookbook editor, complained about this seven-hour leg of lamb from Wells’ “Bistro Cooking” (Workman Publishing). “Cooking a leg of lamb at 425 degrees for seven hours is insane, not to mention it will blow up your oven,” griped one of the critics. As Jenkins wrote at the time, “We thought the method sounded ridiculous too--it seemed that if you were going to cook a lamb for seven hours, at least you should do it at a lower temperature. We knew we had a sure-fire loser.

“We were wrong. The recipe turned out to be one of the best we’ve tested so far this year. And we never had to turn the oven temperature down once. The lamb was tender and full of flavor, and the tasters in The Times Test Kitchen couldn’t get enough.”

AMBASSADE D’AUVERGNE’S SEVEN-HOUR LEG OF LAMB

6 medium onions, quartered

6 carrots, peeled and quartered

1 head garlic, separated into cloves and halved

6 bay leaves

1 bunch fresh thyme or 3 to 4 teaspoons dried

1 (6- to 7-pound) lamb leg, bone-in

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 (750-milliliter) bottles dry white wine, such as Aligote

5 pounds large boiling potatoes, peeled and quartered

5 tomatoes, peeled, cored, seeded and chopped

Layer onions, carrots, garlic, bay leaves and thyme on bottom of nonreactive covered roaster large enough to hold lamb. Place lamb on top of onion and carrot mixture. Roast, uncovered, at 425 degrees 30 minutes. Remove roaster from oven. Generously season lamb to taste with salt and pepper. Return to oven and roast 30 minutes more.

Remove roaster from oven, leaving oven on. Place roaster on top of stove, slowly pour wine over lamb, cover, and bring liquid to boil. Return roaster, covered, to oven. Roast 4 to 5 additional hours until lamb is fork tender, but not yet falling off bone. (Timing will vary according to size and age of lamb and type of roasting pan used.) Check on lamb from time to time, reducing oven heat if lamb begins to burn or liquid begins to evaporate too much.

When lamb is fork tender, bury potatoes and tomatoes in liquid. Cover and roast until potatoes are cooked through, about 1 hour more. Lamb should now be very tender, still juicy and falling off bone. Makes 12 servings.

Each serving contains about:

530 calories; 141 mg sodium; 95 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 32 grams protein; 1.94 grams fiber.

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One of our most controversial stories this year was Russ Parsons’ February cover piece on beans, “To Soak or Not to Soak, It’s No Longer a Question.” Ignoring conventional wisdom, Parsons ran several cooking experiments and found that dried beans do NOT have to be soaked before cooking. “Letting dried beans sit overnight in a bowl of cold water does nothing to improve their flavor or their texture. In fact, it does quite the opposite,” Parsons wrote. “While soaking shortens the unattended cooking time of beans somewhat, the time saved is marginal and there are no other labor-saving benefits. Finally soaking does absolutely nothing to reduce the gas-producing properties of beans.”

There was some grumbling on the part of disbelievers, but once people started trying recipes using unsoaked beans, we won several converts. One recipe from the issue that showed how well the method worked is this amazingly delicious cassoulet, adapted from Richard Olney’s “The French Menu Cookbook” (Godine: 1970).

As Parsons wrote in his article, “Cassoulet is not a recipe for the faint of heart -- or the short of time. Allow yourself two days to do this one, and the amount of work should be manageable. And rest assured, the flavors are more than worth the effort.”

CASSOULET

Pan-Fried Goose

Bean Stew

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into short lengths

1 lamb shoulder, all surface fat removed, cut into large pieces but not boned

Salt

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup dry white wine

3 cloves garlic

Mixed herbs, such as dried thyme, oregano, marjoram and savory

1 (1-pound) can tomatoes or 3 to 4 fresh tomatoes

2 whole cloves garlic

White bread crumbs

Prepare Pan-Fried Goose and Bean Stew. Set aside. In 2 tablespoons fat rendered from Pan-Fried Goose, cook onions and carrots in heavy saute pan (just big enough to hold meat placed side by side) about 15 minutes, stirring regularly, until lightly browned.

Remove onions and carrots. In same pan over high heat, brown pieces of lamb, seasoned to taste with salt, in same fat. When browned on all sides, sprinkle with flour. Turn pieces over, then return vegetables to pan. When flour is lightly cooked, add white wine, garlic and sprinkling of herbs to taste. Scrape and stir with wooden spoon to loosen and dissolve browned bits. Transfer contents to heavy casserole.

