Serves 4

You can substitute low-sodium chicken broth for the vegetable broth. Serve over steamed white rice with sliced red or green Thai chiles, lime wedges, and cilantro.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: This curry recipe uses a variety of vegetables and gets all the bright flavors it needs from the green curry paste cubes, which stand up well to the coconut milk and can be made well in advance and stored in the freezer.

Makes 1¾ cups (or about 1 ice cube tray)

I like this curry paste made with eight green Thai chiles that I’ve stemmed and seeded; only add two or three chiles if you prefer less heat. Or for a spicier curry paste, add some of the reserved chile seeds. If Thai basil leaves are not available, you can substitute regular basil. Use some of these cubes in my recipe for Thai Green Curry with Sweet Potatoes.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: To make curry that tastes as bright as it looks, I rounded up a whole bunch of green stuff: cilantro, Thai basil, scallions, and Thai chiles. I then added other flavor-packed ingredients like garlic, ginger, coconut milk, and spices. By freezing the pureed mixture in an ice cube tray, I can use just what I need whenever the mood strikes.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/do-it-yourself/2012/09/how-to-make-thai-green-curry-paste/

Serves 4 as a side dish
If you like, olive oil can be substituted for the butter depending on what you are serving with the pilaf. Soaking the rice overnight in water results in more tender, separate grains. If you’d like to try it, add enough water to cover the rice by 1 inch after the rinsing process in step 1, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature 8 to 24 hours; reduce the amount of water to cook the rice to 2 cups. For the most evenly cooked rice, use a wide-bottomed saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To make rice pilaf, rice is toasted or browned in fat to build flavor before being cooked through in liquid. The result should be rice that is fragrant, fluffy, and tender. Traditional recipes insist that for a truly great pilaf you must soak or at least repeatedly rinse the rice before cooking. We wondered if there was more to making perfect rice pilaf than this. The variables included the kind of rice to use, the ratio of rice to cooking water, and whether or not to soak the rice before cooking. Testing revealed that using basmati rice was preferable, as was using a lower amount of water than is traditional for cooking rice. The step of rinsing the rice was also important for grains that were more tender, with a slightly shinier, smoother appearance. We also sautéed the rice in plenty of butter before adding the water. After the rice was cooked, we covered it with a kitchen towel and a lid and let it steam off the heat.

Serves 4
We prefer this dish with whole-milk yogurt, but low-fat yogurt can be substituted. If garam masala is unavailable, substitute 2 teaspoons ground coriander, ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon ground black pepper. It is important to remove the chicken from the oven before switching to the broiler setting to allow the broiler element to come up to temperature. Serve with basmati rice and a few chutneys or relishes.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We weren’t going to let a 24-hour marinade or the lack of a 900-degree oven keep us from turning this great Indian classic into an easy weeknight dinner. We set out to reinvent this traditional dish as a recipe that could be made year-round in the oven.

Traditional tandoors produce moist, smoky meat because the fierce heat allows protein molecules on the meat’s surface to cross-link and contract, trapping moisture inside. Juices fall on the coals along with rendered fat, creating smoke that flavors the food. Trying to mimic the tandoor by cooking chicken in a very hot oven gave us disappointing results. Instead we turned to a technique we use to preserve the juiciness of thick-cut steaks. We baked the chicken in a low-temperature oven until almost done, then gave it a quick broil to char the exterior. To get flavor into the meat, we turned to a salt-spice rub made with garam masala, cumin, and chili powder bloomed in oil with ginger and garlic. We massaged the rub into chicken pieces to lock in juices and infuse flavor, then left them to sit. Following a dunk in yogurt flavored with the same spice mix, the chicken was ready for the oven. The results? Juicy, lightly charred, well-seasoned meat with just the right degree of tenderness.

Makes 12 muffins
A combination of cake flour and whole-wheat flour makes a muffin with a hearty, but tender, crumb.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/to-your-health/2011/07/the-secret-to-fluffy-whole-wheat-muffins/

SERVES 4 TO 6
For tips on trimming asparagus, see related tip. Campanelle is our pasta of choice in this dish, but farfalle and penne are acceptable substitutes.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For a fresh version of a pasta primavera recipe, we used a pair of spring classics—asparagus and green peas—plus other flavor-packed vegetables and aromatics. We found that by sautéing the vegetables in stages in a large Dutch oven, we could ensure that each one maintained its crisp-tender texture while taking on a touch of flavorful browning. Switching from long-stranded spaghetti to small and compact campanelle allowed us to use the risotto method of cooking, which guaranteed that our Spring Vegetable Pasta recipe resulted in tender pasta coated with a light but lustrous, creamy sauce that brought the dish together perfectly.

Makes 6 toasts
You will need two heavy-bottomed rimmed baking sheets for this recipe; our favorite is the Wear-Ever Half Size Heavy Duty Sheet Pan (13 Gauge) by Vollrath. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, cut the toast holes with a sturdy drinking glass.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To adapt this classic skillet breakfast to the oven, we start by toasting bread (with a hole cut out) on both sides in a hot oven. A preheated, buttered baking sheet ensures that the bread browns without sticking, and cracking the eggs onto the hot pan helps them set up right away, preventing the whites from running all over. Adding a second, room-temperature baking pan to the setup acts as insulation, so when the eggs are returned to the oven they cook quickly but gently for a tender white and runny yolk every time.

Serves 2
Although this recipe will work with any electric mixer, a handheld mixer makes quick work of whipping such a small amount of cream. If using a standing mixer in step 1, transfer the whipped cream to a separate bowl, wipe out the mixing bowl, and then beat the eggs in the clean bowl.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Typical omelets make a fine breakfast or light dinner, but diner-style omelets can satisfy the biggest of appetites. We wanted to make our cheese omelet to be impossibly tall and fluffy and loaded with cheese and other fillings, but the recipes we tried left us with flat and flabby eggs. Incorporating air into the eggs with a mixer made our cheese omelet tall and fluffy. The cream’s fat made it impossible to whip air into the eggs, but we found a way to work around this: We whipped the cream first and then folded it into the whipped eggs. After letting the bottom of the omelet set on the stovetop, we popped the skillet into a preheated oven, and just six minutes later had a puffy, fluffy omelet, cooked to perfection.

Makes 8

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: This traditional scone has a biscuit-like texture obtained by using both butter and heavy cream. The easiest and most reliable approach to mixing the butter into the dry ingredients is to use a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Resist the urge to eat the scones hot out of the oven. Letting them cool for at least 10 minutes firms them up and improve their texture.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2013/05/secrets-to-cream-scones-with-currants/

Serves 8 to 10
Scoring the fat on the brisket at ½-inch intervals will allow the rub to penetrate the meat. Two disposable aluminum loaf pans stacked inside one another can substitute for the metal loaf pan.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
A simple rub—salt, pepper, brown sugar, cumin, chipotle chiles, and paprika—imparted smoky, spicy flavor to our Slow Cooker BBQ Beef Brisket. To allow the flavors to permeate, we lightly scored the fat on the brisket before rubbing. To minimize the moisture absorbed by the brisket (which traditionally isn’t cooked directly in liquid), we came up with an unorthodox solution: elevating the meat off the bottom of the slow cooker with an inverted loaf pan. The liquid exuded from the meat during cooking was drawn under the loaf pan by a vacuum effect, which meant that the slow cooker more closely mimicked how a real barbecue cooks. To bump up the flavor of this liquid, we sautéed onion, garlic, tomato paste, and chipotle chiles and added this to the slow cooker, under the loaf pan, to cook along with the brisket.