Deep Fry

These are great after dinner with coffee or as an afternoon pick-me-up with tea. They are best served freshly made, but they can also be prepared one day ahead and stored at room temperature in plastic wrap.

This recipe makes very dark, mahogany-colored drumsticks. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

To recall the miracle of Hanukkah, dishes fried in oil are prepared during the holiday festivities. The mother of our executive editor used to dazzle her family with these cookies-each one slightly different from the next.

Israelis celebrate Hanukkah not with latkes, but with doughnuts called sufganiyot. Here's an easy version, similar to doughnut holes.

These twice-fried artichokes, or carciofi alla giudea, are made using a technique created by Jewish cooks in Rome. The first frying is done at a lower heat and simply cooks the artichokes. The second frying, in hotter oil, causes the leaves to spring open and gives them their crisp finish. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 55 min

This recipe was created to accompany <epi:recipelink id="4576">Herb-coated Lamb with Port-Red Wine Sauce</epi:recipelink>

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

"Although I’ve been a subscriber for almost ten years, this is the first time I’ve written to request a recipe," writes Danette Laver of Ambler, Pennsylvania. "The honey-garlic dressing on the salad I had at Fork in Philadelphia was so good that I used a chunk of bread to soak up every last drop."

Lindsay McDougal of Corona, California, writes: "When my husband and I first moved to Southern California from a small town between Edinburgh and Glasgow, we were amazed by the variety of foods available. It's almost unfair to compare the two places, since there are so many different ethnic cuisines here. We've come to love Mexican and Italian cooking, but we still find ourselves yearning for the traditional Scottish recipes we grew up with, like Scotch eggs and meat and potato pies. They're hearty dishes and so easy to make." Hard-boiled eggs are coated in sausage and breadcrumbs, then deep-fried. They're classic fare at pubs and often are served with mustard or ketchup.

Chicharrones are cracklings — the flavorful solids that are left over from making lard; the resemblance these little morsels of chicken bear to them accounts for the name "chicken cracklings." Chicharrones de pollo is a typically South American dish, variations of which can be found all over that continent and up into the Central American peninsula. The chicken is chpped up Chinese-style — bones, skin and all — into small pieces. Then it is usually marinated, rolled in wheat or corn flour, and deep fried — although sometimes it is not marinated, and sometimes it is fried without any breading at all.

Russet potatoes are the classic choice for baking but also are best for frying. Because they’re high in starch and low in moisture, they make crisper fries. And don’t refrigerate potatoes for frying; the sugars that accumulate cause very rapid browning and the fries can turn bitter. Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 30 min

The fritter tradition harks back to West Africa, where frying in deep oil is one of the major cooking techniques. In the African Atlantic world, fritters can be served as appetizers, as a vegetable, and even as a dessert, as they are here. My maternal Grandma Jones had a way with fritters. She would prepare them from the overripe bananas that she found at low prices at her local greengrocer's.

Japan meets Morocco in this inventive dish. For a light coating, don’t overmix the tempura batter: A few lumps of flour are O.K. Find preserved lemons at a specialty foods store, or use the grated peel of a regular lemon.