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The taste of homemade smoked trout is incomparable, making this recipe well worth the effort. Trout, like all fish, must be brined before smoking, so plan on several hours’ worth of brining time before you actually do the smoking. Unlike salmon, trout is hot smoked. Obviously, you’ll need a smoker for this recipe. The choice of wood is up to you: At Bubby’s, we strictly use apple wood. Once you’ve got smoked trout on hand, you may serve it as is or make it into some delicious Smoked Trout Cakes (page 195), a Smoked Trout Scramble (page 101), or Smoked Trout and Scallion Mousse (page 196). Figure that you need to start this recipe about five hours in advance. The salmon is best when smoked the day before you plan to serve it, so that the flavors can blend. To serve, cut the smoked trout into fairly large 2-inch chunks and arrange them as part of a smoked fish platter, along with Smoked Salmon (page 191) and herring (page 196).

A smoky and appealing cousin of the crab cake, these are excellent served on their own, perhaps as part of a salad, or alongside one of Bubby’s egg dishes.

A thick steak is essential in order to get nice rare slices for your buffet brunch. Be sure to let the steak rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing. This allows the juices to disburse throughout the meat and not go running all over the cutting board.

Smoking a whole side of salmon may seem like a lot of effort, but it is worth it, especially if you are having more than eight people for brunch. Not only is the salmon better tasting than many commercial products available, it is also about 80 percent less expensive. Smoked salmon is cold smoked. In other words, it is not smoked in a hot smoker; the smoke does not cook the fish. The fish is cooked through the brining process. Cold smoke imparts a subtle smoky flavor. With practice, you can develop your own levels of curing and smoke. This is an ancient way of preserving food, and there are myriad subtleties to achieve. Smoked salmon keeps in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. The process of curing and smoking salmon takes a couple of days. You need a refrigerator with enough room to let the salmon sit inside, unobstructed. The process involves curing, rinsing, crusting, smoking, and saturating in oil. Bubby’s uses a combination of maple syrup, sugar, and kosher salt to cure salmon. Besides these ingredients, you’ll also need a vented tin can, a piece of charcoal, apple wood chips, a barbecue grill large enough to hold a whole salmon fillet, and 4 quarts of canola oil.

Béchamel, a basic French white sauce made with butter and cream or milk, is combined with a generous amount of homemade sausage, then poured over warm, flaky biscuits. It’s as addictive as it is undeniably rich. For extra decadence, put poached eggs (see page 75) on top of the biscuits. Make the biscuits ahead of time and freeze them for up to two months. Rewarm in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

This hard-to-resist ham makes a great centerpiece at a brunch. Moist and succulent within, it has a delicious crusted exterior that is both sweet and spicy. Leftovers are delicious in sandwiches as well as in many egg dishes.

Smithfield ham is the American answer to prosciutto. To be called a Smithfield ham, the ham must be cured and processed in Smithfield, Virginia. It is aged for twenty-four months and offers a unique taste. (You can buy Smithfield ham online at www.smithfieldhams.com. Order the uncooked bone-in version.) It requires some serious effort to prepare a proper Smithfield ham, but it is very worth it. The instructions are odd, even counterintuitive, but this is the way it is done! Smithfield ham is easiest to prepare when it’s cold enough to leave the ham outside. That means it has to be below 40°F all day and night. Otherwise, you have to refrigerate the ham while soaking it, and unless you have a walk-in refrigerator, it is nearly impossible. When you are ready to prepare the ham, remove it from the bag. Place it in a sink or a very large pot of water and scrub it with steel wool to remove the outside mold and grime. Don’t let the mold (a result of aging) worry you. Once it is scrubbed, place the ham in a pot large enough that it can be covered with plenty of water. The ham needs to soak for three days and the water changed every twelve hours, at least. Now you’re ready to cook the ham. The best way to serve Smithfield ham is with eggs and fresh biscuits.

The rib-sticking, classic hash recipe, updated with fresh parsley and chopped red bell pepper, doesn’t need much more than a couple of eggs (your choice of style) on top to round out a brunch. It’s an ideal way to use up leftover mashed potatoes, but if you don’t have any on hand, you can simply dice, boil, and mash an extra potato or two. The recipe calls for both cooked diced potatoes and mashed potatoes.

You’ll need a slow-cooking barbecue smoker to make this pastrami. Use apple wood, cherry wood, or another subtle wood to bring out the flavor in the meat. Homemade pastrami keeps for five to six days as opposed to commercial pastrami, which uses preservatives to extend its shelf life. Extra rub will keep for four to five days in the refrigerator. Besides pastrami sandwiches, you can make pastrami and eggs, or pastrami hash, in which case you just substitute pastrami for the corned beef (see page 183). Be sure to start this well in advance since the meat must marinate overnight.

