Recipes

These smoky braised-lamb tamales, favorite at event producer Paola Briseño González's holiday tamale parties, get a pop of freshness from bright cilantro-onion relish, while a wrapper of banana leaves perfumes the masa with a softly sweet aroma as they steam. The banana leaf wrappers also yield tamales with a dense, custard-like texture. The rich, slow-cooked flavor of lamb shanks is the perfect partner for the intense smokiness of morita chiles; substitute chipotles in a pinch.

I received this royal icing recipe with corn syrup from a professional baker. I prefer to use this instead of a regular royal icing recipe with egg whites. It hardens nicely and is glossy rather than matte, like regular royal icing.

At Chicago's Bayan Ko, chef Lawrence Letrero and his wife and partner Raquel Quadreny meld his Filipino and her Cuban heritages in each plate of food. Their intentions come together perfectly in this lechon, featuring pork belly meltingly tender underneath a crispy crust. The crunchy atchara, a pickled papaya salad, balances the richness of the pork with spicy, salty, acidic and fresh notes, while the sweet-sour dipping sauce pulls all the flavors together. The atchara will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of months; use any leftover to add a tart kick to tacos and sandwiches.

This creamy mascarpone frosting is incredibly versatile and can be used to decorate various desserts.

These Mad Genius tips for poaching eggs in advance make Eggs Benedict easy to pull off for a crowd.

Cookbook author Melissa Clark takes inspiration from Caesar salad in this quinoa bowl, which includes a soft runny egg and a lemony, cheese-spiked dressing. It’s one of the best grain bowls we’ve ever had.