Add tomatoes and enough of cooking liquid from Bean Stew to cover. Cook, covered, at bare simmer, either in 275-degree oven or over very low heat on stove top, 1 1/2 hours. Skim off surface fat 2 to 3 times.

Pour contents of casserole into sieve or colander over saucepan. Pick out pieces of meat and carrot and put aside. Press rest through sieve into saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook at low simmer 15 minutes, skimming.

Rub bottom and sides of large, medium-deep earthenware oven dish with garlic cloves until garlic disappears. Untie pork rind from Bean Stew, cut into small dice and distribute over bottom of dish.

Cut Pan-Fried Goose into 2 pieces and place on bed of rinds. Drain beans, reserving liquid. Distribute about 1/3 of beans over and around pieces of goose. Split pig’s foot from Bean Stew. Remove largest bones and cut each half into 3 to 4 pieces. Arrange pig’s foot along with pieces of lamb and carrot, including carrot from Bean Stew, evenly over surface.

Cover everything with half of remaining beans. Distribute sausage from Bean Stew (cut into thick slices) and pancetta from Bean Stew (cut into squares) on top. Cover with remaining beans.

Generously sprinkle entire surface with bread crumbs. Then carefully, to moisten without displacing, pour over, ladle by ladle, sauce from lamb until liquid rises just to surface of beans.

Dust lightly again with bread crumbs. Sprinkle several tablespoons of melted goose fat over surface. Bake at 450 degrees until heated through and bubbling. Reduce heat to 300 degrees so gentle bubbling is maintained. After about 20 minutes, as liquid reduces, partly by absorption and partly by evaporation, begin to baste surface, first with remaining lamb sauce and then, when lamb sauce is finished, with remaining cooking liquid from Bean Stew.

Baste every 20 minutes. When golden-crisp crust has formed on surface, break crust all over with spoon so part becomes submerged and rest is moistened by sauce. Cassoulet should remain at least 2 hours in slow oven, and crust should be broken minimum of 3 times. But if basting liquids should run short before then, it is better to stop cooking than risk dish becoming too dry. Makes 14 servings.

Each serving contains about:

660 calories; 331 mg sodium; 96 mg cholesterol; 36 grams fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 36 grams protein; 4.44 grams fiber.

Pan-Fried Goose

1/4 goose, breast or leg

Dash mixed herbs

Coarse salt

Goose fat from inside bird

1/4 cup water

Sprinkle goose with herbs and salt to taste. Let stand overnight.

Melt pieces of fat in pan with water over low heat. When nothing solid is left but cracklings, discard cracklings and strain off pure fat. Place goose in pan with fat and cook over low heat until tender. Save fat when done.

White Bean Stew

6 ounces fresh pork rind

1/2 pound pancetta

1 pig’s foot

1/2 pound uncooked garlic sausage (cervelat)

2 pounds dried white beans

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into pieces

1 large onion, stuck with 2 cloves

2 cloves garlic

Bouquet-garni

Salt

Place pork rind, pancetta and pig’s foot in large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to boil. Simmer 5 minutes, drain and rinse in cold water. Roll up pork rind and tie with kitchen string. Pierce sausage in several places. Set aside.

Cover beans generously with cold water in large, heavy saucepan or earthenware casserole. Bring slowly to boil. Drain. Return beans to saucepan along with carrots, onion, garlic, bouquet-garni, pork rind, pancetta, sausage and pig’s foot. Pour in enough warm water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to boil again, slowly. Cook at bare simmer. Do not add salt.

Remove sausage and pancetta after about 40 minutes. Reserve. Pig’s foot and rind should cook with beans until beans are done, about 2 hours. Taste cooking liquid. Season to taste with salt. Put rind and pig’s foot aside with sausage and pancetta. Discard onion and bouquet-garni.

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Our second lamb recipe comes from our issue on one-dish oven meals published nearly a year ago. The original recipe that this is based on comes from Patricia Wells, but we liked the version that was adapted by Frances McCullough and Barbara Witt for their cookbook “Great Food Without Fuss” (Henry Holt & Co.: 1993). They suggested replacing the tomatoes called for in Wells’ recipe with roasted red pepper strips. It’s a delicious idea--especially when tomatoes are out of season. Wells’ technique of roasting the lamb on a rack over the vegetables allows the meat juices to flavor the vegetables. It’s a simple, true one-dish meal .

ROAST LAMB WITH POTATO, ONION AND PEPPER GRATIN

6 cloves garlic

2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced

1 tablespoon minced thyme

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 large onions, very thinly sliced

1/2 pound roasted sweet red peppers

1 cup dry white wine

1/3 cup olive oil

1 (6- to 7-pound) leg of lamb, bone in

Split 1 clove garlic. Rub bottom of 16x10-inch oval gratin dish with split clove of garlic. Arrange potatoes over bottom of pan. Chop together remaining 5 garlic cloves and thyme.

