Cookbooks

Peach pie is such a happy pie. Maybe because peaches are in season during the summer, peach pie seems to call out for taking it easy and enjoying the day.

A&M: When Amy N-B told her husband that she came up with this dish as an homage to a simple French peasant dinner, he teased her: "What peasants eat Bucheron cheese and drink Muscadet with their beets?" "Um, French ones?" Well, in our next life, we'd like to be French peasants, or at least eat like them. We have a soft spot for beet recipes that utilize both the sweet root and minerally tops. Here, Amy N-B has you caramelize slices of yellow and red beets (we used four large beets total; might do three next time) and then add a mix of beet tops and Swiss chard, cooking them just enough to wilt. You'll love the dish at this point, but you'll be riveted if you serve it with a soft Bucheron and good country bread.

We serve a lot of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. People love the moist cake with the creamy frosting—and, from our informal polling, our customers prefer their carrot cake without raisins or nuts and with lots of cream cheese frosting!

I can't imagine anything more appealing on a blustery day than a big serving of this ambrosial stew. It's great for potlucks and outdoor get-togethers because it's easily transportable and there is nothing to add.

This dip is a perennial hit. The last time I made it guests practically licked the bowl.

This tasty chili, which has just a hint of heat, is perfect for family get-togethers. Add a tossed green salad, sprinkled with shredded carrots, and whole-grain rolls.

I like this seafood stuffing far better than the usual meat stuffing: it's surprisingly light and refined. If you want your cabbage rolls to look as pretty as ours do, make sure to use Savoy cabbage, then trim the cabbage leaves so they lie flat. Right after you blanch the leaves, lay each leaf, rib side up, on a cutting board and slice off the thick center rib. By removing the excess, you'll be able to roll the cabbage leaves tighter and more uniform-looking.

Venison shoulder is the perfect cut for this dish because its lean meat and tough but tasty muscles respond perfectly to a slow braise. If you have difficulty finding a shoulder, use venison shanks instead. They'll need to cook perhaps 30 minutes longer, but they're delicious and worth the wait.

The basic method of making risotto will never change; you cook the rice slowly and add broth gradually, so the starchy inside of the rice kernel expands as the outside layer dissolves into creaminess. Risotto feeds the soul and can take a whole range of flavors. I like the pumpkin risotto here, but try a shrimp risotto using shellfish broth, adding a pound of peeled shrimp at the last minute and letting them cook no more than 5 minutes. Or how about a green risotto, with a bunch of watercress or a few handfuls of spinach, chopped fine? Or a mushroom risotto with a pound of sliced fresh mushrooms added to the dried porcini mushrooms. Keep in mind that there's a lot of bad risotto out there, usually because folks overcook it or add too much wine. But if you do have some white wine open, add a splash or two to the rice and onions, just before you ladle in the broth. It gives yet another dimension of flavor.

Editor's note: Chef Donald Link of New Orleans restaurants Cochon and Herbsaint, shared this recipe as part of a special Mardi Gras celebration he created for Epicurious. Use the spice mix to make his Link Family Crawfish Boil. When I'm at home and want to cook something quick and easy, I love having this blend in my cabinet so I don't have to fish out a bunch of spices. There is no salt in this mix, so be sure to add salt to whatever you are cooking. (I do the salt separately because some food needs more of it than others.) I use this mix for everything from fish fillets to jambalaya.
For the record, I let a few people call me Donnie—my cousin Billy Boy, Richard Reddington, Grandma Hammack, and my coauthor, Paula. It was the latter who named this recipe.

This all-purpose bread makes great sandwiches and toast and is the basis for the Apple Caramel Monkey Bread . It was inspired out of necessity, for who among us doesn't need a great sandwich bread? This is a staple in my kitchen.

This pull-apart bread, also called bubble bread, was inspired by a photo of Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread in the King Arthur Flour's Baker's Catalogue. This bread looks just like the KAF version and tastes outrageous—not too sweet with a pleasing amount of caramel.

Based on the classic pâté à choux or cream puff pastry from my culinary school days, this elegant and easy appetizer can be made ahead. It can be prepared dairy-free, too, but egg substitutes won't work as the eggs are necessary to help create the structure of these bite-size treats.

