Top 12 recipes of 1994:

Note: It’s hard to imagine that the year’s clear winner would be a recipe for oxtails.

Note: A couple tasters called this the best ice cream they had ever eaten.

Note:New York chef and cookbook author Zarela Martinez contributed this recipe for her October cover story on spice rubs.

Note: Stacked potatoes is a substantial and filling regional dish from Transylvania.

Note: We got this recipe from film producer Ismail Merchant for a cover story on dal.

Note: The secret of great Indian saag is simmering mustard greens for hours to bring out the full flavor.

Note: This is the first of two lamb dishes that made the cut.

Note: One of our most controversial stories this year was Russ Parsons’ February cover piece on beans, “To Soak or Not to Soak, It’s No Longer a Question.”

Note: Our second lamb recipe comes from our issue on one-dish oven meals published nearly a year ago.

Note: This model butter cake recipe is perhaps the best you’ll ever eat--three sumptuous chocolate layers.

Note: Mayi Brady, in The Times Test Kitchen, gave us this recipe for our cover package on braising--it’s a dessert braise.

Note: When we did a whole issue on garbanzo beans, many kitchen tasters were amazed at all the ways you could cook a chickpea.