Alcohol

One of our favorite spring ingredients— rhubarb—shines in this dessert. The compote can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold.

A flavorful light supper or first course.

Wine and dried fruit bring a sweet richness to this humble cut of meat.

Serve with toasted country bread.

An elegant meal for four that requires only 20 minutes active time? That's our kind of dinner. This creamy, comforting dish is just the type of thing you crave on a blustery March night. Because aged vin jaune can be hard to come by in the United States, we substituted a two-year-old Savagnin (with a flavor similar to a dry Sherry) and were very happy with the results.

Calvados—Normandy's celebrated apple-cider brandy—is heady stuff, and by that we mean it has the power to transport you to a French bistro or farmhouse kitchen. This digestif-and-dessert combination would be sensational after a roast pork dinner.

Leave it to the French to come up with the classiest way of doing an ice cream sundae. Hide the grown-up coffee ice cream inside a crisp puff of pastry (the same dough that cream puffs are made from), then drizzle it with full-bodied chocolate sauce.

Tricked out with shoestring fries, this is a time-honored rendition of steak frites—meat and potatoes à la française. A rich sauce on the side enhances the already flavorful well-marbled meat.

Beurre blanc—the classic French butter sauce—is a cinch to prepare and has a tendency to make just about anything taste better. This take on it uses the scallops' juices to add complexity.

Eau-de-vie, or fruit brandy, an Alsatian specialty, is used to great effect in this dish, bringing out the subtle nuances in the pears. A custardy, brandied layer over the tender fruit, along with a nutty topping, gives this tart a complex yet homey air.

While there's no substitute for eating a bowl of mussels on France's Atlantic coast, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to re-create this briny, aromatic dish at home.

Though coq au vin made with red wine is perhaps the best-known incarnation of the French dish in this country, most regions of France have unique versions that take advantage of local wines. Alsace's dry Riesling lends a gentle richness to this creamy, comforting meal.

This dish takes the best of traditional choucroute garni—smoked pork married to sauerkraut that's had its bite removed by being simmered in wine with bay and juniper—and lightens it up, pairing it with another Alsatian favorite, trout, and transforming a stick-to-the-ribs dish into something fit for a first course. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how the slight acidity of the kraut and the smokiness of the bacon play up, rather than dominate, the fish's clean flavor.

Everybody is familiar with lamb chops and leg of lamb—but how about the shoulder? When is that used? Well, here I give you the recipe for a roasted lamb shoulder—and you will see why it is my favorite cut for roasting. The meat is sweeter on the blade bone, and, with lots of cartilage to melt during roasting, the meat is finger-sticking good. You might not get a clean, precise cut of meat from the shoulder, but it will be delicious.

Brandy and apricots amp up the flavor of these fritters. The finishing touch? A dark-chocolate sauce.