Dri… recipes

Boiled speckled trout poached in a fragrant court bouillon of cloves, allspice, thyme, bay leaf, and dried red pepper. A heritage Louisiana recipe served with drawn butter.

Sweet pickles brine cucumber chunks overnight, then bring them to a boil in apple cider vinegar with sugar, turmeric, mustard seed, allspice, and celery seed. Eight pints of golden, crunchy pickles by tomorrow.

Traditional yeast-raised kolachky filled with spiced prune lekvar, folded at the corners so the filling peeks through, then dusted with powdered sugar. An old-world Polish and Czech holiday pastry.

USDA-style beef loaf for a crowd: makes four 8-inch loaves with milk-soaked bread, eggs, ketchup and Worcestershire. Bake all four, freeze three. Government-tested batch cooking at its most practical.

Sweet and tangy homemade BBQ sauce with brown sugar, chili sauce, lemon juice, and dry mustard. Simmers in 30 minutes and pairs with chicken, pork, or sausages.

Stuffed cheese pizza: Chicago-style deep dish with whole wheat crust hiding mozzarella and broccoli between two layers, topped with pizza sauce at the end. Inside-out flavor.

Cinnamon apple popcorn with dried apples, pecan halves, brown sugar butter, nutmeg, and vanilla. Baked low and slow for a crispy, spiced snack mix.

Cheesy pull-apart bread made with refrigerator biscuits, cheddar, bacon bits, peppers, and pimentos. A 20-minute crowd-pleasing appetizer or side.

Cheese buns baked in a muffin tin with sharp cheddar spread kneaded right into the yeast dough. Golden, tangy, and quicker than most dinner rolls with only one rise.

Crispy browned SPAM meets crunchy broccoli, sharp cheddar, peppery radishes, and toasted pecans in a tangy white wine vinaigrette. Chill for an hour and this hearty salad is ready to steal the show at any potluck.

Honey-nut ladder loaf bread made in just 60 minutes with rapid-rise yeast. A braided bread filled with almonds, raisins, coconut, honey, and cinnamon.

Homemade yeasted rolls swirled with melted chocolate chips and pecans, baked upside-down on a buttery brown sugar caramel. Flip them out onto a platter and watch that sticky, glossy topping drip down the sides. Chocolate meets sticky buns.

Hearty peasant bread with rye flour, bran, cornmeal, and caraway seeds bound by molasses and yeast. A rustic two-loaf yeast bread that holds up to butter and stew.

Raisin bran bread is a soft brown sugar yeast loaf that uses your morning cereal as the secret ingredient. Bread machine or hand-shaped, this bakes up tender with embedded raisins and a hint of bran nuttiness.

Traditional Christmas stollen with candied citron, cherries, almonds, raisins, and lemon zest folded into a rich, buttery yeast dough shaped into crescents and drizzled with icing.

Russian-style black bread with rye flour, dark molasses, unsweetened chocolate, and bran. A dense, dark-crumbed yeast loaf for hearty sandwiches and slathering with butter. Makes two loaves.