Beer

A tangy sauce for grilled chicken or spare-ribs. Build up a shiny glaze by brushing the sauce often over the meat, beginning about 15 minutes from the end of cooking time.

After being tenderized by a beer marinade, these chops require only a quick turn on the grill or under the broiler to form the centerpiece of a hearty meal.

This drink is sometimes called Champagne Velvet, and in certain quarters is known as the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Shandygaff, a fine euphoric title.

In addition to the herb mayonnaise and blue cheese coleslaw, sliced tomatoes would be perfect alongside.

Jasper White discovered the flavorful, tender red shrimp of Stonington, Connecticut, while opening Summer Shack, his restaurant at the nearby Mohegan Sun casino. For this recipe, we tried several different kinds of shrimp, and all varieties worked well.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The sweet and spicy sauce is a perfect complement to pork.

Serve with: Buttered noodles and steamed Swiss chard. Dessert: A bakery Linzertorte.

Debra L. Warren of Lake Forest, Illinois, writes: "I have often indulged in Jay Lovell's phenomenal cuisine at his Lovell's of Lake Forest restaurant, and the ribs he prepared for an event I attended were out of this world. Could you possibly persuade the chef to share the recipe?" The espresso powder gives the sauce great depth of flavor.

Giving up fried shrimp is probably easier than giving up, say, chocolate cake, but only because so much fried shrimp is so badly prepared. Here is a terrific version, complete with tartar sauce for dipping.

Here's an easy dish to cook ahead for company. Serve it with buttered noodles or mashed potatoes, then add a vegetable to round out a comforting meal.

The malt flavor of Guinness stout marries well with the sugar and milk in this distinctive ice cream--inspired by a recipe from the files of the American Homebrewers Association--and the faintly bitter aftertaste cuts the sweetness.

Jean Anderson, author of The American Century Cookbook, traces the origin of sloppy joes to the depression-era 1930s, and the popularity of this messy ground-beef sandwich increased markedly in the fifties and sixties. We update it with ground turkey, canned diced chilies and ale.

Serve this dish, from chef Matthew Reichel, with potato pancakes or rice pilaf.

Borracho means drunk, and it refers to the beer in the cooking liquid. If you're cooking beans and pork roast at the same time, you can use the fatty pieces of pork that you remove while carving to add flavor to the beans. Otherwise, use some bacon.

John C. Ryan, Murphysboro, Ill.
"My wife used to make a better chili than I do, which is how this recipe got its name."