Fall

Pork shoulder is my hands-down favorite cut of meat. Studded with garlic, it makes a succulent roast for dinner with enough for sandwiches the next day; and braised with a few flavorful ingredients, it creates its own sauce. Hard cider brings acidity to the sweetness of regular cider and apples.

Browning butter is one of the fastest, simplest ways of creating deep, satisfying flavor. Removing the leaves from Brussels sprouts allows them to cook quickly and evenly, avoiding the overcooking and resulting mushiness that many associate with the vegetable.

Candy roaster pie has been an Appalachian Thanksgiving tradition for a hundred years. The term describes several varieties of large super-sweet winter squash. Many are so big—thirty pounds or more—that some farmers sell them at the market already cut into wedges. Any dense eating pumpkin or winter squash works well here.

Use small organic pumpkins or squashes. Before peeling, taste their skins. If they are very tender, they can be left on. Pickled pumpkin is good served with crispy roast pork seasoned with five-spice or on its own as part of a pickle plate.

When red bell peppers are best (and least expensive) in the late summer and early fall, this is a good dish to make in a big batch.

Whenever we get a bucket of lemon verbena from Bill Dow, former doctor and for thirty years now a farmer on his Ayrshire Farm, its powerful scent takes over the kitchen and has me woozy trying to come up with different ways of using it. It’s one of those delicious aromatic herbs like winter savory, lavender, and rau ram (Vietnamese cilantro)—intoxicating when held in a big fresh bunch but tough to take as the main flavor in a meal. Lemon verbena goes well with summer fruits like watermelon and peaches, adds a mystery flavor when stuffed inside a roast chicken, and makes a fine sherbet. It’s easy to grow, and if you find yourself with a bumper crop on the eve of the first frost, it is simple to preserve it by grinding the leaves along with some white sugar in a food processor until it combines into aromatic, bright green sand. The sugar will last perfectly for months in the freezer and can be used to flavor drinks, ice creams, custards, and fruit compotes.

I love any dish that can be made using water rather than stock. It’s a bit of useful laziness that can help establish the clean, pure flavor of the ingredient itself, whether it’s carrots or clams. One key is a slow, patient approach to cooking (or “sweating”) the onions and garlic, creating sweetness and depth. Homemade curry powder keeps well for a few weeks and warms up deviled eggs, beef stew, or hot buttered popcorn.

Make one of these sauces in the hot skillet after you have cooked chicken breasts or pork chops.

Make one of these sauces in the hot skillet after you have cooked chicken breasts or pork chops.