Deviled eggs, a fixture on the appetizer circuit, can give your holiday guests a delicious start to the Thanksgiving feast.

Photo: Chronicle Books.

'Sips and Apps: Classic and Contemporary Recipes for Cocktails and Appetizers'
By Kathy Casey
Photos by Angie Norwood Browne
Chronicle Books -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

Kathy Casey isn't a mixologist, she's a "bar chef" -- a trained chef with mad cocktail skills. In "Sips and Apps," she ventures off the well-trod path of standard cocktail guides to explore cocktails with such seductive names as Black Feather and Clear Conscience.

But it's her appetizers that are sure to offer a new trick or two for your next cocktail soiree.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Photo: Heath Fradkoff

Been seduced by "Mad Men" yet? Have Frankie Valli on repeat on the Hi-Fi? Find yourself buying dusty vintage TV trays decorated with mallards? Drinking a gin martini, up, for dinner?

OK, we're projecting. Half the Slashfood staff is enamored with the show (see New York Magazine's handy primer) that is about to plunge into its third hard-drinking, heavy-philandering, Gotham-glamorizing season this Sunday. We are over the moon about the style, the cocktail culture, and those insane retro recipes.

It's the perfect excuse for a cocktail party (especially a costumed one), so bust out the pearls and heat up the curlers -- or grab the fedora and tiepin -- because it's totally OK to drink with friends on a Sunday night. No one batted a heavily lined eye at such a thing back in the day.

Our party primer, with tune selections, deviled eggs and LeNell's perfect martini, after the jump.

• The wonders of poke.
• How about making pizza on the grill this summer?
• Summertime means a trip to the clam shack.
• Behind the scenes of the Future Chefs competition.
• Eat more fish, just for the halibut.
• Restaurant reviews: Steve's Diner and Shiraz Cuisine.
• This week's recipes: Roasted Onions with Thyme, Deviled Eggs, and Beef and Pork Chili (though I think it's a little warm for chili myself!)

I haven't made deviled eggs since I was 9 years old. My best friend Marla and I were helping her grandma make dinner and were given the task of making deviled eggs. We didn't really know what we were doing and went through three eggs just trying to figure out whether they were finished cooking or not. When they finally were done, we felt such a sense of accomplishment. As an added bonus, they were also quite tasty (oddly, that was also the first time I ever used paprika. I was very impressed by the color).

These days deviled eggs seem a little bit kitschy, but every time someone brings them to a party, they are invariably one of the first things to go. Over on Farm to Philly, Nicole has posted a recipe for deviled eggs that uses a cooked, mashed potato to enrich the yolk filling (because it does seem like there's never quite enough yolk mixture to fill all the egg halves). Her deviled eggs also have the added benefit of being made with local, free range eggs. However, you don't have to use such lofty eggs in order to make this yummy-sounding recipe.

Truffle oil demystified - Frank Bruni divulges the truth behind the flavor. Yes, it is chemically-enhanced.

Serving lunch or looking for a unique appetizer? Creamed Morels on Chive Butter Toast will be ready to serve in under thirty minutes.

Do you really want to wait until Friday to eat fish? Black Cod on Wilted Radicchio

In the mood for some Cephalopod Stew? No, I really can't make it sound any better, but with fresh octopus and new potatoes rounding out this hearty dish, I'm sure it is delicious anyways.

The perfect meal, perhaps? Whether you are serving breakfast or brunch, lunch or dinner, Asparagus Frittata suits them all.

Double dose of Bruni: Frank B reviews Chef Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak and Craftbar

NY Times food columnist Mark Bittman, also known as 'The Minimalist', shows us his take on Deviled Eggs which you can watch on video.

Martha Stewart has done a little Spring cleaning. Actually, she has undergone a complete overhaul with the newly redesigned MarthaStewart.com, which was unveiled today. New features on the site include recipe searches, how-to videos, and "best of" sections that spotlight content from her magazines, TV shows, and radio appearances.

Say what you will, this woman knows her stuff. If you are looking to make brownies, Martha offers them up five different ways in her chocaholics section. Or, if you bought too many eggs for Easter, use them up by making Deviled Eggs in a variety of flavors, as pictured above.

This single-subject cookbook would have been a good one for our picnic day because, even though it's not necessarily the best idea to leave eggs out unrefrigerated on a warm, sunny day, deviled eggs are the must-have picnic food of many, many people. Just ask my grandmother. Deviled Eggs: 50 Recipes from Simple to Sassy is a collection of recipes that makes deviled eggs a little more interesting. It starts out with tips on making the perfect hard-boiled eggs, such as getting the yolks centered in the middle of the white (making the optimal presentation) and keeping the yolks bright yellow. Most of the recipes are short and can be made with ingredients that are already in your pantry or fridge, adding in sun-dried tomatoes, avocado or wasabi. Check out this recipe for "The Devil Made Me Do It" eggs, which are kicked up with habenero sauce and curry powder and are likely to be a hot dish at your next egg-making event.

Oh, how I love hard-boiled eggs, and when they're deviled eggs, even better. Molly of Orangette has taken deviled eggs to an even higher plane by adding a crabmeat ravigote. That's the whitish looking stuff dolloped right on top. Ravigote is a mayonnaise- or vinaigrette-based cold sauce that is flavored with fresh herbs. For hers, Molly uses parsley, thyme, and garnishes with chives.

Do you have a couple of hard-boiled eggs sitting around? Instead of throwing them out, assuming that you kept them refrigerated or, at least did not cook them more than a day or two ago, peel the eggs and put them to good use. Hard boiled eggs do not keep as long as their uncooked counterparts, so don't try cooking with the ones you used in an Easter egg hunt that might have been in the sun.  A large egg has about 70 calories and is an excellent source of protein, with about 6 grams per egg. There are approximately 5 grams of fat in an egg, with 3.5 of them unsaturated, and they are all contained in the yolk. For more information on eggs, look here, but if you're just looking for a recipe or two, food blogs are a great place to look.

• Deviled Eggs 
• Egg Salad Sandwich 
• Hard Cooked Egg Cookies 
• Vegetarian Scotch Eggs 
• Son-in-law Eggs

[Photo by Nicole Weston]