Steak

These open-faced steak sandwiches are equal parts hearty and elegant. Onions cooked in beer (ales are best) partner well with meaty rib eye, and thick toasted slices of sourdough soak up the yummy juices of both. We love this speedy skillet supper with a cup of tomato soup and a light green salad served alongside. And don’t be afraid to add a sprinkle of freshly grated aged Parmesan; a hit of salty cheese will only improve what’s already a knockout dish.

Filet mignon gets a Southwestern twist from Cucina Rustica restaurant in Sedona, Arizona, with smoky chipotle chiles amping up the creamy Gorgonzola and shiitake mushroom sauce. Any leftover steak and sauce makes a delicious sandwich on crusty bread with peppery arugula.

When an amazing necklace meets a little black dress, or when a red silk tie meets a gray flannel suit, something basic is magically transformed into something stylish and memorable. Just so with the seared tomatoes that top off this delicious steak dinner. The bright summery topping makes a chunky, natural sauce for the steak and creates a meal that’s more than the sum of its parts.

With just a few ingredients, many of which are probably already in your pantry, you get a satisfying and flavor-packed meal with this steak and slaw combo. Red jalapeños are simply the ripe form of the green ones, and either version works in this slaw. If you’re nervous about the heat, remove the seeds and veins from the peppers or use one instead of two. Serranos make a spicier substitute.

The bold pairing of sharp, salty Parmesan with a sweet vinegar and brown-sugar glaze transcends any steak lover’s expectations. Both the butter and the glaze boost the juiciness of the meat, while peppery arugula sets a light and refreshing backdrop. Feel free to substitute your preferred cut of meat, and finish the plate with a baked sweet potato.

Master the art and science of meat preparation with this simple recipe from Aidells Sausage founder Bruce Aidells. He starts with grass-fed boneless rib eye and a simple soy-sauce marinade. But the secret to this meat’s success is the porcini-focused spice rub. Dress it up with Wild Mushroom–Potato Gratin (page 272) or down with fries and beer on a Friday night in.

If you're looking for fresh hits of color and crunch for the buffet, here's your answer.

Tim Love, Woodshed Smokehouse, Fort Worth, TX: "Charred mustard and citrus make for a great combo, especially when combined with a marbled steak."

A great summer salad requires three things: fresh greens, a tart, seasonal dressing (made here with grated tomato), and a light hand to toss the ingredients together so the lettuces stay perky.

Pelaccio flips the kebab script by cubing luxurious cuts of steak and marinating them in coconut milk, garlic, and chiles. Try this with tri-tip, top sirloin cap steak, or rib eye; just make sure a strip of fat is still intact; you'll use it to thread onto the skewers.

An assertive wet rub gives these steaks a nice crust on the grill. And the spice from the meat pairs with the pungency of the tapenade to play deliciously against the tomatoes and watercress. (Bonus: The tapenade is great on fish, chicken, and, well, anything savory.)

This steak tastes best when marinated overnight, so try to start the recipe a day ahead.

The bite of mustard and the char of the grill amp up the flavor of tender but mild-tasting filet mignon. Be sure to have all the sauce ingredients ready to go before starting the meat. For perfect timing, add the cream to the sauce while the steaks are resting; they'll be done at the same time.

The secret to this flavorful sauce, which is delicious with almost all grilled meat and fish, is to use any herb that looks good at the market. Just be sure to include parsley: It gives the salsa backbone.

Steaks this thick need a two-step cooking process. Give them a good sear on the stove-top, then transfer them to the oven to allow the inside to finish cooking without burning the outside. Ask your butcher to french the bones by removing excess fat and muscle, if desired.

You can eat this dish right when you make it or serve it an hour or two later at room temperature; the heat of the pasta will warm up the sweet balsamic vinegar and wilt the arugula. It transports quite well, making it a good choice for picnics or buffet spreads.

A papaya salsa with fiery Scotch bonnet chiles makes a colorful—and spicy—condiment for grilled steak. The salsa also goes well with grilled fish, particularly snapper. For less heat, seed the chiles before slicing them.

The “aha!” moment when I thought to combine porcini and grilled beef with chiles came to me in Argentina, home of the world’s best grilled beef. Specifically, I was in Mendoza, the capital of Argentina’s wine country and settled by Italian immigrants in the nineteenth century—probably why beef with porcinis is such a common pairing there. This dish is delicious prepared outdoors over a wood-fired grill, but you can also cook it stovetop on a cast-iron griddle or ridged grill pan. Look for porcini powder at specialty food stores or buy dried porcinis and grind them yourself in a spice grinder.

The first time I had these tacos was as a teenager on a working ranch owned by family friends outside of Guadalajara. A cadre of cooks from the same family—grandmother, mother, daughter—ran the kitchen. I was fascinated by how they used a comal set over a wood fire to dry-roast the tomatoes. I had never seen tomatoes cooked that way, nor had I ever stood before a live fire in a kitchen, with its bright, dancing flames and the crackling of the wood. The smoky, earthy atmosphere of that kitchen permeated the sauce made with supersweet tomatoes, vibrant onions and garlic, fiery chiles, and aromatic cilantro—so different from any other tomato sauce I’d ever eaten, such a different world of flavors and techniques. That day was one of the transformational moments in my cooking life.

Skirt steak (carne de falda) is a terrific and inexpensive cut for grilling, probably the best for quickly cooked, juicy steaks. For breakfast and lunch all over Mexico, you see them as huge, thin steaks that practically cover the whole plate, but they’re really only about six to eight ounces of beef. It’s called skirt steak because it’s from an area along the outside of the belly of the cow—where a skirt would sit (if cows wore skirts). It’s a perfect cut for tacos and fajitas, but be sure to slice against the grain for juicier pieces. The fat on skirt steak is what makes it so tasty, but the meat should not be too fatty—no more than one-quarter covered with a thin layer of fat. Remove any excess. Note that the meat must marinate overnight. You can also cook the meat indoors on a ridged stovetop grill over very high heat, 2 minutes per side.