Cardamom

There are many variations on the Middle Eastern milk pudding known as muhallebi, but this one, delicately flavored with cardamom, is especially silky, thanks to arrowroot. It tastes best when served well chilled.

The Original: Poached and shredded chicken mixed with a curry-powder sauce. Our Version: Chicken thighs simmered with cauliflower, tomatoes, and peas, then seasoned with a mix of freshly toasted and ground spices.

To crack the spices, place in a resealable plastic bag and tap with a rolling pin.

Lamb khorma is sensuous curry made by simmering lamb with yogurt and cream and thickening the sauce with a cashew paste. If you can find goat's milk yogurt or sheep's milk yogurt, it will make a discernable difference in this dish.

My friend Marvin Woods taught me everything I know about Low-Country cooking, the regional cuisine commonly referred to as soul food. In many ways, soul food is an apt description because there is a lot of soul and spirit and passion that goes into Low-Country cooking—dishes like she-crab soup, catfish stew, shrimp and grits, red rice, hoppin' John, and baked macaroni and cheese. No Low-Country feast would be complete without corn bread. My version is steamed in a water bath to make the bread nice and moist; covering it with aluminum foil for the last thirty minutes of cooking gives you a nice crust that isn't overly browned. Paired with tomato chutney, it's a light snack or meal on its own.

These delicious cookies are decorated with a sprinkling of raw sugar.

Turkey is a paradise for street-food fans, and when Feniger travels there, she especially loves nibbling on the airy doughnuts soaked in syrup that are offered by many vendors. She made them her own by lacing a basic cream-puff dough with cardamom and cinnamon. Dried rose hips steeped in the syrup add a little texture and tartness to the sticky, fragrant bites.

Enjoyed by millions in India, masala chai, a spiced, sweetened black tea mixed with milk, is now popular around the world. It is sold all over India by chai wallahs, or tea vendors, who pour the tea from big kettles into small cups. Americans have incorrectly shortened the name to chai (which means simply "milk tea"); masala refers to the combination of spices, which often includes cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, pepper, fennel, and star anise. Although there are many chai blends available in supermarkets, making your own is quick and satisfying, and the results are much better.

Here, handsome and crowd-pleasing beef tenderloin is first rubbed with an Indian-inspired combination of spices—cardamom, mustard, and others work in concert with the nuanced heat of black peppercorns—and then seared to form a fragrant, inviting crust. Finishing it in a moderate oven results in a roast that is evenly rosy, juicy, and as delicious as it is beautiful. Like the bulgur with herbs and the bevy of beans and basil , it can be served at room temperature.

In Greek mythology, the quince, with its intoxicating perfume, was the golden apple that Paris gave to Aphrodite, "the fairest of them all." Edward Lear's Owl and Pussy-Cat dined "on mince, and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon." Coming up with a recipe to match the stuff of legend is not the easiest thing in the world, but this ultra-simple creation is delicate and alluringly aromatic. Worthy, in fact, of the goddess of beauty and, served as a compote with a little whipped cream or Greek-style yogurt, suitable for eating with a spoon, runcible or otherwise.

This is a breeze to make: The dough is cut into pretty shapes with a cookie cutter, then layered atop the filling.

This pound cake not only keeps well but also intensifies in flavor over the first day or so. It's delicious toasted or served with ice cream.

Many teas and herbs you savor as beverages can transform your daily beauty routine into a refreshing interlude. Here are three blends made almost entirely from tea, kitchen herbs, and pantry spices. Each blend has a suggested essential oil that will intensify the fragrance.

Test kitchen director Ruth Cousineau, who developed these recipes, says, "For a big dinner, you must include soup. Just don’t make it heavy." Here, she's created a chicken broth infused with the aroma of ginger and cardamom. Petite savory flans, studded with tender chives, lend a light creaminess to each mouthful.

Inspired by a dessert served at Le Bistro Paul Bert, in Paris, we used Indian spices to restyle this elegant classic custard. It takes its French name ("eggs in the snow") from the lightly poached dollops of meringue that top it.

Like cinnamon in this country, cardamom plays a starring role in Algerian sweets. Paired with star anise in a gingery syrup, it gives clementine slices an irresistible aroma, but the syrup would be just as wonderful over any kind of sliced fruit.

If you're stopping at a Greek market for ingredients, grab some butter cookies.

Want to shake up your cookie platter? Simply make a notch in two of these lightly spiced sugar cookies, then interlock them to create an edible sculpture that also makes a beautiful tree ornament.