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3 tablespoons butter (see Tip at left)

2 large garlic cloves, slivered lengthwise

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1½ to 2½ teaspoons hot red pepper sauce (depending on how “hot” you like things)

3 cups pecan halves (see Note at left)

½ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.

2. Place the butter and garlic in a small saucepan and set over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes or just until the butter melts; remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Fish out and discard the garlic, add the Worcestershire and hot pepper sauces, and whisk until blended.

3. Place the pecans in a large mixing bowl, drizzle with the melted butter mixture, and toss until nicely coated. Or, if you prefer, follow the directions given in the Tip.

4. Spread the pecans on an ungreased baking sheet and bake on the middle oven shelf, stirring often, for about 15 minutes or until nicely toasted. Watch carefully; nuts burn easily. Remove the nuts from the oven, sprinkle evenly with the salt, and toss well.

5. Spread the nuts on paper toweling, cool to room temperature, then store in airtight containers. Serve with cocktails.

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PLANTERS PEANUTS

Two Italian immigrants took one of the South’s classic foods and turned it into a business with a dapper logo known around the world.

Everyone knows Mr. Peanut, but few know the story of Amedeo Obici and Mario Peruzzi, the men who built Planters Peanuts. Obici came to America around 1887; only eleven and speaking no English, he arrived with the address of his Pennsylvania uncle pinned to his lapel.

Within nine years, Obici had built his own peanut roaster and started a street vendor business in Wilkes-Barre; by 1906, he had founded Planters with fellow Italian immigrant Peruzzi.

Obici hit upon a process for roasting peanuts in oil, then blanching them to eliminate the hulls and shells. At a time when such things were typically sold in bulk in country stores, Obici packaged his roasted peanuts in small bags bearing the company logo.

Now owned by Kraft Foods, Planters took off after the introduction of the debonair Mr. Peanut in 1916—the inspiration of a fourteen-year-old Virginia boy who’d entered the company’s trademark contest. By then, Planters had relocated to Suffolk, Virginia, to be nearer its peanut suppliers and to eliminate costly middlemen. Obici and his wife bought a 260-acre Virginia estate and built an Italian villa there; Peruzzi married Obici’s sister.

The sporty Mr. Peanut was everywhere, from the bright lights of Broadway to the pages of The Saturday Evening Post. In 1997, he made his debut in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and today he travels in style in the yellow Planters Nut Mobile.

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ROQUEFORT PECANS

MAKES 5½ TO 6 DOZEN

A southern favorite for as long as I can remember, this recipe couldn’t be easier. Use new-crop pecans only—the plumpest halves you can find. Note: When toasting the nuts, spread them in a single layer in an ungreased large, rimmed baking sheet; stir well at half-time, and again spread in a single layer. Watch the nuts carefully as they toast: They burn easily.

One-half 4-ounce package light cream cheese (Neufchâtel), at room temperature

4 ounces Roquefort, Gorgonzola, or other sharp blue cheese, crumbled

1 teaspoon finely grated yellow onion

¼ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce

4 cups (about 1 pound) perfect pecan halves, lightly toasted (10 to 12 minutes in a 350° F. oven and cooled to room temperature; see Note above)

1. Whisk the cream cheese, Roquefort, onion, and hot pepper sauce together until creamy. Cover and refrigerate for several hours.

2. When ready to proceed, “butter” the flat side of each pecan half with the cheese mixture, then sandwich the halves together two by two. Note: These pecans should be served as soon as possible, so draft several helpers to help you sandwich them together.

3. Pass with cocktails or put out on a tea table.

BOILED PEANUTS

MAKES 1 POUND

Strangely, I never tasted boiled