Simmer

Adding the veggies in phases, from longest cooking first to fastest last, guarantees the ideal texture for each.

Crisp julienned vegetables add crunchy texture to wheat-free pasta. To prep them fast, try the Oxo Julienne Peeler ($10, Oxo.com).

Perfecting this recipe required a mother-daughter collaboration. My mom started it off by cutting the kernels off the cobs, simmering the corncobs in the stock, and then scraping the cobs to capture every ounce of delicious corn flavor. Her friend Darryle Pollack taught her the trick of including potatoes and blending part of the soup to thicken it. I added warming spices like paprika and cayenne pepper to complement the sweetness of the summer corn and topped it with charred red bell peppers. Together we created a perfect soup. —Marea

It was a challenge for me to write a recipe for vegetable stock, because in truth, mine is different every time. I am inspired to make it whenever I am prepping lots of veggies, and I realize that what I have left over—the tops of four leeks, three parsnip stubs, carrot peels and tips, and a pile of parsley stems—is almost everything I need to make a great stock. When faced with the decision to capture these flavors so they can become the foundation for future delicious soups, stews, or beans, versus adding them to my compost pile, I try to choose the former. Once you experience how much better your recipes turn out with homemade stock (not to mention how much money you save and how many cartons you keep out of the trash), you’ll get more motivated. I usually keep a bag in the fridge where I save my veggie scraps, and when it gets big enough, I set my pot on the stove. The recipe below is simple and easy. You can also add corncobs, potato skins, mushroom bottoms, and even tomatoes. If you have a huge stockpot, as I do, you can easily double or triple this recipe. I keep as much stock in the refrigerator as I plan to use within 5 days and freeze the rest. —Myra

Overcooked lobsters will be tough and rubbery; if yours are less than 1 1/2 pounds each, decrease the cooking time by a few minutes.

Tanis insists on making broth for this restorative and iconic soup (pho ga) from scratch and warns against overcooking the noodles: "They should be pretty firm and snappy, not flabby."

This revelatory sauce starts with a dry caramel, meaning no water is added to the sugar. It will take on color quickly and is less likely to crystallize.

You could use any melting cheese in this recipe, such as a sharp cheddar, fontina, or Gruyère—in which case, just call them "Cheesy Grits."

Couscous Israélien au Citron et aux Pistaches Every year in Menton, a city near Nice that's on the border of Italy, there's a festival celebrating the famed Menton lemons. Plump and irregularly shaped, they're seasonally available in Paris markets, with their leaves still attached. They are prized by chefs and cooks for their intense lemony flavor (without the harshness of commercial lemons), and their not-too-bitter pith, which makes them perfect for preserving. This nutty, lemony salad makes good use of preserved lemons, which you can easily buy or make yourself (see my website for a recipe). I keep a jar on hand at all times. They take a few weeks to mellow and soften, so don't save making them for the last minute. Their flavor is incomparable, and a jar will last for months in your refrigerator. Chopped-up bits can be tossed with olives for a quick apéro, and they also add an assertive citrus flavor to this dish made with pistachios and Israeli couscous. Israeli couscous are little pearls of pasta, elsewhere called pastina, which means "little pasta," and when toasted it's known as fregola sarda. Since they have more substance, I think they hold up a little better to North African-style braised meats, like the lamb shank tagine, than traditional couscous. (Orzo is a good substitute for the Israeli couscous.) To change things around a bit, you can vary the dried fruit or swap in fresh mint or cilantro for the parsley. Another nut, such as toasted hazelnuts or almonds or even pine nuts, could be used in place of the pistachios.

There's an entire chicken in this soup, and then some. Not a mistake. You'll pull out the breast early on and use the white meat to garnish the finished bowls, but everything else stays and simmers for hours, enriching the stock with concentrated flavor and lip-smacking body.

The hardest part of this recipe is getting your hands on the octopus. Give your fishmonger a few days to order it for you.

Elegant and easy, this flavorful fish stew comes together in less than 30 minutes.

This soup is what Mayim makes when she thinks she has nothing left in the house. It's an "everything but the kitchen sink" soup and can be as simple or complicated as you like. The main point is once you start with sautéed onion and garlic, it's hard to go wrong.

Editor's Note: Use this stock to make Neven Maguire's Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup

Coconut milk is one of my favourite ingredients and it makes a fantastic creamy base for all the other robust flavours in this Asian-style soup. Choose firm sweet potatoes with orange flesh for their vibrant colour.