Herbs & Spices

The pork is prepared for roasting like a prime rib of beef; you can follow the method here or have your butcher do it for you. For best results, start brining the pork five days before you plan to roast it.

Hearty ingredients make this a perfect dish for a cold night.

Goes great with: Stir-fried snow peas, green beans, sliced zucchini, and fresh basil. What to drink: New Zealand or Oregon Pinot Noir.

The buttery sauce that coats the crabmeat and the shells is part of the pleasure of this dish; to really enjoy it, dispense with the utensils and just eat the crab with your hands. Serve with a green salad dressed with tarragon vinaigrette and plenty of crusty sourdough bread.

Anitra Earle of Yonkers, New York, writes: "I'm a perfume detective who hunts down hard-to-find and discontinued scents. One of the benefits of running my business from home is that I get to cook every day. I usually make dishes that I've relied on for years, like this linguine recipe. It takes just minutes to prepare, and as recipes go, it's practically foolproof."

A far is a custardy pudding cake, similar to a clafouti but with a dense, smooth, flan-like texture. This one, studded with brandy-soaked prunes and raisins, is the signature pastry of Brittany, served for breakfast as well as dessert.

Harold J. Bigley of New York, New York, writes: "A few months ago I went to a party in The Hamptons catered by Loaves & Fishes in Sagaponack. The veal chops with polenta were outstanding. Could you get the recipe?" Ask your butcher to french (trim the fat from) the bone end of the veal rib chops.

Editor's note: This recipe is excerpted from Eric Ripert and Michael Ruhlman's book the A Return To Cooking. To read more about Ripert, click here. This is the cook at work, switching a few ingredients from the pastry chef's mise to his own. Except for the sugar, chocolate, and pastry cream, this is just like cooking dinner. The sauce is simply an all-purpose ganache that can be used for all manner of desserts.

This is a basic court-bouillon that can be used to poach any kind of shellfish and most firm meaty fish.

Editor's note: This recipe is excerpted from Maguy Le Coze and Eric Ripert's book the Le Bernardin Cookbook. To read more about Ripert, click here. Eric: This was one of Gilbert's specialties and was always one of the most popular items on the menu. I think it closed more than one deal, and definitely led to some second dates. If you want, you can make it with langoustine or spiny lobster.

This "salsa" is actually a sort of fruit salad, but it does contain the quintessential salsa ingredients, lime juice and jalapeño peppers. The jalapeños are certainly unexpected, but they have an interesting way of intensifying the sweetness of the pineapple.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again—the grill was the original toaster. And there's nothing like a quick sizzle on the grill to transform ordinary pound cake into a singular, even extraordinary dessert. Especially when paired with a pineapple "salsa" and tequila-scented whipped cream.

Tomatoes are great for grilling. The searing heat caramelizes the tomato's natural sugars. Tomatoes readily absorb the flavors of herbs and other seasonings, and their shocking red color looks terrific on a plate along with grilled poultry, seafood, or beef. The tomatoes can be grilled on any sort of indoor grill—for that matter, you could also smoke them in a stove-top smoker.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I didn't much care for fish when I was growing up, but I loved nuts. My mother knew both were essential for good nutrition, so she invented this way of slipping in the fish.

You can make this stock with a variety of fish carcasses (from nonoily fish) or with just one type — whatever your seafood market can give you. This recipe makes more stock than you'll need for the fideos with mussels , but leftovers can be frozen and used for soups, stews, and sauces.

A corkscrew shape gives these light cookies a new look.