Pork belly is not bacon because it is not cured. Pork belly is what bacon is made from. It is a delicious breakfast meat all by itself, especially when allowed to sit overnight with a little salt, pepper, and maple syrup before slowly cooking in a low oven. Most of the pork bellies in America are cured and smoked for bacon. However, raw bellies are rich, succulent, and very versatile. It may be difficult to find fresh pork belly at the supermarket, but the meat manager can probably special-order it. Otherwise, visit a reputable butcher and look for the leanest pork belly that you can find. (Even lean ones have generous amounts of fat.) It’s most convenient to cook pork belly when it is trimmed into pieces smaller than a whole belly. A three-pound piece is manageable at home. Start this project a day ahead of when you want to serve the meat, since the pork belly needs to marinate overnight, and then cook for about three hours.

Corning beef is a lengthy process, but it is very rewarding. It requires brining a brisket for a week and then, for corned beef, boiling the brined brisket for a couple hours. For brining, always use a nonreactive (ceramic, enamel, stainless steel, or glass) airtight container. It needs to be large enough to hold a brisket submerged in liquid brine. You will also need two ovenproof “turkey bags” or oven bags. Most supermarkets or box-type stores such as Walmart and Costco carry these. The bags will keep the fridge smells out of your beef as it cures/brines. Always note the date when you start to brine the meat so you’ll know when it’s ready. Keep in mind that this is a big piece of meat. Corned beef is meant to be used for leftovers. If you are going to corn a brisket, serve it for dinner and make hash with the leftovers. You could also make a corned beef and cabbage dinner. If you make Homemade Pastrami (page 182), make sandwiches with the fresh stuff, and serve pastrami and eggs with the leftovers. These meats will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.

With its golden crust and slightly sweet, subtly spiced flavor, this dish is especially good with eggs. Though much of the fat in pork belly is rendered during cooking, you’ll still have enough to achieve a nice caramelized color in this flavorful hash. Make this a day ahead of time if you like—it’s wonderful the second day. Serve pork belly hash with over easy, scrambled, or poached eggs (see pages 74 to 75).

This salad is easy to put together and makes a nice presentation when mounded on a platter. If you can find smoked chicken, by all means use it, but otherwise, a good roast chicken will suffice. The contrasting colors and flavors of the fruits and nuts, with a slightly sweet dressing, make this especially pleasing as a brunch entrée. If you would like to make sandwiches, toasted sevengrain bread is a good choice. If you’d like to get a head start on the salad, the whole thing can be made a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to serve.

Cobb Salad was born in the 1920s at Hollywood’s Brown Derby restaurant, where a restaurant manager by the name of Bob Cobb created it as a way to recycle leftovers. The classic vinaigrette dressing really makes this salad, which traditionally contains finely chopped chicken, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and lettuce. All the ingredients are chopped and arranged to give a colorful presentation. I like the chicken when it’s grilled because it adds a smoky flavor and a pleasing crunchiness. If you prefer, you can also sear the chicken over high heat. Store Cobb dressing in the refrigerator and use leftovers within several days.

When a dish is called Niçoise (French for “as prepared in Nice”), it’s a safe bet that it contains tomatoes, tuna, green beans, and black olives. Though you could use jarred roasted peppers, the salad is best if you roast your own. And use the best-quality canned tuna that you can get—it makes a huge difference. Start this signature salad at least one hour in advance, so you can have eleven-minute boiled eggs ready and chilled. Ditto with the beans—they should be chilled after blanching. You may use either fresh green beans or the skinny French haricots verts in this recipe. All told, this is a beautiful salad, especially when the ingredients are cut carefully and arranged in groups. This dressing, good on greens of all kinds, will keep well, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Two keys to a great roast beef sandwich are rare roast beef and good, crunchy, warm sourdough bread. We added some spicy horseradish cream to give it a kick.

This dish can be served as a sandwich filling or as a stand-alone salad accompanied by favorite lettuces and veggies. We use canned tuna packed in spring water because it’s lighter than tuna packed in oil, and we make sure the apple is tart and crisp. Granny Smith apples are fine, but also Mutsu, Honeycrisp, or any good local crispy, tart apple will do. Add half the dressing at first and see if you need more—it’s up to you how well coated you want the tuna and apples to be.

This is a real deli-lovers sandwich, topped with Emmenthaler, which is a good sharp Swiss cheese. You’ll have enough Russian dressing for six sandwiches; you can keep the extra for a week in the refrigerator.

Tart apple, smoky bacon, and rich Cheddar cheese all come together for a flavorful autumnal treat with this unique sandwich. Certain elements of this sandwich should be thick—the bacon and the bread—and others should be thin—the apple and the Cheddar. Use a crisp, tart apple such as Granny Smith, Mutsu, or Honeycrisp. Use the best bacon you can find as well. I like to make this sandwich in a cast-iron skillet because it makes for a uniformly deep golden crust, which I cherish above all else in a grilled sandwich.

This classic sandwich relies on good ripe tomatoes, thickly sliced bacon, and top-quality crusty bread. Although you might normally shun iceberg lettuce, this is one instance where its crunchiness is welcome. Feel free, of course, to substitute another lettuce such as romaine.