Serves 4

Use any combination of white and dark meat. For even cooking, halve breasts crosswise and separate leg quarters into thighs and drumsticks. Reduced-fat sour cream can be used in this recipe. We like to serve this chicken over egg noodles or rice.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces gave our Chicken Paprikash the best flavor of all the possibilities we tested. If left on, the skin imparted an unwelcome greasiness to the sauce. We easily remedied this by discarding the skin after browning the chicken.

We discovered that not all vegetables were right for this dish. Some were slimy, others added too much bulk, and many detracted from the sweetness of the paprika. Caramelized onions and red bell peppers worked best. We really needed to pile on the paprika before it became noticeable in our Chicken Paprikash. But in large quantities it tasted harsh and gritty. A bit of tomato paste offset the bitterness of the paprika while allowing us to include enough of the spice to do justice to the dish’s namesake.

Makes about 2 cups

Fresh and frozen cranberries work equally well. If you are using frozen, add one to two minutes to the cooking time. Slightly sweet apples such as Golden Delicious or Gala work best for this recipe. Shred the apple on the large holes of a box grater.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The standard back-of-the-bag recipe for Apple-Raisin Cranberry Sauce was a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yielded the ideal consistency. We replaced the water with apple cider and added fresh apple for a unique spin on traditional cranberry sauce. We found frozen cranberries worked equally well as fresh, but we needed to increase the cooking time slightly. Leaving our Basic Cranberry Sauce on the stove for too long left us with a mushy red mash, so it was important to keep a close eye on it as it cooked.

Makes about 2 cups

Fresh and frozen cranberries work equally well. If you are using frozen, add one to two minutes to the cooking time.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The standard back-of-the-bag recipe for cranberry sauce came out a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yielded the ideal consistency. We found frozen cranberries worked equally as well as fresh, but we needed to increase the cooking time slightly. Leaving our Basic Cranberry Sauce on the stove for too long left us with a mushy red mash, so it was important to keep a close eye on the sauce as it cooked.

Makes about 1 cup

Fresh and frozen cranberries work equally well. If you are using frozen, add one to two minutes to the cooking time.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
With a little doctoring, we turned our recipe for Basic Cranberry Sauce into a versatile Cranberry Vinaigrette. The standard back-of-the-bag cranberry sauce recipe was a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yields the ideal consistency. We found frozen cranberries worked equally well as fresh, but we needed to increase the cooking time slightly. Leaving the cranberry sauce for our Cranberry Vinaigrette Sauce on the stove for too long left us with a mushy red mash, so it was important to keep a close eye on it as it cooked.

Makes about 2 cups

Fresh and frozen cranberries work equally well. If you are using frozen, add one to two minutes to the cooking time. Be sure to use real maple syrup, not the maple-flavored stuff. See below for our tips for easy citrus segmenting.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The standard back-of-the-bag recipe for Orange-Maple Cranberry Sauce was a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yielded the ideal consistency. We found frozen cranberries worked equally well as fresh, but we needed to increase the cooking time slightly. Leaving our Basic Cranberry Sauce on the stove for too long left us with a mushy red mash, so it was important to keep a close eye on it as it cooked.

Makes about 2 cups

Fresh and frozen cranberries work equally well. If you are using frozen, add one to two minutes to the cooking time. Ginger ale can be substituted for the ginger beer, though the ginger flavor will be less pronounced

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The standard back-of-the-bag recipe for cranberry sauce was a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yielded the ideal consistency. Replacing the water with ginger beer and adding grated fresh ginger added a unique flavor to our Pear-Ginger Cranberry Sauce. Shredded pear added sweetness. We found frozen cranberries worked equally well as fresh, but we needed to increase the cooking time slightly. Leaving our Pear-Ginger Cranberry Sauce on the stove for too long left us with a mushy red mash, so it was important to keep a close eye on it as it cooked.

Makes about 2 cups

Fresh and frozen cranberries and raspberries work equally well. If you are using frozen, add one to two minutes to the cooking time. Sprite and 7UP are both good soda choices here. Don’t use diet soda.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The standard back-of-the-bag recipe for cranberry sauce was a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yielded the ideal consistency. Sprite and 7UP were both good soda choices to replace the water in this recipe, as long as we didn’t use the diet varieties. We found frozen cranberries worked equally well as fresh, but we needed to increase the cooking time slightly. Leaving our Raspberry-Lemon Cranberry Sauce on the stove for too long left us with a mushy red mash, so it was important to keep a close eye on it as it cooked.

MAKES 16 ROLLS

Because this dough is sticky, keep your hands well floured when handling it. Use a spray bottle to mist the rolls with water. The rolls will keep for up to 2 days at room temperature stored in a zipper-lock bag. To re-crisp the crust, place the rolls in a 450-degree oven 6 to 8 minutes. The rolls will keep frozen for several months wrapped in foil and placed in a large zipper-lock bag. Thaw the rolls at room temperature and re-crisp using the instructions above.

MAKES ONE 11-INCH TART, SERVING 10 TO 12

This tart has several components, but each can be prepared ahead, and the tart is baked several hours before serving. If you cannot find blanched slivered almonds, use whole blanched almonds, but chop them coarsely before processing to make sure they form a fine, even grind. The pears should be ripe but firm, the flesh giving slightly when gently pressed with a finger. Purchase the pears a few days ahead and allow them to ripen at room temperature. If they ripen before you need them, refrigerate them and use them within a day or two, or poach them and hold them in their syrup (they will keep for about 3 days). Many tasters liked the bright, crisp flavor of pears poached in Sauvignon Blanc. Chardonnay-poached pears had deeper, oakier flavors and were also well liked.

SERVES 4 TO 6 AS A SIDE DISH

We prefer shredding the potatoes on the large holes of a box grater, but you can also use the large shredding disk of a food processor; cut the potatoes into 2-inch lengths first so you are left with short shreds. Serve with applesauce and sour cream.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We wanted latkes that were light and not greasy, with buttery soft interiors surrounded by a shatteringly crisp outer shell. To achieve all of these goals, we needed to remove as much water as possible from the potato shreds by wringing them out in a kitchen towel and to minimize the release of what remained by microwaving the shreds briefly to cause the starches in the potatoes to form a gel. With the water taken care of, the latkes crisped up quickly and absorbed minimal oil.