Serves 8

To crush the corn flakes, place them inside a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to break them into pieces no smaller than 1/2 inch.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We marinated our Oven-Fried Chicken in highly seasoned buttermilk flavored with mustard, garlic powder, black pepper, and hot pepper sauce. Soaking the chicken for at least one hour, or even better, overnight, allowed the flavors to penetrate deep into the meat. For the coating, we used a blend of corn flakes and bread crumbs. Seasoned heavily with spices and lightly coated with oil, the coating baked up as crisp as a deep-fried crust.

We baked the chicken in a hot oven on a wire rack set on a baking sheet. The rack allowed hot air to circulate beneath the chicken, ensuring that all sides of the pieces became crisp. Traditional homemade fried chicken has 552 calories, 34 grams of fat, and 10 grams of saturated fat per serving. Cook’s Country Oven-Fried Chicken has 216 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 4 grams of saturated fat per serving.

You might need to buy:
  • buttermilk
  • Dijon mustard
  • garlic powder
  • ground black pepper
  • hot pepper sauce
  • crushed corn flakes
  • fresh bread crumbs
  • ground poultry seasoning
  • paprika
  • cayenne pepper
  • vegetable oil

SERVES 4 AS A MAIN DISH OR 6 AS AN APPETIZER

To make an entrée, serve this dish with steamed white rice.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
This dish, popularized by chain restaurants like P.F. Chang’s and the Cheesecake Factory, is based on a Cantonese dish called sung choy bao. Most recipes for this dish suffer from a similar fate—stringy, tasteless meat drowned in a bland sauce. To remedy this, we started with flavorful chicken thighs and marinated them in soy sauce and rice wine. To keep the meat from drying out when stir-fried, we coated it in a velvetizing cornstarch slurry, which helped it retain moisture as it cooked.

You might need to buy:
  • CHICKEN:
  • Chinese rice cooking wine or dry sherry
  • soy sauce
  • toasted sesame oil
  • cornstarch
  • SAUCE:
  • oyster sauce
  • Chinese rice cooking wine or dry sherry
  • soy sauce
  • toasted sesame oil
  • red pepper flakes
  • STIR-FRY:
  • vegetable oil
  • Hoisin sauce

Serves 6

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Cooking canned pinto beans for our Chicken Tostadas with Spicy Cabbage Slaw in a skillet along with some of the juice from the can gave them a creamy texture similar to refried beans. Tasters preferred queso fresco—a fresh, soft Mexican cheese available in many markets—in our Chicken Tostadas with Spicy Cabbage Slaw; however, we found we could use crumbled feta cheese instead. To save time we went with a bag of coleslaw mix instead of making the slaw from scratch. Using jarred jalapeños allowed us to add some of the brine to flavor the tostada filling as well as the slaw.

You might need to buy:
  • vegetable oil
  • jalapeño brine
  • Salt and pepper
  • juice from 2 limes
Belongs to Bethany Chicken Paprikash 

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.

You might need to buy:
  • Salt and pepper
  • vegetable oil
  • tomato paste
  • low-sodium chicken broth

Serves 3 to 4

Try not to purchase heads of garlic that contain enormous cloves; if unavoidable, increase the foil-covered baking time to 40 to 45 minutes so that the largest cloves soften fully. A large Dutch oven can be used in place of a skillet, if you prefer. Broiling the chicken for a few minutes at the end of cooking crisps the skin, but this step is optional. Serve the dish with slices of crusty baguette for dipping into the sauce and onto which the roasted garlic cloves can be spread.

You might need to buy:
  • fresh thyme
  • fresh rosemary
  • fresh sage
  • fresh italian parsley
  • ground black pepper

Serves 4 to 6

We prefer the flavor and texture of chunky peanut butter in the sauce; in particular, we like conventional chunky peanut butter because it tends to be sweeter than natural or old-fashioned versions.

You might need to buy:
  • minced fresh ginger
  • soy sauce
  • rice vinegar
  • light brown sugar lightly packed
  • dried Asian noodle or 12 ounces dried spaghetti
  • Asian sesame oil
  • chunky peanut butter
  • sesame seeds

SERVES 4 AS A MAIN DISH WITH RICE

To make the chicken easier to slice, freeze it for 20 minutes until it is firm, but not frozen.

You might need to buy:
  • cornstarch
  • grated orange zest from one orange
  • Stir-Fry:
  • low-sodium chicken broth
  • fresh squeezed orange juice
  • white vinegar
  • soy sauce
  • hoisin sauce
  • cornstarch
  • red pepper flakes
  • minced fresh ginger
  • toasted sesame oil
  • soy sauce
  • dry sherry
  • water
  • Chicken for Stir-Fry:

Serves 6

Getting the initial oil temperature to 375 degrees is key to the success of this recipe. An instant-read thermometer with a high upper range is perfect for checking the temperature; a clip-on candy/deep-fry thermometer is also fine. If your Dutch oven measures 11 inches across (as ours does), you will need to fry the steaks in two batches.

You might need to buy:
  • STEAK:
  • Salt and ground black pepper
  • cayenne
  • large egg
  • buttermilk
  • peanut oil
  • CREAM GRAVY:
  • dried thyme
  • low-sodium chicken broth
  • whole milk
  • ground black pepper
  • cayenne

Serves 6 to 8

You might need to buy:
  • cider vinegar
  • honey
  • water
  • cornstarch
  • paprika
  • Salt and pepper
  • low-sodium chicken broth
  • minced fresh thyme

Serves 10 to 12

Instead of drumsticks and thighs, you may use 2 whole leg quarters, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds each. The recipe will also work with turkey breast alone; in step 2, reduce the butter to 1 1/2 tablespoons, the salt to 1 1/2 teaspoons, and the pepper to 1 teaspoon. If you are roasting kosher or self-basting turkey parts, season the turkey with only 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.

You might need to buy:
  • TURKEY:
  • fresh thyme
  • low-sodium chicken broth
  • ground black pepper
  • GRAVY:
  • low-sodium chicken broth
  • bay leaves
  • Salt and ground black pepper