As 2007 has been declared a landmark year for Oxfordshire, and festivities to mark the county's 1,000 anniversary are under way, I thought it might be fun to turn back the centuries and take a look at the special dishes that have originated here during the past millennium.

I had hoped that by searching through my cookery books (old and new) I'd be able to fill this page with a wealth of distinctive dishes that we have made our own. Sadly, Oxfordshire boasts very few original recipes that distinguish it as a culinary centre. Nothing that's evolved here over the centuries quite hits the heights attained by the Cornish pasty or Yorkshire pudding. Our culinary achievements appear to rest mainly with the Banbury cake, Oxford marmalade, a rather spicy sausage and a sauce.

The Banbury cake is said to have been made as early as the 13th century when crusaders returned from the Near East armed with dried fruits and spices. It has certainly been made in Banbury since the early 17th century. The recipe for this cake, with its crisp sugary pastry surrounding a mix of dried fruits, is said to have remained a closely guarded secret, handed down to each successive owner of the town's Original Cake Shop. However, you will find an early recipe in Markham's The English Housewife, of 1615, which calls for four pounds of currants, more than a dozen eggs and all manner of spices and pastry. The recipe has evolved since then. Banbury cakes are now sent all over the world and have become a symbol of the town, even though the original shop was demolished in the late 1960s.

We can certainly raise our glasses with pride to Oxford marmalade, even though the oranges that go into this recipe come all the way from Seville. Thanks to Sarah Jane Cooper, who made the first batch of orange marmalade in 1874 using a recipe handed down by her mother, Oxfordshire has one product that proved so popular when she first sold it that no advertising was necessary to promote it. For more than 130 years, dons, noblemen, clergymen and dignitaries have praised the virtues of this dark, chunky preserve with its slightly bitter taste, which managed to find its way on to breakfast tables all over the world. A jar of Oxford marmalade was even included in Scott's stores when he travelled to Antarctica.

Then there's the Oxford sausage, which began appearing on college menus in 1726 when John Nott wrote a recipe for a skinless, rather over-spiced banger, made from a mixture of pork, veal and beef suet. That gets a mention or two in the history books but Oxford sausages are seldom made now and when they are they are usually made with lamb and encased in a skin.

Lesser-known dishes include an Oxfordshire cake which called for a peck of flower and a pound and a half of sugar to be mixed with cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, salt, butter, ale-yeast cream, eggs, rose water and wine, when first listed in a Tudor recipe book entitled The Compleat Cook (1658). But as there was little to distinguish this cake from others of the period, it never made its mark as the Banbury cake has.

There are several puddings linked to Oxford colleges, such as Oxford pudding, New College pudding and the hollygog pudding. The latter is made with a soft dough that's covered with syrup, rolled up like a swiss roll and cooked in milk. It's said to have been created to keep hungry students well nourished, but it's seldom cooked these days and certainly doesn't appear in many regional cookery books.

There's a piquant Oxford sauce, however, which may well become as popular as Oxford marmalade. It first made its appearance at the beginning of the 18th century. This sauce, which was made by mixing port with redcurrant jelly, Oxford marmalade, spices and a squeeze or two of orange and lemon juice, is said to have evolved in the college kitchens and was used to accompany cold meats.

This sauce has now been plucked from obscurity and given a new lease of life thanks to Baron Pouget's Oxford Fine Food Company, which also makes a cheese named Oxford Blue. Baron Pouget is now bottling Oxford Sauce commercially and it can be bought at most local food stores. Oxford Sauce is already growing in popularity, particularly as it can now be found on pub and restaurant tables where the tourist trade is encouraged. Perhaps we should follow Baron Pouget's example and either look back to past recipes and give them a modern twist, or come up with some exciting new dishes that celebrate the 21st century and the excellent local produce Oxfordshire produces?

If you have an old family recipe which you believe should be considered an Oxfordshire dish, I would love to hear from you, particularly if it is one that has been handed down from generation to generation and gradually evolved over the years.

Or if you have developed a recipe of your own, which you feel qualifies as an Oxfordshire recipe, please get in touch, as the arrival of new dishes that bear an Oxfordshire stamp would certainly be a memorable way of highlighting the county's 1,000-year history.

You don't have to be a qualified chef to create an original recipe, just a food enthusiast who would like to stamp their mark on the Oxfordshire food scene during the next millennium.

If the recipe sounds interesting and the main ingredients can be purchased locally, I'll test it in my own kitchen, photograph it and then feature it on this page. If it proves really tasty and has something very positive going for it, perhaps local chefs will be encouraged to highlight it on their 2007 menus. It's certainly worth a try.

You can post your Oxfordshire recipe idea to Helen Peacocke, The Oxford Times, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0EJ, or send an email to: helen.peacocke@nqo.com