Cabbage

This extra-crispy sandwich gets a double hit of heat from a tangy Tabasco brine and a cayenne-spiked coating.

You can stuff this slawlike salad inside your pita, or eat it on its own.

This recipe comes from New York chef Deuki Hong's father and has origins in North Korea, the ancestral home of mandu. (Sharing a border with China, it is no coincidence that mandu sounds a lot like the Chinese word for steamed bread, mantou.) Unlike versions stuffed with finely chopped kimchi, Deuki grew up eating mandu with kimchi on the side. The star in this recipe is the very generous quantity of butter, which is mixed in with the pork, garlic and ginger and adds a real-deal richness to each bite. Not typically used in East Asian cooking, butter is a fully Americanized, fully awesome way to rethink the mandu.

"Oven-fried" fish fingers, coated in panko and pumpkin seeds, are the perfect taco filling.

Brining these fries in a salt-and-cabbage solution seasons them and, as they start to lightly ferment, infuses them with a slight tang. Think salt-and-vinegar chips and you get the right idea.

The quick route to awesome crispy chicken sandwiches: pound the chicken, dredge in panko, cook just a few minutes, and pair with a vinegary slaw.

Once you try the combination of tangy and smoky flavors of pickled, grilled cabbage, you'll always want to make your slaw this way.

The usual slaw suspects get a modern upgrade thanks to a salty-cheesy walnut pesto.

Collards really cook down a lot, so don't be fooled into buying some puny little bunch. I like my collards on the smaller, younger side of life. (The younger the collards, the shorter the cooking time.) The addition of kimchi gives the classic creamed greens an umami bite that I adore.

I love kimchi. To me, the world is a better place when we all enjoy kimchi. Fiery and fun, it gives a kick to all food.

Okay, fine, you've never heard of baobab—but that's about to change. (Remember when no one knew how to pronounce quinoa?) You'll find the powder from the tangy superfruit stocked at the health food store.

We're into the ruffles-on-ruffles look you get from using reginetti noodles and Savoy cabbage, but any short pasta and green cabbage can be used in their place.

As any deli aficionado will tell you, shredded lettuce—especially iceberg—is a glorious thing.