John Somerall

This delicious roast duck dish popularized in Beijing is known for crispy, intensely golden brown skin and tender meat. It traditionally takes days to prepare, but our version is ready in just over a day, with most of the time spent refrigerating the duck. The recipe gets plenty of flavor from a combination of soy sauce, honey, Chinese five spice, and hoisin sauce, resulting in a duck that's umami-rich and satisfying. While the duck roasts, the skin puffs up and traps some of the rendered fat, causing it to almost self-baste as it cooks. After it has been carved, it's served with Chinese buns or pancakes, cucumber and carrot matchsticks, thinly sliced scallions, and more hoisin sauce.

The Kentucky Hot Brown is a classic open-faced sandwich beloved in Kentucky. It was created by Fred Schmidt in 1926 at the Brown Hotel in Louisville and features thick Texas toast topped with slices of roast turkey, tomato and bacon and doused with Mornay sauce. Here, we took the essential components of a Hot Brown and combined them for an untraditional macaroni and cheese with the soul of the original. The halved cherry tomatoes add pops of brightness to each bite of pasta coated in the rich, creamy sauce, while a crunchy bacon and bread topping nod to the dish's origins. Be careful while cooking the Mornay sauce; keep the whisk in contact with the bottom of the pot while whisking to ensure that the sauce doesn't get lumpy or scorched.

Smoking a turkey breast results in smoky, juicy meat with a deeply golden skin. Applying the lemon-oregano rub under and on top of the skin ensures that the flavors permeate throughout the meat. The meat is very juicy when it comes out of the smoker, so make sure to allow it to rest for the full 20 minutes before carving and serving it, so the juices have a chance to redistribute.

This recipe is perfect for your next weekend cookout. You can use Boston butt or pork shoulder; either will yield incredibly smoky, tender, and juicy meat. After rubbing the mustard into the pork and sprinkling on the brown sugar mixture, allow it to rest at room temperature while you prepare the smoker — this will not only allow the rub to permeate deeper into the meat, but also help expedite the cooking process slightly. Keep the temperature in the smoker as consistent as possible, and refill with hot coals as needed. Don't use quick-light types of charcoal, which will give the meat a chemical taste. Serve the pork with a barbecue sauce of your choice and classic barbecue sides, such as baked beans, potato salad or chips, and coleslaw.

Esquites is the creamy corn salad version of elote, the beloved Mexican street food where corn on the cob is slathered with mayo and sprinkled with chili powder and Cotija cheese. Here, we've taken esquites and turned it into a pasta salad, loaded with charred corn, zucchini, scallions, and poblano chile. A crema-mayo mixture flavored with lime and cilantro adds a bright finish, and Cotija and ancho chile powder seal the deal. The hearty dish is ideal for barbecues or packing for a picnic. We call for orecchiette, but you can also try this with shells, lumachi, or any smaller pasta that will catch the corn kernels in its nooks and crannies.

This impressive, flavor-packed rib roast is perfect for a celebration. The secret? A compound butter made with garlic, anchovies, herbs, and shallot. Half of it is slathered all over the roast before it goes into the oven; the other half is rolled up into a log, chilled, and then sliced into medallions to serve with each slice of beef. Special order the rib roast from a local butcher, asking for one with nice marbling and an even fat cap. The roast can be prepped the night before and stored in the fridge until ready to bake—just bring it to room temperature before roasting. Thinly sliced leftovers make satisfying roast beef sandwiches or sliders. 

Seasoning these turkey legs with a dry brine packs them with flavor before they head to the smoker, resulting in juicy, smoky, and tender meat with a light kick from the chipotle chiles. Brining the legs uncovered in the refrigerator overnight also helps to keep the skin dry, and crisp up as it cooks. The turkey legs will emerge from the smoker a beautiful mahogany color. Serve them whole (which would be perfect for Thanksgiving), or shred the meat and mix it into grain bowls, pasta salads, sandwiches, and more. Save the bones as well to make a smoky turkey broth for soups or sauces. Read more about how to make these turkey legs, step-by-step.

