Juneteenth

For this grilled tofu recipe, allspice, thyme, garlic, brown sugar, and Scotch bonnet peppers join together in an aromatic marinade that’s spicy and warm.

“Fried,” “Chicken” and “Sandwich”: three alluring enough words on their own; together, they promise pure, unbridled pleasure.

It’s a shame you don't often spot people grilling carrots, because they also grill beautifully, developing a char that balances out their sweetness.

The Thai-inspired dressing—tart and spicy and salty—plays up the sweetness of watermelon and berries while keeping the fruit salad firmly in savory territory.

Low and slow is more than just grillmaster jargon; it’s also an invaluable currency when it comes to grilling truly tender pork spareribs.

The underlying notes of vanilla and nutmeg—found in Coca-Cola—are layered with piquant aromatics and tangy tomato ketchup to produce a barbecue sauce that's remarkably dynamic. 

This barbecue sauce recipe combines bright ginger and sharp Dijon mustard.

Vibrantly colored, mouth-watering collard-peanut pesto adds flair to this dish that brings out the best of garden-fresh zucchini and other squashes.

In this recipe, the cooked collard greens get finely chopped and folded into the waffle batter for a savory surprise.

I love to cook with ingredients that might otherwise be discarded, like fish collars. If you’re tempted to treat them as scraps, please don’t throw them away or use them merely for a stock. They’re delicious as the main focus of a dish—think of them as the spareribs of the sea. Here, croaker collars are marinated in citrus, chipotle, ginger, and fish sauce, and served with a mango salad full of funk, spice, and crunch.

This easy dinner is inspired by gomen, an Ethiopian dish in which greens are flavored with an aromatic spiced butter. Breaded tofu is a delightful counterpoint.

The liberal spoonful of Chakalaka (spicy vegetable relish) makes these extra special. If you don’t have a jar of it in your fridge, you can use any type of relish or chutney.

Like chutney in India or salsa in Mexico, no one in South Africa prepares chakalaka, a spicy vegetable relish, the same way. Here is our version, full of vegetables and spices. Serve the chakalaka with bread, rice, grilled meats or fish, stews...anything.

These pillowy tray biscuits are perfumed with blueberry jam, citrus, and candied ginger, but you can use any combination of preserves, dried fruit, or nuts that you have on hand.

Adding egg to praline topping is a modern twist. Unlike the crumbly topping that might crown a sweet potato casserole, this treatment creates a smooth layer that melts onto the custard.

A vanilla wafer crumb crust gives signature banana pudding flavor to this meringue topped holiday pie.

Here is my super bougie restyling of an everyday Ghanaian hot chile condiment. My bet is that once you’ve made it, you’ll be shouting at your West African friends because no one told you about it before. Until now, you thought XO sauce solved everything. Until now, you thought sambal belacan was the only smoked fish dip the world needed. But now, you’ve realized: I Shito, therefore I am. This recipe is luxurious, it is decadent, it is rich and textured for lavish enjoyment. Right here is where hot pepper sauce dreams comes true.

Sweet, sticky, charred, and crispy: Barbecued chicken is one of the surest signs of summer. This easy homemade barbecue sauce uses maple syrup for sweetness and Sriracha for heat.

These creamy black-eyed pea patties are flavored with mushroom, miso, tamari, and Scotch bonnet chiles. They’re finished off with a sweet-and-tangy barbecue sauce and a spoonful of chowchow.

Canning and preserving have long been an essential tactic of survival, and chowchow is a condiment born of both ingenuity and necessity. Here, green tomatoes not yet ripe enough to eat are transformed into a bright pickled expression of the first days of summer. It has been said that chowchow began as a collection of remnant produce that couldn’t be used in other dishes, so it became its own reclaimed relish. As you chop each vegetable, consider that origin: making the most from the least, creating abundance from scarcity. You can use four heatproof glass pint jars for this, though I prefer eight 8-ounce jars instead so I can share it around. Using pickling salt, such as Morton Canning & Pickling Salt, helps the liquid stay clear and keeps the cabbage from turning brown.

This Caesar salad works in flavors from the African American kitchens in the Lowcountry. That means fresh tomatoes, fried okra, cornbread croutons, and a zesty red bell pepper dressing that ties it all together.

Potato salad gets a fresh burst of flavor from a dose of Jamaican jerk seasoning. The spicy rub is the foundation of the creamy dressing, where some of the heat is quelled by rich mayonnaise.

Sweet peaches, spicy pimento cheese spread, and smoky grilled bread combine in this ultimate summer toast.

If you like your ribs extra saucy, remove them from the grill when they’re ready, baste them one last time with the barbecue sauce, then throw them back on the grill to make them nice and sticky.