Gluten Free

Black-eyed peas are said to bring luck in the new year, but you're going to want to eat this dressed-up version of the Southern classic for more than just luck.

This dish flips conventional Southern cookery on its head. Rather than cooking greens nito submission, they’re quickly brined to soften their texture and mellow their bitterness, then married with the sweet, salty, and creamy elements of a composed salad.

A&M: Teresa wrote: "Seems to me beets and oranges are a classic winter salad combination that you see everywhere." But this is no run-of-the-mill beet and orange salad. Teresa explained, "My friend Sophie's dad, Jim Broderick, gave me the idea that really makes this salad great: fennel and orange rind in the dressing." She's right: this trick gives her winter salad lift and fragrance and makes you want to keep eating it.

A&M: This may be the most thoughtful sautéed greens recipe we've ever encountered. Beet greens (we agree with Marissa Grace that they deserve more attention in the kitchen) are usually wilted in hot olive oil with a little garlic, and they're delicious this way, but Marissa Grace plotted out ways to amplify the greens’ sweetness while tempering it with chiles. She has you brown garlic with shallot and red pepper flakes, then layer in sugar, black pepper, and salt before adding the greens and wilting them. Just before serving, you splash the beet greens with sherry vinegar, which electrifies the whole dish. The key here is the sugar, which caramelizes with the garlic and tightens up the sauce, so by the time the greens are cooked (and beet greens really should be cooked), it wraps them in a cloak of sweet and fiery sauce.

This dip is a perennial hit. The last time I made it guests practically licked the bowl.

This tasty chili, which has just a hint of heat, is perfect for family get-togethers. Add a tossed green salad, sprinkled with shredded carrots, and whole-grain rolls.

A porterhouse is the perfect steak for two to share because it contains good-sized portions of two of the most prized muscles in a steer, each located on either side of the center bone. The top loin, the larger of the two, is the same piece of gorgeous meat as that steakhouse staple, the New York strip. The tenderloin, attached to the other side of the bone, may be smaller, but it's a much larger portion (technically, it has to be 1 1/4-inches in diameter) than you get in a T-bone steak. If you can find dry aged, try it. It's a bit more expensive but yields more tender and flavorful meat. We pan-roast the steak with the Tuscan stalwarts of garlic, rosemary, and thyme, then serve it with a velvety red wine reduction.

Who can resist mashed potatoes, particularly with steak? You'll love this twist on the classic, with just enough horseradish added to give these creamy spuds a fun kick.

Nothing says CELEBRATION like blinis and caviar. These quick, buckwheat pancakes, made with baking powder (unlike the traditional yeast-based ones) are brightened with the addition of lemon zest. Use whatever caviar you prefer and your budget will allow. We are quite enamored of the trout caviar made in North Carolina (see Cooks' Notes). The roe is a beautiful pale orange with a delightfully firm texture that pops in your mouth. Better yet, it's much more affordable than imported or domestic sturgeon caviars (see Cooks' Notes).

This is part of the recipe Chicken Wings Five Ways.

This is part of the recipe Chicken Wings Five Ways.

This is part of the recipe Chicken Wings Five Ways.

This is part of the recipe Chicken Wings Five Ways.

Buffalo-style chicken wings have long ruled the roost, but there's a spicy new upstart poised to challenge their spot at the top of the game-day menu: Korean wings. With their balance of salty, sweet, and spicy, Korean wings are packed with delicious flavor, but they also come with a lengthy ingredient shopping list. By fusing the best elements and techniques from Korean and Buffalo-style wings, we've come up with a dynamite wing that's—dare we say it?—better than the sum of its parts. In this version, the iconic Frank's RedHot Original sauce (which can still be slathered as liberally as you wish) is balanced by the sweet-and-sour tang of rice vinegar and soy sauce. Gone is the hefty dose of butter; instead, a very light coating of rice flour keeps the wings super-crispy, even a day later.

This is part of the recipe Chicken Wings Five Ways.

This all-purpose bread makes great sandwiches and toast and is the basis for the Apple Caramel Monkey Bread . It was inspired out of necessity, for who among us doesn't need a great sandwich bread? This is a staple in my kitchen.

Based on the classic pâté à choux or cream puff pastry from my culinary school days, this elegant and easy appetizer can be made ahead. It can be prepared dairy-free, too, but egg substitutes won't work as the eggs are necessary to help create the structure of these bite-size treats.

Editor's note: Chef Donald Link of New Orleans restaurants Cochon and Herbsaint, shared this recipe as part of a special Mardi Gras celebration he created for Epicurious. Crawfish boils are the greatest outdoor cooking events in southern Louisiana, and they epitomize our way of life. These giant parties for adults and kids are all about having a good time, being with friends and family, and eating local food.
To boil crawfish you need to have the proper setup—namely a propane tank, a stand to put the pot on, and a very large pot (crawfish are sold in 40-pound sacks). The pot needs to be fitted with a basket so you can pull the crawfish out and add more.
My cousin Billy's crawfish are, hands down, the best I've ever tasted. When it comes to cooking crawfish, though, we aren't in total agreement. I like to soak the crawfish in their spicy cooking water; Billy doesn't. Some people prefer to drain the crawfish after they've been soaking in the spicy water for just 5 minutes, then dump them into an ice chest, and season the outside of the crawfish shells heavily. This method keeps the meat from getting overcooked, but the spices end up on your hands, not in the meat. To my mind, "marinating" the cooked crawfish in their cooking liquid allows more of the spice and salt to be absorbed by the meat and creates more juice in the heads. (Sucking the juice from the head before you eat the tail is the proper way to eat boiled crawfish.)
Though no self-respecting party in Cajun Country would cook fewer than two or three sacks, I've given a smaller recipe here.