Super Bowl

Brisket is a cornerstone of Texas cooking, as much a part of the culinary fabric as sweet iced tea and biscuits. This version is a great “prep it and forget it” dish. You can pull it together and toss it all in the roasting pan in just a few minutes, and then put it in the oven and do something else for 3 hours. The house smells amazing while it’s cooking and the result is meltingly tender brisket and a tangy-sweet sauce. Toward the end of cooking, toss a green salad and make some White Rice (page 126)—or if you’re feeling more ambitious, place the Broccoli and Rice Casserole (page 123) in the oven 30 minutes before the brisket is done—and dinner is served!

This festive pizza comes from my sister Esmeralda. I often make several and put them out at Super Bowl parties. It makes a family-friendly weeknight dinner with a salad.

These may resemble traditional Buffalo wings in appearance, but a blend of soy sauce, tahini, ginger, garlic, and Asian chile sauce (available at Asian markets) makes these wings major-killer. This sauce is bangin’ and can be used on grilled anything. Instead of typical celery and blue cheese, a cool side of cucumbers, Greek-style yogurt, and fresh mint finishes this dish.

Rabbit is a great change of pace from the everyday and luckily is becoming more widely available. Have your butcher cut up the rabbit for you; it can be tricky to do at home. The flavor is mild and the meat tender; you’ll swear it tastes like chicken. The hot sauce and blue cheese do not overwhelm; they actually bring out the flavor of the rabbit. The blue cheese sauce also makes a great salad dressing, thinned with a tablespoon of water.

A rich, creamy dip is a must-have for any good party. Make this onion dip ahead of time so the flavors can blend and mellow. If making the chips, for best results, you’ve got to cut the potatoes with a mandoline. If you don’t want to fry your own potato chips, try one of the terrific brands in the market these days. This dip is also killer with crudités and pita chips, or even spread on a burger.

For a snack before, during, or after the ball game there is no better food than the chicken wing. The great thing about chicken wings is their versatility. Spicy, sweet, salty, sticky, saucy, or dry are all options when cooking wings on the grill. I generally prefer my chicken wings seasoned with a dry rub and grilled; in my opinion, sauce tends to cover up the crispy, salty-peppery flavor of dry wings. With that said, however, I do love this recipe. The glaze adds flavor that goes way beyond what you would expect from a grilled wing. For those who like a sticky molasses flavor with a fruity edge, you’ve just found your new favorite wing recipe.

If there is one fruit whose flavor melds perfectly with chicken, it is the apricot, but incorporating juice or fruit chunks into barbecue sauce can give grilled foods a charred fruit flavor. The alternative is a fruity marinade that can be tasted throughout the meat, not just on the skin. The recipe gives fruit lovers (and wing lovers) the best of both worlds in one simple step, as the marinade forms a sweet glaze while the chicken cooks.

Is this really dinner? It is casual, messy finger food, but it has beans, grain, and cheese, it’s quite filling, and kids love it. We like Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Mexican cheeses such asadero and queso quesadilla for this recipe.

Perennially popular at Craft are the short ribs braised in red wine. For our ’wichcraft sandwiches, though, we wanted something a bit different, so we chose to braise the short ribs in dark ale with horseradish. The light pickling of the vegetables is so quick there is no time for fermentation; the vegetables retain their crunch and acidity, which contrasts well with the richness of the meat.

So much of recipe development is taking an ingredient and manipulating its texture without diluting the flavor. This is a good example. I have always liked the texture of puffed-rice cakes but not the flavor, which seems bland to me. So I’ve developed a cracker that highlights the nutty flavor of rice.