Lobster

Charmoula is a North African mixture of herbs, oil, lemon, and cumin.

Some of us prefer the taste of grilled lobster to boiled. The smokiness of the fire balances the richness of the meat while simultaneously intensifying its flavor.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from I Like Food, Food Tastes Good: In the Kitchen with Your Favorite Bands by Kara Zuaro. To read more about the book, see the related story. Patrick Phelan
from Patrick himself Singer-songwriter Patrick Phelan crafts dreamy, lingering music, studies human rights, and has spent time in Italy to focus on his cooking, as he has been a chef for more than eleven years. This decadent dish is something you should save for a special occasion because (a) you're going to have to drop a lot of cash to make it happen, (b) you're going to need to kill a pair of lobsters in the process, and (c) it'll make your special day that much more special. This is a challenging recipe, but if you follow the directions carefully, you'll end up with a dish that's as fancy as it is comforting — and big enough to feed a crowd. If you're cooking for two, just make half — you'll still savor the leftovers for lunch the next day. "This recipe comes courtesy of the great influences of David Shannon, one of my many teachers over the years." —Patrick Phelan

A Cuban dish, enchilado (different from a Mexican enchilada) is seafood cooked in a mildly spicy tomato sauce. Serve this with rice and fried plantains.

This dramatic first course won't soon be forgotten. Chunks of sweet lobster meat bound by a shimmering jelly of fennel-and-tarragon-scented lobster stock promises the most pristine lobster salad you'll ever taste.

Empanadas de Bariloche This recipe is excerpted from Shirley Lomax Brooks's book Argentina Cooks! We've also added some tips of our own below. To read more about Argentine cuisine, click here. High in the Andes, near the border with Chile, is the all-season splendor of San Carlos de Bariloche. At Christmastime it's a fairyland of cobalt lakes, forested islands, and manicured parklands surrounded by snow-capped alpine peaks. In the center of a small peninsula stands the rustic but elegant Llao Llao Hotel, a holiday mecca for the elite of Buenos Aires, Santiago, and even Paris, Düsseldorf, London, Madrid and Milan. When not attending the hotel's casino (closed as of this writing), guests spend their time dining in exquisite surroundings on international cuisine as well as impeccably fresh seafood from the Pacific coast of Chile. Hence, recipes such as Empanadas de Bariloche frequently straddle the border.

If available, add the lobsters' coral pink roe to the sauce — it makes this dish even more luxurious.

Coleslaw and a great loaf of bread are all you need with this. (But don't forget a good bottle of white wine, too.)

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Stonewall Kitchen Favorites. To read more about the book, click here. When people travel to Maine they want to eat lobster, and this sandwich — created by chef Cheryl Lewis — has become the number-one-selling dish at the Stonewall Kitchen Café. You can prepare the basil aïoli, the lobster salad, and the bacon up to 8 hours ahead of time and assemble the sandwiches at the very last minute. On a hot summer day or night, this sandwich makes an elegant and easy main course, accompanied by tangy coleslaw or potato salad. The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled for a crowd. This recipe makes two very generous sandwiches; you will easily have enough for three to four more modest sandwiches.

Indulgence on a platter: Lobster, shrimp, scallops, and crab legs make one impressive presentation. (Ask the market to cut the lobster tails and crab legs in half lengthwise for you.) A selection of sauces adds to the party fun.

Cape Malays were the first to braise lobster in spices, which resulted in this delicious curry, for which many variations exist. Earlier writers specify tamarind juice; more recently this has been replaced by lemon juice. For a simpler recipe, use lobster tails instead of whole lobsters and omit the first step in the method.

Editor's note: The recipe below is excerpted from Tyler Florence's Eat This Book. To read more about Tyler Florence and to get his tips on throwing a Super Bowl party, click here. There's a restaurant in Barcelona off la Ramblas — the "walking district" — called Las Turcoles, which means charcoal. You walk down an unassuming cobblestone street and into an even more unassuming bar. To get to the restaurant you walk through the kitchen where there are fifteen Spaniards standing around a train-engine of a coal-fed stove. The place looks and smells like Spain at its finest: paprika, chorizo, hams, and garlic. I knew I was in the right place when I got to the bottom of my dish. The rice was toasted and crunchy, like a perfect paella should be. Using a method called socarrat, the chefs crank up the heat under the rice really high once it's cooked through, until they smell the rice begin to toast, and then shut it off. It was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted.

Kansas city steaks (also known as New York strip steaks) are sirloin steaks that have the bone attached. If you can't find this cut, ask your butcher to cut the filet side off porterhouse or T-bone steaks, leaving the strip side with the bone for you. What to drink: A Merlot-based red with intense fruit and velvety tannins. Try a Bordeaux or a California blend.

Of all the great American cookouts, surely the lobster bake, known outside of Maine as the clambake, is the most dramatic. The technique, learned from the original Americans, uses a steaming pit either dug in the sand or made from natural rock formations to cook a wide variety of ingredients without relying on forged pots and pans. The presentation, the most spectacular I have ever seen, is a ten-foot-tall burst of steam released upon removal of the tarp. As the steam subsides, bright red lobsters facing back to back on dark green rockweed come into view. Sweet corn surrounds the lobsters. Underneath the seaweed lie buried treasures: soft-shell clams, rock crabs, a whole fish, mussels, periwinkles, potatoes, boiling onions, sausage and hen or duck eggs. The sights and smells are intoxicating. The lobster bake, much more than a dish or even a feast, embodies a day filled with the wonders of water, fire, food, family and friends. The most important rule to remember to ensure the festive spirit of a lobster bake is that all who partake must share in the preparation. A lobster bake is an all-day affair, so bring along a midday snack and plenty of beverages. You will also need lots of butter, bread or rolls, salt, pepper, Tabasco and spicy mustard. For dessert, bring watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, berries and other fresh fruits as well as homemade pies. In Maine, blueberry pie is as good as mandatory.

This recipe adapts a classic outdoor clambake for the stovetop. The ingredients are steamed together in mesh bags that fit easily into a large lobster pot. Although the beauty and drama of unveiling an outdoor clambake cannot be duplicated, this method produces a mingling of flavors that's nearly indistinguishable from the original. "At my Summer Shack restaurants, we literally sell thousands of these indoor clambakes each week," says White. Clambakes vary up and down the New England coast. In Maine you might find chicken and hotdogs, on Cape Cod a whole fish, in other places crabs. One famous clambake held for over 100 years by the "Friends" from Allen's Neck in Westport, MA, features tripe that's braised and wrapped in little foil packages. "In this recipe," says White, "I add Portuguese sausage, which is common around the 'South Coast' area of Massachusetts and Rhode Island." Read more about White and clambakes >.