5 Ingredients or Fewer

Requesón is a salty, spreadable Mexican cheese that tastes like a creamier, more acidic version of ricotta. Making it from scratch is easy: You curdle milk with vinegar or another acid such as lime juice, and then warm it and watch the curds form. Most street vendors use it as a tlacoyo filling, but you can use requesón for all sorts of things—stirred into scrambled eggs and tomatoes, smeared into a corn tortilla with salsa, or spread onto a piece of toast with honey or mixed in a dip of fresh herbs and olive oil.

Avocado leaves are the aroma of Oaxaca, and they are the main flavor in this indispensable staple. So many things can be created out of this little bean paste flavored with anise-y avocado tree leaves. It is the base for memelas, tlayudas, molletes, enfrijoladas, and so much more. Growing up, we stopped at the market in Tlacolula—a small village located near Oaxaca City—just to buy the paste, already made, in little plastic bags. You buy some tasajo, you grill it, you get some fresh tlayudas, some salsa, and then you spread some of this paste all over your tortilla like it is a savory cake frosting.

Chances are, if you're not Oaxaqueño and grew up in this last generation in Mexico or the United States, you’ve probably been taught to think that pork fat like aciento—Oaxacan-style chicharrón paste—is not good for you, and that you should always cook and eat things made with a plant-based oil instead. It’s normal to think this way. That is, until you go to Oaxaca and see that aciento is a way of life and that a lot of elders live to be more than one hundred years old eating the stuff on a daily basis. You’ll also realize that it is amazingly flavorful and really completes a lot of masa-based Oaxacan dishes such as tlayudas, memelas, empanadas, and chochoyotes. Think of it as a Oaxacan brown butter. If you do it right, it should taste nutty and toasty, not like lard or like fat. I also understand that a lot of people may not have the time to properly render chicharrón into a paste, so this shortcut version using olive oil is much quicker and tastes almost as good. If you can’t find or don’t have access to fresh chicharrón, American-style pork rinds also work well.

Instant potatoes turn gnocchi-making into a breezy, 15-minute affair rather than an hours-long commitment.

This makes enough strawberry glaze for one full recipe of gem cakes; you can halve the recipe if you’d like an assortment of flavors.

This refreshing pick-me-up, made with rye, sherry, and crisp cold-brewed black tea, is slightly nutty, slightly malty, tart and thirst-quenching.

A tart and fragrant rum refresher bursting with lime and pineapple juices and brightened by fresh strawberry. This cocktail gets nice foam on top without any eggwhite—the fresh pineapple froths up beautifully.

This fresh, tangy, tropical-style cocktail plays up the rich rum finish in Angel’s Envy Rye, without overpowering the whiskey’s spice.

White port and tonic can handle all sorts of garnishes—I tinker happily with thyme, basil, mint or even cinnamon; but I love the rasping austerity of rosemary. Lemon is always my citrus of choice.

Manhattanesque in both composition and deliciousness, this whiskey and sherry welcomes swapping in bourbon if you prefer your drink a little sweeter.

The dressing was a crowd-pleasing sweet onion recipe that we’d used at Old Lahaina Luau. It's made with a fresh, uncooked sweet onion, that gets puréed with cider vinegar, sugar, Dijon mustard, and oil. Try it on our Maui Kale Salad with cabbage and spicy peanuts.

The collar is one of my favorite parts of the fish. Baste it with naturally sweet and salty flavor from briny kombu and dark sweet prunes. The briny and sweet sauce is easy to make ahead and store in the refrigerator. The collars of a large fish, such as cod, is the part between the head and the body; it has a (healthy omega-3) fatty richness that is ultra-satisfying. 

The liberal spoonful of Chakalaka (spicy vegetable relish) makes these extra special. If you don’t have a jar of it in your fridge, you can use any type of relish or chutney.

This cucumber salad is a staple dish in my household. I am not sure why it is so satisfying, but I’m inclined to think it’s its simplicity.

Miso gives this take on the classic Roman pecorino-and-pepper pasta an extra savory, satisfying bite. You can make your own fresh noodles at home, or use store-bought.

Making noodles by hand is a fulfilling cooking project. The results are perfectly chewy noodles, even with ragged edges and imperfect lines.

This luscious drink gives hot chocolate a run for its money. Really caramelizing the sugar keeps the drink from tasting cloyingly sweet. Add a glug of good rum or skip it as desired.

Traditionally these banana fritters are sweetened with a syrup made from gur or jaggery, which gives them a musky aroma and a dark brown color. This version uses maple syrup, which hits many of the same notes as those sweeteners. These fritters are fluffy and tender on the inside, crispy and craggy on the outside.

This creamy, frozen Indian dessert gets its flavor from finely ground pistachios and a pinch of floral, earthy saffron.

These pistachio- and almond-studded sweets are made with semolina and ghee. Eat the halva hot and soft out of the frying pan, or press it into a cake tin and cut it into squares.