Brandy

Be sure to rub the turkey with the spice mixture the day before roasting.

The giblets can be prepared early in the morning, and the gravy finished up with the pan juices just after the turkey comes out of the oven.

This stuffing pairs perfectly with roast turkey.

A creamy frozen eggnog mousse layered with paper-thin sheets of crisp chocolate. Be sure to make the chocolate disks and lace before making the mousse filling.

Coarsely ground black pepper lends a spicy note to this dense, moist brownie cake studded with dried cherries and chocolate chips. Cherry Preserves are thicker than cherry jam and give the Black Forest Torte more body. Look for cherry preserves in supermarkets.

The base for the sauce can be prepared two days ahead; the pan juices from the Roasted Double Rack of Pork are added to it before serving.

A sumptuous chocolate-caramel ganache alternates with layers of cake sweetened with chestnut cream.

This recipe for turkey gravy is part of the Thanksgiving menu Chef Kent Rathbun created for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program. He serves it with Rosemary-Roasted Turkey .

You'll feel positively Continental after your first taste of these tartlets, made with the thoroughly French combination of prunes and Armagnac. The creamy Italian mascarpone filling is just the thing to mellow out the sophisticated flavors.

These dainty tea cakes took many of us back to our childhood. A few drops of kirsch gives them a faintly eastern European air.

Don't be nervous about making meatless mincemeat if you've never tried it before—it's a knockout combination of dried fruits and spices that adds wonderfully deep flavor to baked goods. Here, chunks of sweet pear and a handful of tart fruit create a pie that's fantastic with vanilla ice cream.

Adding the cranberries in three stages, along with crumbled nuts, results in a wonderful conserve with layers of texture and flavor. The turbinado sugar imparts subtle caramel undertones.

We couldn't improve much on traditional beef Stroganov, but we did decide to trade up: The usual small tenderloin pieces are replaced by whole steaks, which make for a more striking presentation on the plate.

This recipe is adapted from Ryan Magarian, the Seattle-based cocktail consultant behind Liquid Kitchen (www.kathycasey.com/liquid_kitchen). This autumn cocktail, with its palate-enlivening bubbles, is light enough not to overwhelm the delicate meat in Roast Turkey with Bacon and Applejack Gravy . The subtly sweet pear flavor echoes the presence of fall fruit in the gravy. For expert advice on pairing cocktails with food, click here.

White bread is perfect for bread pudding—as long as it's hand-formed and (preferably) unsliced, like the old-fashioned white here.

Happy birthday to us—and what better way to celebrate than with our very own cocktail?

Though these tarts look and taste as if a French grandmother had slaved over them, the abbreviated cooking time is more suited to an American's pace. The apples, cooked first in syrup, are juicy and intense.