2,800 better recipes

Orange beef stir-fry with crispy battered round steak tossed in a glossy sauce of beef stock, soy sauce, dried red chiles, and caramelized orange zest. Better than takeout in 30 minutes.

Crispy double-fried flank steak tossed with fresh orange peel, jalapeños, and julienned carrots in a tangy soy-sherry glaze. Better than takeout orange beef at home.

Almond slices are loaded with chopped almonds in an oil-based dough and sliced warm. A pareve mandelbrot-style cookie that travels well, keeps for weeks, and gets better with time.

Beef and root vegetable soup made the slow way: a from-scratch stock from meaty soup bones, then simmered with shank meat, barley, turnip, parsnip, and tomato. Hearty, deeply savory, and better the next day.

Better-than-anything cake with German chocolate base soaked in sweetened condensed milk and caramel sauce, topped with whipped topping and crushed Heath or Snickers bars. Make-ahead party cake.

Savoy cabbage rolls stuffed with turkey sausage, rice, scallions, and celery, simmered in a rosemary-thyme tomato sauce. A lighter version of classic stuffed cabbage.

Chilled pasta shells layered with basil pesto, spinach, Roma tomatoes, black olives, and shrimp. This make-ahead Italian pasta salad is a crowd-pleasing potluck star that only gets better as it sits.

White bean chili with turkey, tomatillos, green chiles, and a cilantro yogurt cream. A leaner Southwest twist on red chili that tastes even better the next day.

No-bake chocolate wine balls rolled in sugar, made with crushed vanilla wafers, ground walnuts, honey, and sweet red wine. They get better with age, like a fine confection should.

Italian vegetable stew with eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, bell pepper, and briny black olives. Rustic Southern Italian peasant dish that tastes even better the next day, served hot or at room temperature.

Rice pilaf tossed with Italian dressing, soy sauce, fresh spinach strips, scallions, and crumbled bacon. A make-ahead potluck salad that serves 50 and gets better as it chills.

Cucumber and radish salad marinated in zesty Italian dressing with sweet onion and parsley. Crisp, refreshing and low-carb, it gets better as it chills, a make-ahead side that needs no cooking.

Sliced chicken with broccoli stir-fries cornstarch-velveted chicken with tender-crisp broccoli, ginger, and scallions in 25 minutes. Better than takeout, lighter on oil.

Pickled herring in a sour cream and vinegar marinade with sweet onions. Old-world Scandinavian smorgasbord classic that gets better after a day or two in the fridge.

Venison backstrap sliced into strips, seasoned with garlic and pepper, rolled up, wrapped in bacon, and grilled rare over coals. Looks like filet mignon, eats even better.

A no-cook Southern-style salad with black-eyed peas, chopped ham, celery, red onion, and fresh jalapeño in a tangy red wine vinegar dressing. Ready in minutes, feeds a crowd, and gets better as it sits.