Thyme

In Turkey and Egypt during the period of the Ottoman Empire, the women in the harems, the wives and concubines of the Sultans and aristocracy, were the widows and daughters captured at war. The Circassians among them were known for their beauty and their culinary skills. This classic is part of their legacy. The recipe was given by Luli Fevsi and comes from the kitchens of the old Ottoman aristocracy in Egypt. It is a cold dish which may be served as an hors d’oeuvre or as part of a buffet table.

Very unpretentious and delicious. There’s no need to trim the onion roots; the dish looks more rustic with them as is.

One trick that I learned a long time ago about cooking pork is that you have to brine it. The brine for this recipe is a sugar-salt solution mixed with apple juice concentrate (you will need 2 cans of frozen juice) for the brine and spiced apples. With its sweet apple flavor, this is an intense marinade that works miracles on pork chops. Trust me—once you taste a thick pork chop that’s been flavored in a brine, you will never go back. Cozy up to your butcher to get the pork chops cut to your liking. Thin pork chops—no way! Serve this with Corn Pudding (page 236).

Give yourself plenty of time to marinate the chicken; I usually do this the morning I plan to serve it. The smashed broccoli and garlic remind me of the soft, overcooked vegetables of my youth. It’s mushy and satisfying. To me, chicken and broccoli is a classic combination that doesn’t need rice or potatoes to go with—it’s perfect the way it is.

Roast turkey is synonymous with autumn holiday celebrations. Because of the dangers of bacterial contamination, I prefer to bake bread-based turkey stuffing separately and stuff the turkey with garlic and herbs. Recipes for a variety of tasty glazes follow below. Check the guidelines chart for roasting time and temperature depending on the size of the turkey you are cooking. With turkeys up to 14 pounds, you can bake two or three accompaniment dishes—I suggest Creamy Garlic Potatoes (page 144) or Sweet Potatoes or Yams Roasted with Orange (page 145)—on the very bottom rack of the oven.

The Thanksgiving table would not be complete without potatoes to absorb all that delicious gravy. Mashed potatoes are the most common, but sometimes you yearn for something with a bit more texture. That's where the Swiss rösti potato cake is ideal. Although you'll see some recipes for rösti that start with raw potatoes, it's more commonly done with whole cooked boiling potatoes that have been chilled at least eight hours, if not a day ahead. Once they are peeled and coarsely grated, you pack the shreds into a skillet and brown the cake on top of the stove. Instead of going through the angst of attempting to flip the cake over to brown the other side, just turn on the broiler and it browns easily in a fraction of the time.

Even the girl who has it all could use an energy boost. Walnuts' protein will keep her going strong.

Drizzle this fragrant honey over your favorite cheese, or use it as a condiment on prosciutto panini.

People often think of turnip soup as bitter and thin, but this one, made with young delicate turnips, is creamy and sweet. Blanching the turnips first removes any bitterness, and the sharpness of the greens makes a delicious counterpoint to the sweetness of the turnips.

This one is Italy, pure and simple. Which is precisely what Italian cuisine is all about: Get yourself fresh, pure ingredients in season, plus some fine, real condiments and seasonings, and put it all together without a lot of fuss, and ecco! A simply superb meal, as healthy as they come and as good as eating gets. It's also beautiful on the plate. Note that scampi does not, in fact, mean shrimp, as many people think, but rather refers to the popular lemon, garlic, and oil preparation for shrimp in so many red-sauce Italian joints.

Serve this Deep South specialty with Cream Biscuits .

These ethereal, savory puffs are easily frozen and reheated. Serve half the yield from this recipe at the party, and save the rest for another time. Feel free to mix and match any semisoft melting cheese such as Gruyère, cheddar, or Fontina with any hard cheese such as Asiago, Parmesan, or Manchego.

Thanksgiving is hands-down my favorite holiday. Bar Americain is open each year for Thanksgiving, and we typically serve about six hundred people before the day is over. No matter how many wonderful selections we offer on the abbreviated holiday menu, without fail turkey is the biggest seller—partly because people love it and partly, I think, out of a sense of tradition. This is the turkey that I serve at Bar Americain, with only the dressing and sides changing from year to year. This year I am pairing the all-American bird with all-American ingredients: wild mushrooms and Pinot Noir from the Pacific Northwest, figs from California, cranberries from Maine, bacon from Kentucky, and sweet potatoes from Georgia.

Braising the pork belly yields crisp-tender nuggets ready to mingle with caramelized sweet potatoes. "It's a very American profile, sweet potato and pork," says Jared Wentworth, the chef at Chicago's Longman & Eagle, who gave us this recipe.

This herb-scented, brined bird packs more flavor than a basic roast chicken.

Use this zesty spice mix for sprinkling over the shellfish, corn, and potatoes.

These little warm onion tarts are lovely amuse and get any winter meal off to a good start. Vary them with different kinds of onions. Julia Child has commented that cooking would be in a sorry state indeed if it weren't for onions. I agree!

Kale goes by another name, one much more dashing, especially in Italian. Cavolo Nero, black cabbage, may not evoke superhero status, but it's close. Kale does seem invincible and it's known to make the eater more so, too. It's also called dinosaur kale (also called lacinato), maybe because its leaves look like the back of a lizard. Those thin knobby leaves squeak. Do not confuse cavolo, accent on the first syllable, with cavallo, accent on the second, or you'll be ordering black horse, and in certain parts of the world will find it. Hearty and good for the spirit. I like soaked and cooked cannellini better than canned ones.