Food

Recipes

Chicken Matzo Ball Soup

While you can make perfectly delicious matzo balls with vegetable oil, duck fat will yield the most sublime results. Jewish cooks traditionally save the fat skimmed from making chicken stock — called schmaltz — for these dumplings.

Recipes

Winter Soupe Au Pistou

Feel free to play around with the vegetable medley in this Provençal soup, using whatever is in season or kicking around your kitchen. If you need to save time, use store-bought basil or kale pesto instead of the parsley pistou.

Recipes

Pea Soup With Lobster

If you make this soup ahead of time, cool it down rapidly in a large bowl placed in a bowl of ice to help preserve its vibrant green color.

Recipes

Beet & Apple Soup With Feta

To protect against staining from the beets, wear rubber gloves and a full apron, and grate them directly over a large bowl.

Recipes

Five-Spice Pork Wraps With Hoisin Barbecue Sauce

The bottom of a 2-piece tart pan and a long metal spatula make the job of transferring the hot roast much easier. You could also put out leaves of Romaine hearts to wrap the pork for anyone watching their carbs.

Recipes

Tuna Brochettes With Eggplant-Caper Dip

While the dip can be made up to 3 days in advance, cut and sear the tuna as close to serving as possible to preserve its freshness and bright color.

Recipes

Orange Twist Champagne Cocktail

For a signature cocktail with more punch, add 3⁄4 oz. of cognac to the flute before you pour in the sparkling wine. Orange bitters can be found at most gourmet food shops.

Recipes

Chipotle Peanut Brittle

To avoid getting fingerprints on the brittle, wear latex gloves (not rubber gloves) when you break it into pieces. Adapted from Tom Colicchio’s Craft of Cooking.

Recipes

Cake Truffles

This is my spin on cake truffles, the brainchild of Momofuku Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi, who was looking for a delicious way to use up cake scraps. Use this recipe as a guideline and let your imagination run wild when it comes to flavors and coatings.

Recipes

Spiced Prune Chutney

Pair this recipe with Maple-Glazed Fresh Ham.

Recipes

Parsley Fennel Pesto

Pair this recipe with Maple-Glazed Fresh Ham.

Recipes

Eric’s Applesauce

Pair this recipe with Maple-Glazed Fresh Ham.

Recipes

Gingerbread Layer Cake

This cake was adapted from a recipe by Claudia Fleming, who developed it while she was the pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern in New York. To make the garnish, wash the cranberries, and while they’re still wet, roll them in granulated sugar.

Recipes

Steamed Green Beans With Ginger Butter

This Pan-Asian side dish is designed to be prepped ahead and quickly assembled while the ham is resting. You could also use broccoli instead of beans.

Recipes

Petite Pommes Anna

You can make these potato cakes up to the first stage of cooking and keep them at room temperature up to 4 hours. Then, brown them in the oven while the ham is resting.