Poultry

This is not a traditional chili and has no connection with any Mexican or Texas recipe. It was devised simply as an experiment and turned out to be delicious.

Despite its name, this dish is not rice at all but noodles—and not even rice noodles but shimmering, transparent bean threads with lots of chicken flavor. Got that straight?

You can easily recreate this recipe with a wonderful free-range chicken. As for the candied chestnuts, I recommend using freshly cooked, shelled chestnuts which are still quite sweet!

This was a specialty of Marie's mother, Sylvia. Because the potatoes were always crowded around the edges of the pan and became crusty during baking, everyone in her family fought for those potatoes "by the wall."

Bottled vinaigrette adds a tangy twist to the chicken. This stylish dish goes well with couscous. Molasses cookies and vanilla ice cream sprinkled with chopped crystallized ginger would be a lovely finish.

Chicken stock is one of the great all-purpose kitchen preparations, and you’ll be surprised at how useful it is in chowder making. It is unsurpassed as a vehicle for soups and stews, providing nutrients, a luxuriant texture, and a delicious flavor. I am always amazed at how the flavor of chicken stock melts into other flavors and allows them to come through clearly. That’s why it is staple ingredient in most any culture’s soups. Chicken stock can be used in place of fish stock or clam broth in chowder or seafood recipes. It is a necessity in corn chowder or other farmhouse chowders. It is so useful, in fact, you may want to double the recipe and keep some in the freezer. Chicken stock is made with chicken bones, vegetables, herbs, and spices. Not all markets cut chicken as frequently as they once did, since the large processor companies have taken over the job, so it is a good idea to call your butcher or supermarket to be sure they will save them for you. Typically necks, backs, and wing tips are sold for stock and they work fine, but it helps the stock to have a few carcasses as well. Cut the carcasses into 3 or 4 pieces before using. My wife, Nancy, freezes carcasses from roast chicken dinners. When she gathers enough, she defrosts them and makes a very good stock. You can make stock from raw chicken bones, cooked chicken carcasses, or a combination of both.

A mildly sweet and pungent dish. No soy sauce is used in the sauce, so it is lighter in color than other sweet and pungent dishes.

This dish has an exceptionally delicious sauce and makes fine party fare.

These sweet, tangy wings should appeal to even the pickiest kid. Eight pounds may sound like a lot, but no matter how many of these we made in our test kitchens, they always disappeared quickly. You may not have the oven space to cook the wings and the macaroni simultaneously. We found it best to do the wings first, then keep them warm under foil while baking the macaroni. Finally, because the wings tend to leave a mess to clean up, we like to make them in disposable foil roasting pans.

Bilko's spice mix is a closely guarded secret, but Donna King shared with us its fundamental ingredients as well as the basic technique—a long marination, at least 24 hours. This results in some of the juiciest chicken we've ever eaten. The chicken must also rest five or ten minutes after being dredged in the seasoned flour to, as King told us, "get doughy." The Bon Ton recipe calls for Ac'cent (monosodium glutamate) in both the marinade and the dredging mixture. We tested it with and without, and the chicken mainly tasted saltier with the Ac'cent, which some people preferred.

This may not be as good as a true foie gras, but it's similar enough in flavor for a dish that costs only pennies to make. Not only can the pâté be served on toast — it can also serve as a finish for a classic Beef Wellington or enhance a stuffing or a meat loaf.

This quick dish gets its flavor from fresh tangerine peel as well as the fruit's juice. To make easy work of grating the peel, choose tangerines with firm skin and store them in the refrigerator. Then use a hand grater or a Microplane grater-zester to grate the peel.

Garnish the turkey with bunches of fresh thyme, sage and parsley.

From Ristorante Chianti, Geneva, Illinois.

Introduced to India by Portuguese settlers, this spicy stew can also be made with pork, beef or lamb. Serve over steamed basmati rice.

(Pollo Arrosto All'Arancia, Limone, e Zenzero) Ginger arrived in Italy with Arabic traders or North African Jewish immigrants, so it's likely that this is a Sicilian or Livornese recipe. Most Italians would use ground ginger, but since fresh ginger is so plentiful at our markets, why not use it?