Sauce

Serve this caramel over ice cream, stirred into yogurt, or drizzled over a brownie or slice of pound cake.

This spicy Ethiopian dipping sauce is made from whisking berbere spice blend honey wine, beer, arak, or even just a mixture of water and honey.

Blanching the chopped orange in boiling water before cooking it with the cranberries removes any bitterness from the peel and pith.

Removing the seeds from one of the chiles lessens the punch. If you like more heat, leave them in. If less, scrape out seeds from both chiles.

Figs bring a touch of sweetness to this bright, chutney-ish sauce and nicely offset the sharpness of the vinegar.

Adding silken tofu to the base of this dressing both enriches it with a little added protein and lends it a satiny texture. You can adjust the amount of water added to create something thicker and dippable for crudités or thinner and drizzly for tossing into salads.

Satiny and pleasingly sticky, caramel is one of the most delicious additions to cakes and pastries. The longer the caramel cooks, the darker and less sweet it becomes. You can judge the color by eye or with an accurate instant-read thermometer. Cream of tartar and corn syrup both help prevent crystallization in the finished caramel sauce.

This is the condiment version of those summer sandals you want to wear with everything. It goes with sandwiches, crunchy vegetables, and chips.

Grating the garlic with a Microplane instead of finely chopping reduces it to a pulp so it can dissolve into sauces like this one.

Grilling the chiles tames their heat a bit and adds a nice smoky flavor to this green sauce. You can fine-tune the heat by using fewer or more chiles, depending on the intensity of the ones you have and your personal taste. This sauce goes well 
with any grilled meat or fish.

A pesto that uses the versatile herb culantro, which tastes a little like a cross between parsley and cilantro.