Pork

A low, steady simmer is the key to this braise, so keep an eye on the pot.

Letting the roast sit at room temperature will help it cook more evenly; starting it at a higher temperature jump-starts the browning process.

A dairy-infused pork sausage stuffing infuses this turkey breast with richness and perfumes the meat with warm spices.

The Christmas season in Puerto Rico is blessed with balmy weather and clear skies. There is nothing like dining under the shade of a gourd tree on Christmas Eve, savoring every morsel of the earthy tamales called pasteles and adobo-flavored pork while looking at the sea. Puerto Rican women get together with their families to prepare pasteles by the hundred, freezing them until needed for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, family reunions, the Fiesta de Reyes, and the religious season called octavas that follows the Feast of the Epiphany. It is the blend of the tiny pepper ají dulce and broad-leaf culantro in the fragrant sofrito (cooking sauce) that gives an unmistakable Puerto Rican identity to these earthy tamales. A dash of vinegar lends the sofrito just the right amount of tang against the mild dough of malanga and plantain tinted orange-yellow with achiote-infused lard. I learned to make these in the traditional kitchen of the Puerto Rican side of my family. While one person took care of trimming the plantain leaves, others were busy grating the vegetables and making the sofrito. There the vegetables are grated by hand, though you can find machines designed specially for this purpose in any market or use a food processor. Puerto Ricans are extremely fussy about the wrapping—it has to be perfect and watertight because pasteles are normally boiled. But I prefer to steam them.

This heirloom family recipe has the distinctive allspice aroma of the cooking of my hometown, Santiago de Cuba, the only part of Cuba where this complex spice is used in a pork marinade. The combination of cumin and allspice is especially characteristic of my family's cooking. Originally a Christmas dish, cerdo brujo is now one of the most popular dishes at my restaurant Zafra, where we celebrate Christmas every day.

This cut of pork can be very lean, so take care not to overcook it or it will be dry. Ideally, it should still be a little pink in the center.

Give your family’s everyday pork loin recipe a major flavor boost with a simple homemade Adobo rub. Just mix GOYA® Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning with Pepper with chili powder, cumin, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Rub over the pork, roast until golden brown, and prepare for the compliments to roll in!

Totally elegant, easy, and seasonal, this is just the main to make for your next fall dinner party.

The ultimate holiday vacation cooking project: lasagna with two homemade sauces and layers of homemade pasta.

Lush pork, toothsome noodles, and a heady broth you can't stop slurping—it's no wonder ramen joints are drawing droves of diners, off-duty chefs, and seemingly everyone on your Instagram feed. Bringing shoyu ramen home takes a trip to an Asian market, three days of work, and your largest pot, but this low-stress (really!) labor of love might be the best soup you'll ever make.

They look unassuming, but these little jars of unctuous spiced meat served with crunchy toast and rich shallots are a decadent and satisfying treat.

Cuban Sandwich Directly inspired by the cubanos served at Latin American Cafeteria, the Cuban sandwich on the menu at Garces Trading Company is my way of bringing one of the treats of Little Havana to Philadelphia. It took some doing, since the essential Cuban bread is not to be had outside of Miami, but we found a bakery that follows a legit Cuban recipe to make it for us to order. All of the other ingredients are house-made from the roast pork and cured ham to the pickles and mustard. To approximate the cubano at home, follow the recipe to make the absolute key ingredient: the marinated, moist, and deeply flavorful roast pork. (Note: plan for several hours marinating time; you'll end up with enough pork for a second round of sandwiches or the main component of another meal.) For the next-best thing to the real deal pan cubano, get some good crisp-crusted bakery rolls with a light, airy texture. Pick up some best-quality domestic ham, along with Dijon mustard, Swiss cheese, and dill pickles, and you will have yourself some amazing sandwiches.

This is a winning-contestant recipe from Season Four of FOX's MasterChef.

Sweet and sour are two of the five flavors of classical Chinese cooking (along with salty, pungent, and bitter), and go lo yuk, as the dish is called, is a favorite way to prepare pork in Cantonese cooking. I prefer fresh pineapple, but if you like your dish sweeter, use canned pineapple and reserve some of the juice from the can to add to the sauce in place of fresh pineapple juice.

Cookbook author and meat authority Bruce Aidells created this recipe exclusively for Epicurious. Aidells' garlic and fresh herb rub and bacon-infused barbecue sauce make for ribs that burst with flavor, while his cooking method—the ribs are baked first then quickly finished on the grill or in the broiler—means home cooks can make tender, meaty ribs without a lot of fuss. The recipe makes 2 cups of barbecue sauce, but you'll need only about 1/2 cup to glaze the ribs. Aidells recommends serving the extra sauce alongside the ribs, and holding onto any leftovers, which can be kept, covered, in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. "It's a great thing to have around for other barbecues," says Aidells. "And you can use the sauce to rewarm leftover ribs by gently heating the ribs in the sauce." For more on Aidells' ribs, rub, and barbecue sauce, see Classic Recipes: Barbecue Ribs and Barbecue Sauce.

The classic combination of tender pork, tart apples, and cider-braised sweet potatoes is a textbook meal for chilly days, especially when you're really hungry. You'll be amazed how easy it is to pull this hearty meal together; even the cider-based mustard sauce is a snap to prepare.

Butterflying the pork loin isn't difficult, but many butchers will do it for you.

Go light on the salt when seasoning these chops; the marinade is fairly salty, especially after it reduces.

When Snow's BBQ in Lexington was named best barbecue in Texas by Texas Monthly magazine in June 2008, Tootsie Tomanetz became an instant star in the barbecue world. It's odd that her significant skill as a pitmaster was "discovered" only after more than thirty years of tending pits. As one of thee rare female pitmasters in Texas, she says some folks insist on calling her a chef because they don't feel comfortable applying the pitmaster moniker to a woman, but Tootsie is no doubt a master of the many pit types out behind Snow's. Even several years removed from the initial stardom, she still gets asked every Saturday morning to pose for photos. Always humble, this reluctant star says she is just a "plain old country girl" who has lived her entire life in either Lexington or Giddings, just seventeen miles away, and would just as soon keep a low profile. That's going to be tough if she keeps showing up at 2 a.m. every Saturday to cook some of Texas' best pork, and she has no plans to stop, even at age seventy-seven.

Jose Bengoa, Yolanda Bolivar, and Gabriel Antunez, the BBQ Freaks of San Juan, Puerto Rico developed this easy method for infusing a sweet clove and nutmeg accent into your next back of pork chops. Finished with a tamarind glaze, these chops will likely be unlike any your guests have tried before. You can buy tamarind pulp at health food stores and in Asian, Hispanic, and Indian food stores. We advise throwing in a few extra chops for guests who will want seconds. For a variation, try grilling the brined chops over charcoal or gas, followed by smoking at 250°F for 25 to 30 minutes.