Paprika

Many Indian families have their own recipe for this popular dish. While most versions are mild and flavorful, this one pays special attention to the spices, so it won't be too hot for young palettes—and it's a surefire winner with kids. Garam masala and other spices are available by mail order at Kalustyan's.

Charmoula is a North African mixture of herbs, oil, lemon, and cumin.

The flavors of Mexico enliven this very adaptable spice paste, which is excellent on grilled beef and chicken as well as pork. If you want to make the flavor even more complex, substitute crushed chile de árbol, dried pasilla, or New Mexico chiles for the red-pepper flakes.

This simple preparation puts the focus on the fabulous seafood.

Start this early in the day or the night before. Chilling the chicken uncovered for several hours makes the skin crispy when roasted.

Serve this Basque-style dish with rice or bread to soak up all the juices.

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

This recipe brings smoky paprika and a jolt of briny capers to fish and chips.

This sauce adds a nice kick to Shabu-Shabu. Use it as you would wasabi in sushi restaurants.

The Cuban classic gets a delicious boost from the addition of flavorful Spanish smoked paprika. Spanish paprika (Pimentón de la Vera) is everywhere for a good reason: its magically smoky flavor. Look for it at specialty foods stores or order it from latienda.com.

There's depth, subtlety, and just the right amount of heat here. Start preparing this dish one day ahead since the chicken needs to marinate overnight.

Start this recipe one day ahead.

He may be executive chef at London's luxe Conservatory at The Lanesborough, but Paul Gayler knows a thing or two about American cuisine, too. In The Gourmet Burger, he rethinks the barbecue classic using premium and international ingredients. Here, he adds mildly spicy North African flavors.

With two hues of cabbage and two kinds of apples, as well as carrots and yams, this multi-colored slaw will look gorgeous on a picnic or buffet table.

Potatoes in three colors give this salad an all-American look.

I once considered making more authentic smoked ribs for a tailgate party and, in the planning, realized that not only would I need to be at the parking lot hours before everyone else, but my grill was not large enough to smoke enough ribs for everyone in my party. And to try to pass off just "a taste" of barbecued ribs is like trying to arm-tackle Priest Holmes. So it was a choice between shelling out for another grill or devising another method of cooking the ribs. Baking them first in a slow oven produced moist, flavorful meat I then had only to finish on the grill.