Tabasco Sauce

Lent is a time for remembering the needs of others, says the Rev. Tom Bonderenko, administrator of shelter services for Associated Catholic Charities which sends out "Lenten lists" of desperately needed foods and other goods to interested churches, civic groups or individuals.Many churches of all faiths ask their parishioners to contribute canned foods and other goods to give to the poor. Father Bonderenko says all contributions are welcome but some are more useful than others.Here is a list of the top 10 most needed items:* Canned meats, such as tuna.

The Glory of Southern Cooking By James Villas Cypress By Craig Deihl Wyrick & Co. / 2007 / $34.95 There's a reason people pay big bucks to dine at great restaurants. Not only do they give us a respite from cooking, they offer a showcase for the best chefs to create works of edible art, using fantastic ingredients most diners don't have the time or wherewithal to obtain. For the same reason, cookbooks like Cypress, by the noted young chef of a Charleston, S.C., restaurant, can be hard to penetrate.

This spicy dish will take some time to prepare but perhaps it'll turn into one of your recipe treasures. Peanut butter fudge from school days past should more than please.Arthur Cheek of Baltimore wrote that he wanted a minced pork barbecue recipe similar to the one sold in the area during the 1940s and '50s. It was served, he wrote, on a square bun with a slaw on top at a now-closed carryout called the Dixie Pig in Prince George's County on Marlboro Pike.Mr. Cheek's answer came from John A. Wiley, also from Baltimore who noted that "this is one my late mom gave to me."

* "The Chicken Cookbook" published by the Bantam Books and the National Broiler Council may be ordered for $1.75 by sending a money order or check to: Chicken Cookbook, Dept. NBC, Box 307, Coventry Conn., 06238.* For mushroom recipes, storage and handling hints, send a stamped, self-addressed, business-size envelope to: Mushroom Recipes, 55 Union St., San Francisco, Calif. 94111.* Regional marinade and barbecue sauce recipes are featured in "Great Grilling with Tabasco Pepper Sauce." Send your name, address and zip code to: "Great Grilling," McIlhenny Co., Avery Island, La. 70513.

There are almost as many cookbooks on barbecuing/grilling as there are briquettes in your outdoor grill. Here are a few of the more recent volumes:"Adventures in Grilling" by George Hirsch with Marie Bianco (Hearst, $20): more than 150 recipes.With two previous grilling cookbooks and a public television series under his belt, Hirsch has captured a broad following. This latest volume takes us on an around-the-world tour -- including such traditional recipes as Irish stew, apple strudel, minestrone, spaetzle, empanadas and saltimbocca -- that can be prepared on the grill.

THE GOOD PART about grilling chicken wings is that the fat doesn't start a major fire. When the fat drips off the wings and hits the glowing charcoal, there may be a flare-up or two, but nothing that necessitates a mad dash for the fire extinguisher.By contrast, when you are cooking chicken wings in the oven broiler, you must be serious about your fat-patrol duties, periodically pulling the wings out of the oven and pouring off the fat that has pooled in the cooking vessel, a long flat metal pan.If you don't, there is an excellent chance a chicken-fat volcano will erupt.

DURING THIS dark and sleepy time of year, I regularly run low on pep. So I am often on the prowl for dishes that either fire me up, or at least keep me from nodding off right after sundown.The other night in my search for stimulation, I wandered into the kitchen and tried to add excitement to my life by making a salad dressing with the juice from fresh oranges. I used oranges because they are among the few foods that taste better in the winter than in the summer.I also am a big fan of oranges.

The fruits of her labor are in jars now. So are the vegetables.And, once again, as she has for the past 42 years, Betsy Hedeman of Relay is taking her canned produce and preserves to the Maryland State Fair in Timonium, which starts Friday. She has been a perennial prize winner in various categories for years, although the coveted first-place blue for bread-and-butter pickles has eluded her."I can't win. I don't know why," the 75-year-old Hedeman says.She's hopeful that will change. She loves her pickle recipe, Catherine Baldwin's Pickles, named after a friend.

Whether it's midmorning, late afternoon or evening, most people don't think twice about indulging in a quick snack to quell their hunger pangs. Candy bars, chips, ice cream -- pretty much anything will do the trick.What happens, though, when you live in a country like India, where, according to Catholic Relief Services, 52.5 percent of the population lives in poverty and only 63 percent has access to potable water? Instead of reaching for ice cream or a candy bar, people there rely on staples, such as spinach, lentils and naan, an unleavened bread, to quell their hunger.