Gourmet

Trimming all corners and ragged edges from the carrots and potatoes is very Japanese; rounded edges also ensure even cooking. In Japan we used metal molds to cut our carrots into plum blossoms for a seasonal motif. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 20 min

This dessert is simple and delicious, especially when made with very ripe strawberries and thick Devonshire cream. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 3 hr

Keep an eye on the caramel as it nears the end of cooking—it can go from deep amber to just plain burned very quickly.

This recipe, adapted from The Viennese Pastry Cookbook: From Vienna with Love, by Lilly Joss Reich, requires a Rehrucken mold—a loaf pan with a rounded, ridged bottom.

This dough can also be formed into crescent shapes and coated with confectioners' sugar while still warm, as is done in many eastern European countries.

Buy cooked fresh lobster meat and you can whip this salad together in about 30 minutes. Cooking your own lobster, however, not only ensures the freshest flavor and the tenderest meat, but you get more bang for the buck—you can use the lobster shells to make stock and lobster oil.

The cool sweetness of this soup is a particularly good match for the tangy grilled chicken with mustard-dill sauce. Serve it with extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling.

Louis Osteen makes his mayonnaise fresh, but we've substituted bottled mayonnaise to avoid raw egg yolks.

Here, you get an entire meal with a single, 45-minute recipe. Udon, Japanese wheat noodles with a chewy, stretchy texture, are available dried in the Asian food section of most supermarkets (along with mirin and chile paste with garlic) or fresh in the produce section. Sliced pineapple or mango sorbet would be an ideal dessert.

The roasted acorn squash tastes fabulous when scooped up with spoonfuls of the beet soup. But if oven space is limited, simply serve the soup in bowls.

This dish is similar to classic Peking duck in the way that it is eaten: Slices of breast meat, crisp skin, scallion, and hoisin sauce are rolled inside pancakes. In a traditional rendition the meat from the duck legs would be stir-fried with vegetables, but here the duck legs are served whole. Be sure to allow three days for this duck to dry in the refrigerator.