By Popular Demand

(vintage Christmas cards from Dover).

I have been ordered to bring this to the divisional Christmas party (by the office support staff, no less. Oh well, it's a good idea to keep the people who know how to use the copy machine happy). Awful good, awful easy (and awfully bad for you). It's been posted here before, but just in case you're looking for the recipe --

My Mother's Idiot-Proof 1960's Sausage Appetizer

2 packages cocktail sausages
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
2 T. horseradish (or to taste)

Heat the sausages and put into a slow-cooker. Mix the sour cream, mayonnaise and horseradish and pour over the sausages. Set to "low" until the sauce is heated and serve hot.

Heating the sausages in something else and then putting them in the slow-cooker allows you to drain off some of the fat, not that doing so makes this recipe much healthier. But, as I once heard Julia Child say on tv, life without cholesterol isn't worth living.

My mother served this at faculty parties when I was growing up (this was back in the days when children were not allowed at grown-up parties and weren't allowed a crack at the food, either. We were lucky if we got even one of these sausages). She used a chafing dish in the days before slow-cookers. This is an extremely forgiving recipe and it works with cocktail meatballs as well. If you double or halve the recipe, just remember that the proportions for the sour cream/mayo mix are half and half. I only add enough horseradish (horseradish cream, actually, not raw horseradish) to give it a pleasant glow; the horseradish shouldn't overpower everything else.