Steam

You can steam and crush the potatoes in the morning if you’d like. The finished dish is great at room temp.

The beets are steam-roasted till tender, then deep-fried, so you don’t have to worry about cooking them through after they’re breaded.

This recipe can easily be doubled for a group. Make sure to check the ribs in a few spots for doneness.

Authentic barbacoa is a daylong event involving a whole animal and an underground fire pit. This take is easier and totally delicious.

All you need are your hands, some friends, and permission to get a little messy.

This steam-roasting method (high heat, covered pan) is the best; the liquid prevents the beets from drying out.

Steaming is back! The vinegar-and-spice-infused liquid flavors the beets as they cook.

After making this soup, you'll have plenty of beets left over for tossing into salads at lunch.

Lobster will get tough if overcooked, so be gentle with it during the last step.

Buy perky, energetic lobsters; they should be active and extend their claws upwards when lifted.

Clams are inexpensive, plentiful, easy to cook, and delicious. And you barely need a recipe—once they open, they’re done.

Any sharp, salty cheese will work in this dip; try Pecorino or feta.

Pulling mussels from the shell is a delightfully hands-on way to get your lean protein. The little black shellfish are easy to cook; the only trick is to sort them carefully beforehand. Toss out any cracked shelled mussels, as well as any open ones that don’t close up tight when you squeeze them. The beards are the tough little fibers that help mussels cling to rocks; to remove them, just pinch the hairy fibers with a clean kitchen towel and pull. Don’t do this much before cooking, though, becau.…

If you don’t have a steamer basket, improvise: Place a ramekin in the bottom of the pot and prop a dinner plate on top so steam can circulate around it.

This pot of Provençal mussels is bathed in a bouillabaisse-style broth with saffron, tomato, and herbs. Make the broth hours ahead. Steam the mussels just before guests sit down, and serve with buttery toasted French bread rubbed with garlic.

Traditional Thanksgiving flavors (winter squash, cinnamon, butter) are given a beautiful Persian accent. The exotic spiced butter is also a treat mixed into couscous.

In this recipe by chef José Andrés, he skips the nostalgia. He cooks the custard longer at relatively low heat so the eggs gently coagulate, producing a silky mouth-feel.

The browned, crusty layer of rice that forms at the bottom of the pan is considered the most treasured part of this Middle Eastern classic.

This is the definition of minimalist Thai cooking. The steam not only gently cooks the fish until just tender but also creates an instant, complex sauce from a handful of basic ingredients. Scoring the fish's flesh allows more of the flavor to season the fish and facilitates faster steaming. The fish is cooked on a plate that fits inside the steamer, to catch the juices.