These juicy pork chops with pickled peppers have been a menu staple at Bamonte’s restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, since the 1950s. Both sweet and hot pickled cherry peppers are available at Italian grocery stores and online; if you’re sensitive to spicy foods, use either all sweet peppers or a mix of the two.

This recipe first appeared in our January/February 2013 issue along with Greg Ferro‘s article “Bamonte’s”.

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A saltwater brine prevents fresh herbs from discoloring in this zesty chimichurri, adapted from a recipe in Argentine chef Francis Mallmann’s Seven Fires. The bright condiment pairs beautifully with steak, vegetables, and crunchy bread served straight off the grill.

This recipe first ran alongside a rib eye recipe with Shane Mitchell’s 2013 article, “The Art of the Parilla.”

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Prime rib is a beloved Omaha, Nebraska, steakhouse specialty. This recipe—one of our favorite versions—comes from the now-defunct restaurant Piccolo Pete’s, where the meat was rubbed with Italian spices, slow-cooked, then and blasted with high heat to form a flavorful crust. Use any leftover roast in this prime rib sandwich for a meaty lunch the next day. This recipe first appeared in our August/September 2013 Heartland issue.

Featured in: “Here’s the Beef.”

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The holidays call for big, bold roasts and braises. Whether you opt to stuff a bird, glaze a ham, or wrestle with an unwieldy leg of lamb, there’s no better time to splurge on a memorable main. Here are our favorite celebratory dishes from around the globe—from Georgian roast chicken to no-fuss beef stew to rib-sticking Hungarian goulash.

Leg of Lamb with Herb-Garlic Crust

This festive lamb roast recipe from the late, great food writer Johnny Apple conjures up the era when people knew their butcher by name. Get the recipe >

Kalbi-Jjim (Kimchi- and Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs)

This autumn stew recipe from Gage & Tollner chef Sohui Kim is a nod to classic kalbi-jjim (or galbi jjim) while also applying French technique, which often involves braising meat in wine to introduce depth of flavor. Says Kim, “I’ve come to firmly believe that red wine and soy sauce can and should coexist—just like the unexpected assortment of dishes and people that make their way to the table at Thanksgiving and somehow meld in the warmth of togetherness.” Get the recipe >

Baked Broccoli Polenta with Roasted Mushrooms

Vegetarians know better than anyone that Thanksgiving dinner is all about the accompaniments. This recipe from writer Julia Sherman is the marriage of two brilliantly simple but satisfying side dishes—crispy pan-fried polenta and cheesy roasted broccoli. Gild the lily by topping the dish with savory roasted mushrooms and you’ve got a plant-based main course that even the most hardened carnivores will love. Get the recipe >

Sumac Roast Chicken with Lemon and Garlic

Cookbook author Suzanne Zeidy cooks this juicy chicken—rubbed all over in bracing, floral sumac—in a rotisserie, but a grill or oven yields equally delicious results. Get the recipe >

Roasted Fresh Ham with Orange Glaze

Fresh uncured ham makes a wonderful holiday roast: tender and marbled but not fatty. Oranges, with their clean, citrusy spark, are an excellent foil for the pork’s richness. Get the recipe >

Foda à Moda de Monção (Portuguese Lamb with Bacon and Saffron Rice)

The recipe for this traditional Portuguese dish from the Vinho Verde region comes to us from winemaker Joana Santiago. The meaty dish was originally cooked in a wood-fired oven, then finished and served in a terra cotta “torto” roaster conveniently shaped in such a way that the leg rests directly over the rice. This allows heat to circulate all around it while still letting its flavorful juices drip into the saffron-scented rice below. Consider the old-school terra cotta roaster an optional flourish for this festive roast. Get the recipe >

Pernil Asado con Mojo (Cuban Citrus-Marinated Pork Shoulder)

