One Great . . . simple party dip

Back when the World Wide Web was still called the World Wide Web, it didn't take long to notice that the whole thing was made for recipe searches. But with so many early players stumbling around, how did you know where to start?

That's why we quickly learned to appreciate the cleverly named Epicurious. Built by Conde Nast, it contained recipes from both of its food publications, Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines. It was a rarity in the too-much-to-see web world: Something that actually did make life simpler.

Over the years, Epicurious has spawned a lot more, including the blog Chow.com, and its recipe database has grown to include more than 180,000 recipes, from members, cookbooks and all kinds of sources. If you're looking for it, Epicurious has probably got at least one version of it.

Epicurious editor Tanya Steel and her editors have now reversed the old print-to-web path. They've sorted through their databases to find the highest-rated recipes and put them in a book, "The Epicurious Cookbook: More Than 250 Our Our Best-Loved Four-Fork Recipes" (Clarkson Potter, $27.99).

Recipes? Printed? What a startling concept. I wonder if it will catch on.

Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Dip

An Epicurious member posted a family recipe that may be the easiest dip every printed. It's certainly the easiest to remember.

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded imported Swiss cheese
1 cup minced onion
Crackers or pita chips, for serving

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together the mayonnaise, cheese and onion in a medium mixing bowl. Transfer to a shallow, 1-quart baking dish and bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 25 minutes.

Serve with crackers or pita chips.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.