This recipe takes our Best-Ever Turkey Gravy and adapts it specifically for a gravy fountain, creating cascading streams of savory gravy that pair perfectly with skewered roasted vegetables, stuffing bites, French-dip-style turkey sliders, and mashed potato croquettes. We've included mini-recipes for all of those hors d'oeuvres (made with Thanksgiving leftovers) in this recipe, plus three different flavor variations on the gravy itself. The gravy recipe yields enough to fill a chocolate fountain that calls for 4 pounds of melted chocolate. If you have a fountain that calls for 2 pounds or less, either divide this recipe in half or add half to the machine, and use the remaining gravy to refill as needed. While it's perfectly safe to run the gravy fountain for a few hours, the gravy temperature does hover around 105-110°F; a little cooler than what is considered to be food-safety temperature, so keep it flowing for under 2 hours. Add the fountain to your Thanksgiving menu for maximum joy.

This impressive, flavor-packed rib roast is perfect for a celebration. The secret? A compound butter made with garlic, anchovies, herbs, and shallot. Half of it is slathered all over the roast before it goes into the oven; the other half is rolled up into a log, chilled, and then sliced into medallions to serve with each slice of beef. Special order the rib roast from a local butcher, asking for one with nice marbling and an even fat cap. The roast can be prepped the night before and stored in the fridge until ready to bake—just bring it to room temperature before roasting. Thinly sliced leftovers make satisfying roast beef sandwiches or sliders. 

Seasoning these turkey legs with a dry brine packs them with flavor before they head to the smoker, resulting in juicy, smoky, and tender meat with a light kick from the chipotle chiles. Brining the legs uncovered in the refrigerator overnight also helps to keep the skin dry, and crisp up as it cooks. The turkey legs will emerge from the smoker a beautiful mahogany color. Serve them whole (which would be perfect for Thanksgiving), or shred the meat and mix it into grain bowls, pasta salads, sandwiches, and more. Save the bones as well to make a smoky turkey broth for soups or sauces. Read more about how to make these turkey legs, step-by-step.

This recipe takes our Best-Ever Turkey Gravy and adapts it specifically for a gravy fountain, creating cascading streams of savory gravy that pair perfectly with skewered roasted vegetables, stuffing bites, French-dip-style turkey sliders, and mashed potato croquettes. We've included mini-recipes for all of those hors d'oeuvres (made with Thanksgiving leftovers) in this recipe, plus three different flavor variations on the gravy itself. The gravy recipe yields enough to fill a chocolate fountain that calls for 4 pounds of melted chocolate. If you have a fountain that calls for 2 pounds or less, either divide this recipe in half or add half to the machine, and use the remaining gravy to refill as needed. While it's perfectly safe to run the gravy fountain for a few hours, the gravy temperature does hover around 105-110°F; a little cooler than what is considered to be food-safety temperature, so keep it flowing for under 2 hours. Add the fountain to your Thanksgiving menu for maximum joy.

The fragrant marinade for these pork chops both infuses the meat with tons of flavor and ensures that the rib-cut chops, which already have slightly more fat than a center-cut chop, remain tender and moist on the grill. The sugar in the marinade helps to create a beautiful dark golden brown crust with areas of light charring. Once the chops are on the grill, refrain from moving them around too often in order to allow grill marks to form. If you'd like, grill some asparagus and sliced sweet potatoes as well to round out your meal.

Banish any chance of a dry bird with this salt-crusted turkey breast. Salt-roasting is a technique that is often employed to keep lean fish moist while roasting; the mixture of salt and egg whites forms a nearly airtight crust when baked, locking in moisture and flavor. It works the same magic with turkey. Whereas traditional methods for roasting turkey tend to yield dry white meat, salt-roasting delivers an incredibly juicy breast that's perfectly seasoned to the bone, with no brining required. Use kosher salt to ensure maximum coverage at a reasonable cost. While a 10- to 15-minute rest is ideal, the turkey breast can rest in its crust up to 30 minutes while remaining juicy and tender.

