Make Ahead

I first learned about baeckoffe—“baker’s oven”—from the great chef (also my friend and sometime coauthor) Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who is from Alsace. It’s one of those ancient unattended dishes given, in a pot, to the communal oven and picked up several hours later. Jean-Georges (like his mother) made it with pork, but when I was in Alsace I had it prepared with pork and lamb, which I liked a bit more. “My” version is below. Baeckoffe is great made in advance; that, combined with its flexible cooking time, makes it a very easy dish to prepare. With a salad and some bread, it makes a pretty relaxed meal for a small crowd. Other cuts of meat you can use here: traditionally, baeckoffe is a combination of slow-cooked meats, so with—or instead of—these two, you can use boneless beef (chuck or brisket is best) or veal.

If you like franks and beans, this is for you. There are, of course, more complicated versions, ending with cassoulet, but this is the starting point. Other cuts of meat you can use here: longer, because they need some simmering time, but very good, are browned chunks of pork or lamb shoulder (or both), cooked in the beans in place of (or in addition to) the sausage.

Some Spaniards, like my friend Jose Andres, a chef based in Washington, D.C., who taught me this recipe, can talk until they’re blue in the face about fabada, the famous pork and bean stew they say is “the grandfather of the French cassoulet.” They will remind you to use only real fabes (dried beans you can find only at gourmet stores or specialty Web sites and that cost up to $20 a pound), tell you that you must have fresh morcilla (blood sausage), and on and on until you’re convinced that there’s no way you could ever make fabada at home. But dedication to the dish’s origins, along with a couple of simple substitutions, allows you to retain its spirit without going nuts.

This is the cassouletlike dish of the mountains between Spain and France, claimed by several cultures. When I was there, I was told that each of twenty different versions was the “only” authentic one; in this way, too, it’s like cassoulet. What they all had in common were the large white beans called Tarbais (after Tarbes, one of the larger towns of the region)—which you probably will not be able to find—and a stultifying heartiness. Great stuff: you must serve it with crusty country bread and a good red wine.

“Hunter’s stew” is probably one of the oldest and most popular dishes in Eastern Europe. Like cassoulet and bouillabaisse, it is one of those preparations that can be made with whatever is on hand—you most often see it with venison—and may be a casual dish that can be stored and reheated many times (and can accommodate leftovers) or something served to beloved guests on holy days. Traditionally, bigos took three days to make, but there’s no need to stick to that tradition; it’s just as good when made all at once. Inexpensive dried black or shiitake mushrooms (sold at most Asian markets) are good here; pricier porcini are better. Or use a combination of dried and fresh mushrooms. Serve with rye bread. Other cuts of meat you can use here: anything—pork, veal, lamb, venison, duck, goose, or a combination; it’s a mishmash.

Choucroute, the Alsatian specialty, is a near-perfect party dish: you can easily make it in advance and in quantity. This version, with boiled potatoes cooked right in, is also a one-pot dish. Serve it with bread— preferably good rye or pumpernickel—and you’re all set. (Well, you’ll also need some hot mustard and beer or Alsatian wine.) Feel free to vary the meats however you like. But, as is always the case, buy sauerkraut that is either sold in bulk or packed in plastic and contains no more than cabbage and salt.

This may sound like dessert—indeed it’s sweet and crunchy—but the spice will shatter that image. A dreamy dish, easy to make and with an exotic aroma. If you would rather not mess with the spices, use about a tablespoon of Tabil (page 597), Garam Masala (page 594), or any curry powder. Brown the lamb in the oven if you prefer (see page 412). If you have the energy, buy bone-in lamb, then cut the meat from the bones. Make stock from the bones and scrap meat; you need only a cup. (Simmer the bones with a carrot and a piece of onion in water to cover for about an hour, then drain. That’s it.) Serve with any bread you like or with Couscous (page 526) or rice. Other cuts of meat you can use here: beef chuck or brisket, which will take somewhat longer to become tender; boneless chicken thighs, which will cook far more quickly.

A sweet, smooth stew. When prunes cook for a long time, as do half of these, they break down and create a rich if chunky sauce. Reserving some is a nice way to add a different texture back to the dish. You can substitute apricots for the prunes, if you like.You can also add more dried fruit and some chunks of carrots to the mix as well. Other cuts of meat you can use here: boneless chicken thighs (which will cook more quickly), beef chuck or brisket (which will take a bit longer) Best served with plain Couscous (page 526).

Like most braised dishes, this stew takes time but, once the initial browning is done, very little work. There are times I consider browning optional, but this isn’t one of them, because the dish is so simple that you need the complexity browning brings. Serve with Pilaf (page 513) or another rice dish. Other cuts of meat you can use here: beef chuck, brisket, or round (all of which will take somewhat longer than the lamb); pork shoulder; lamb shanks (again, longer cooking); or veal shoulder or round.

