313 first recipes

Curried pork with sweet potatoes deep-fries sweet potato slices first, then simmers them in a curry-spiced pork stew with ginger, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Asian-inflected curry comfort dish.

Two-layer pie with cinnamon apples baked first, then topped with smooth cream cheese custard. Walnuts add crunch to the bottom layer. Bake at two temperatures for perfect texture.

Award-winning thumbprint cookies with buttery dough rolled in finely chopped nuts, pressed with your thumb, and filled with ruby raspberry jam: elegant holiday baking that won first place.

This dish is very, very hot. It may not seem so at first, but the spices have a cumulative effect that builds up over the course of the meal.

This holiday fruitcake recipe may change your mind about fruitcakes. Golden, buttery, and chock full of fruits and nuts make this delicious from the first bite to the last.

Layered dessert with whole wheat oat crust, butterscotch pudding, spiced apple pie filling, and crunchy bran topping. Bake the crust first, then layer everything and finish in the oven.

A cold seafood pizza appetizer on a flaky crescent roll crust with sour cream spread, shrimp, crab, broccoli, and colorful bell peppers. The potluck crowd-pleaser that vanishes first.

If you're going to meet your loved one's parents for the first time, you should bring this decadent cake that will definetly have them welcoming you into their family!

Maple-flavored smoked turkey brined overnight in salt, brown sugar, maple flavoring, white wine, and spices. A two-stage process: smoke first for flavor, then roast to finish cooking.

Lorraine soup: classic French velvety chicken soup thickened with bread, ground almonds, and egg yolk, finished with cream, nutmeg, and lemon. An old-world first course with silky elegance.

Cream of artichoke and oyster soup poaches plump oysters in butter, then folds them into a tarragon-chervil pureed artichoke veloute finished with cream. Elegant French Creole first course.

Peach and raspberry pie pairs juicy summer peaches with tart raspberries in a flaky double crust. The fruit juices are reduced to a syrup first, so the filling sets thick and glossy instead of runny.

Salmon tempura rolls wrapped in nori with mirin-glazed leeks inside, then flash-fried in rice flour batter. Restaurant-style Japanese crispy salmon roll that shatters into warm, silky salmon at the first bite.

Crispy, thin ginger snaps made the old-fashioned way by boiling molasses and water first. Brown sugar and real ginger give these cookies a deep, spicy bite. Makes 2 dozen.

Fish in horseradish sauce -- This recipe is the first of the 12 dishes that make up the traditional Polish Christmas-eve meal, which is eaten after sundown on Christmas eve.

Ox kidney and fresh mushrooms simmer in rich stock with rice, mustard, and a hint of sugar for this hearty British soup. Soak the kidney first to mellow its flavor.