Serves 4
We prefer to use a 3 1/2- to 4-pound chicken for this recipe. If roasting a larger bird, increase the time when the oven is on in step 2 to 35 to 40 minutes. Cooking the chicken in a preheated skillet will ensure that the breast and thigh meat finish cooking at the same time.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Roast chicken is often described as a simple dish, and it is, at least in terms of flavor—when done properly, the rich flavor and juicy meat of the chicken need little adornment. But the actual process of preparing and roasting chicken is anything but simple: Recipes often call for complicated trussing techniques and rotating the bird multiple times during the course of cooking. The most time-consuming part is salting or brining the bird, a step that ensures juiciness and well-seasoned meat. We wanted to find a way to skip this step—without sacrificing flavor—and get roast chicken on the table in just an hour. After systematically testing the various components and steps of a typical recipe, we discovered we could ditch both the V-rack and flipping the chicken by using a preheated skillet; preheating the pan and placing the chicken breast side up gave the thighs a jump start on cooking. Starting the chicken in a 450-degree oven and then turning the oven off while the chicken finished cooking slowed the evaporation of juices, ensuring moist, tender meat.

Serves 6
If you are able to purchase boneless, skinless turkey thighs, substitute 1 1/2 pounds for the bone-in thigh. To ensure the best texture, don’t let the burgers stand for more than an hour before cooking. Serve the burgers with Malt Vinegar–Molasses Burger Sauce or your favorite toppings.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To create juicy, well-textured turkey burgers, we ditched store-bought ground turkey in favor of home-ground turkey thighs, which boast more fat and flavor. To ensure that our turkey burger recipe delivered maximum juiciness, we made a paste with a portion of the ground turkey, gelatin, soy sauce, and baking soda, which trapped juice within the burgers. Finally, we added coarsely chopped raw white mushrooms to keep the meat from binding together too firmly.

Serves 4
The flat pad thai–style rice noodles that are used in this recipe can be found in the Asian foods section of most supermarkets. If you can’t find broccolini, you can substitute an equal amount of conventional broccoli, but be sure to trim and peel the stalks before cutting.

Pairs with:
Wente Vineyards Riverbank Riesling
Translating Thai street food into a quick weeknight dinner is easy—once you admit that most of what you thought you knew about stir-frying is wrong.

Serves 4
We like to serve these fajitas with crumbled queso fresco or feta in addition to the other garnishes listed.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To create indoor chicken fajitas that didn’t require a slew of compensatory garnishes to be tasty, we took a fresh look at the key ingredients. For well-charred, juicy chicken we marinated boneless, skinless breasts in a potent mix of smoked paprika, garlic, cumin, cayenne, and sugar before searing them hard on one side and finishing them gently in a low oven. We revamped the usual bland mix of bell pepper and onion by charring poblano chiles and thinly sliced onion, and then cooking them down with cream and lime. Finally, we finish the dish with small amounts of complementary garnishes: pickled radish, queso fresco, and cilantro leaves.

Serves 4
Don’t skimp on the marinating time; any less than 3 hours and the chicken won’t be as flavorful or tender. Conversely, marinating for more than 6 hours will make the chicken mushy. Serve with Yogurt-Herb Dipping Sauce (see related recipe).

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To keep the chicken in our Grilled Chicken Kebabs recipe from drying out, we marinated it in a blend of yogurt, olive oil, garlic, and herbs. The tangy, mildly acidic yogurt tenderized the chicken in our recipe and added valuable flavor—as long as the chicken only marinated for three to six hours. For the vegetable component of our kebabs recipe, we preferred firm vegetables like sweet red onion and red bell pepper. When cut into similarly sized pieces, they cooked evenly and became soft—but not mushy—by the time the chicken was cooked through.