Western Recipes

Prep 20min Cook 20min 4 servings

Scotch Egg

Cut in half, a Scotch egg shows three layers: crisp breadcrumbs, salty sausage meat, and a soft yolk at the center. Dijon mustard worked into the sausage meat seasons the layer that wraps the egg. The egg goes into cold water right after boiling, since the yolk would otherwise keep cooking while the sausage still needs time in the oil. It works warm or cold, for brunch, a picnic, or a snack.

Shortbread Cookies

The butter stays cold and is mixed only briefly with powdered sugar, and the cake flour and 30 g of rice flour go in before it can turn glossy. Once the dough is pressed together, it is not kneaded any further. Fresh from the oven the cookies break easily, so they stay on the tray until completely cool.

Prep 265min Cook 55min 6 servings

Scrapple

Cooked pork and cornmeal are simmered into a thick mush, chilled in a shallow tin, then sliced and browned; unlike meatloaf, which sets from raw meat and egg in the oven, scrapple holds together because cooked grain firms as it cools. That is why the hot mixture falls apart if sliced and fried right away, and the 4-hour chill cannot be cut short.

Prep 15min Cook 12min 24 servings

Snickerdoodle Cookies

The faint tang in a snickerdoodle comes from cream of tartar, which goes in alongside the baking soda. Each ball of dough is rolled all over in cinnamon sugar before baking, so cinnamon is the first thing you taste.

Prep 10min Cook 25min 2 servings

Shrimp and Grits

Grits simmered in equal parts water and milk turn into a soft, porridge-like base once cheddar and butter melt in. The shrimp cook in the fat left from crisping bacon, picking up a smoky, salty edge along with the paprika, and the bacon goes back on top. Grits catch on the pot easily, so scraping the bottom and sides throughout keeps them smooth and free of lumps.

Socca Niçoise

Chickpea flour whisked thin with water rests for 10 minutes, then is poured into a pan heated hard with oil, scattered with red onion and cherry tomatoes, and baked into the flatbread of Nice. It comes out crisp at the rim and soft and chewy in the middle.

Prep 15min Cook 25min 4 servings

Shrimp Boil

Potatoes, corn, smoked sausage, and shrimp all cook in one pot of salted, paprika-seasoned water, added in order of how long each needs. The potatoes get a head start, the corn and sausage follow, and the shrimp go in only for the last couple of minutes. Drained and tossed with melted butter and lemon juice, everything is tipped out onto a large platter or table for a crowd to eat with their hands.

Prep 25min Cook 15min 6 servings

Soft Pretzel

That deep reddish-brown pretzel crust comes from a quick dip in baking soda water before the oven. Coarse salt scattered on while the surface is still wet from the bath stays put after baking.

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Shrimp Cocktail

Chilled shrimp go to the table with a cocktail sauce of ketchup sharpened by horseradish and Worcestershire, served on the side for dipping. The ketchup brings sweetness, the horseradish a nose-tingling heat, and the Worcestershire a salty, savory taste that stands up to the mild shrimp. A quick poach in salted water with lemon, followed straight away by an ice bath, keeps the shrimp springy rather than rubbery. The moment they turn pink and curl slightly is the moment to lift them out; extra time in the hot water toughens them. Cooled shrimp need a thorough drain, since leftover water thins the sauce on the plate. Both components can be made ahead and held cold, which makes this an easy starter to plate at the last minute.

Prep 15min Cook 5min 2 servings

Baking Hard

Sourdough Bread

No commercial yeast goes in; the wild yeast and lactic bacteria in the starter do all the rising, which is where the gentle sourness, thick crust and irregular holes come from. The shaped loaf spends the night in the fridge and is baked the next day.

Prep 30min Cook 45min 1 serving

Shrimp Creole

Shrimp creole leans on tomato rather than roux: whole tomatoes are crushed and reduced with onion, celery, and bell pepper until the sauce thickens on its own. That trio of vegetables, the classic Louisiana base, gives the sauce its savory depth, with paprika adding color. The shrimp go in at the end and come out as soon as they turn pink, then everything is spooned generously over warm rice.

