New Years

(Roasted Potato Slices with Salt Cod Purée and Roasted Red Pepper)

Serving the sauce at room temperature helps bring out the taste of the caviar.

At the Fifth Floor, this is prepared with quail. Game hens make an easy-to-find substitute.

Oysters were very much a part of American life in Colonial days, and were cooked in every conceivable manner — boiled, scalloped or steamed; turned into pies and fritters; or, in the winter in Savannah, roasted over an open fire. Here they're presented on the half shell, with shallots, green onions and vinegar.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This dish — rosy steaks smothered in mushrooms fragrant with a drizzle of truffle oil — is positively swoon-worthy. What to drink: A good Merlot, such as the 1999 Wente Crane Ridge Reserve.

Accompanied by Champagne, this beautiful and delicious appetizer starts the meal on a sophisticated note.

Extra milk makes these potatoes silky-smooth, and truffle oil adds luxurious flavor.

There has been much debate over the strange name of this rice and bean combination. One theory suggests that "Hoppin' John" is a corruption of pois à pigeon, French for pigeon peas, with which the dish was originally made in the French colonies of the Caribbean, where it was likely created.