Juneteenth

Grilling watermelon caramelizes the sweetness of the fruit, and the char gives just a hint of smoky flavor.

This recipe pairs crispy fried plantains with homemade hot sauce and a cooling lime sour cream, but each is delicious all by itself.

Down South, we call this a sitting salad. It can sit on the summer picnic table without wilting, so it’s the perfect potluck dish.

Smothered pork chops may be an iconic soul food specialty, but this recipe proves you can smother anything. All it really means is coating slow-cooked meat with a blanket of saucy aromatics that end up as gravy too.

If your watermelon isn’t very sweet, force it to be savory by adding peppery radishes and a quick vinaigrette. With mint strewn all over, it's super-refreshing.

No cookout in the South is complete without baked beans. This is a simple recipe that combines sweet and smoky ingredients for a thick, rich, and perfect side dish.

Mark our words: This is the easiest pie you’ll make all summer. The graham cracker crust gets filled with a simple mixture of sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice, and it gets topped with a golden-brown crown of meringue.

This dish is the embodiment of a chowder-style Southern fish stew, packed with shrimp, scallops, potatoes, corn, and more.

No cocoa means this red velvet cake is a vibrant magenta. To finish: a classic cream cheese frosting and a scattering of chopped pecans.

This is cookbook author Jerrelle Guy’s tangy updo to the classic strawberry shortcake.

A family recipe that will never get old.

This tea is brilliantly red and sweet-tart, with a delicious bite from ginger and aromas of clove and citrus

You can personalize these tea cakes if you like, substituting a pinch of cinnamon, allspice, or mace for the nutmeg or sour cream for the buttermilk.

The tender sweetness of summer-fresh strawberries paired with chunks of cherry-red rhubarb creates our favorite sweet-and-sour dessert.

When you have a big backyard full of people to feed, it’s tough to beat pulled pork that’s been smoked until it’s fork tender. 

Hibiscus punch with ground ginger, roasted pineapple, and fresh lime. Rum optional.

These fried green tomatoes from Nicole A. Taylor are the star of her Juneteenth menu.

Roasting the strawberries is a real game-changer and brings out such an intense, sweet flavor in this cake, which gets added fragrance from elderflower cordial.

I love the notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, sweet warming spices in these baby back ribs.

Marinate shrimp in a sweet-spicy mixture of apricot preserves, lime, habanero, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger—then throw them on the grill for dinner in 15 minutes.

These tender, fluffy cornbread muffins skip the butter and call for creamy whipped corn instead. A side of homemade jalapeño pepper jelly adds some spice.

Since the crunchy apple and kohlrabi are so refreshing, it would make the perfect palate cleanser between heavier courses at dinner, but most often I eat it for a light lunch.

Serve this spicy pepper jelly with fresh cornbread muffins.

The key here is using cornstarch and rice flour. Cutting the okra in half from top to bottom, the seeds cling to the rice flour and cornstarch so the batter isn’t going anywhere.