Recipe

Jo Ann M. Nuetzel, one of Recipe Finder's regular contributors, found these simple plantain recipes for Ruth Schultz. Thanks again, Jo Ann!Plantains are ripe when the skin is black.Curried PlantainsPlantainsFlourCurry powderCinnamonButterPeel, slice and roll plantains in flour that's had a little curry powder and or cinnamon added; saute in butter ununtil golden.Fried PlantainsPlantainsBisquickOil for deep fryingDip ripe chunks of plantain in Bisquick batter and deep fry in oil ununtil golden brown.

Gloria Vermillion of North Canton, Ohio, requested a recipe for a bean salad. She wrote: "My husband and I enjoy the bean salad at Fisher Foods Inc. in North Canton. Could someone have the recipe?" Bonnie Hull of Williamsport, Md., responded with a recipe. "I believe this is the classic of bean salads," she wrote. Mixed-Bean Salad Makes 8 servings 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2/3 cup cider vinegar 3/4 cup sugar, or less, to taste 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper one 14- to 16-ounce can cut green beans, drained one 14- to 16-ounce can yellow waxed beans, drained one 14- to 16-ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed to remove color 1 medium onion, chopped Mix oil and vinegar with sugar, salt and pepper.

Pat Peters of Salem, Ore., wrote: "At the Guest House in Salem, they serve a sauerkraut soup that is really good. My husband and I really enjoy it; however, no one knows just when it will be made. Would love the recipe." Sandy Schwilk of Ewing, N.J., responded. She wrote, "Try this recipe for sauerkraut soup. I make this at home during the fall and winter, served with butter and dark bread. Also, by request, I make this for an `Oktoberfest' at my hunting and fishing club for 40-50 people, by multiplying the recipe four or five times."

Louise K. Smith of Havre de Grace requested a recipe she has lost. "I think it was called Sundae Tart and was on a Bisquick box about 45 years ago. The tarts were wonderful with a filling and canned fruit and a jelly glaze. Although you were supposed to spread the dough on muffin pans, I spread it on an upside down muffin pan. When they were baked I removed them and allowed them to crisp up. I hope some reader has this recipe," she wrote. Marie Manik of Baltimore responded. "I have had this Bisquick recipe booklet in my kitchen since 1957 and I believe it came packaged with a box of Bisquick."

Joy R. Dion of Northampton, Mass., says she has been searching for years for a recipe her mother made called Peach Pizza. "I don't know if it is an Italian recipe or not but it was made in a pizza pan. I don't really know the ingredients or what time it was in the oven. It evokes fond memories and I would be so appreciative if you could find the recipe for me." Jeannie Armstrong of Dayton, Md., responded with tester Laura Reiley's choice. She wrote: "Joy R. Dion was looking for a peach pizza recipe.

Wait! Don't eat Aunt Vertie's sugar cookies, no matter how tasty they look! Better you should rub them on your aching back.Wintergreen oil, an ingredient in Ben-Gay and other muscle-pain ointments, turned up in a recipe in the July issue of Gourmet magazine.Now the editors of the venerable magazine have found themselves in the unique, and unenviable, position of mailing 750,000 retraction letters, complete with a handy revised-recipe sticker to paste over the first recipe in the "Helen Gustafson's Sugar Cookies" article on page 88. The envelopes read "IMPORTANT: Please Open Immediately."

Traditionally I get badgered at this time of year by people who ask me to make good on some promise I made weeks earlier.Among the most persistent badgerers are family members who want me to (a) write them a letter, (b) buy them overpriced toys or (c) clean my closet. To them I say, "I'm working on it."But to the other pesterers, namely my dear readers, who want (a) the recipe for the hominy casserole that goes well with roast turkey, and (b) the annual reprint of the recipe for the world's greatest eggnog, I say, "You win."

The chef's knife and the artist's pen figure equally in cooking up "Cheap Thrills Cuisine," a cartoon strip that makes its debut today in A La Carte.The strip is a collaboration between two Canadians, chef Bill Lombardi and his friend and former next-door neighbor, artist and illustrator Thach Bui."Thach kind of got the idea of dropping a recipe into a cartoon," Mr. Lombardi says. The strip first appeared in an underground paper in Toronto. Last year it was picked up by the Washington Post Writers Group, which syndicates it in more than 45 papers.

Betty Kincheloe of Kelso, Wash., asked for help in finding a misplaced recipe for strawberry ice cream that uses frozen berries. Alma Brockman of Toledo, Wash., responded with tester Laura Reiley's choice. "I don't recall the source of this recipe. It's been around the house for perhaps 25 or more years. My family members and guests all loved it," Brockman said. Recipe requests Bill Wise of Chestertown and the 1950 class of Forest Park High School is seeking a recipe for the cinnamon buns that were served in the school's cafeteria.

She's convinced that the recipe your favorite restaurant chef shared with the world -- the one that made a six-mixing-bowl mess instead of a super dessert -- wasn't meant to mislead you."It's just that chefs operate on a different plane from home cooks," says Karen Gantz Zahler, a Manhattan lawyer and literary agent who decided five years ago to produce a goof-proof recipe collection from some of the best eateries in a city filled with fab restaurants.The result is "Taste of New York" (Addison Wesley, $35)