Dairy

The thick consistency of Greek yogurt is ideal for this spread. If your grocer doesn’t sell it, use another whole-milk yogurt, and drain it for 30 minutes in a fine sieve set over a bowl. You can make the spread one day ahead and refrigerate it (cover with plastic wrap); wait until just before serving to stir in the parsley and radishes.

You can make the goat cheese filling one day ahead and refrigerate it. These hors d’oeuvres can be assembled several hours before serving. Loosely cover them with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 3 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Make all three flavored balls, or prepare just one or two, adjusting the ingredients accordingly.

The tamales can be made through step 4 up to a month in advance and frozen; steam directly from the freezer (cooking time will be longer—follow recipe directions to check for doneness).

An old-fashioned cast-iron skillet with shallow round indentations is ideal for making uniform corn cakes. Since these pans can be rather hard to find, you can use a regular cast-iron skillet and achieve equally lovely results. Pepper jelly adds a bit of sweetness and subtle heat. Look for it at farmer’s markets and in gourmet shops.

Kofta can be prepared up to 30 minutes before serving; place the patties on a baking sheet, cover with aluminum foil, and keep warm in a 250°F oven.

These quesadillas, filled with mango chutney and cheese, can be assembled ahead of time and wrapped in plastic until ready to grill.

White bread is known under many names, including pullman, milk dough, pain de mie (bread of the crumb), and just plain old white bread. It has many uses, including dinner and knotted rolls, sandwich bread, burger buns, and hot dog buns. This style of dough is often referred to as milk dough because in most versions the hydration is primarily from fresh milk (or powdered milk and water). These white breads fall into the category of enriched breads, as they are made with the most often used natural dough conditioners: fat (butter or oil), sugar, and milk. These cause the crust to caramelize quickly and, when fermented correctly, give the finished bread a light-as-air quality with a very soft texture. The internal temperature need only reach just above 180°F for rolls and 185° to 190°F for loaves. Because of the enrichments, it is best to bake full-sized loaves at 350°F and small rolls at 400°F, but never at 450°F, as you would with lean hearth breads. The three variations that follow give you some flexibility regarding ingredients. You may substitute powdered milk (DMS) for the liquid milk and vice versa, and you may also substitute in equal measure low-fat milk, buttermilk, or skim milk for the whole milk. Making these substitutions will affect the final outcome slightly in both flavor and texture, so try making the breads with the variations and see which version you prefer (I tend to be a buttermilk guy). You can also freely substitute margarine or shortening or even liquid oil for the butter. Again, the type of fat you use will affect flavor and texture, but they all tenderize the bread. Shortening gives the softest texture, butter the best flavor.

These are fun to make, especially with kids. Instead of baking the bread in the oven, the muffins are baked in a skillet or on a griddle. If you want to get the big holes that the professionals get, you will need to work with a soft, but not sticky, dough and bake or grill the muffins at just the right time, catching them on the rise. The dough, a fairly straightforward enriched dough, can also be used to make English muffin loaf bread, a holey white bread that kids—well, not just kids—love.

The single most vivid taste memory I associate with Thanksgiving is the flavor of crisp turkey skin. I almost always get first dibs on the wing tips and sneak into the kitchen to peel off the crispiest pieces of golden, salt-and-peppery cracklin’s before the carvers go to work. The intensity of flavor means it doesn’t take a lot of skins to satisfy my craving, but by the end of the meal, I usually find myself yearning for just one more piece. This corn bread is designed to take the pressure off that yearning, substituting the smoky, salty flavor of crackly bacon for the turkey skin. However, I often make a variation of this, buying a half-pound of chicken or turkey skins from the butcher, laying them out on a sheet pan, seasoning them with salt and pepper, and baking at 350°F until they render their fat and become very crisp and crumbly, just like bacon. The use of sugar, honey, buttermilk, lots of corn kernels, and polenta-grind cornmeal (rather than the usual finely ground cornmeal) gives this bread moisture, texture, and sweet yet tart flavor bursts. The bacon (or cracklings) on the top is the final payoff, complementing any Thanksgiving dinner or re-creating Thanksgiving flavor memories throughout the year. I have an ongoing love affair with good corn bread. By good I mean moist and sweet, with crunch and texture. This recipe is my favorite, and it is the best corn bread I have ever made or eaten. Corn bread falls into the category of quick breads, since it is leavened by baking powder (see information on chemical leavening). Even though this book is not about chemically leavened quick breads, I couldn’t resist adding it to the collection because, frankly, I just don’t think it gets any better than this.

This is a rich, dreamy Italian elaboration of brioche, loaded with flavor bursts in the form of cheese and bits of meat, preferably salami. Since first reading about it in Carol Field’s wonderful The Italian Baker, I’ve also made it with bacon bits, different types of fresh or cured sausage, and even with nonmeat substitutes. The bread is traditionally baked in paper bags or panettone molds, but it can also be baked in loaf pans. Perhaps the best way to think of it is as a savory version of panettone, with cheese and meat replacing the candied fruit and nuts. Serve it warm and the cheese will still be soft; serve it cool and each slice will taste like a sandwich unto itself.

This steak fits right into your schedule—it can marinate for as little as 30 minutes or as long as 8 hours—and it is equally good whether cooked on the stovetop, grilled, or broiled. Rice and Vegetable Pilaf (page 252) goes well with it.

Yogurt in meat loaf? Plain yogurt not only provides potassium but also is a great way to keep meat loaf moist.