This pork shoulder recipe is an adaptation of a celebratory Cuban dish made with a whole suckling pig. An overnight marinate in garlicky mojo and a generous fat cap ensures that the slow-roasted meat cooks up tender and juicy every time. Get the recipe >

Bò Kho (Vietnamese-Style Beef Stew with Lemongrass, Ginger, and Garlic)

Our chief content officer, Kate Berry, and her mother, Kim Nguyen, often make this comforting and aromatic stew to celebrate festive occasions. Over the years, Nguyen has adapted the traditional Vietnamese recipe to her own tastes and to the ingredients available to her in Orange County, California. Adaptations aside, the two women, both avid gardeners, never skimp on the classic accompaniments—a bountiful mix of fresh herbs, scallion, and lime. Get the recipe >

Georgian Roast Chicken With Bazhe Sauce

Bazhe is a velvety, coriander-scented walnut sauce that’s a staple of Georgian home cooking. In Georgia you’ll often find it served chilled as a sidekick to cold boiled chicken, but we love it even more alongside a freshly roasted bird. The heat draws out the spices’ bouquet and the walnuts’ fragrant oils. Dribble walnut oil over the sauce for extra decadence. Get the recipe >

Rogan Josh (Kashmiri Chile–Braised Lamb)

Smoky red Kashmiri chile powder and ghee are the foundations of this festive lamb shank recipe from Ahdoos Hotel in Srinagar, Kashmir. Get the recipe >

Fire-Roasted Duck & Pheasant with Red Currant Jelly

Fred Morin and Dave McMillan of Joe Beef in Montreal cook a mix of birds over flames and embers, using hooks and chains to suspend and rotate them (different-size birds will cook at different speeds). “The spin, the way the fat drips down, all combines to make a wonderfully burnished bird,” says McMillan. Ambitious home cooks can hang birds using twine or wire over a backyard fire, or simply roast birds on a rack set in a roasting pan in the (indoor) oven. Get the recipe >

Quail Civet

Dainty game birds cook to fall-off-the-bone perfection with sherry and aromatics in this lighter civet variation. Get the recipe >

Spanish Almond Chicken with Saffron-Wine Sauce

Simmered with garlic and spices, pollo en salsa de almendras is one of Iberia’s great unsung comfort foods. The paprika oil drizzled on top at the very end adds not only gorgeous crimson color but a campfire-y smokiness that knits the flavors together. Get the recipe >

Spice-Rubbed Venison Loin with Red Wine Sauce

Good venison is buttery and beefy, hardly gamey at all. Because the loin is so lean, it is best cooked over a steady push of medium-high heat—not high heat, which creates a bull’s-eye effect. To help the outside caramelize, chef and cookbook author Amy Thielen adds malted milk powder to the spice rub, which also adds a subtle, nutty richness to the final sauce. Get the recipe >

Honey-Glazed Roast Pork with Apples

Normans use apples and cider in many savory preparations—with game, poultry, even fish. In this classic pork dish from Jean-François Guillouet-Huard, of Domaine Michel Huard, it’s important to use a slightly tart variety so the end result isn’t too sweet. Get the recipe >

Piccolo Pete’s Prime Rib

Prime rib is a beloved steakhouse specialty. One of our favorite versions comes from the now-defunct Piccolo Pete’s, a Nebraska restaurant where the meat was rubbed with Italian spices and blasted with high heat to form a flavorful crust. Get the recipe >

Venison Civet

Transport yourself to the Pyrenees by making this rustic Catalan game stew flavored with fruity red wine, chocolate, and fresh herbs. Get the recipe >

Efo Riro (Nigerian-Style Chicken Stew with Greens, Spinach, and Iru)

In the language of the Yoruba people of Western Nigeria, efo riro means “stirred leaf,” referencing the bitter shoko leaf it’s often made with. (But don’t be discouraged if you can’t find it—spinach makes a suitable substitute.) Get the recipe >

