Sausage

Shari Ledwidge of Greenehaven, Arizona, writes: "My husband and I spend several weeks each year traveling around the United States. Our journeys always take us to wonderful food stands and farmers' markets, which have inspired some of my favorite recipes."

Bayerischer Würsteltopf Germans like to layer meats and vegetables in a pot and leave them to cook. Not all their hot pots are all-day affairs, however. This one, a hearty main dish, is ready to serve in half an hour. Most of its liquid cooks away, so this is actually a mélange of broth-poached vegetables and sausage.

The combination of sweet and savory from pears and sausage is just what you want to take the chill off an autumn evening.

There's no tomato or mozzarella on this flatbread. Instead, we have sausage, sweet bell peppers, and Asiago cheese, just one example of how you can devise a simple but original pizza by drawing on just a handful of ingredients.

**Editor's note:**This recipe is reprinted from Rose Hammick's and Charlotte Packer's book Great Parties for Kids. For Hammick's and Packer's tips on throwing a kids' summer party, click here. Children love hot dogs. The sauce freezes well and can be made in advance.

The combination of seafood, sausage, and grits creates a hearty and homey dish that brings the smells and tastes of the Lowcountry into your kitchen, no matter where you live.

More like risotto than pilaf, this dish is about relaxing with friends and sharing a six-pack. If you put in too much liquid, accept the inevitable and call it duck bog.

Frances Foley—mother of Gourmet's freelance photography assistant, Stephanie Foley—found that when she grilled an entire coil of Italian sausage, everyone clamored for the well-browned outer ring. Rather than draw straws, Mrs. Foley now grills individual small coils so each person gets their own crispy edge to savor. We've used her method as the basis for these meaty sandwiches, and piled on some of our own quick-cooking toppings.

For a vegetarian version, substitute Soyrizo for the chorizo. Follow the same cooking directions, but do not drain.

Prolific cookbook author James McNair has been chief judge of Sutter Home Winery's burger cook-off since it began in Napa in 1990. One of his books, Build a Better Burger, includes every winning recipe. Some past winners — and McNair's Louisiana roots — inspired the burger here.

The classic combination of sausage and greens takes on a pasta companion in this warming dish that peaks with red-pepper flakes and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase and are part of our story on Mardi Gras.

Gael Greene shared these recipes with Epicurious from her new book, Insatiable. To learn more about Greene, read our Q&A. This meat loaf started life as a meatball recipe in the Times.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase and are part of our story on Mardi Gras. Chase also shared some helpful tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. In Madisonville, where I grew up, we would use smoked ham to add flavor to our red beans. In New Orleans, they would use pickled meat. Pickling of pork was done in the Creole community. Pickled ribs with potato salad were popular. The meat was pickled in a brine, more or less, along with seasonings. There is a market in New Orleans that still makes pickled meat, in just this way. They might also use some kind of vinegar. In this red beans recipe, I stick with the smoked meats, just like in the country.

(Amêijoas na Cataplana Casa Velha) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Jean Anderson's book The Food of Portugal. Anderson also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Anderson and Portuguese cuisine, click here. The Portuguese ingenuity for combining pork and shellfish in a single dish dates back, it's been said, to one of the darker chapters of Iberian history — the Inquisition. Amêijoas na Cataplana, together with a number of other pork-shellfish combinations, were invented as a sort of culinary double-whammy to test one's Christian zeal (pork and shellfish being proscribed to both Jew and Moslems). On a recent swing through the Algarve Province, where this popular cataplana recipe originated, I tried to verify the theory, without success. Manuel Paulino Revéz and Esteban Medel do Carmo, assistant directors at Faro's Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo do Algarve (Algarve Hotel and Tourism School), both doubt that there's any connection between the Inquisition and the creation of Portugal's many pork and shellfish combinations. They do admit, however, that Amêijoas na Cataplana is a recipe so old that its genesis is clouded by the dust of ages. Whatever its origin, the gloriously soupy mélange of unshucked baby clams, ham, and sausages in garlicky tomato sauce is supremely successful. This particular version comes from Casa Velha, once one of the Algarve's top restaurants. Now closed, alas, it was located in a historic, heavily beamed farmhouse amid the umbrella pines and luxury estates of Quinta do Lago near Faro. Note: Portuguese clams are tiny, thin-shelled, and uncommonly sweet. The best substitutes are West Coast butter clams or, failing them, the smallest littlenecks you can find. This dish need not be prepared in a cataplana, a hinged metal container shaped like a giant clam shell that can be clamped shut; any kettle with a tight-fitting lid works well. Finally, this is a naturally salty dish, so add no extra salt before tasting.

The way most people make Italian sausage and peppers is to smother the sausage in lots of sautéed peppers. It's good, but I expand on the theme with plump, juicy tomatoes and a big handful of basil. And turkey sausage adds a healthy twist to this traditional dish. Try it spooned over pasta for a truly Italian experience.

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.

A slightly firm, mellow triple-crème, Mt. Tam cheese softens into this stew but doesn't melt. We like to add a little extra Sherry just before serving.

Some say it isn't soul food unless it's mashed, creamed, candied, or deep-fried. But Southern cuisine needn't swim in saturated fat: Witness the recipes in Dr. Ro's Ten Secrets to Livin' Healthy (Bantam Dell Books) by nutritionist Rovenia Brock, Ph.D. With this delicious down-on-the-Delta dish, Brock slashes the fat while upping the nutritional ante with picks high in vitamin A, beta-carotene, and lycopene. You get a meal that's good for your heart and soul.