Juneteenth

When life gives you pomegranates... make lemonade. In this refreshing version, a splash of pomegranate juice adds a sweet-tart note, as well as plenty of good-for-you antioxidants. For an adult version, add 2 tablespoons vodka to each drink.

Miss Lewis mentions buttermilk cookies, which she pairs with ice-cold lemonade, but as far as we know, she never committed a recipe to paper. When we developed one, the big debate was about texture: Soft or crisp? What you see here is the cookie of your dreams, with a tender interior and the slightest bit of crispness around the edge.

For most people, the word gumbo immediately conjures the Cajun and Creole cooking of Louisiana. But okra (ngombo in Bantu), for which the soup-stew is named, reached South Carolina with the slave trade some years before Europeans settled in Louisiana, and the Creole world, where African, European, and indigenous cultures meet, actually extends up the southern Atlantic coast. There are many different gumbo recipes, all taking advantage of local ingredients and served with rice. This one is a heady, fragrant slurry thick with seafood. If desired, add filé powder (ground dried sassafras leaves), a Choctaw thickening agent with an almost lemony flavor, just before eating.

This shrimp's gentle preparation yields an utterly soothing broth that tastes just right first thing in the morning. Grab some grits or a warm biscuit to help sop up the juices.

"Green peas were considered a great delicacy," says Edna Lewis in The Taste of Country Cooking. "If our peas ripened first, they were shared with the neighbors and vice versa." Since garden-fresh peas have become practically impossible to find, we rely on frozen peas for this classic combination. Serve it, as Miss Lewis would, with skillet-cooked chicken and biscuits on an evening in late spring.

Miss Lewis loved to serve this old-fashioned Southern dessert (which is actually more of a double-crust pie) warm, with the syrupy juice spooned over the crisp crust.

This dense and savory stuffing resembles the filling inside a tamale. This recipe makes enough to stuff the Mole-Roasted Turkey with Masa Stuffing and Chile Gravy, or to serve eight people when baked as a side dish.

The basil oil would also be delicious drizzled over fish, vegetables, or chicken.

Mama Sugar says this dish was common at Juneteenth celebrations years ago but is now seldom seen. It's a homey dessert, substantial and rich with butter and cane syrup, and it deserves a comeback.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Fonda San Miguel: Thirty Years of Food and Art, by Tom Gilliland, Miguel Ravago, and Virginia B. Wood. . This traditional wine punch presents the opportunity to turn robust jug wine and fresh seasonal fruits into a festive party drink. The recipe includes a mix of firm fruits (such as seedless grapes, apple slices, pear slices) and soft fruits (like strawberries, peaches, and kiwi). The soft fruits are added to the glasses at serving time.

The jerk seasoning can be made a day in advance. The chicken needs to marinate for at least four hours and can sit as long as overnight.

In Jamaica, this dish turns up by the seaside or near rivers, as janga (river crayfish) are often used. It is seriously, deliciously hot — wash the heat down with ice-cold beer. Using uncooked shrimp that have been deveined with the shells intact will make the shrimp much easier to peel.

Brandi Neuwirth of Cary, North Carolina, writes: "My family and I moved here from Los Angeles last year, and my new surroundings have really influenced my cooking. There's a great farmers' market nearby where I get lots of local ingredients. The produce there inspired me to create this dish, which is a real taste of the South."

This fried chicken recipe is excerpted from The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase and are part of our story on Mardi Gras. Chase also shared some helpful tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. In Madisonville, where I grew up, we would use smoked ham to add flavor to our red beans. In New Orleans, they would use pickled meat. Pickling of pork was done in the Creole community. Pickled ribs with potato salad were popular. The meat was pickled in a brine, more or less, along with seasonings. There is a market in New Orleans that still makes pickled meat, in just this way. They might also use some kind of vinegar. In this red beans recipe, I stick with the smoked meats, just like in the country.

To make this fresh American rendition of panzanella (the Italian bread-and-tomato salad), bake the cornbread one day ahead so that it will be firm enough to toast on the grill.

I can't begin to guess how much fried chicken I've cooked in my lifetime! Becaue it was a staple in our home during my childhood, it was a rite of passage for each girl child to learn to fry chicken like the womenfolk.