Season potatoes generously to taste with salt, pepper and 1/3 of garlic-thyme combination. Layer sliced onions on top. Season to taste with salt, pepper and another 1/3 of garlic and thyme. Layer peppers on top of onions. Season to taste with salt, pepper and remaining 1/3 garlic and thyme. Pour over wine, then oil.

Trim excess fat from lamb. Season meat to taste with salt and pepper. Place sturdy oven rack directly on top of gratin dish. Set lamb on rack so that juices will drip into gratin.

Roast, uncovered, at 400 degrees about 1 hour and 15 minutes for rare. Turn lamb every 15 minutes, basting with liquid from dish underneath. Remove from oven. Let lamb stand 20 minutes before carving.

To serve, carve lamb into thin slices and arrange on warmed dinner plates or on serving platter with vegetable gratin alongside. Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

454 calories; 175 mg sodium; 131 mg cholesterol; 16 grams fat; 26 grams carbohydrates; 45 grams protein; 0.91 gram fiber.

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This model butter cake recipe is perhaps the best you’ll ever eat--three sumptuous chocolate layers. Sylvia Thompson, who developed the recipe for her “The Birthday Cake Book” (Chronicle Books: 1993), contributed the recipe to our November cake issue. If you’d rather mix a non-chocolate butter cake, simply leave out the chocolate. For a two-layer cake, just use two thirds of the ingredients. Remember that butter cakes should be served within 12 hours of baking.

OLD-FASHIONED MILK CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH MILK CHOCOLATE FROSTING

3 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1/2 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 tablespoon salt

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped into 1- to 2-inch pieces

1 cup water

1 cup unsalted butter, softened to consistency of mayonnaise

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup light-brown sugar, lumps crushed, packed

1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla

6 extra-large eggs, warmed in shells

1 cup buttermilk or soured milk (set 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice at bottom of measure and fill with sweet milk, let clabber), at room temperature

Milk Chocolate Frosting

Unsprayed or silk leaves, such as rose, geranium or strawberry, optional

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in bowl.

In medium heat-proof bowl over (not touching) barely simmering water, melt chocolate in water, stirring occasionally until perfectly smooth. Remove from heat.

In large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed until creamy. Continue beating while sprinkling in granulated and brown sugars, 1 tablespoon at time. Add vanilla and beat until very light. Add eggs singly, beating until thoroughly blended after each, then beat until very light and creamy. Blend in chocolate. Add flour in 3 parts by sprinkling over bowl. Alternate with buttermilk in 2 parts. Beat on lowest speed manageable just until each addition disappears. Fold batter with large flexible rubber spatula just until thoroughly blended.

Divide batter among buttered 9-inch round cake pans with bottoms lined with wax paper. Smooth tops, then push batter slightly up against sides. Bake 2 layers on middle oven rack and 1 layer on lower oven rack at 350 degrees. Stagger so top pans are not directly over bottom pan. Bake until wood pick emerges clean from center of cake, 30 to 35 minutes.

Cool in pans on racks 15 minutes. Then turn out onto racks, top sides up, to cool completely.

Up to 6 hours before serving, set thickest layer on platter, bottoms up. Spread with 2/3 cup frosting. Repeat with second layer. Place last layer top side up. Frost top and sides, making decorative sweeps in frosting with knife. Keep cool. Do not refrigerate. Just before serving, wreathe leaves around bottom of platter. Makes 16 servings.

Each serving, with milk chocolate frosting, contains about:

776 calories; 317 mg sodium; 145 mg cholesterol; 37 grams fat; 108 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 1.72 grams fiber.

Milk Chocolate Frosting

14 ounces milk chocolate

5 cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch-processed)

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

7 to 8 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons vanilla

In medium heat-proof bowl over (not touching) barely simmering water, melt chocolate, stirring occasionally until perfectly smooth. Be careful not to let steam or water touch chocolate. Remove from heat.

In food processor or mixing bowl, blend sugar and cocoa. Melt butter with 7 tablespoons milk at MEDIUM power in microwave or over low heat. Add hot butter to sugar with chocolate and vanilla. Process or beat until smooth. Do not overprocess. If too thick, beat in remaining tablespoon hot milk. If too thin, add sugar. Spread at once. Makes 16 servings.

