Thanksgiving

Surprise — a bit of ketchup helps the sweet and tart flavors blend. Make this up to three days ahead.

Here's something good for vegetarians, too. Just use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and bake in a dish.

Maple syrup in the corn bread adds a touch of New England to this traditional stuffing. The leftover bread is also nice with scrambled eggs or omelets.

Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 3 hr The walnuts in this recipe aren't crucial to its success — some of us like these buns with nuts, others prefer them without. So the choice is yours.

(Baked in a Tart Pan) For people who find even my less sweet Pecan Pie too sweet, or who are hopeless chocolate lovers, this is the answer. Cocoa perfectly tempers the sweetness of the filling and adds a full chocolate flavor that goes so well with pecans. If correctly baked, the filling, when cut, is soft and slightly molten. The surface of the pie is unusually appealing. Unlike the regular pecan pie where you can see clearly the shape of each nut, this filling cloaks the nuts with a dark milk-chocolaty glisten so you can just make out their shape.

Tina Thompson of Orlando, Florida, writes: "Food and nostalgia are closely related in my mind. When I miss my dad, I make an extra-buttery grilled-cheese sandwich just the way he would every Saturday for lunch. When I miss my college roommate Jenny, I splurge on a new ethnic food to remind me of adventures during our junior year abroad in London. Inspired by my great food experiences there, I attended a small cooking school stateside so that I could come up with some fantastic meals of my own."

Use firm, dense apples such as Granny Smith, Fuji, or Pippin, which will hold their shape when cooked. Fresh ginger gives this sauce its gentle bite—don’t substitute the ground kind.

Cardamom pods can be found in the spice section of most supermarkets; 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom can be substituted.

The deep garnet glaze, made with pomegranate molasses, adds a richly piquant, sweet-tart depth of flavor to the turkey.

Brining ensures moist, succulent meat, and this recipe from Bruce Aidells, chef and founder of Aidells Sausage Company, could not be easier or more low-tech. The special equipment required? Two 30-gallon plastic bags and one very large (16-quart) bowl that will fit in the fridge. You'll want to get started a day ahead, because the turkey is brined for 18 to 20 hours. Stuffing this turkey is not recommended; the brine remaining in the meat may soak into the stuffing during roasting.

You can start making these savory cookies up to three days ahead. Even easier: Serve the cheese roll with store-bought crackers. (We especially liked this roulade made with a spiced cranberry-apple chutney, but any thick chutney will work.)

Serve this perfect fall dessert after a dinner of roast pork tenderloin.

For convenience, you can begin making the crust up to two days before you plan to serve the pie. Maple sugar is available at some supermarkets and at natural foods stores.

Kumquats lend their bright citrus snap to a no-cooking-required relish.