Meats recipes

Ham rolls with grapes and tomato cream sauce is an elegant little main: thin ham rolled and warmed, then napped in a silky strained tomato cream studded with wine-poached green grapes. Bistro flair, surprisingly simple.

Braised duck with chestnuts in a syrupy orange and red currant sauce, built on homemade duck stock and fresh thyme. A rustic European classic that's pure cold-weather comfort.

Freezer-friendly sweet and sour pork with pineapple, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, and a tangy soy-vinegar sauce. Make-ahead Chinese-American takeout classic that reheats like new.

Lion's Head pork meatballs: oversized Shanghai-style pork meatballs with water chestnuts nestled over braised Napa cabbage. Classic Chinese Jiangsu dish where the meatballs resemble a lion's mane atop a bed of greens.

Lamb shoulder in pastry, a British-style boneless lamb roast wrapped in flaky pastry and baked golden. A traditional Sunday-dinner centerpiece with countryside roots.

Sizzling beef fajitas with lime-Worcestershire marinated steak, charred peppers, onions, and warm tortillas. Tex-Mex grill night with serrano heat.

Broiled sirloin steak sliced thin and topped with fresh apricot relish simmered with red onion, rice vinegar, and Chinese five spice.

Orange-glazed ham for two in 10 minutes flat: sliced cooked ham and celery microwaved with mandarin oranges in a quick cornstarch-thickened ginger sauce. Weeknight dinner, dorm-room friendly.

Pork cutlets with apples and cider cream sauce, seared fast in butter then finished with shallots, sliced apples, and a flour-thickened cider-beef-broth reduction. French-style bistro pork.

Molasses barbecued ribs get a salt-vinegar brine soak, then a grill basting of dark molasses sauce loaded with onion, pepper, celery, tomato, cloves and allspice. Smoky, tangy, sticky, and built for summer.

Morisqueta con chorizo: a rustic Mexican dry-rice dish with crumbled chorizo, sauteed onion, and fresh tomato folded through steamed rice. Five ingredients, classic Michoacan peasant food.

Pennsylvania Dutch sauerbraten with chuck roast bacon-larded, vinegar-marinated for days, then pot-roasted with cloves and allspice for an almost-black sweet-sour gravy.

Medallions of Veal with Pistachio Butter Sauce recipe

Grilled butterflied leg of lamb marinated in red wine vinegar, garlic, and red pepper flakes, served with a briny olive relish. A Mediterranean centerpiece for spring entertaining.

Homemade sweet Italian sausage with ground pork, fennel, coriander, garlic, and parsley. No casings, no special equipment. Mix, shape, and cook or freeze for up to three months.

Beef scallops with fresh tomato sauce: top round steak pounded paper-thin, pan-seared, then napped with a quick sauce of fresh tomatoes, green onions, and basil. The Italian veal-scaloppini technique applied to budget beef.