The first time I made Coal-Fired Sweet Potatoes was at the Middleton Place plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, when Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q catered a food conference sponsored by Johnson & Wales University called “Cuisines of the Lowcountry and the Caribbean.” On the day of the dinner, every member of the Big Bob Gibson team was enlisted to do a cooking demonstration of the Caribbean fare. I am not sure whether my father-in-law, Don McLemore, drew the short straw or got the last pick, but somehow he was assigned the sweet potato ground pit. Imagine working at ground level in the dark over hot coals generating temperatures close to 1,000°F, all to cook an edible offering that looks like a smoldering meteorite. Under the sweat that dripped from his chin, Don wore a scowl all day—right up until dinner, when his sweet potatoes were the talk of the party. He was happy in the end, but I don’t know if he’ll ever let me live that one down. For that event we served the potatoes with a Caribbean butter sauce, but here I suggest subbing a maple pecan butter. This is my favorite way to eat sweet potatoes, whether they are cooked in coals or baked in the oven. It is also a fantastic topping for sweet potato pancakes—but that is a different cookbook.
This classic 15-minute sauce is your secret weapon for homemade mac and cheese, chowder, lasagna, and more.
Turn humble onions into this thrifty yet luxe pasta dinner.
Round out these autumn greens with tart pomegranate seeds, crunchy pepitas, and a shower of Parmesan.
The silky French vanilla sauce that goes with everything.
Caramelized onions, melty Gruyère, and a deeply savory broth deliver the kind of comfort that doesn’t need improving.
An extra-silky filling (no water bath needed!) and a smooth sour cream topping make this the ultimate cheesecake.
This pasta has some really big energy about it. It’s so extra, it’s the type of thing you should be eating in your bikini while drinking a magnum of rosé, not in Hebden Bridge (or wherever you live), but on a beach on Mykonos.
Crispy tots topped with savory-sweet sauce, mayonnaise, furikake, scallion, and katsuobushi.