Ginger

Peanut butter has a place on the dinner table. This recipe makes enough for two or three different meals.

If you forget to thaw the shrimp in the morning, set the bag in a large bowl filled with cold water. It will defrost in minutes. One cup of dry rice will yield 3 cups cooked; leftover rice, which is slightly dried out, makes the best stir-fries.

Red-braised pork may be one of the most common of all Chinese dishes, but it is also one of the most glorious: a slow stew of belly pork with seasonings that may include sugar, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and spices.

If juicing sounds too healthy for you, may we suggest adding booze? The beets turn the vodka a fantastic shade of pink, and ginger adds a flavorful kick.

Tarte Tatin meets gingerbread cake in this pretty upside-down dessert.

Cinnamon, nutmeg and a secret ingredient make this mouthwatering cheesecake anything but ordinary. Cool and creamy with just the right amount of spice...it’s absolutely irresistible!

If suave and hipster-hot is your idea of a dessert, you've just found it. These chile-ginger-mint jellies are an almost academic study in the contrasting sensations of hot and cool. The Chinese consider ginger to be hot—it's the source of heat in hot and sour soup—but Americans tend to view ginger more as a fresh, zinging accent of flavor. Add some fresh chile to the ginger and you introduce a new dimension of complexity that's counterbalanced by the cooling aspect of mint. The result? Your taste buds are rewarded with the dynamic duo of fiery hot and icy cold, all in one bite. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Fiery Fare. Menu also includes Spicy Summer Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce and Spicy Sweet-and-Sour Grilled Chicken.

We like to brush this sweet sauce on steaks, grilled or roasted chicken legs, and slices of roasted eggplant. Try it on salmon, too.

Lightly spiced little cookies are the perfect canvas for your holiday decorations. To keep the dough logs from flattening on one side, set them in empty paper-towel rolls before freezing.

Forget going out for dinner, this sea bass is dressed to impress in less than 20 minutes. The sauce begs to be scooped up, so be sure to serve this dish with fluffy basmati rice. Sauté snow peas or green beans in sesame oil and serve them alongside. And by all means, invite friends, as this dish can easily be doubled. (Most halibut, trout, salmon, cod, or tuna can take the place of the sea bass, so buy whatever is freshest and avoid the endangered Chilean sea bass.)

The smoky flavor of the fish combined with a sweet maple sauce and mustardy potatoes adds up to a rustic fall meal that will win raves. Inspired by the open-fire plank-cooking techniques of northwest Native American cultures, this nontraditional version uses the oven instead of the grill. Be sure to presoak the plank overnight to prevent flare-ups, and if you don’t have a plank, fear not: many Epi members report great success simply roasting the salmon in a pan with the glaze.

This bulgur salad makes a delicious and healthy side. It travels well, too.

The combination of plump fresh fish, juicy red bell peppers, sweet onion squares, and pungent cilantro makes for an eye-catching presentation. For additional color, thread yellow, orange, and green bell peppers onto the skewers, or you can tame the heat with thick peach slices. And feel free to swap wooden skewers for the metal variety; just be sure to give them the requisite pregrilling soak of about 30 minutes. Serve these lively kebabs with a simple green salad.

The combination of stone fruits, berries, and melon, dressed in a simple but zingy ginger syrup, makes for a seasonal dish that’s elegant enough for a party and easy enough for a creative topping to your morning bowl of quinoa or oatmeal.

Ice-cold ginger ale is just one of the secrets to chef Kevin Rathbun’s Asian-inspired shrimp appetizer. The woody and fragrant kaffir lime leaf is another and can be found in the freezer section of Asian or Thai grocery stores. Rathbun’s restaurant in Atlanta also serves this dish with chicken or tofu in place of the shrimp.

If you’re one of those folks with serious misgivings about cooked carrots (too soft, too bland, too . . . orange), this spicy South Asian starter will likely change your mind. Puréeing the carrot with broth and an aromatic mixture of spices produces an exceptionally rich, velvety texture. Like a little more heat? Kick it up a notch by increasing the amount of ginger, curry powder, or coriander while the pot is simmering. But be sure to remember the garnish: creamy yogurt will actually enhance the layers of flavor in the soup. This healthy option is great as a first course at a dinner party or makes a simple lunch for the kids.

This healthy sprightly salad has a distinctly Asian kick to it. One of the best things about it is you can add just about any veggies you have—just be sure to cut them up into bite-size pieces. The dressing also makes a terrific marinade for fish or chicken.

This is a simple way to prepare whole fish, yet one that few Western cooks have mastered. In the Vietnamese culture, a properly steamed fish is a benchmark for chefs, and those who can't do it right are considered to be bad cooks. A perfectly steamed fish has flesh that is just cooked at the bone, never dry. Typically, whole fish are not served with the liquid in which it was steamed, which is too fishy tasting, and any sauce is added at the end, after the fish has been cooked. In this classic Chinese preparation, the fish is topped with scallions, cilantro and ginger, then doused with hot oil, which releases the flavor of the aromatics into the flesh of the fish.

If it's melon season, you have to make this. In Burma (Myanmar), gin thoke, meaning "ginger mix," is a blend of crispy fried garlic, sesame seeds, and ginger, and is eaten as a sweet digestive snack after meals. Although not native to the region, melons are a refreshing and delicious complement to this dressing, together making a perfect summertime side dish. The ginger is key to this salad. Ideally, the gingerroot should be so young that the skin is almost transparent and the roots are tipped with pink.