American

A decent amount of béchamel keeps this tomato-less lasagna moist as it cools.

For extra texture, trick out your cake with rainbow or chocolate sprinkles, chopped candies, or your favorite cereal.

It may not seem like very much filling, but these handheld pastries deliver the perfect filling-to-crust ratio (and if you overstuff the dough, they’ll be impossible to seal).

Using frozen strawberries ensures a consistent sweetness and vibrant red color.

You can use any flavor jam or jelly you like; substitute roasted salted peanuts to play up the salty-sweet angle.

For the neatest, cleanest edges, freeze the brownies for 15 minutes so they’re nice and firm before cutting, and dip your knife in hot water between each slice.

Room temperature cream cheese and butter are key to a smooth frosting (cold ingredients will form hard beads). Take them both out of the refrigerator three hours ahead of time.

Make sure to get your whisk into the bottom edge of the pan as you prepare the custard so that the mixture cooks evenly.

Despite the egg along the seal, and the crimps for extra insurance, the fruit juices will run; that’s what the parchment paper is there for.

You can crisp the shallots and hard-boil the eggs a day ahead, but wait until closer to serving time to make the yolk filling.

This reader requested recipe is from the April 2003 issue (pictured above).

Broiling the brisket gives it a nice crisp top layer, but you can skip this step and it will still be delicious. Braising the meat with beer in the slow cooker, however? Absolutely necessary.

The only slow cooker chili recipe you need. This recipe can also be easily doubled.

The best beignets come from New Orleans, but the high protein content in bread flour gives this classic-style beignets recipe an authentic texture.

Three kinds of dried chiles add just the right amount of smoky heat when you cook this best beef chili recipe, and three cuts of beef deliver robust flavor. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

You might have more of the salsas than you need; serve them on the side for dipping. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

Two key steps ensure extra-crisp wings: letting them sit at room temperature evens the cooking time, and the cornstarch dredge transforms into a crunchy shell when fried. If you like your wing sauce super spicy, increase the amount of cayenne in our best hot wings recipe. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

This recipe comes from the December 1989 issue and is part of our Thanksgiving Hall of Fame series. Orange-rosemary butter is spread under the turkey skin to melt during roasting; it produces a moist and aromatic bird.

This recipe comes from the November 1991 issue and is part of our Thanksgiving Hall of Fame series. It's an oldie but a goodie.

This recipe comes from the November 1988 issue and is part of our Thanksgiving Hall of Fame series. This large turkey will serve 16. If you have a smaller group, there will be plenty of leftovers to enjoy over the next few days.