Mostly, these days, I get e-mail instead of letters in the post. Often they ask for recipes, which I’m happy to supply, and sometimes they furnish me with new ones.

I recently printed Jan Drummond’s fine one for German potato salad. It seems a good time to clear out the files before the holidays are upon us, and here are some of the more interesting things I’d like to share.

Chef’s barbecue sauce

The grilling season may be over in the chilly north, but down here we do that all year. To answer a request for a slightly different sauce, this one is from a chef who used to work in our area. Keep in mind that most professional cooks do not use sauces like this on the grill — they prefer dry rubs or mop sauce, and this recipe would then appear on the table for guests to help themselves.

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped red onion

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 chopped jalapeno pepper*

1/2 cup espresso beans, slightly cracked

4 ounces Worcestershire sauce

4 ounces tomato paste

1 ounce cider vinegar

1 ounce balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 ounces apple cider

2 ounces stock

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon coriander

*To prepare Jalapeno for cooking, remove and discard stem end. If you like things really hot, leave some of the seeds and membranes — otherwise remove them before chopping the pepper.

Melt butter in large pan and cook the onion, garlic and hot pepper until onion are limp. Add all remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for half an hour, adding water if sauce threatens to stick. Strain out any solids such as coffee beans.

Note: If you have no beans, use powdered espresso coffee to taste — start with two tablespoons and add it to your liking.

Bavarian sausage bake

This old European recipe came originally from a computer program, but several changes have been made over the years. Some versions add carrots or turnips.

It’s a great picnic or party dish. This amount will serve 12-16, depending on the rest of the meal.

2 pounds red boiling potatoes

2 tablespoons salad oil

1 pound bratwurst or knockwurst

1 package brown and serve links (not maple flavor)

1 large chopped onion

2 pounds drained sauerkraut

1 large apple, peeled, cored and chopped

1 bottle of dark beer

Seasoning: poppy seed, cloves, cracked pepper, snipped parsley

Boil potatoes whole in salted water and cool, then peel and dice them. Set aside. Chop sausages and brown in large skillet along with onion.

Stir and cook until all of them seem tender, then add remaining ingredients. Season as desired. Transfer to oven-proof dish and bake covered at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with flavorful mustard on the side.

Chicken tarragon

I’m always looking for dishes which call for tarragon, since my plant seems to be taking over the world. Here’s an elegant entrée that takes about 15 minutes. I copied this at the dentist’s office several years ago.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup finely chopped shallots

1/3 cup dry Vermouth

2 tablespoons seedy mustard

½ cup whipping cream

2 ½ tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and cook in melted butter over medium heat until cooked through, about five minutes per side. Transfer chicken to hot platter and cover with foil to keep warm.

Add shallots to the skillet and sauté one minute. Add Vermouth and mustard and bring to a simmer while stirring. Add cream and one and a half tablespoons of the tarragon, simmering and stirring until sauce is slightly thickened, about three minutes. Return chicken and any accumulated juices to skillet. Simmer until chicken is heated through, turning once, about two minutes.

Place chicken and sauce on a hot platter and sprinkle with remaining tarragon.

Serve this dish with your choice of potatoes, rice or pasta and a green vegetable. Sliced tomatoes and avocado make a nice accompaniment. Follow with a light fruit dessert.

Pesto mushrooms

Everyone’s in a hurry these days — I constantly get requests for fast dishes, especially hors d’oeuvres. The quickest and best one I know is to make up and keep on hand some pesto of your own, and this is the classic recipe.

With a mortar and pestle (if you’re a purist) or small food processor, grind up a handful of fresh basil, half a cup of pine nuts, about half that much grated Parmesan cheese, a large clove of mashed garlic and just enough good olive oil to turn the mixture into a paste. This keeps in a jar in the refrigerator for weeks on end.

Buy fairly large button mushrooms, clean them and snap off the stems (freeze and save them for cooking). Turn mushrooms upside down and stuff each one generously with a spoonful of pesto. Place on cooking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

What could be easier?

Some cooks add parsley, use different nuts, add sun-dried tomatoes and so on. There are hundreds of recipes for pesto. It’s good on fish, hot vegetables, hot pasta and other dishes. The only mistake you can make is to go out and buy pesto instead of making it when the procedure is so very easy and the result is so good.

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What’s the world coming to? After a recent lunch at a Chinese restaurant, I broke open my fortune cookie to read on one side of the little paper slip, “If your cookie is still in one piece, ask your waitress for a free lotto ticket.”

The other side was written in what I took to be Chinese, and underneath it said, “Learn our language to read your fortune.”