Prep 25min Cook 40min 4 servings

Spanakopita (Greek Spinach and Feta Phyllo Pie)

Layers of buttered phyllo bake into sheets that shatter at the touch of a fork, around a filling of spinach with salty feta and dill. Most of the effort goes into the spinach, which is cooked until no water pools in the pan.

Prep 20min Cook 30min 4 servings

Shrimp Etouffee

A roux of butter and flour, stirred only to light brown, gives etouffee both its nutty aroma and its body. Taken darker, it turns bitter and overpowers the delicate shrimp. Onion, celery, and bell pepper go straight into the hot roux, and their moisture loosens it before chicken stock is whisked in a little at a time. Compared with shrimp creole, the sauce is brown and buttery rather than tomato-red. The shrimp cook in it only briefly at the end and are served over rice.

Prep 15min Cook 26min 4 servings

Rice Flour Walnut Biscuit Bars

Rice flour and almond flour make up the dough, and the bars break apart lightly in the mouth, with bits of chopped walnut throughout. For more crunch, turn the oven off once they are baked and leave them inside with the door ajar for another 5 minutes. Cutting before they have cooled completely breaks the bars.

Prep 20min Cook 15min 2 servings

Shrimp Po' Boy

Fried shrimp tucked into a split, lightly warmed baguette, with a quick remoulade of chopped pickles and mayonnaise to cut the richness, make up this New Orleans sandwich. The sandwich is built and eaten right away, since covering fried shrimp traps steam and softens the crust.

Prep 25min Cook 22min 4 servings

Mugwort Red Bean Muffin (Korean Herbal Sweet Bean Muffin)

Mugwort powder and whole red beans are a pairing anyone who has been to a Korean rice cake shop will know; here they go into a muffin batter. The beans are folded in last with just a few strokes, so a split muffin shows them whole in the pale green crumb.

Prep 20min Cook 12min 2 servings

Chaekkeut Seuteikeu (Sirloin Steak)

Sirloin gets a dark crust over high heat first, then a short basting with butter, crushed garlic, and rosemary once the heat drops to medium. Splitting the two stages keeps the butter and garlic from scorching in a pan hot enough to sear. Drying the sides as well as the faces helps the crust form evenly all around. Slice against the grain and finish with a squeeze of lemon.

Prep 20min Cook 35min 4 servings

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Chopped dates soaked at least 10 minutes in boiling water with baking soda are stirred into the batter liquid and all. The fruit and its soaking water make this British sponge moist and sweet. The brown-sugar toffee sauce is warmed again just before serving and poured over the pudding, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream sets cold cream against it.

Sloppy Joe

Ground beef simmered with ketchup, tomato paste, Worcestershire, and a little sugar turns into a sweet and savory filling piled onto soft buns, meant to drip as you eat. Browning the beef until its moisture cooks off keeps the sauce from going watery once the tomato paste and ketchup are in. The finished mixture should hold on a spoon and slide off slowly; any looser and the buns soak through and collapse. Toasting the cut sides of the buns dries their surface and slows how fast the sauce seeps in. Pickles on the side balance the richness.

Prep 40min Cook 45min 8 servings

Baking Hard

Stollen

In Germany this is the bread you slice a little at a time through the Christmas season, so it isn't eaten the day it's baked: it gets a thick coat of powdered sugar, is sealed, and rests at least a day first. Raisins soaked in rum or juice and almonds are packed into the buttery dough, and every slice shows a slightly different mix.

Prep 10min Cook 10min 2 servings

Double Smash Cheeseburger

Two thin patties stacked with melting American cheese give each bite more dark crust than one thick burger would. The beef, 20 percent fat, is shaped into loose cold balls and smashed flat on a very hot cast-iron skillet, once and only at the start. Pressing again after the meat starts cooking squeezes out juice and leaves the crust patchy. A thin-edged metal spatula wider than the patty scrapes under that crust at the flip, so it lifts with the meat instead of staying stuck to the pan. A tangy mix of mayo, ketchup, and yellow mustard plus pickles cuts the richness, and butter-toasted brioche buns hold it all together.

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