Editor's note: Chef Donald Link of New Orleans restaurants Cochon and Herbsaint, shared this recipe as part of a special Mardi Gras celebration he created for Epicurious. Crawfish boils are the greatest outdoor cooking events in southern Louisiana, and they epitomize our way of life. These giant parties for adults and kids are all about having a good time, being with friends and family, and eating local food.
To boil crawfish you need to have the proper setup—namely a propane tank, a stand to put the pot on, and a very large pot (crawfish are sold in 40-pound sacks). The pot needs to be fitted with a basket so you can pull the crawfish out and add more.
My cousin Billy's crawfish are, hands down, the best I've ever tasted. When it comes to cooking crawfish, though, we aren't in total agreement. I like to soak the crawfish in their spicy cooking water; Billy doesn't. Some people prefer to drain the crawfish after they've been soaking in the spicy water for just 5 minutes, then dump them into an ice chest, and season the outside of the crawfish shells heavily. This method keeps the meat from getting overcooked, but the spices end up on your hands, not in the meat. To my mind, "marinating" the cooked crawfish in their cooking liquid allows more of the spice and salt to be absorbed by the meat and creates more juice in the heads. (Sucking the juice from the head before you eat the tail is the proper way to eat boiled crawfish.)
Though no self-respecting party in Cajun Country would cook fewer than two or three sacks, I've given a smaller recipe here.

Editor's note: Chef Donald Link of New Orleans restaurants Cochon and Herbsaint, shared this recipe as part of a special Mardi Gras celebration he created for Epicurious. Chocolate Yummy might not be part of your dessert vernacular, but in Cajun Country, everybody knows what this dish is. The "yummy" architecture begins with a base of crumbled cookies (usually store-bought), followed by layers of sweetened cream cheese, chocolate pudding, and Cool Whip. I have a few aunts who specialize in this dessert, so it never fails to conjure up memories of family get-togethers. This is the type of dessert that someone pulls out of the fridge after a big meal or cookout, and even when guests think they're too full, they find themselves polishing off a portion of yummy.
Here is a grown-up version that's a bit more sophisticated, because I have lost my taste for the super-sweet original. Here, a rich pecan shortbread base is topped with cream cheese, a silky pudding made with dark chocolate, and fresh whipped cream. I'm pretty sure it would even win my aunts' approval.

Editor's note: Chef Donald Link of New Orleans restaurants Cochon and Herbsaint, shared this recipe as part of a special Mardi Gras celebration he created for Epicurious. Boudin, the king of Cajun food, is my favorite thing in the world to eat. It is a unique food in that it can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, or car food. Whereas most of the country might show up at a morning get-together with donuts, we show up with boudin. And no two boudins are exactly alike—that's amazing, considering they all have basically the same ingredients of rice and pork.
One of the best boudins I've had is made by my cousin Bubba Frey, who owns the Mowata General Store in the heart of the German settlement between the Link and Zaunbrecher rice fields, but all my cousins down there make their own boudin. One cousin told me that meat from the temple of the pig's head makes the best boudin, while another claims that a combination of hog jowl and shoulder meat is the secret. The truth is, they are all good.
This recipe combines elements from all of the different boudins I've eaten in my day. There's liver in it but just enough, it's nicely spiced but won’t burn your mouth, and it has the perfect amount of rice.

This challah has so many things going for it: the dough is very easy to work with, the braids are gorgeous, and the fine-crumbed texture is to die for. There’s just a little sugar in this egg-rich dough, which means it works just as well for sandwiches as well as for bread pudding. My favorite use is in French toast! You might want to save this recipe for a weekend, because the first step requires an overnight rest in the refrigerator—it takes a little longer but gives the bread a more complex flavor.

You’d think that a recipe for bread and butter and salt would be unnecessary. But I truly believe that one of life’s greatest eating pleasures consists of a loaf of wonderful crusty bread, sweet butter or olive oil, and salt. Those three components, eaten with your hands and shared among friends, truly is a sustaining combination. The country loaf from Tartine is pictured.

These green-and-red-studded biscotti look vaguely Christmassy but are good any time of year. Feel free to swap in other nuts or dried fruit—this combo is particularly pretty but you could use golden raisins, almonds, or hazelnuts as well. To make the biscotti even more decadent, dip in melted chocolate.