Wine

Short ribs, aromatic vegetables and herbs braise in wine-infused sauce until the meat nearly falls off the bone, and is served with a smashing combination of mixed fall vegetables.

WHAT: White wine infused with cardamom and star anise, as well as the more traditional triumvirate of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and amped up with pear brandy.
HOW: A slice of Asian pear is added to each drink as a garnish—the pear softens slightly as it absorbs the warm booze and makes for a yummy treat once you've sipped the last of the wine.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Like a delicate warm sangria, this drink is the perfect accompaniment to a cozy evening indoors.

Who knew Cabernet and cranberries would make such a dynamic duo? Add dried figs (plumped in the Cabernet ahead of time), and you end up with a winey, fruity fig bar, minus the cookie. This sauce is so fine, you'll be spooning leftovers on ice cream or slathering it on toast in place of jam. It's worth buying extra cranberries and freezing them so you can make more to last you through the winter. Editor's Note: This recipe is part of our Gourmet Modern Menu for Thanksgiving for 2 or 20. Menu also includes: Citrus-Sage Roast Turkey with Gravy (whole turkey or breast ); Roasted Butternut Squash Ribbons with Arugula, Pancetta, and Hazelnut Salad; Mashed Potato and Cauliflower Gratin; Challah, Sausage, and Dried Cherry Stuffing; and for dessert, Apple Crostata with Spiced Caramel Sauce .

Is one made with cocktails in hand. Float a cranberry or two on top to snaz them up.

This heady mulled wine recipe is perfect for the holiday season—or any time you’re looking for something fragrant and cozy.

Low-fat yogurt with fresh oranges is a quick, sensible alternative to an ice cream sundae; the red wine gives the caramel a fruity acidity.

Wild mushrooms add depth of flavor to this take on the French classic. Make sure your bacon isn't too smoky; it could overwhelm the dish.

These slow-cooked duck legs take several hours to braise, but the hardest thing about this recipe is waiting for the tender meat to finish cooking. Make this inexpensive yet elegant dish for a dinner party and watch as guests break into a smile after the first bite. Dried fruits and a hearty dry red give the sauce its rich appeal. Serve with buttered noodles, mashed potatoes, or fluffy quinoa.

Need a festive centerpiece for a holiday dinner? Choose this recipe, which calls for a tender cut of inexpensive meat. Although the instructions seem complex, preparation time and effort can be considerably reduced with some advance planning so that the day of serving, all you need to do is reheat.

Although there’s no substitute for enjoying a pot of freshly steamed mussels on the coast of France, this 30-minute supper is a pretty good substitute. The briny flavor and deep garlic aroma of stewed mussels are surprisingly simple to recreate. Crunchy french fries (whether frozen or homemade) and a mellow mustard mayonnaise round out this classic meal. Served with crusty bread, these mussels can create an intimate weekend dinner or an easy weekday escape.

Shrimp, scallops, crab, clams, and red snapper make up this 60-minute fish stew, a dish that sounds Old World Italian but most likely originated in the Italian-Portuguese neighborhood of San Francisco known as North Beach. Although the recipe may seem overwhelming at first, the ingredient list is in fact just made up of kitchen pantry staples and seafood. To cut costs, double up on the least expensive wild seafood and omit the priciest. Serve with a toasted baguette.

Homemade tomato beurre blanc gives this dish a sophisticated French feel. But it’s easy enough to make for a casual family meal; serve it with rice or a crusty bread to soak up the rich sauce.

The key to this classic pasta dish is using the best-quality white wine you have; contrary to popular belief, the quality of the wine is directly proportional to the quality of the broth. Make it a meal with a crusty warm Italian loaf and a glass of the leftover wine.

Chef Kris Wessel of Florida Cookery in Miami Beach, Florida, shared this recipe as part of a Palm Tree Christmas menu he created exclusively for Epicurious. Look for firm fish with bright eyes and red gills, Wessel says. It should smell sweet, not fishy. If you prefer to grill the snapper, see the Cooks' note for cooking times.

This is the stew that made such an impression on the final episode of the first season of Top Chef Masters. Each of us had been asked to create a meal that would be an autobiography told through the dishes we would present to the judges. I immediately thought of baeckeoffe ("baker's oven"). The name refers back to the time when bakers used wood-fired ovens. After the bread was done, this dish would be baked long and slow in the falling temperatures of the cooling oven. Since everyone in town would see the baker every day for the family's daily loaf, each would often bring a casserole to be baked in the oven. It was traditional, particularly on Mondays, when the women went to the river to do their laundry. They would have marinated their meats and vegetables overnight, dropped their casseroles off in the morning on their way, and then picked them up—plus a loaf of bread—on their way home. Even though my father was not the bread baker and had a modern, gasfired oven, people still took their casseroles to him. They liked to drop in because he always had some joke or story to tell. Before the village baker also invested in a modern oven and was still using wood, when my father turned over a fresh loaf of bread to give it the traditional blessing, he would sometimes see pieces of charcoal embedded in the crust. That would send my dad wild, muttering that "he [the baker] did not thoroughly clean his oven!" I make this dish often, both at home and at the restaurant. But these days we tend to increase the vegetables and use less meat, and sometimes we use only vegetables and leave out the meat entirely. While there is never a mushroom in the classic recipe, you can add them or make a vegetarian version with mushrooms and a rich vegetable stock. I've also made this stew as the centerpiece for Christmas dinner, adding plenty of sliced black truffles. The classic dish uses a mix of meats including a pig's foot, which gives a rich, gelatinous texture to the stew. You may be able to special-order a pig's foot. Ask the butcher to slice it crosswise into three pieces. But even at the restaurant I sometimes have trouble ordering them, and your stew will still be delicious without one. You can also use just one or two kinds of meat instead of all three.

My brother, Al, is an inspiring teacher at Jamie Oliver's cooking school, Recipease. This is an adaptation of one of his favorite recipes to enjoy at home. For a wonderful spring stew, try adding some blanched asparagus, peas, and beans, or top it with a crust for a comforting pie .

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

To sauté pork tenderloins, cut them into rounds (noisettes) about 3/4 inch thick, brown them over high heat, and then continue cooking them until they are firm to the touch. Here, they are served with a sauce made with prunes soaked in wine, a little meat glaze (if you have it), and some cream.

In Italy it is possible to find inexpensive Barolo wines that are perfect to cook with. Unfortunately, that is not the case in America. Because you don't want to pour a fifteen-dollar bottle of wine over a four-dollar piece of meat, I recommend cooking with a flavorful inexpensive red wine and reserving the Barolo to serve with dinner. For tender, flavorful meat, it is best to prepare this dish several hours or, even better, a full day ahead of time. Reheat it in the oven before serving with mashed potatoes or polenta. I begin this recipe by preparing a sacchétto di spezie, a little bag of herbs and spices.

While entertaining guests, the Earl of Grantham might perhaps offer a bit of hunting—should the weather permit. Although fowl such as pheasants or wild game like hare might be preferred, should a guest kill a mallard or some other duck, it would not go to waste. Mrs. Patmore could certainly use the duck in a fine recipe such as this one to offer the guests a taste of their own hunting prowess.