Rick Rodgers

This entire dish (salad and dressing) can be made and assembled up to eight hours ahead. The trick? A layer of zucchini slices keeps the rest of the ingredients separated from the dressing until you're ready to toss and serve.

In this side dish, the vegetables are dressed in a classic red wine vinaigrette. Chiles add smoky heat.

In North Carolina, the coleslaw is tangy and not too sweet, with no mayonnaise in sight.

This festive main offers something for everyone—baby back ribs, chicken breasts, and smoked sausages. Be sure to start the dish a few hours ahead. The ribs are slow-cooked for an hour and a half, then are finished on the grill with the chicken and the sausages.

Cedar-plank cooking infuses the shrimp with a delicious smokiness. Use leftover chipotles in flavored butter, guacamole, and vinaigrettes.

This recipe relies on store-bought stuffing cubes enhanced with a flurry of dried and fresh herbs. Variations for Sausage and Sage or Pecan and Dried Apricot provide extra dimension.

即使你是一个传统的绿豆粉丝casserole, you might want to consider subbing these simply prepared fresh beans, which can provide balance to all the rich items on the menu. Plus, this streamlined dish, which needs just a brief rewarming on top of the stove before serving, won't contribute to a last-minute traffic jam in the oven.

Though canned turkey broth is now available, homemade stock will give an unbeatable true turkey flavor to your gravy. It's easy to make ahead from purchased turkey wings, and can be frozen up to six months. This recipe makes about 10 cups of stock, which will give you enough for all the items on the menu that require it (theturkey, thestuffing, and thegreen beans). If you're making larger portions of the recipes, you'll want to make more stock as well.

After trying every turkey-roasting method under the sun, I've finally settled on this as absolutely the best. The secret? Slow down the cooking of the breast area, which tends to get overcooked and dried out before the dark meat is done, with a cover of aluminum foil. These instructions are for a 12-pound turkey, which serves eight people. But you can easily scale it up for a bigger bird. Estimate about one pound of meat per person (one and a half pounds if you want lots of leftovers) and refer to the chart in the Test-Kitchen Tips, below, for the scaled-up cooking times.

A moist, deeply flavored confection studded with rum-soaked raisins and crunchy pecans, this streamlined one-bowl cake will get compliments even for novice bakers. Plus, it keeps for days. To dress up each serving, why not use store-bought eggnog, which has the consistency of custard sauce.

This vibrant condiment takes its inspiration from the popularCosmopolitan drink. The alcohol heightens the sauce's flavor, but for kids and nondrinkers, the recipe can easily be made nonalcoholic by substituting orange juice for the water and deleting the vodka and liqueur.

Here's a sweet potato casserole that will please everyone in the family, but isn't sticky or cloying. If your guests insist on a traditional marshmallow topping (let's admit that kids love it, and for some adults, it just isn't Thanksgiving without it), see the variation below.

Although this soup is full of earthy flavor, it's also relatively light, which makes it a perfect first course for the big holiday meal. As a bonus, it can be prepared several days ahead and quickly reheated at the last minute.

For extra flavor, add leftover (plain) gravy or stuffing to the soup. If using stuffing, stir in one to two cups half an hour before the end of the cooking time. If using gravy, add it just before the soup's done.

This excellent, all-purpose broth can be made three days ahead; keep it covered and chilled.

(Schokoladeglasur) Editor's note:The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Rick Rodgers's book Kaffeehaus: The Best Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.To read more about Austrian cooking,click here. This recipe originally accompaniedSachertorte.This ebony-dark, shiny, intensely sweet chocolate glaze was originally invented to coat Sachertorte, but it's a great icing to use for many other baked goods. The authentic icing must be cooked into syrup that hardens to a fudge-like consistency (some bakers also temper the syrup, a difficult optional step). Schokoladeglasur stays glossy at any temperature, as long as the cake has an undercoat of preserves. Be sure to allow the undercoat to cool and set before applying the chocolate glaze, and use the chocolate glazeimmediatelyafter making it, while it is still warm and fluid. What to do with the leftover glaze that inevitably drips off the pastries and ends up underneath the cooling rack? It makes great hot chocolate! Scrape it up and store it in a covered container in the refrigerator. When you want a cup of hot chocolate, place milk and a few tablespoons of the chocolate glaze to taste in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat, whisking often, to warm the milk and melt the glaze.

(Marillenglasur) Editor's note:The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Rick Rodgers's book Kaffeehaus: The Best Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.To read more about Austrian cooking,click here. This recipe originally accompaniedSachertorte.Fruit glazes — easily prepared from preserves — add flavor, protect crisp crusts from getting soft in contact with moist fillings, and provide a slick undercoat that adds extra sheen when another glaze is poured over the dessert. Apricot and red currant are the most versatile, as their acidity balances the sweetness of the dessert, but you can use another favorite flavor, if you wish. Just be sure to use preserves, and not jam or jelly, which have different fruit-sugar ratios. The preserves must be simmered for a few minutes to evaporate excess liquid and give a firm, slick finish to the glazed dessserts. It's best to turn an entire 12-ounce jar of preserves into glaze, storing the glaze in the empty preserves jar, so you have small amounts ready when needed.

(Vanillesauce) Editor's note:The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Rick Rodgers's book Kaffeehaus: The Best Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.To read more about Austrian cooking,click here. This recipe originally accompaniedFarmer's Cheese and Raisin Filo Strudel.A cousin to the Frenchcrème anglaise,this pale yellow dessert sauce is calledKanarienmilch,or "canary milk," in some old cookbooks. The Viennese version is boiled, as the egg yolks are protected from curdling by the cornstarch. This makes it a slightly thicker, less egg-rich sauce that beautifully offsets Austro-Hungarian desserts. Because it takes less watching, I now use Vanillesauce whenever I need a vanilla dessert sauce.

(Topfenstrudel) Editor's note:The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Rick Rodgers's book Kaffeehaus: The Best Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.Rodgers also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Austrian cooking,click here.Not every café has a full-time baker. At many, it's just Mama in the kitchen and often Mama doesn't feel like (or doesn't have enough counter space for) hand-pulling strudel dough. This classic recipe layers store-bought filo dough with aTopfenfilling in a pan to make a deep-dish dessert. Thanks to Gerda Hofer for this recipe.

Slices of succulent pork, a sauce made from the pan juices, sautéed onions and peppers, and cheese add up to the perfect halftime sandwich.