It's fun to make your own bitters, and it takes relatively little effort—just some time to allow the flavorful aromatics to infuse the alcohol. This citrus-spice batch will go nicely with all of your favorite cocktails that call for bitters, or add a few dashes to a glass of seltzer for a refreshing thirst-quencher. If you'd like, you can divide the mixture between a few dropper bottles and gift them to your cocktail-loving friends. 

Gefilte Fish is a dish made from a poached seasoned ground fish and served as an appetizer in Ashkenazi Jewish households, most traditionally during Passover. This recipe starts with a whole whitefish, turning the fillets into flavorful gefilte fish, and the trimmings into stock. You can find whole whitefish at some supermarkets and delis, and can ask your fishmonger to grind the fish for you at the store—just make sure to ask them to reserve the bones, head, skin, etc. for making stock.

These Cornish hens are flavor-packed with aromatic herbs, fresh lemons, and garlic. Coated in a lemon-garlic-herb puree, stuffed with garlic and lemon wedges, and neatly trussed, the hens are roasted on top of a bed of fresh rosemary and thyme sprigs. The roasted birds are drizzled with butter-fortified pan juices just before serving. Pair with roasted or mashed potatoes and a salad tossed with a mustard vinaigrette.

Simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika, mild grouper fillets pick up lightly smoky, savory flavor in scallion, lemon, and butter stuffed packets on the grill. These packets leave the fish perfectly moist and flaky, and avoid potentially sticky grill grates. The built-in sauce cooks as the butter and lemon melt into the fish, and pair perfectly with fluffy cooked rice or crusty baguettes for sopping.

This classic German dish is all about the contrast between savory, fork-tender meat and a crispy, tender crust of pork crackling flavored with cumin, caraway, and mustard seeds. It’s worth your time to seek out a boneless pork shoulder with a nice, even fat cap, which is key to the dish. If the only pork shoulder available with a fat cap comes with a bone, you can ask the butcher to remove it or cut it out with a boning knife at home.

Pick your favorite store-bought refrigerated ravioli for this iconic Italian-American recipe, which transforms the stuffed pasta into a crunchy and super-satisfying appetizer. Breading the ravioli with panko and Parmesan helps them form a crispy shell when fried, and a gently garlicky marinara sauce is the perfect partner for dipping. To add an extra layer of flavor and texture, use the same oil to fry up rosemary and sage leaves, too.

This rich, long-simmered beef bone broth is terrific when used as stock in recipes, but is just as satisfying and delicious enough when enjoyed straight from a mug, gently warmed and topped with a bit of freshly ground pepper. You'll want to make a trip to the butcher to find your soup bones, since they'll need to be halved by the butcher with a bandsaw for maximum flavor in the broth.

Smoky, gently spiced andouille sausage and a spoonful of Creole seasoning give deep flavor and mild heat to this jambalaya, while the trinity of onion, green pepper, and celery provide a classic aromatic base to the dish. Parboiled rice is perfect for this recipe, since it cooks to tenderness just as the andouille, chicken, and shrimp reach doneness.

Similar in texture to ground beef with a rich, meaty flavor, plant-based crumbles are a perfect addition to quick-cooking stir-fries. Here, the eggplant and zucchini cook quickly, absorbing plenty of flavor from the chile-garlic and soy sauces, without getting overly tender. Fresh cilantro adds an extra pop of freshness to the finished stir-fry; serve over brown or white rice for a fast and filling weeknight meal.

Crispy lamb patties stuffed into pita have been pleasing eaters from the Mediterranean to the Middle East for centuries. This version trades lamb for plant-based “beef,” seasoned with tangy pomegranate molasses, fresh mint, and hot paprika to evoke the flavors of the classic. The plant-based meat mixture is somewhat loose; getting a good hard sear is the key to helping these patties stay together. A tangle of tart, sumac-tinted onions and a drizzle of tahini-laced yogurt sauce make these plant-based pitas a hearty and flavorful meal.