Make Ahead

Once cooked, slick fried chicken with a potent spiced-chile oil, for an extra punch of heat and flavor.

Upgrade your campfire treats with soft honey-cinnamon cookies slicked with melted chocolate and two toasted, charred marshmallows.

You wouldn't blanch tender herbs such as basil, but doing so here softens the collards and kale.

When you think about it, "Pan Bagnat" is just a fancy way of saying "the best of all possible summer sandwiches." Unlike the typical tuna on wheat, this Provençal classic only gets better as sits, making it just the thing for picnics, backyard suppers, and last-minute road trips. And its briny, garlicky flavors beat plain old mayo any day.

If you don't enjoy very rare meat, keep these steaks on the grill until they reach 120°; they'll still be rare, but less aggressively so.

To avoid tearing the skin on the breast or thighs, turn the chickens over by picking them up from the ends of the drumsticks.

These meaty ribs are purposely precooked until very tender but not yet falling off the bone so they don't shred when it's time to grill them.

These deep, dark brownies, a Lauren family favorite, are from Ricky Lauren's The Hamptons: Food, Family, and History.

What you really want to do with this granola is make the be-all, end-all of yogurt parfaits.

These tomatoes are doused in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire, and garlic before going into the oven. The results are melt-in-your-mouth tomatoes with flavors reminiscent of homemade ketchup. Use it in Charred Romaine Greek Salad With Quinoa-Crusted Feta .

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.

You could bake this hunk of meat in an oven, but you'd be missing out on all that smoky flavor you'd be getting from the grill.

Kids and grown-ups alike will love this upgrade on classic fish sticks. And with a cornmeal coating, they're naturally gluten-free. The creamy dipping sauce doubles as a dressing for the salad, so you don't have to mix up two different sauces to get dinner on the table.

Equal parts fruit crumble and coffee cake, this not-too-sweet dessert starts out bright pink but bakes to a toasty golden brown.

"Compound butters are a terrific blank canvas," O'Connell says. "You can mix in all sorts of flavors—anchovies, capers, any herb or spice."