All-American Thanksgiving Appetizers

Lump crabmeat is mixed with only enough bread crumbs and mayonnaise to hold it together, then coated with more crumbs and fried to a golden brown. A mixture of sour cream and horseradish provides lively accompaniment.

The filling for these turnovers also makes a terrific side dish on its own.

Food writer Emily Thelin created these crispy hush puppies—cornmeal dumplings—by adapting a recipe from chef Susan McCreight Lindeborg. (Lindeborg ran the kitchen at Washington, DC’s Morrison-Clark Inn when Emily worked there as a line cook.) Emily serves them with a version of the creamy French sauce remoulade, which she spikes with Tabasco and a little ketchup.

Chef Ford Fry’s deviled eggs get their terrific flavor from goat cheese, Dijon mustard and cornichons, plus a topping of country ham from Benton’s in Madisonville, Tennessee.

This homemade onion dip is far better than the storebought version.

“We created this dish as an homage to Jay-Z. He inspires us,” says Mario Carbone about the rapper and cofounder of the Roc-A-Fella record label. “The original dish was named for John D. Rockefeller. He was money back then, and to us, Jay-Z is money in New York City now.” Carbone tops the oysters with a tangy vinegar-shallot mignonette, plus a Champagne-infused foam and frozen Champagne grapes.

With walnuts, mayonnaise, apples and grapes, this recipe is a riff on classic Waldorf salad.

Down Home with the Neelys has inventive recipes like these irresistible crostini.

Club soda lightens the egg batter that coats the cheese, and a double-coating of panko crumbs amplifies the crunch.

This fun, high-brow take on pigs in a blanket swaps spicy andouille sausage for the hot dogs, with sweet mustard chutney as a condiment.

For this excellent appetizer, jumbo shrimp are marinated in chile-garlic oil, then wrapped with bacon and grilled. They're served with a house-made cocktail sauce that's spiked with a horseradish.

Flatbush Farm feels like a cross between a French bistro, an English pub and a Brooklyn neighborhood joint, and the bar menu includes corresponding comfort foods. One is this all-American, over-the-top, cheese-smothered dip.