Each serving of frosting contains about:

376 calories; 37 mg sodium; 33 mg cholesterol; 18 grams fat; 54 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 1.41 grams fiber.

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Mayi Brady, in The Times Test Kitchen, gave us this recipe for our cover package on braising--it’s a dessert braise. Gentler than most braises, the pears bake in butter for the first half of the cooking, then bake in cream for the second half. But the characteristic deep flavors and melting textures of a true braise still emerge.

PEARS BRAISED IN CREAM

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed

4 firm pears, peeled, cored and halved

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Rub bottom of 6x9-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter. Sprinkle both sugars evenly over bottom of dish. Place pears, cut-side-down, in dish and dot with remaining butter.

Bake at 350 degrees 20 minutes. Pour cream into dish and tilt dish back and forth several times to mix with butter-sugar mixture. Bake another 15 minutes or until pears are tender when pierced with sharp knife. Serve warm. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

312 calories; 62 mg sodium; 73 mg cholesterol; 22 grams fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 2.33 grams fiber.

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When we did a whole issue on garbanzo beans, many kitchen tasters were amazed at all the ways you could cook a chickpea. The most popular of the bunch came from Mayi Brady, who contributed this recipe from her Cuban mother, Norma De la Cal. Think of it as Cuban refried beans. “To be perfectly honest, this wasn’t my favorite dish of hers,” Brady wrote in her June article. “I was tired of eating Cuban food all the time and wanted hamburgers and hot dogs. But as my palate has matured, so has my appreciation for the simple, hearty flavors in this recipe.”

NORMA’S ‘GARBANZOS FRITOS’

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 green pepper, chopped

1 teaspoon oregano

1/4 pound ham, diced

1/4 pound chorizo, crumbled

1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes with juice

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 cups cooked garbanzo beans

Salt, pepper

Saute onion and garlic in oil in large saucepan until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add green pepper and oregano and continue to saute about 5 minutes, until pepper is tender. Stir in ham, chorizo, tomatoes with juice, wine and garbanzo beans. Heat to boiling.

Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 15 minutes. Remove cover and continue to simmer about 10 minutes, until juices reduce and mixture thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

364 calories; 934 mg sodium; 35 mg cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 34 grams carbohydrates; 19 grams protein; 2.73 grams fiber.

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Stacked potatoes is a substantial and filling regional dish from Transylvania. Ask 10 different Transylvanian cooks to make it and you’ll probably end up with 10 slightly different versions. This version, originally printed in our January issue on one-dish oven meals, comes from Gabriella Rado, a Hungarian who was born in Nagyvarad (also known by its Romanian name, Oradea), Transylvania. For the flavor to be authentic, use a semi-dry Transylvanian-style sausage. We purchased ours at Tibor’s European Meat Market in West Hollywood. The soothing but tangy flavor of sour cream helps to balance the richness of the sausage. The simple one-dish meal is very substantial and will easily feed a family of six.

TRANSYLVANIAN STACKED POTATOES (Erdelyi Rakottkrumpli)

Butter

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

4 large baking potatoes, cooked and peeled

Salt, pepper

3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced

3/4 pound Transylvanian-style sausage, cut into 1/2-inch slices 2 cups sour cream

1/2 cup milk

Butter 6x9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs.

Cut potatoes into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange 1/3 of potatoes in bottom of 9x13-inch baking pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs. Sprinkle over 2 cups of cheese. Arrange sliced eggs in single layer over potatoes. Season to taste with salt. Sprinkle over 2 tablespoons bread crumbs, then 1/2 cup of cheese. Top with another layer of sliced potatoes. Arrange sliced sausage in single layer over potatoes. Top with remaining potatoes in single layer. Season to taste with salt. Then sprinkle with remaining bread crumbs and remaining cheese.

Blend together sour cream and milk in bowl. Pour over top of casserole. Shake casserole to settle sour cream mixture. Bake at 350 degrees 45 minutes to 1 hour or until hot throughout. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

600 calories; 815 mg sodium; 313 mg cholesterol; 44 grams fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 25 grams protein; 0.3 gram fiber.

Even More Best Recipes

A compilation of the Food Staff’s selections for the best recipes of 1989 through 1993 is available from Times on Demand. The 8 1/2x11 inch booklet contains 52 recipes and is three-hole punched for inclusion in your recipe binder.

For credit card orders, call 808-8463, press *8630, and select option 3. Order Item 1744. Or send a check for Best Recipes to Times on Demand, P.O. Box 60395, Los Angeles, Calif. 90060. Price: $7.95, plus $2 for mail delivery.

* Food styling by Donna Deane and Mayi Brady