Steve Subera, Recipe Tester

This traditional and incendiary Thai condiment has incited quite the following. Here’s how to save yourself a trip to your local Asian market.

A little spicy, salty, and sweet and altogether satisfying. A weeknight salvation when you need dinner pronto but you want something that’s not predictable or boring.

Don’t let these delicate, diminutive cakes with the froufrou French name fool you. They’re a cinch to toss in the oven–and even easier to toss in the mouth.

These pearl-like couscous are cooked in chicken stock for extra flavor and tossed with peas, mint, parsley, and lemon zest. A simple, yet elegant, side dish.

Like the classic, these sponge cakes are crammed to almost bursting with irresistibly sweet, fluffy, creamy goodness—but minus the chemicals and other abominations.

A winter classic made with navy beans, a ham hock, and a handful of pantry ingredients that somehow meld together into a sum that’s far, far superlative to its parts.

One of the most beloved—and most commonly ordered—Chinese dishes in America, this quick stir-fry makes simple seem superlative.

Tastes just like what they slide in front of you at trattorias in Italy, with someone’s nonna in back rolling out sheets of fresh pasta, upper arms jiggling.

These Southern-style biscuits are just the thing for almost any occasion. Go on, we dare you. Try to think of a time you wouldn’t want them. (See what we mean?!)

Made with half whole wheat flour and half white flour, these pancakes are light and fluffy and improbably enticing for something that actually has redeeming nutritional qualities.