Georgian Beef Kharcho

Kharcho is a catch-all term for spicy Georgian beef stew. Some versions are brothy and flecked with rice, while others, like this one served at Salobie Bia in Tbilisi, are ultra-thick and all about the ground walnuts and spices. Get the recipe >

Braised Beef Stew with Garlic Cream

A silky garlic cream adds welcome zing to this dish that hails from Chile. We love spreading leftover sauce on sandwiches and wraps. Get the recipe >

Hungarian Goulash

Hungarian sweet paprika confers a singularly deep, rich color and flavor to this classic beef stew. We love serving it with rye bread, sour cream, and torn dill fronds. Get the recipe >

Juniper Berry-Crusted Rack of Venison with Mostarda

A sweet-and-sour pear-berry mostarda makes a perfect sidekick to this lean yet flavorful roast. Get the recipe >

Spiced Honey-Glazed Spiral Ham

Though spiral-cut ham comes fully cooked, a low, slow roast gets the juices flowing and caramelizes its sticky, spiced glaze. This recipe from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro scented with cinnamon and clove is a holiday family-meal favorite. Get the recipe >

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We get it: Thanksgiving can be stressful. If you’re not used to firing off large-scale roasts on a regular basis, the bird may be a legitimate source of anxiety. Should you use a wet brine or a rub? Leave it whole, spatchcock, or break into pieces? Fry, roast, or smoke? And what about stuffing and basting??

With everything else going on the Thanksgiving table, sometimes it’s best to strip the main event down to basics—after all, you can always mix things up with the side dishes and desserts. We asked Ted Rosen, executive chef at our go-to local butcher shop, Dickson’s Farmstand Meats, to walk us through his easy, low-mess, and totally painless method for how to roast a turkey. Once you cut through all the noise, we find most Thanksgiving revelers simply crave a fantastic, juicy bird with plenty of crispy skin. Rosen’s easy dry-brine technique achieves exactly that.

What you need:

• Whole Turkey
• Dry Brine (DIY or store-bought)
• Wire Rack
• Large, Rimmed Baking Sheet
• Instant-Read Thermometer

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

If you’re planning to whip up a batch of pan gravy to accompany the turkey, do yourself a favor: order some extra bones from your local butcher, and simmer up a batch of homemade turkey stock a day or two ahead of time. Find Rosen’s simple turkey stock recipe here. 

STEP 1: Mix up a batch of dry brine.

“Dry brining,” Rosen explains, “is just a fancy way of seasoning your bird well in advance and letting the salt, sugar, and time (and thyme) work their magic.” It avoids the potentially dangerous mess caused by wet brine, and also helps to dry out the skin. This results in a crispier bird with all the same flavor- and texture-enhancing benefits of a wet brine.

Note: Rosen’s dry brine works well for all poultry, not just turkey. Spatchcocking? Cooking just a leg or a crown? No problem! For a 14- to 16- pound bird, he stirs together a mixture of 1 cup kosher salt, ⅓ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons dried sage, 2 tablespoons dried marjoram, 2 tablespoons dried thyme, 1 tablespoon paprika, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and the finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange (about a teaspoon from each). The brine can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

STEP 2: Source and thaw your turkey. 

Most of the “fresh” turkeys sold in supermarkets were, at one point or another, frozen. So if that’s where you’re buying your bird, you might as well get a frozen one. If, however, you’re buying a fresh, heirloom turkey from your butcher or farmers market, buy it no more than 3 days ahead of when you plan to cook it. 

If starting from frozen, thaw the bird 2–3 days before you begin cooking. If you need to quickly thaw a turkey (or any frozen meat), position it, still in its plastic wrappings, in a large, deep container in the sink under cold, fast-running water. This will keep the exterior cold while rapidly pulling up the internal temperature. When the meat feels soft to the touch all over, remove the turkey from the water, discard the wrappings, and pull out the neck and bag of organ meats. The neck can be added to the bones for making turkey stock; if you like, save the giblets—the gizzard, heart, and liver—for adding to the stuffing, which Rosen prefers to make on the side. Rinse out any remaining ice crystals from the cavity, then pat the bird dry all over with plenty of paper towels.

