253 American recipes. Page 9 of 11. Compare ingredients and cooking times. Key Lime Pie, Oysters Rockefeller, Lemon Meringue Pie.
There is no gelatin in the filling; egg yolks react with the lime's acid and set it to a smooth, custard-like slice. The oven only firms the edges in a short bake, and the fridge does the rest over at least 3 hours, ideally a full day. This Southern American pie was originally made with Florida's small, fragrant key limes.
Each oyster bakes in its own half shell under a spinach, sour cream and Parmesan topping, with a little Pernod and garlic mixed in. Frozen spinach thaws in the refrigerator the day before and is squeezed hard, otherwise the topping slides off the shells. Melted cheese and curled edges say little about the oyster underneath, which needs to turn opaque all the way through.
The lemon filling is thickened with cornstarch and finished with butter for gloss. Meringue goes on while that curd is still hot and is spread right to the crust, which seals the bottom and keeps it from weeping, and a short spell at 200°C browns only the tips of the peaks. Chill it before slicing for clean layers.
Small lumps left in the batter make for a fluffier stack. Mixing stops before the batter turns smooth and the cakes turn tough, and the batter then rests a few minutes to hold on to the bubbles from the baking powder. A pan kept at medium-low lets the centers cook before the outsides scorch. Wait for the surface bubbles to burst and the edges to look dry, then flip only once, since an early or second turn spoils the shape.
A little more cornmeal than flour gives these a coarse, crumbly texture. Crisp crumbled bacon and maple syrup both go into the batter, so salty and sweet take turns from one bite to the next.
Somewhere between a burger and a grilled cheese, a patty melt puts a thin beef patty, deeply caramelized onion and cheddar between slices of sandwich bread griddled until crisp. Three heat levels do three jobs: low heat for at least 20 minutes sweetens the onion, medium-high heat browns the thin patty, and medium-low heat crisps the bread while the cheese melts.
Brown sugar instead of white gives this pound cake a caramel edge that lines up with the woodsy sweetness of maple syrup. The crumb stays tight and buttery, as a pound cake should, with toasted pecans scattered through every slice. It tastes better the next day: wrapped overnight, the maple flavor moves through the whole loaf and the cake turns rounder and more even in flavor.
Paper-thin beef, onion and green pepper hit a hot pan for only a couple of minutes, then get melted provolone and a toasted hoagie roll. That thinness starts in the freezer: 30 minutes firms the outside of the ribeye or top round enough to slice it without a struggle. Stacked slices won't cook in so short a sear, so each piece gets pulled apart before it goes in.
Small balls of milk dough are dipped in melted butter, rolled in cinnamon sugar, and piled into a Bundt pan, so the finished ring is pulled apart by hand rather than sliced. In the oven the butter and sugar run down between the pieces and cook into a sticky, caramel-like coating, while the inside of each piece stays soft.
Pork loin chops cut thick sear to a deep golden crust, and the browned bits they leave in the skillet become the base of the sauce once apple cider loosens them. Dijon mustard sharpens the cider's sweetness, and a knob of cold butter swirled in off the heat makes the sauce glossy. A sprig of thyme simmers in the reduction to tie the apple and pork together.
Mugwort powder is stirred into a dark chocolate brownie batter, and a swirl of cream cheese loosened with cream runs across the top. Both the herb and the chocolate lean bitter, so the tang of the cream cheese is what keeps each square from tasting heavy.
Chuck goes into the oven as one piece and comes out soft enough to pull apart with a fork, while the carrots and potatoes, added only for the final hour, still hold their shape. Tomato paste and the browned bits left by searing become the sauce right in the same pot, and the braising liquid ends up serving as the gravy.
Break one open and it is packed with peppery ground beef, soft cabbage and onion. The filling is cooked until the pan is dry before it goes in, so the bottom of the bun is still dry when you eat it out of hand.
Pork shoulder braises low in a heavy pot until the meat separates on its own when a fork touches it, then is shredded and tossed back into the onion-soaked pan juices with barbecue sauce. Doneness is judged by the meat, not the clock; if it still resists, it needs longer.
With 680 g of cream cheese, this is a heavy cheesecake, nothing like a soufflé cheesecake, and a fork sinks into it slowly. The graham cracker crust gets a bake of its own before the filling goes in. The cake bakes in a water bath and then cools slowly in the switched-off oven with the door slightly open.
Salty corned beef, tangy sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese are stacked on rye, then griddled in a pan with butter on the outside of the bread. A thin layer of mayonnaise spread to the edges of the inner slices helps keep the filling in place, and setting some cheese directly against the bread lets it melt first and glue the layers together. Medium-low heat gives the cheese in the middle time to melt before the rye darkens.
Wide egg noodles bake in a custard of sour cream, cottage cheese and cream cheese, and the strands poking out on top turn crisp. Raisins and cinnamon mark this as the sweet style. Because the noodles keep absorbing custard in the oven, they boil only about 5 minutes at first. A 20-minute rest after baking gives the custard time to set around the noodles before slicing.
Unlike a breadcrumb-bound crab cake, these fritters get their body from a batter that puffs as it fries, with chopped clam scattered through the crumb. Canned cooked clams skip purging and steaming, but the drained meat and the liquid are measured separately; tipping in the whole can thins the batter until the fritters spread flat. Large pieces of clam poke out of the batter and scorch in the oil, so everything is chopped small. The first fritter, cut open, shows whether the rest need more time or a cooler pot.
Rolled oats outnumber the flour in this dough and drive the texture: chewy, a little rough, clearly an oat cookie. Brown sugar and cinnamon give a warm sweetness, and raisins sit through it as soft, juicy bits. Resting the dough in the fridge lets the oats soak up moisture and firms the butter again, which helps the cookies hold their shape as they bake.
A whole, unstuffed bird roasts on a rack at 325°F, its breast tented with foil once the skin has colored, the centerpiece of many American Thanksgiving dinners. The starting point is a fully thawed raw turkey, and refrigerator thawing alone takes several days before the cooking day. A precooked bird or one sold to cook from frozen follows its own package directions instead. Roasting time sets a planning window rather than an endpoint: the thickest breast meat and the inner thigh and wing must all reach 165°F. A different weight changes the timing, though not in simple proportion with the size of the bird. Before buying, make sure the bird and the roasting pan actually fit the oven.
Every roll starts as a buttered rectangle folded over, and once baked it pulls open along that crease. Plain instant mashed potato flakes go into the dough; potato starch is a different ingredient. Sixteen rolls bake close together in one pan, which keeps their sides soft.
Beef patties bound with milk-soaked breadcrumbs finish cooking in a mushroom and onion gravy, which separates Salisbury steak from a plain hamburger steak. The gravy starts in the same pan the patties were seared in, on top of the browned bits they leave behind. Breadcrumbs soaked in milk hold moisture, and the patties stay tender even after simmering in the sauce.
Spoonfuls of soft batter sit on sliced peaches with gaps between them, and the fruit juice bubbles up through those gaps as it bakes. The topping is mixed only until the flour disappears, which keeps it tender instead of heavy.
Raw bulk pork sausage, Cheddar and Bisquick come together into small balls that bake brown outside with a moist, cheesy meat interior. Precooked frankfurters will not bind or cook the same way as the uncooked bulk sausage this needs. The batch makes about 100 small pieces across two rimmed trays, and browned or melted cheese on the surface says nothing about the meat inside.