Most Popular Meat and Chicken Dishes

Eight-year-old Dani Shaub loves making these juicy fajitas—a recipe she based on the ingredient list from a packet of fajita seasoning—because it involves lots of slicing (one of her favorite cooking tasks) and "everyone gets to participate and pick their own toppings," she says.

Shea Gallante brushes his meat loaf with a red wine glaze, which caramelizes as it bakes. The glaze also makes the meat loaf especially easy to pair with red wine. Meat loaf that isn't heavily seasoned can pair with almost any full-bodied red. Try a firm Cabernet like the 2005 Chateau Ste. Michelle Columbia Valley.

For this beef stew, Jacques Pépin uses a special piece of the shoulder called the flatiron steak. This long, narrow piece is extremely lean, tender and moist, and it makes an ideal stew. He does not use stock, demiglace or even water. He makes his stew strictly with a robust red wine. This rich, winey beef stew is always a hit with his chef friends.

Although there are innumerable versions of cassoulet, most are based on a stew of white beans and various forms of pork. The dish gets its name from the pot it's traditionally baked in, the cassole, which is often shaped like a wide inverted cone to insure the greatest amount of luscious crust. This version includes duck confit and the French garlic sausages that are a specialty of Toulouse.

In matching spicy sausage with a creamy mustard sauce and fragrant basil, British cookbook author Nigel Slater created a quick pasta supper with warm, mildly spicy flavors, perfect for a cool fall or winter evening.

For this delicious, mustardy chicken, Jacques Pépin splits the chicken and cuts between the leg and shoulder joints to halve the cooking time.

For this intensely flavorful rib eye steak from chef Bernie Kantak, restaurateur Peter Kasperski skips the obvious choice—Cabernet—in favor of an Argentinean Malbec, which has a floral aroma that is marvelous with the spice rub and the puckery lime butter that melts into the juicy beef. He points to the huge strides in quality that Argentinean wineries have made in recent years, which are evident in bottlings like the violet-scented 2005 Catena and the cocoa-rich 2005 Viña Cobos Bramare Lujan de Cuyo, from star California winemaker Paul Hobbs.

To make this juicy and delectably crisp chicken, chef Thomas Keller soaks it in a lemony brine, then coats and fries it. The chicken, which is served every other Monday at Ad Hoc, is one of the most popular dishes at the restaurant. "Since Fried Chicken Night only happens twice a month," Keller says, "people have a wonderful sense of anticipation."

A Barbera from Italy or California has enough weight and flavor to stand up to the rich meat sauce and enough acidity to balance the tomatoes.