Onion

Traditional flavors (honey and orange) and contemporary ones (cumin and chilies) come together in the glaze, which also gives the gravy some heat and zip. See how to carve a turkey.

In this Basque-inspired dish, a bell pepper mixture is slow-cooked to produce an unusual — and flavorful — confit.

Yogurt, curry, and cumin flavors combine in this delicious Indian-inspired appetizer. It makes terrific cocktail party fare.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Crispy Pork with Avocado Salsa and Tomato Salsa .

Active time: 50 min Start to finish: 1 hr

Cremini mushrooms or their mature form, portobellos—or both—can be used in this side dish from Cory Schreiber's new cookbook, Wildwood: Cooking from the Source in the Pacific Northwest (Ten Speed Press).

Crepas Rellenas de Hongos con Salsa de Chile Poblano Wild mushrooms stand in for cuitlacoche (corn fungus), which is a delicacy in Mexico.

Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 45 min

Soaking the red onion in cold water mellows its strong flavor.

In this recipe, based on a dish from the Republic of Georgia called tabaka, small chickens are flattened and weighted so they cook evenly and quickly. We call for poussins or Cornish game hens, but the same technique works well with a frying chicken.

Brush thick slices of country bread with olive oil to grill alongside the vegetables. To begin, dice some cucumber into chilled vichyssoise (either from a can or from restaurant takeout); offer watermelon and bakery brownies for dessert.

I like using Israeli couscous for this dish, although pearl barley may be substituted. This couscous is quite starchy and should be rinsed after cooking.

(Chipotle-Marinated Grilled Pork Ribs) The Caribe Indians on the island of Hispaniola taught the Spanish how to use green wood lattices to make barbacoa — or what we now know as barbecue. A staple of the islanders' diet was the wild hog. The locals called the animals boucan, and that French word eventually came to be applied to many of the wild seafaring island men: buccaneers. Barbecue has become one of the world's favorite foods; few culinary subjects stir such rabid debate, from Texas to Memphis to South Carolina and on down to the Caribbean and South America. Barbecue as we have come to love it — using marinades and/or sauces and carefully slow-cooking — was perfected in the Caribbean. But some food scholars theorize that barbecue may have originated by accident in China many centuries ago, when a devastating fire burned down a barn, and the pig farmers, who had previously never cooked meat in a fiery fashion, smelled solace in their loss and as a consequence ate well that night. No less an authority on food than Waverly Root stated that cooking in this fashion was "so natural under primitive circumstances that it would practically invent itself everywhere, especially in societies accustomed to living outdoors most of the time." If you aren't familiar with country ribs, this recipe will introduce you to the cut, also known as split blade chops. You'll love them for all manner of dishes calling for pork ribs, barbecued or otherwise. This is a very easy recipe, though you need to allow the ribs to marinate overnight.

This elegant first course is ideal for entertaining, because everything can be prepared a day ahead (just chop up all the toppings and refrigerate them until ready to use).