Soup/Stew

This is a more refined version of borscht, the Slavic classic. Often, borscht's underlying flavor comes from using ham or a beef broth, but here smoked turkey becomes the secret ingredient, imparting a smoky depth that's not too heavy.

Start with a spread of smoked salmon, bread, crème fraîche, lemon wedges, and capers. Then serve this satisfying yet light soup as the first course.

After the porcini mushrooms add their flavor to the broth, you can use them in an omelet or a sauté.

This elegant soup doesn't look or taste anything like leftovers.

Dallas chef Kent Rathbun created this recipe for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program. It makes an elegant first course for Thanksgiving dinner.

We've added spinach to this classic Italian soup to create a dish that's both filling and delicious.

The secret to this simple recipe is using the best carrots you can find; taste them to make sure they are sweet and full of flavor.

In this version of cassoulet, garlic-crumb topping is served on the side. Rather than acting as a thickener, the crumbs give our brothy version of the dish a crisp layer of texture.

This soup combines two separate recipes attributed to the agriculturalist and linguist Varro. As a remedy it could be drunk to aid the digestion, and it also served as a soup with the chicken included. I choose to leave the meat in, to give some texture to the soup. The dish is quite unusual in not using fish sauce. The sweet/savoury balance is surprisingly good.

A beautiful bright orange, this soup has the sweetness of carrots and the aromatic nuttiness of caraway.

You can serve this soup hot or cold, says Carl Schroeder, chef at Arterra in San Diego. It's loaded with beta-carotene and is wonderfully rich.

Instead of pairing shrimp with sausage, we've taken this spicy gumbo in a more sophisticated direction by adding duck meat.

The addictive topping, a potent mix of pork belly, mushrooms, and Chinese rock sugar, takes some time to cook, but you'll love the result.

Here's a hearty vegetable soup that doesn't take as long to make as the classic but is much better than what you'll find in a can.

Earthy mushrooms are the base for a soup that also benefits from the saltwater essence of plump oysters.