155 porch recipes

Cold white-cut pork is a Cantonese classic: boneless pork leg gently poached with ginger, scallions, and rice wine, then ice-shocked and chilled. Sliced paper-thin for dipping in soy or chili oil.

Pears Helene is a classic French dessert of poached pear halves served with hot chocolate sauce and optional vanilla ice cream and chopped almonds. Elegant, timeless, and surprisingly simple to make at home.

Oysters au champagne is a classic French appetizer: fresh oysters poached in champagne and oyster liquor with garlic butter, plated over a bed of wilted spinach, and cloaked in a silky roux sauce.

Laksa lemak with thick rice noodles, shrimp, bean sprouts, and cucumber in a rich coconut curry broth. A classic Malaysian noodle soup where the shrimp poaching liquid becomes the base of the laksa gravy.

Deep-dish chicken pie from scratch with poached chicken, carrots, celery, baby lima beans, and mushrooms in a creamy half-and-half sauce, under a hand-rolled egg-washed pastry lid. Sunday supper royalty.

Steamed salmon in orange-tomato sauce poaches skinless salmon fillets over a bright reduction of orange juice, white wine, garlic, and plum tomatoes, perfumed with fresh basil. A light, low-fat 35-minute weeknight dinner.

Florida-style garlic soup pours boiling chicken broth over toasted French bread and crushed garlic, then poaches a whole egg right in the bowl. A quick Spanish-inspired sopa de ajo ready in 10 minutes.

Seafood crepes stuff thin pancakes with poached monkfish, scallops, and shrimp bound in a garlic-infused Gruyère cream sauce, then bake until bubbling. A French bistro starter or light luncheon dish that punches well above its ingredient list.

Golden Wardens are whole pears poached slowly in honey, white grape juice, and lemon until the syrup turns burnished and the fruit collapses to butter-soft. An English heritage dessert built for the hardest, most stubborn pears.

Fresh figs poached in port and creme de cassis, the wine reduced to a glossy syrup, served over vanilla frozen yogurt. An elegant, low-fat dessert with deep berry and fig flavor from just a few ingredients.

Creamy chicken wild rice soup made from scratch with homemade broth, earthy mushrooms, and fresh thyme. A lighter take on the Midwestern classic with sour cream stirred in for velvety richness.