A more complicated lamb stew than the preceding recipe, but a very flexible one, finished with the classic rich and delicious avgolemono, egg-lemon sauce. This can be made with a large variety of vegetables, in which case it’s a meal in a pot, always best served with pita bread or pilaf. Other cuts of meat you can use here: lamb shanks (which will take longer to cook) or shoulder chops, beef chuck or brisket (which also will require longer cooking time), or veal shoulder.

Lamb stew is a quintessential spring dish that can be a real celebration—or unbearably heavy. The difference has little to do with the lamb and much to do with the vegetables: If the stew sports color and lots of different flavors, it is lovely, almost light. If, on the other hand, it contains little besides lamb and potatoes, it becomes the cafeteria-style “Irish stew” that gave the dish a bad name in the first place. This is how it’s done in Scandinavia—bright, colorful, and fresh tasting. In other parts of northern Europe, parsley might be substituted for the dill; it’s just as good. Other cuts of meat you can use here: beef chuck or brisket (which will require somewhat longer cooking time), veal shoulder.

This lamb braises in its own juices and those produced by the onions. A large quantity of whole garlic cloves brown and become sublimely tender during the long cooking process, nicely offsetting the creamy, almost bland sauce. Do not skimp on the herb garnish, which is essential in this case. Serve with crusty bread, warm pita, or a good pilaf (page 513). Other cuts of meat you can use here: chunks of boneless lamb shoulder, which will cook considerably faster.

This dish is all about patience; the chile sauce takes just a few minutes to prepare and can be done while the lamb shanks are browning. But after combining the two with the mushrooms you must wait, sometimes for a few hours, for the shanks to become completely tender. Once that’s done, you can eat the meat with a rice dish (try Arroz a la Mexicana, for example, on page 517), or use it as a filling for tacos. Ideally, you’d use wild mushrooms here—I once made it with chanterelles, and the combination was magical—but fresh shiitakes are also great. Other cuts of meat you can use here: short ribs (which will also take a long time); chunks of lamb or pork shoulder (which will be faster) or beef chuck or brisket; bone-in chicken parts (which will be much quicker), preferably thighs.

A typical dish from the southern French countryside. Lentils are combined with lamb shanks, red wine, and not much else, and they cook for a couple of hours. While becoming beyond tender, the lentils also absorb the flavors of the lamb, the wine, and the aromatics sprinkled among them. The result is a one-pot meal—a salad or a little bread, or both, would round things out nicely—that takes some time but little work or attention. Other cuts of meat you can use here: short ribs.

A fairly quick stew—some would call it fricassee, but that term is so widely used as to be meaningless—that gives you loads of uncommon flavor for very little work. Great with polenta (page 529), which you must call mamaliga in this instance. Other cuts of meat you can use here: pork shoulder.

A longtime symbol of cuisine bourgeois—the simple, hearty home cooking of France (which is more valuable to most of us than haute cuisine, the four-star stuff)—this is an immensely satisfying dish and quite straightforward. Serve it over white rice or with crusty bread.

One of the greatest Italian dishes and, when done properly (it takes time; do not rush), one of the best meat dishes you can make. The marrow-filled veal shanks (the name means “bone with hole”) practically cook themselves after the initial browning and seasoning. (And the dish holds well enough overnight so you can cook almost the whole thing in advance.) Buy center-cut shank, about 1 1/2 inches thick. (The slices from the narrow end have very little meat; those from the thick end contain little or no marrow.) The mixture of garlic, lemon zest, and parsley stirred in at the last minute, known as gremolata, is a lovely little fillip, but consider it optional. Serve, classically, with Risotto alla Milanese (page 521) or a simpler, leaner rice dish. Other cuts of meat you can use here: it will not be osso buco, but a veal stew made with chunks of veal shoulder in the same style, with the same ingredients, is quite good and considerably faster.

A fairly complicated, lasagnelike dish and, like lasagne, perfectly homey. With advance preparation (you can make the sauce a day ahead and sauté the plantains several hours ahead), you can throw this together quickly, but even if you do it all at once you can make quick work of it. Great with a salad, this needs nothing else. Other meat you can use here: ground turkey, chicken, veal, or pork.

There is a whole class of Kashmiri, Pakistani, and northern Indian meatballs that have the reputation of being extremely difficult to make, because the meat must be minced and pounded repeatedly until very, very smooth. But guess what? The food processor is so efficient at this that the meatballs are now practically fast food. Typically quite large, meaning one or two per person is plenty. Serve with any rice dish, or Paratha (page 559). Haaq (page 487) is another typical dish from Kashmir that would go well here.

Like all dried beans, chickpeas are far better when you cook them yourself than when you simply open a can. But unlike lentils, split peas, and even to some extent white and red beans, you must plan ahead to use chickpeas in other dishes. Overnight soaking reduces the cooking time somewhat, as does a quick boil and a shorter soak; but mostly the cooking takes time, unless you use a pressure cooker. Once done, chickpeas can be stored in their cooking liquid (this is another unusual aspect of chickpeas; their cooking liquid is delicious), covered and refrigerated, for a few days or frozen indefinitely. Other legumes you can prepare this way: this procedure can be followed for any legume, but most will cook faster than the chickpeas.