Seafood

At her summer home on Martha's Vineyard, Jessica B. Harris serves this bluefish spread with crackers as hors d'oeuvres (with a Ti' Punch cocktail) to dinner party guests and at participants in her "five to sevens" — gatherings on the porch with drinks and small bites, so-called because they take place between the hours of five and seven o'clock. Smoky, rich, and creamy, this delicious spread brings together luscious smoked bluefish with light and fluffy whipped cream cheese, tangy whole-milk yogurt, and a dash of acidic hot sauce and horseradish. Don't skip on chilling the dip for at least 1 hour; time in the fridge allows the flavors and textures to meld. Be sure to re-season the blue fish spread with lemon juice and hot sauce after chilling as these ingredients will often mellow over time. The delicate crunch and neutral flavor of lavash or water crackers allow the smoky dip to be the star of the show. Bluefish is a popular and abundant fish on the Vineyard. Another smoked, oily-fleshed fish, such as whitefish, mackerel, or trout, may also be used here.

A generous five cloves of garlic give this punchy, well-balanced sweet roasted red bell pepper sauce (made using jarred, roasted red peppers) a mildly spicy bite. It's a terrific marinade for mild white fish, infusing fillets with flavor without making them tough. When marinating the fish, be sure to first set aside a generous portion of the marinate, which does double duty here as a sauce for the cooked fish. Serve with crusty bread for sopping up extra sauce with crusty bread, with juicy grilled squash on the side.

A homemade Creole spice blend adds a piquant kick to these salmon croquettes, which are crispy on the outside and tender and flaky on the inside. Refrigerating the patties until they're firm before dredging and cooking helps them keep their shape. If you'd like, you can swap in an equal amount of leftover cooked salmon for the fresh fillets to save time. The Creole Aïoli — starring finely chopped cornichons and their brine, Creole mustard, and a hint of sugar — is an irresistible combination of creamy, crunchy, and salty, and an ideal match for the croquettes.

Food & Wine editor-in-chief Hunter Lewis grew up in North Carolina obsessed with peel-and-eat shrimp, especially those fished out of pots of Frogmore stew in the South Carolina Lowcountry and those cooked and spiced like Maryland crab farther north. Now, he lives in the Deep South, where his shrimp boil has taken on a slight Cajun accent. It still bobs with corn and potatoes, but the Italian sausage is andouille, the Old Bay spice mix is sometimes Zatarain's, and the wild shrimp is always sweet, plump, and scooped from the Gulf. While all of those ingredients are essential, Lewis says the real flavor from a boil comes from a potent cooking liquor, loaded with alliums, lemon, spices, and a bottle each of white wine and clam juice.

These salmon burgers make a great, quick summer meal, but can also be enjoyed all year-round. The patties get herbal, bright, and briny flavors thanks to several mix-ins: fresh dill, lemon zest, capers, and Dijon mustard. The accompanying aïoli mirrors the burger's flavors with the inclusion of lemon juice and the remaining mustard and dill, plus parsley and basil for an extra herby boost. When making the patties, it's important to cut the salmon into small cubes, mince the shallot, and chop the capers before adding them to the food processor. This will help the patty mixture come together more quickly and help avoid overmixing, which would result in a gummy texture. The finished burgers are served on toasted brioche buns with the aïoli and some fresh arugula to balance the richness of the salmon and the buns.

In this taco recipe, IPA adds depth to the crunchy coating on beer-battered cod fillets while the fish inside cooks to flaky and tender perfection. The tacos also feature bright homemade pickled red onions and a cabbage slaw that gets tart creaminess from lime crema and a hint of sweetness from honey. (If you can't find crema Mexicana, use four tablespoons of crème fraîche or sour cream mixed with half a teaspoon of lime juice.) Everything gets piled into charred corn tortillas and garnished with thinly sliced radishes, cilantro sprigs, and a drizzle of reserved lime crema, plus more fresh lime juice if you'd like. To prevent the fish from sticking to the bottom of the pot when frying, hold the fillet halfway into the oil for a few seconds in order to create a skin on the batter, and then slowly lower it fully into the oil.