104 master recipes

Classic French omelette cooks two beaten eggs in foaming butter over high heat, rolled and folded around a stripe of grated cheese. The benchmark breakfast technique that every cook should master in under five minutes.

Swedish veal roulades with a ground veal and mashed potato filling, rolled around paper-thin leeks and browned in butter. Finished with a quick cream pan sauce, these are a classic Scandinavian main dish worth mastering.

Classic French red wine sauce for salmon made with fish stock, mirepoix, shallots, and multiple reductions. This elegant sauce from a master chef requires precision and patience.

Master method for cooking duck: first steam to render fat and tenderize, then roast at moderate heat for crisp skin. The two-stage technique pros use for perfectly rendered, crackling-skinned duck.

Polenta pasticciata layers firm cooled polenta squares with porcini-spiked beef ragù, plum tomatoes, and grated pecorino into a rustic Northern Italian bake. Lasagne, but with cornmeal instead of pasta.

Barb's special sweet bread dough Part I. A laminated yeasted dough folded with butter in three turns, the master base for danishes, kringles, and filled pastries. Family recipe from 1850s tradition.

Nut butter cookie dough folds toasted, finely ground pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, or almonds into a master holiday butter cookie base. Shape it into Linzer cookies, Viennese crescents, cut-outs, or thumbprints.

Turkey wings simmered until fall-off-the-bone tender with celery, onions, and green pepper in a rich, homemade gravy thickened with flour. Old-school comfort food that fills the house with the most incredible aroma.

This is a good "guest" food. You can appear to have mastered esoteric Oriental cooking techniques without ever having actually prepared the dish before... Unless you drop the pot on the kitchen floor and set it on fire with the hot salt, it's a pretty foolproof cooking technique.

This recipe is very easy and fun to make. And it’s a kid friendly recipe. Try it.

Lemon herb lamb roast rubbed with lemon zest, rosemary, and thyme, served with a tangy yogurt pan sauce. Boneless leg of lamb roasted to a rosy medium for Easter or Sunday supper.

Cwikla is a traditional Polish pickled beet relish with horseradish, cloves, and vinegar. A staple on the Easter and Christmas table.

Roast stuffed leg of lamb rubbed with garlic and rosemary, finished with a red wine pan sauce of tomatoes and olives. A centerpiece roast for Sunday or Easter dinner.

Eccles cakes pack currants, mixed peel and warming spice inside flaky rough puff pastry, glazed with milk and crunchy caster sugar. Classic Lancashire teatime pastry from northwest England.

Homemade chocolate covered peanut butter eggs with a sweet brown sugar filling dipped in melted chocolate. A no-bake Easter candy made from scratch.

Spring vegetable medley simmers red potatoes, carrots, asparagus, and zucchini until crisp-tender, then tosses them in a tangy Dijon-thyme butter. A bright, easy side for any spring or Easter table.