Flour

Flash frying is a high-heat deep frying technique used to rapidly fry small shrimp to avoid overcooking them before the crust browns. Flash flying requires an oil temperature of at least 400°F—which means you have to use an oil with a high smoke point like grapeseed oil. By poaching the chicken first and then flash frying it, I was able to eliminate 20 grams of fat and at least 250 calories from traditional fried chicken. Because the chicken is already cooked, it only has to spend enough time in the hot oil to brown the crust, which means it absorbs less oil.

This classic French bread is rich and slightly sweet, with a soft, golden crust and a yellow, buttery, cakey crumb. It is widely eaten in France – with coffee for breakfast, as a roll with dinner, or as a base for any number of desserts. At River Cottage, we like to toast brioche and serve it with a smooth chicken liver pâté and a little fruit jelly. Contrary to popular belief, as bread goes, brioche is pretty straightforward. The dough is very soft to handle though, so kneading in a stand mixer is easier. You can make and bake brioche all in one day, but it benefits from sitting overnight in the fridge – the very soft dough stiffens as it chills, making it easier to shape.

I love how a cream cake comes together so easily, its tender crumb and its neutral pound-cake-like personality. But until I started playing around with different sugars, it always seemed too bake-shop bland. Like shortbread, the rather neutral ingredients show off whatever sugar (or flour) you use. Maple sugar is subtle and warm, while the superdark organic brown sugar or muscovado make a caramel-like cake that calls out for ginger and a bit of pepper. In the end, it's a great cake for fall and winter, when we turn to apples, pears, and dried fruits.

Whether they're freshly baked or toasted, I love these buns and bake a batch whenever it takes my fancy, leaving off the crosses if it isn't Easter. I also like to vary the dried fruit – a mix of chopped dates, cranberries, apricots, and cherries is particularly good.

Turnip, mustard, and collard greens star in this southern-style soup.

Use this short crust pastry to make a deep dish apple pie or all your other gluten-free pastry needs.

When I was a little girl, making biscuits was one of my favorite things to do because they were so easy and so delicious. Not until I began my experiments with gluten-free baking did I realize the gift my mother and grandmother had passed on to me in the process: They taught me that in order in making the very best biscuits, it was all about the touch. The less you touched the dough, the better the biscuits. If you over-kneaded the dough, the biscuits would be much drier and would turn to stone twice as fast. So as you are kneading your dough, remember less is more, and you will have those moist, mouthwatering biscuits you've been dreaming about. Any of the suggested accompaniments you choose will sing atop this Southern classic.

One mention of a food that interests us, and we're off. Our friend Luisa, who writes a food blog called The Wednesday Chef, spent a good part of her summer in Italy, with her family there. Clearly feeling nostalgic for her time there, Luisa spent weeks trying to replicate her grandmother's focaccia bread. The photographs of her last, successful attempt left us both a little dazed. We wanted some. Of course, we had to change it quite a bit, since hers contained gluten. I was shocked to find that most authentic Italian focaccia breads contain a potato. But it makes sense. Boil the potato and then put it through the ricer and you have a light-as-air starch. Focaccia breads are lighter than other breads. The egg white, beaten to stiff peaks, adds lightness here too, like a soufflé. Try this bread with rosemary or oregano. It's a little taste of Italy, right in your kitchen.

Charlie Trotter, Charlie Trotter's, Chicago, Illinois
Lee Jones, The Chef's Garden, Huron, Ohio (carrots) A semifreddo is basically an ice cream cake, and Chef Trotter uses carrots, chocolate, and spices as unexpected partners in his version. Star anise enhances the sweetness in the carrots and adds a distinctive hint of licorice to the rich chocolate. There are no egg yolks in this recipe—it's the meringue that gives the semifreddo a smooth texture.

This thick soup has a texture almost like porridge.

This simple cake can be sliced and served or toasted before serving. For the best texture, use a medium-fine polenta.

Sweetbreads, the thymus gland of calves (and occasionally lambs), are some of the easiest offal for beginners to love—their delicate flavor and creamy texture are incredibly seductive. No matter how you're going to prepare them, sweetbreads must first be soaked in cold water and then poached to firm them up. After that, these are rolled in a paprika-seasoned flour-and-cornmeal coating and deep-fried. The crunchy outside and pillowy interior are absolutely delicious dipped in the herbaceous Green Goddess sauce. If you want to take things to the next level, tuck the nuggets into a hollowed-out baguette with shredded lettuce, then smear on the Green Goddess and some hot sauce for an out-of-this-world po' boy.