STEP 3: Dry-brine the bird.

Here’s where the action begins. “Relax,” Rosen encourages, “Cooking a 14 (or 20, or 30) pound bird can be an intimidating endeavor, but you made a plan: You’re sticking to it. You’ve got this.”

Two days prior to cooking the turkey, cover your bird liberally inside and out with the dry brine. You will need to use more than you think—don’t worry: the salt will slowly penetrate the meat, and by the time Thanksgiving rolls around it will not be concentrated at the surface. Place the turkey on a wire rack and set in a large, rimmed baking sheet. (This is important because the turkey will continue to drip a bit as it rests). Refrigerate the turkey, ideally on the bottom shelf, which tends to be the coldest part of the fridge. Do not cover the bird; allowing the skin to dry out will result in lots of crispy skin to go around.

STEP 4: Bring the turkey to room temperature.

Pull the turkey out of the fridge at least an hour and up to two hours before you plan to cook it. Allowing the bird to warm up to room temperature will help it cook more evenly. If you like, you may add a cut-up lemon or orange to the cavity, but do not add any other stuffing, which has a tendency to block airflow and slow down cooking. Doing so can result in food-safety issues due to too much time spent in the “temperature danger zone.”

STEP 5: Roast the turkey.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (or 350 degrees if using convection). Move the bird (on its wire rack) to a fresh, rimmed baking sheet, or just rinse off the one it was on in the fridge. This is important because you won’t want those briney turkey drippings salting up your delicious pan drippings—liquid pan gravy gold! Put the turkey in the preheated oven with its legs facing the back and the breasts facing the door. Cook until the breasts reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. (Multiply the weight of the bird by 12 minutes and start checking the temperature at that point—in other words, three hours for a 15-pound turkey.)  “As tempting as it may be,” Rosen warns, “try to avoid opening the oven door too often. Each time you do so the ambient temperature will drop and the oven will need to work to bring the temperature back up, increasing your total cooking time.” 

STEP 6: Rest the turkey.

Remove the turkey from the oven and set it aside to rest for 1 to 1½ hours. The target food-safe temperature for turkey is 165 degrees Fahrenheit and as the bird sits, the meat will continue cooking and reach this temperature from its own residual heat. “Resting the bird also helps it retain its juices and makes it much easier to carve,” says Rosen. “Be sure to leave the bird uncovered. Many recipes call for tenting in aluminum foil, but this just traps moisture which will lead to soggy skin and an only marginally warmer bird.”

While the bird rests, you can set the table and get started on a batch of pan gravy. (If you’d like to use the pan drippings for this, feel free to carefully move the bird to a second baking sheet or a heatproof platter to rest.)

Final Thoughts

That’s it! That’s the recipe. You may have noticed that Rosen doesn’t bother basting his roast turkey. He finds that doing so adds unwanted moisture to the skin that you’re just trying to dry out and crisp. Instead, use all that extra time you saved to whip up an extra side dish or pie.

How to Carve a Turkey

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A shoulder roast is marinated overnight in a garlicky mojo—an adaptation of a celebratory Cuban recipe for whole suckling pig—from Miami-based food writer Victoria Pesce Elliott.

What You Will Need

• Knife
• Food Processor
• Medium Bowl
• Roasting Pan
• Parchment Paper
• Aluminum Foil
• Cooking Thermometer
• 6-qt Saucepan

The post Pernil Asado con Mojo (Cuban Citrus-Marinated Pork Shoulder) appeared first on Saveur.

Cookbook author Suzanne Zeidy cooks this juicy chicken—rubbed all over in bracing, floral sumac—in a rotisserie, although an oven yields equally delicious results. Allow at least 24 hours for brining the chicken.

Featured in: “Lunch at the Desert’s Edge.”

