Paprika

In Austria, warming bowls of goulash soup are served in all kinds of establishments — from quick-service restaurants along the Autobahn to Vienna's elegant Hotel Bristol. This hearty beef and vegetable soup can be found in many areas of central and eastern Europe, especially in regions that were once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Our satisfying rendition has chunks of beef and potato plus red peppers, bacon, onions, and garlic, all fragrant with paprika.

If you're craving a comforting, old-fashioned chicken dish, this is it. Rendering the fat from the chicken skin gives the sauce its rich flavor.

None of us expected to fall in love with this dish when we tested it, but we all did. Most Thermidor recipes yield something that tastes stodgy and heavy, but this version, by 1940s Gourmet chef Louis P. De Gouy, is almost sleek.

Using a pastry bag to pipe the hummus onto the pita toasts saved us a lot of time (and made for nice-looking hors d'oeuvres). You can make your own pastry bag with a heavy-duty plastic bag. Just spoon the hummus into the bag and squeeze it into one corner. Then snip off the corner to make a small hole and begin piping.

Serve a dry Riesling to complement the subtle ginger flavor of the roasted chicken.

Churrasco is Spanish for grilled steak. This is Douglas Rodriguez's Argentine interpretation made with pork. He takes slices of tenderloin and pounds them to approximate the thickness of a skirt steak. Marinate the tenderloin strips for two to six hours before grilling.

One of the most-requested items on the lunch menu at the Chicago Chop House. The restaurant adds roasted red-skinned potatoes and sautéed mushrooms, too.

If you can't find fresh lobsters, frozen lobster meat can be used.

Have the butcher cut the meat to the specified proportions. Plan ahead to let the steak marinate at least two hours before cooking.

Use this snappy seasoning on pork, lamb and beef as well.

Steamed Swiss chard and buttered egg noodles sprinkled with chives are nice sides for this Hungarian-inspired meal. Apple strudel makes the perfect dessert.

We like this stew with egg noodles (12 ounces of dried pasta), cooked and tossed with two tablespoons of reduced-fat sour cream and a quarter cup of chopped fresh dill.

(Fish with Moroccan Seasoning) The fragrant blend of seasonings called chermoula can be used for meats and poultry as well as fish.

Liptauer gained its name from the provenance of the fresh sheep's milk cheese with which it was originally made, Lipto, Hungary. Our version of this seasoned spread is made with cream cheese.

If there is any "magic" to our cooking, it's in seasoning mixes such as this. With this mixture, we try to unmask the depth of flavor in our native seafood, not overpower it. We want every bite to display a full flavor profile, so we liberally sprinkle seasoning on the entire piece of fish. That means both sides. Make a decent-sized batch of this mixture so it will always be handy, then rub it or sprinkle it on the food. Remember, mixtures such as this cost very little to make yourself but quite a lot if you buy them at retail.

This is a terrific make-ahead appetizer. The steak must be coated with the spice rub and chilled overnight before grilling, then the empanadas can be assembled completely one day before baking.