Beverages

This drink was featured as a Cocktail of the Month.

Look for 1-quart cordial bottles, carafes, or mason jars with necks wide enough for adding the fruit (and removing it, if desired, after the liqueur has matured). You may need slightly more or less fruit, vodka, and rock candy, depending on the size of the containers.

This drink was featured as a Cocktail of the Month.

We are happy to announce that Marla Orenstein has won our February 2006 "Cook the Cover" contest with her delicious variation on our Chocolate-Glazed Hazelnut Mousse Cake. Marla Orenstein explains her variation:
To me, this rich, heavy chocolate dessert is enhanced with the addition of a complementary tart or sour taste. In this recipe, I have added a new layer—a reduction of sour cherry jam mixed with balsamic vinegar and brandy—between the chocolate shortbread and the chocolate mousse. I find the taste of the whole cake to be more complex and enjoyable as a result.

Editor's Note: This recipe was originally part of a menu by Bobby Flay for a backyard barbecue. For the complete menu and Flay's tips on throwing a party, click here. Ripe pineapple, with its plentiful natural sugars, is ideal for grilling, and it screams "tropical" like nothing else. This makes a great dessert after spicy Latin, Indian, or Caribbean food. Make sure to let the slices brown; you want lots of those caramelized, almost burnt edges. Mascarpone is a smooth Italian dairy product with a texture somewhere between whipped cream and cream cheese. It's used in tiramisù and available in many supermarkets and gourmet stores, but if you can't find it, good-quality vanilla ice cream will taste just fine.

Editor's note: The recipe below is excerpted from The Twinkies Cookbook. "I created this special family recipe on a whim. My daughter, Sarah, would always dunk Twinkies in chocolate milkshakes. so one day, I made her a chocolate shake and added Twinkies to it. It is still one of her—and the rest of the family's—favorites."
Brenda McDevitt, Worth, Illinois

Editor's note: This recipe is from Michele Adams's and Gia Russo's book Wedding Showers: Ideas & Recipes for the Perfect Party. Floating petals on top of this pretty punch adds color to the buffet table. Make sure you choose flowers that haven't been sprayed with chemicals.

Editor's note: This recipe is from Michele Adams's and Gia Russo's book Wedding Showers: Ideas & Recipes for the Perfect Party.

Tori Soboro This gingery soy-simmered chicken is a popular topping for rice and stuffing for omusubi. Less soupy than a Sloppy Joe, the texture is similar to a dry curry or stiff chili con carne. It freezes well, so do not hesitate to double the recipe.

Fish stews abound throughout the Mediterranean and most evolved from the fishing boats themselves, as fishermen reserved the worst of their catch for themselves and cooked it on-board.

(Amêijoas na Cataplana Casa Velha) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Jean Anderson's book The Food of Portugal. Anderson also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Anderson and Portuguese cuisine, click here. The Portuguese ingenuity for combining pork and shellfish in a single dish dates back, it's been said, to one of the darker chapters of Iberian history — the Inquisition. Amêijoas na Cataplana, together with a number of other pork-shellfish combinations, were invented as a sort of culinary double-whammy to test one's Christian zeal (pork and shellfish being proscribed to both Jew and Moslems). On a recent swing through the Algarve Province, where this popular cataplana recipe originated, I tried to verify the theory, without success. Manuel Paulino Revéz and Esteban Medel do Carmo, assistant directors at Faro's Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo do Algarve (Algarve Hotel and Tourism School), both doubt that there's any connection between the Inquisition and the creation of Portugal's many pork and shellfish combinations. They do admit, however, that Amêijoas na Cataplana is a recipe so old that its genesis is clouded by the dust of ages. Whatever its origin, the gloriously soupy mélange of unshucked baby clams, ham, and sausages in garlicky tomato sauce is supremely successful. This particular version comes from Casa Velha, once one of the Algarve's top restaurants. Now closed, alas, it was located in a historic, heavily beamed farmhouse amid the umbrella pines and luxury estates of Quinta do Lago near Faro. Note: Portuguese clams are tiny, thin-shelled, and uncommonly sweet. The best substitutes are West Coast butter clams or, failing them, the smallest littlenecks you can find. This dish need not be prepared in a cataplana, a hinged metal container shaped like a giant clam shell that can be clamped shut; any kettle with a tight-fitting lid works well. Finally, this is a naturally salty dish, so add no extra salt before tasting.

This is our version of chai-shop chai, flavored with a little cardamom and mellowed with hot milk and sugar.

(Lamb with Saffron, Sardinian Style) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Giuliano Bugialli's book Foods of Sicily & Sardinia. We've also added some helpful tips of our own, which appear at the bottom of the page.

One fall afternoon, my sons and I decided to tailgate out at Randall's Island. This is a unique tailgating experience. Randall's is one of two islands off Manhattan (Ward's Island is the other) devoted to ball fields of all kinds. I cooked this lamb at one of the grills the city provides there, and we ate on an adjacent picnic table overlooking the East River. We then wandered around the more than two dozen fields, watching intensely played games of soccer, baseball, cricket, flag football, and the tail end of a rugby match. Only in New York.

There are many variations of the classic Dry Martini, and this mix was created in the 1940s for Charles Dana Gibson, a US illustrator, and presumably a ladies' man, too — the two cocktail onions are said to represent the breasts of his female admirers! As far as the mix goes, the onions take the biting edge off the gin and add their own layer of complexity.

This was a popular nonalcoholic drink at the Rainbow Room.

Harmony is achieved in a dish when contrasting flavors combine to create balance. In this dish, the black pepper and bourbon add a real jolt of flavor that's miraculously mellowed by the cream and butter.

Editor's note:
This recipe is adapted from chef Joseph Poon. He also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Poon and Cantonese cuisine, click here. Chop suey is an Americanized Cantonese dish that dates back to the late 1800s, when it was served in Western mining camps and in San Francisco's Chinatown. The usual components are bean sprouts, sliced celery, onions, meat, and water chestnuts, all stir-fried with soy sauce. Chef Poon updates and lightens the dish by using a sophisticated array of vegetables and tofu instead of meat, and blanching the ingredients instead of frying.

(Sharbat-e gol-e Mohammadi) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Najmieh Batmanglij's's book New Food Of Life. Batmanglij also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Batmanglij and Persian cuisine, click here.