Easy

A hefty dose of cocoa powder makes these old-fashioned drop cookies perfect for fans of dark chocolate. The recipe is so simple, it’s a natural for preparing with children; they especially love forming the dough into balls and rolling them in sanding sugar.

Incorporating less butter and brown sugar into the batter yields cookies that are thicker and fluffier than other chocolate chip cookies, with just as many chips—and just as much appeal.

The virtues of this cookie recipe are many: It relies on just a few basic ingredients, the dough is remarkably easy to prepare, and as the cookies bake, they fill the kitchen with the most magnificent scent.

Made from a batter rich in golden syrup, these cookies rarely contain brandy anymore, although some cooks fill them with freshly whipped cream flavored with a splash of brandy. Lyle’s Golden Syrup, popular in England, is a liquid sweetener made from evaporated cane sugar. Look for it in specialty food shops and large supermarkets.

To ensure uniform cookies, scoop out this batter with a measuring spoon. Leave adequate space between dollops—the cookies will expand considerably while they bake. If desired, embellish the cooled cookies with melted chocolate: Sandwich two cookies with it, dip cookie halves in it, drizzle it over the tops, or spread it on the flat sides of each.

To make these buttery treats, we fashioned 6-inch lengths of dough into twisted rope shapes. You could also form the lengths into pretzel shapes and sprinkle them with coarse sanding sugar before baking.

This variation on the classic chocolate chip cookie will snap and crumble with every bite. Adding more butter and granulated sugar contributes to the crunch.

Fans of fudgy brownies say this is the recipe of their dreams. In fact, it’s one of our all-time reader favorites. The brownies are versatile, too—they’re equally welcome packed into a picnic basket or stacked atop a cake stand and presented at the end of a dinner party.

We use this versatile dressing on more than just salad greens. It makes a good dippin’ sauce for fried or grilled meats and veggies as well as a sauce for Chicken-Fried Chicken sandwiches (page 69) and Fried Green Tomatoes (page 28).

Rubbin’ spices into meat is the essential first step of great barbecue. This is a good starter rub, but feel free to personalize it. Add some of your favorite herbs or pulverized dried smoked chiles. Just make sure you keep the sweet, savory, and spicy flavors in balance.

This is a good old Italian recipe that makes an appearance on our menu every once in a while. It’s brimmin’ with Old World flavors and looks damn good on the plate. It’ll keep your main courses from gettin’ boring.

This recipe from our Rochester restaurant brings together the lively flavors of fresh garlic and ginger. It makes for a refreshin’ salad that goes with all sorts of grilled and roasted meats and poultry.

This is our most popular “vegetable of the day.” It shows up on the menu every Monday. It’s damn simple and packed with flavor. When you can make it with fresh corn in season, it’s even better.

Here’s a classic side dish if there ever was one. There’s a thousand ways to make it, and I think you’ll find ours to be a keeper—Creole mustard, fresh diced tomato, and a touch of green pepper all tossed with freshly cooked pasta shells. We like the way shells hold the dressing better than elbows. It’s still Macaroni Salad to us.

These beans have a deep, broodin’ flavor—sweet and spicy at the same time. We add crumbled hot Italian sausage to make ‘em truly special.

This recipe was inspired by an Italian recipe handed down by my partner Mike’s grandmother. Like all good Italian cooks, she insisted that the raw ingredients in any dish be ripe and flavorful. She never cheaped out and neither do we. When we started the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, it was one of our original sides, and it has stayed on our menu ever since. It’s best made in the morning, or at least several hours before serving.

“How ‘bout a nice sausage sandwich?” From 1983 to 1988 my partner, Mike, and I belted that line out thousands of times at fairs and festivals up and down the East Coast. Those were the days of Dinosaur Concessions, when we made our living slingin’ sausage and charbroilin’ steak for sandwiches. We pretty much retired from the fair business in 1988 when we opened the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. But ten years later we were back at it again. In 1998 we joined forces with Steve Davis from Gianelli Sausage, whose family stand has been a mainstay at the New York State Fair for as long as I can remember. Gianelli (see Resources, page 175) makes a great sausage—lean, yet packed with flavor— just great for our State Fair Sausage & Pepper Sandwich and all our other sausage specialties.

This one-skillet dinner is loaded with flavor and easy to prepare. Serve over some steamin’ Perfect Rice or your favorite macaroni. You can also substitute boneless, skinless chicken thighs for some real concentrated chicken flavor—love that dark meat!

Shellfish lovers drool over the drunken-sweet richness of the sea infusing every inch of this dish. You can use clams, shrimp, and scallops as we do or substitute your own favorites—mussels, oysters, or even some firm-fleshed fish. Just be sure to serve the pan roast with a spoon and plenty of good bread to sop up all the tasty sauce.