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The key to jerk chicken that tastes like it does in Jamaica is to use pimento wood on the grill and make sure your meat gets those dark, crusty edges. This recipe, adapted from Jamaican cookbook authors Michelle and Suzanne Rousseau, includes a grill method and a simpler oven method. Since you won’t be getting any smoke indoors, toast the whole spices in a dry, heavy skillet until fragrant before adding them to the marinade to give the finished dish its characteristic depth. Pimento leaves and wood chips can be purchased online at pimentowood.com.

Featured in: “Master Jamaican Jerk with Our Definitive Guide.”

Equipment

For the Grill:

• Pimento Branches
• Pimento Leaves
• Gas or Charcoal Grill

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As versatile as ketchup, this smoky, sweet, and savory condiment known as ajvar was adapted from one served at Tim Wiechmann’s now-defunct Playska, a Balkan-style sandwich shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Featured in: “International Schmear: The Ketchup and Mayo of the Balkans.”

Around the World in 11 Excellent Eggplant Recipes

Our 11 Best Eggplant Recipes

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We love summer squash, but by the middle of the season, it piles up on us. After grilling it one night and stewing it the next, we often run out of ideas. That’s a shame, since the sweet, mild vegetable is delectable on flatbreads and pizzas, in salads and pastas, and roasted with garlic and herbs. 

Summer squashes come in a spectrum of greens and yellows. Unlike hardier winter varieties, they’re distinguished by a thin, edible skin that requires no peeling. These are the zucchini, globe squashes, pattipans, and crooknecks of the Cucurbita world. Harvested young, summer squash can be as small as your thumb; left to their own devices, they can grow to over eight feet. We reach for zucchini measuring five to seven inches—sturdy enough to stew yet soft enough for easy eating.

Any variety of summer squash will work marvelously in the following recipes. Translation? There’s simply no excuse to let that bumper crop of zucchini go to waste.

Farinata with Summer Squash, Goat Cheese, and Preserved Lemon

The oft-unadorned chickpea pancake of Italy and southern France makes a satisfying base for a roasted summer vegetable tart here. Tangy preserved lemon and fresh chèvre are a nod to the dish’s Mediterranean roots. Get the recipe >

Grilled Summer Squash Salad

“If you toss hot vegetables with a cold vinaigrette right after grilling, it will absorb more flavor,” says the New Orleans chef who created this terrific make-ahead dish. The longer the vegetables sit in the marinade, the more flavorful they become. Get the recipe >

Fried Anchovy-Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

Light and airy with a subtle squash flavor, zucchini blossoms are a rare and delicate summer treat. In this appetizer, the flowers are stuffed with anchovies, beer-battered, and fried until crisp. Get the recipe > 

Frida Kahlo’s Zucchini Salad (Ensalada de Calabacín)

Frida Kahlo was known to host festive meals at her Mexico City home that she lovingly called “long tablecloth days.” At one such event, she served this salad of grilled zucchini, avocado, and crumbled añejo cheese. Get the recipe >

Provençal Vegetable Tian

In this classic Provençal dish, rows of sliced zucchini, eggplant, and tomato alternate and melt together to make a mesmerizing fan effect. Get the recipe >

Green Minestrone with Kohlrabi, Olives, and Spinach Pesto

At Berlin’s vegan restaurant Lucky Leek, this green minestrone brims with kohlrabi, fennel, and briny green olives. Freshly made pesto is stirred in just before serving. Get the recipe >

Spaghetti Primavera

The old-school classic never disappoints, especially when it’s enriched with handfuls of Parmigiano-Reggiano and plenty of heavy cream. Get the recipe >

Ratatouille

Sautéing dried herbes de Provence in extra-virgin olive oil brings out their fragrance in this vegetable medley that’s a mainstay of Provençal cuisine. When in season, juicy fresh tomatoes bring ratatouille to the next level. Get the recipe >

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