Rosemary

Fresh figs and grapes cooked in balsamic vinegar and honey make an addictively sweet and sour sauce for pork chops in this seasonal fall dinner.

Baked Brie and Camembert, rescued from the ordinary, are even better with an herby garlicky mess slathered over them before hitting the oven.

These are earthy, hearty, and an elegant medley of flavors that please not just vegetarians who want something more “meaty” for their meal, but meat-lovers as well.

This versatile marinade works on everything from eggplant to chicken breasts. Vary ingredients with the seasons, changing up the herbs as you see fit. Basil, thyme, oregano, and tarragon will all work perfectly here.

This makes an extra quart of cooked beans. Save (or freeze) for another batch of escarole, or serve them simply warmed in their broth.

One simple master recipe, based on a classic French pain de mie, proves endlessly changeable—feel free to think of the five suggestions that accompany it here as merely a start, and let your imagination take it from there.

A healthy dose of olive oil gives this rosemary-infused bread a rich, moist crumb and pale golden hue; it also helps it keep a little better than other European-style breads. Among other things, this is a wonderful and unconventional loaf for sandwiches.

If you really want to go all out, you can brown the lamb in a wood-burning oven (erm, if you've got one handy) where it could absorb smoky flavors. For the rest of us mere mortals, that step for this recipe can be done in a hot oven.

Remember those pink salt blocks everyone was searing steaks on for a minute? A bit of kosher salt performs a similar function: transmitting heat.

There’s no law that says watermelon salads must incorporate feta. This renegade combination is at once sweet, tart, and savory—the kind of dish that’s as comfortable at the breakfast table as it is at a potluck.

When late-season and bruised tomatoes show up at the market, stock up.

The surface of this hand-cut Italian burger will be seared and crisp, the inside medium-rare.

This elegant little dinner of lamb, miso butter–basted potatoes, and honey-glazed carrots is the perfect size for two.

Use these in salads (croutons in every bite!), sprinkle over pastas, dust atop tender braised meats, or just eat them out of hand (naturally).

Who doesn't love roasted turkey?! Everything about it warms the soul—the smell, the taste, the post-Thanksgiving dinner food coma. This recipe captures all of these associations, save the food coma, into a perfectly delightful sipping broth.

These dangerously addictive little bites fueled countless 1950s and '60s bridge parties from Greenwood Mississippi, to Greenville, South Carolina, before being rescued from recipe-box oblivion by modern Southern cooks like Martha Hall Foose. And thank goodness. Magic happens when a cracker slowly sops up the fat from smoky, crisping bacon; it transforms into something more akin to piecrust. Unadorned, bacon crackers are pure pork perfection. The addition of a tine bundle of rosemary needles makes for a fancified version, while topping the "belt" of bacon with a bit of brown sugar adds a hint of sweet to the smoke.

This super-moist turkey breast is part of our over-the-top Thanksgiving bird; for the rest of the recipes, click here.

I learned the joys of putting potatoes in bread during my time in the Napa Valley, so the flavors here are resonant of that magical place, but don't be afraid to change up the herbs or play with nuts and olives.

Spatchcocking (or splitting and flattening) this Italian-flavored chicken before grilling helps it cook more quickly and evenly.

These potatoes steam away in the coals while you grill the rest of your meal. If you're not eating them right away, keep them in their foil pouches and rewarm them on the grill or in a 350°F oven before serving.

It's funny how family sayings get picked up by friends. When I was around ten and my sister was about five, we were acting up at the dinner table. My daddy had worked a long hard day, and when he couldn't take another minute of our shenanigans, he pushed his chair back, folded his dinner napkin, and left the table. Totally unaffected by his frustration, my innocent little sister immediately piped up: "Can I have Daddy's pork chop?" I've often told friends that funny tale over the years. Now when I serve pork chops and someone wants seconds they'll chime in, "Can I have Daddy's pork chop?"

The Zuni roast chicken depends on three things, beginning with the small size of the bird. Don't substitute a jumbo roaster—it will be too lean and won't tolerate high heat, which is the second requirement of the method. Small chickens, 2-3/4 to 3-1/2 pounds, flourish at high heat, roasting quickly and evenly, and, with lots of skin per ounce of meat, they are virtually designed to stay succulent. Your store may not promote this size for roasting, but let them know you'd like it. I used to ask for a whole fryer, but since many people don't want to cut up their own chickens for frying (or anything else), those smaller birds rarely make it to the display case intact; most are sacrificed to the "parts" market. But it is no secret that a whole fryer makes a great roaster—it's the size of bird favored for popular spit-roasted chickens to-go. It ought to return to retail cases. The third requirement is salting the bird at least 24 hours in advance. This improves flavor, keeps it moist, and makes it tender. We don't bother trussing the chicken—I want as much skin as possible to blister and color. And we don't rub the chicken with extra fat, trusting its own skin to provide enough. But if the chicken is about method, the bread salad is more about recipe. Sort of a scrappy extramural stuffing, it is a warm mix of crispy, tender, and chewy chunks of bread, a little slivered garlic and scallion, a scatter of currants and pine nuts, and a handful of greens, all moistened with vinaigrette and chicken drippings.

Don't forget to set your clocks forward on Sunday—and don't forget to infuse vodka with rosemary now so that you can enjoy this citrusy cocktail then.