Turkey

Comfort food, August-style: A creamed-vegetable stew tastes mighty fine ladled over pillowy biscuits dotted with chives. A store-bought smoked turkey leg deepens the stew's flavor almost effortlessly—its bone and skin go into making the broth (along with the corn cobs and silk), and its meat is stirred into the stew.

A classic American sandwich gets a makeover: The avocado dressing has an inviting creaminess to it, and the crunchy grilled croutons are a revelation.

A simple Moroccan-spiced aioli is mixed in with the ground turkey to keep the burgers moist and give them tons of flavor. Smoked paprika is available in the spice aisle of most supermarkets.

Shawarma is the Middle Eastern version of a large vertical shish kebab known as doner kebab in Turkey and gyro in Greece. It's made by impaling layers of meat on an oversize spit with a flat base and roasting the meat in an upright rotisserie. There are at least three advantages to this singular method of cooking. The dripping fat bastes the meat below it; the meat is sliced to order (at least it should be) from the outside, which gives every customer a crusty end cut; and because the crusty meat slices are piled on pita bread with fresh vegetables, pickles, and tahini sauce, you get a whole meal—and a healthful one—in a single sandwich. Traditionally, shawarma was made with lamb, but more and more Israeli grill masters use thinly sliced chicken or turkey. Shawarma is easy to prepare if you have a vertical rotisserie, and somewhat more challenging to adapt to the home grill. But direct-grilling the turkey slices does give you a close approximation of the taste and texture of classic shawarma.

Good for Slathering: Pork; chicken, turkey, duck; beef; lamb: It doesn't get any easier than this! And this mop is probably what 90 percent of the competition barbecuers use—with maybe a little beer mixed in for good measure!

All the other kids at school will be jealous when they get a look at these delicious, colorful, healthful wraps.

It's delicious, but even better, it's deconstruct-ible. (You can remove any offensive elements for the kids without sacrificing your own dinner.)

Think of it as an adult happy meal: This hearty bowl provides a healthy dose of mood-improving B vitamins.

This two-in-one indulgence has the irresistible makings of a Cuban sandwich, including Swiss cheese, pickles, and sliced meats—but it’s also dipped in egg batter and fried like a Monte Cristo.

Lean turkey cutlets benefit from a slightly sweet Marsala wine sauce and the twofold richness of prosciutto and Italian Fontina.

This no-cook quickie dinner is less than 18 percent fat. Dig in!

These hand-formed sausage patties, seasoned with holiday spices, might just be the beginning of a new tradition at your house.

Also great made with ground lamb.

To make the most of the turkey's giblets and neck, we first brown them to give the resulting stock (and later, gravy) depth of flavor.