Makes about 6 cups

This recipe makes enough gravy to accompany a 12- to 14-pound turkey with leftovers. If you are roasting a very large bird and want to double the recipe, prepare the gravy in a Dutch oven. White wine adds a welcome note of acidity to gravy, but in a pinch you can use more chicken broth in its place. Make sure you’ve added 1 cup each of chopped onions, carrots, and celery along with fresh thyme sprigs and 1 cup of water to the roasting pan before the turkey goes into the oven.

Serves 10 to 12

Table salt is not recommended for this recipe because it is too fine. To roast a kosher or self-basting turkey (such as a frozen Butterball), do not salt it in step 1. Look for salt pork that is roughly equal parts fat and lean meat. The bread can be toasted up to 1 day in advance.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Perfecting one aspect of a roast turkey usually comes at the cost of another. Crisp skin means dry white meat. Brining adds moisture, but can turn the skin soggy. And stuffing the cavity -compounds the headache, slowing the roasting time and upping the chance for uneven cooking. We wanted a turkey with everything: juicy meat, crisply burnished skin, and rich-flavored stuffing that cooked inside the bird.

Unwilling to sacrifice crisp skin, we opted for salting over brining. Salting initially draws moisture out of the meat, but after a long rest in the refrigerator, all the moisture gets slowly drawn back in, seasoning the meat and helping it retain moisture. Next we turned to slow roasting and started the bird in a relatively low oven, then cranked the temperature to give it a final blast of skin-crisping heat and to bring the center up to temperature. It worked beautifully, yielding breast meat that was moist and tender. For even crispier skin, we massaged it with a baking powder and salt rub. The baking powder dehydrates the skin and raises its pH, making it more conducive to browning. We also poked holes in the skin to help rendering fat escape.

Next we had to figure out a way to coordinate the cooking times of the stuffing and the breast meat. In most recipes, the breast meat is a bone-dry 180 degrees by the time the stuffing reaches a safe 165 degrees. We got around this by splitting the stuffing in half. We put half in the turkey and took it out when the bird was up to temperature. We moistened the stuffing with broth and combined it with the uncooked batch and cooked it all while the turkey was taking its post-oven rest. And for extra flavor, we draped the bird with meaty salt pork, which we removed and drained before cranking up the heat so the bird didn’t taste too smoky.

Serves 6

We strongly recommend buttermilk for the dumplings, but it’s acceptable to substitute ½ cup plain yogurt thinned with ¼ cup milk. If you want to include white meat (and don’t mind losing a bit of flavor in the process), replace 2 chicken thighs with 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 8 ounces each). Brown the chicken breasts along with the thighs and remove them from the stew once they reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes. The collagen in the wings helps thicken the stew; do not omit or substitute. Since the wings yield only about 1 cup of meat, using their meat is optional. The stew can be prepared through step 3 up to 2 days in advance; bring the stew back to a simmer before proceeding with the recipe.

Serves 4 to 6
Chicken quarters take longer to cook than smaller pieces. To ensure that the exterior doesn’t burn before the inside cooks through, keep the oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees while the chicken is frying. For an extra-hot version, see related recipe.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Mimicking the heat of this Nashville Hot Fried Chicken was harder than we anticipated. We created a spicy exterior to the chicken by “blooming" the spices (cooking them in oil for a short period) to create a complex yet still lip-burning spicy flavor. We added a healthy amount of hot sauce to our brine to inject spicy flavor into the chicken, making the flavor more than skin deep. Most Nashville Hot Fried Chicken recipes called for fiery cayenne pepper, but only a fraction of a teaspoon. Our Hot recipe calls for at least 12 times that amount.

Serves 4 to 6

Makes 3½ cups

For the best flavor, we prefer bittersweet chocolate here. Whipping the chilled filling will stiffen it up so it is easier to spread over the cake, but be careful not to overwhip it or it will turn grainy.

Makes 3½ cups

We like to use brightly colored dried fruit, such as dried apricots, peaches, cherries, and cranberries. It’s important to match the flavor of the jam to that of the dried fruit; if you can’t find matching jam, use a complementary flavor and color. Add a few drops of food coloring, if desired, to brighten the filling’s color.

Makes 3½ cups

This filling works great with almonds, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, or hazelnuts. Don’t let this filling get too soft before using (it should be much stiffer than the buttercream you use for frosting) or it will begin to leak out of the layers as you assemble the cake.

Makes one 6-inch, 9-inch, and 12-inch cake layer

Makes 6 cups

(1 1/2 cups makes enough for 12 cupcakes)