253 American recipes. Page 8 of 11. Compare ingredients and cooking times. Fudgy Brownies, Kentucky Hot Brown, Funnel Cake.
The ratio is what makes these fudgy: little flour against plenty of butter and dark chocolate gives squares that are dense and chewy rather than cakey. The center looks underdone when the pan comes out, then sinks and firms as it cools. Walnuts or pecans folded in add crunch.
Thick toast carries sliced roast turkey under a cheese-enriched cream sauce, the whole dish warmed through in the oven and then browned under the broiler, then eaten with a fork straight from the baking dish. Only a small pinch of salt goes into the sauce itself because pecorino brings much of it. The bacon goes on after the oven, where it stays crisp instead of softening under sauce. A dish rated for broiler heat is needed, as ordinary glass can crack.
Batter poured in a thin stream into hot oil fries into a lacy disk of crossed strands. Unlike a twisted yeast doughnut, nothing is kneaded or proofed; the width of the stream decides the texture. Piling batter in one spot leaves a raw center, while strands that never overlap fall apart when you flip the cake. Dust it with powdered sugar and eat it warm, since a covered funnel cake steams itself soft.
Corn tortillas cut into small pieces take the place of rice or noodles, softening in layers between shredded chicken and a thick tomato-cream sauce. The sauce starts with condensed mushroom soup used undiluted. Ready-to-eat soup in its place leaves the filling runny. Most of the heat comes from the salsa, so a mild or medium jar sets the tone before any chili seasoning. A short rest after baking lets the sauce settle into the tortillas and makes the squares easier to lift.
Instead of buttercream, a cooked coconut and pecan filling made with egg yolks and unsweetened evaporated milk fills the layers and covers the top. Slices end up with a textured center between soft cocoa layers rather than the uniform richness of a dense chocolate gateau. The cocoa is natural unsweetened, not melted sweet chocolate or Dutch-process. With nothing spread on the outside, the coconut-pecan layers show from the side.
The skin should be dry and crisp, the center hot and fluffy, and everything else piled on top: cheddar, bacon, sour cream and chives. Potatoes of similar size finish together, and fork holes on every side let heat and steam move through evenly. Salted butter rubbed over the skin draws out moisture if the potato sits around, so it goes into the oven right away. A crisp shell also lets you fluff the flesh with a fork without tearing through the side. The cheddar comes first, straight onto the hot flesh, so the potato's own heat melts it before the rest is added.
The fat is vegetable shortening rather than butter, chosen to push these ginger-and-molasses cookies toward crisp. The molasses is regular baking molasses, not blackstrap. Since the dough is dark from the start, color says little about doneness, and a cookie that still bends while warm snaps once it cools. A roll in cinnamon sugar leaves a fine crystalline surface without any glaze.
Already-cooked lobster meat folds into a warm sauce enriched with egg yolks and spooned over toast, the opposite of a chilled lobster roll. The timing starts from shelled, fully cooked meat; boiling and picking a whole lobster is not included. Tempering the yolks with a ladle of hot sauce, then keeping the heat gentle, prevents strands of cooked egg. The sherry is heated only briefly, so the dish is not alcohol-free. It goes to the table at once, because the yolk sauce turns grainy if held over heat.
This St. Louis cake still wobbles in the middle when it leaves the oven, and the top stays soft and sticky long after it cools. A thin yeast-risen base is spread with a batter heavy on butter and sugar before baking.
Cold, lightly dressed lobster goes into a warm bun just toasted in butter, and the contrast in temperature is the whole point. Mayonnaise and lemon juice should only film the chunks, while diced celery adds crunch. Chopping the meat too fine or stirring hard turns it into a paste and loses the visible grain of the lobster.
Dried persimmon and cinnamon are already a familiar pair in Korea through sujeonggwa, a cinnamon punch traditionally served with dried persimmon. Here chopped gotgam (dried persimmon) is rolled up with cinnamon sugar, and it runs along the spiral of every slice and pulls apart chewy and jammy. The rolls come out as soon as the edges turn golden; any longer and the fruit dries out again.
Drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes flavor the cream sauce without thinning it, carrying less water than fresh ones. Pounding the breasts to about 2cm lets them cook through without scorching. The browned bits left after searing the chicken get loosened with stock and become the base of the sauce. Once the cream is in, a gentle bubble at the edges keeps it from splitting, and the chicken simmers on in it until the thickest part reaches 74°C. The parmesan melts in off the heat, and since tomatoes and cheese both add salt, taste before adding any more.
Hallabong, a Jeju citrus bred from mandarin and orange, comes into season from winter into early spring. Its zest and juice go into a cream cheese filling along with sour cream, which is poured over a buttered cracker-crumb base and baked. The peel's aroma is at its clearest when the bars are cold.
A ketchup glaze darkens and tightens over the beef as it bakes, giving the loaf a sweet, tangy top. The real test comes at the cutting board: thick slices hold together only after the loaf rests in its pan for at least 10 minutes. Cutting straight from the oven lets the juices run out and the slices fall apart.
Most lemon bars lean on lemon for their sourness, but here hallabong juice far outweighs the lemon, giving the curd a rounder, sweeter citrus flavor. Underneath sits a crumbly shortbread rubbed together from butter, flour, and powdered sugar, a crisp contrast to the smooth set curd.
Dipped in egg and milk and fried in butter, this ham and Swiss sandwich lands somewhere between French toast and a grilled ham and cheese. Dijon mustard spread on the bread cuts through the richness of the egg coating. Slice it in half while still warm and the melted cheese stretches between the halves.
Toasted black sesame powder goes into a dark chocolate brownie batter, adding a nutty, roasted-grain note to the bitterness of the chocolate. Because the powder is oily and clumps easily, it is sifted in with the flour and salt. Cut only once the pan is completely cold for clean edges.
Finely chopped green and black olives in olive oil soak into a round loaf and season the salami, ham, mortadella and provolone layered inside. Filling and pressing the whole loaf before slicing binds the layers and keeps the cut faces neat. The olives are drained well, and only enough oil goes in to keep the salad moist without pooling at the bottom of the bread.
Whole wheat flour, honey and cinnamon go into a dough rolled to about 2 mm, so the crackers come out harder than a thick sugar cookie and snap rather than bend. They work plain or crushed for a pie crust. Fresh from the oven they still feel soft; the low bake and the drying time in the switched-off oven are what make them crisp; judge them only once fully cool.
The heat is added after frying: hot oil mixed with cayenne and brown sugar gets brushed over the crisp chicken thigh, leaving a red, fiery coat on the crust. A 30-minute buttermilk soak keeps the thigh meat juicy under that crunch.
Milk and butter heated just to a boil go into a whipped whole-egg batter at the end, making a soft, plain cake served without icing. Unlike a chiffon, it leans on both the whole-egg foam and baking powder instead of separately whipped whites. Baked through, the crumb is soft and fine-grained, never wet or custardy in the middle.
Beef and pork cooked with peppers and green onion fill thin pastry half-moons that are sealed with a fork and deep-fried. Because the filling is cooked and cooled first, the pies fry briefly instead of waiting for raw meat to cook through a thick crust. Shortening rubbed into the flour makes a dough that should not be kneaded like bread, and warm filling melts that fat and tears the thin wrapper. A clear border with the air pushed out keeps the seams closed in the oil.
Two dense, moist layers packed with mashed banana, drained pineapple and toasted pecans sit under cream cheese frosting. Self-rising flour already carries the leavening and salt; no baking powder goes in. Some of the pecans are saved for the top, where they stay visible on the frosting.
Thickness decides how these rings eat: cut too thin and you get mostly batter, too thick and the coating browns while the onion center is still firm. The lager is split at the start, with one portion for soaking the onions and a cold portion kept clean for the batter. Flour and cornstarch set into a light, thin shell around the soft onion. A crowded pot loses heat, which gives the coating more time to soak up oil, so the rings go in small batches. Piling finished rings in a bowl traps steam against the bottom ones, so they drain on a rack in a single layer.