Citrus

Most butchers will remove the backbone for you; see left to learn how. Lots of guests? Roast two 12–14-pounders; spatchcocking anything larger will be harder and takes longer.

Flip the script on a winter vegetable that's usually stewed: Collards are great when briefly sautéed.

This dark-red mixture will bubble and spit like a vat of lava as it cooks. Okay, slight exaggeration, but really: Cook this in a deep pot, and use a long whisk.

Traditionally, punch is made with some kind of spice element. We satisfied that requirement with this tea-infused vermouth, which was a real game changer for us.

This recipe—a rhapsody for sweet, bitter, and salty—is based on one from Ruth Reichl, published in Gourmet Today.

One of my favorite post-shift hangouts was Painkiller NYC, where my buddy Richie Boccato made a mean Dark and Stormy at his tiki cocktail haven. Sadly, the bar is long gone; I raise my glass to Richie and the best Dark and Stormy anywhere. It is a favorite cocktail of mine, so I thought the combination of rum, lime, and lots of ginger would be really refreshing in a frozen dessert. This is a great summertime treat-light and airy but with a nice boozy kick. What really makes this is the fresh ginger juice. Grate peeled fresh ginger into a small fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl. Once you have a fair amount of pulp, squeeze the juice out of it. You'll need a fairly large piece of fresh ginger, about 12 ounces (335 grams) to get enough juice.

One day when I was working at River Café in Brooklyn, I smelled an unfamiliar odor coming from the pastry kitchen. I opened the oven and saw charred pieces of orange wedges. Thinking something was wrong, I took them out of the oven and chucked them into the garbage. I recut fresh oranges and put them in the oven, saving the day. I was wrong—I got yelled at for the one-hour setback to the pastry chef's special that night. By roasting oranges and their peel at intense heat, you toast the essential oils, changing their flavor. It brings out the appealing natural bitter elements in an otherwise sweet fruit. This ice cream is amazing with almond, chocolate, vanilla, and other neutral-flavored desserts that could use something to jazz them up.

The following is a slightly-NSFW recipe from the brilliant minds behind the popular cooking blog Thug Kitchen. To learn more about them, read our profile.—Epicurious Editors Grab beer and get to work. Just don't get sloppy 'til you're done cooking.

My criteria when it comes to recipes are these: Is it tasty enough that I will crave it over and over? Is it easy? And does it look pretty? This recipe hits those marks. It is moistest, richest, most flavorful pound cake I have ever made.

Slow-roasting halibut and leeks in olive oil is one of the easiest, most elegant ways to serve fish at a dinner party.

Relax into Friday night with a honey-sweetened gin, Aperol, and Champagne cocktail.

If you can't find both red and yellow beets, just use all of one or the other, and pickle everything in one bowl. The pickles keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 2 weeks, making them perfect for snacking with holiday leftovers.

Although this sweet-tart cheesecake is great with a homemade graham cracker crust, which you can whip up pretty quickly, to make this easy cheesecake even easier, use a 9-inch ready-to-use all-natural graham cracker piecrust. If you like a limier flavor, add a teaspoon of lime zest to the batter (which you can sample before cooking because, thanks to chia, there are no raw eggs to worry about).

Since these pancakes already have a fair amount of melted butter in the batter, there's usually no need to cook them in additional butter if you're using a nonstick pan. If you're not, feel free to brush the pan with melted butter before you cook each pancake.

We make the shells for these tarts with packaged graham cracker crumbs to save time. If your brown sugar contains hard lumps, force it through a sieve before using. Otherwise, it won't dissolve in the filling.

Loaded with fresh herbs and sturdy kale and then set off by a bright and spicy dressing, this is an ideal counterpoint to the more decadent dishes on the table.