Chile

The tangy dipping sauce is great with pretty much any grilled meat. Keep it on heavy rotation this summer.

No need to buy preflavored vodka; we got great results making our own.

A palate cleanser packed with sweet, sour, and salty flavors; taste and tweak the seasonings as you go.

Faster! Faster! Skip the pickling and just top the curry with sliced fresh Fresno chiles. Or leave them out altogether if you’re spice-averse.

Chef Seamus Mullen serves these robustly flavored meatballs as a shared plate at El Colmado, his New York City tapas bar, but they’re also a great main.

The steak can be marinated a day in advance—in fact, it gets better.

With a mason jar and vinegar, ramp season lasts a little longer.

The only slow cooker chili recipe you need. This recipe can also be easily doubled.

Reserve any leftover chile oil for drizzling over grilled fish, vegetables, or greens.

Aguachile is a chile and citrus dressing that’s often paired with raw fish. You’ll want to drink this veggie version right from the platter.

You’ve probably never seen smoked swordfish before, but you probably weren’t looking. Find it at Mexican, Spanish, or other specialty grocers, or at a well-stocked fish market.

If you have any trouble getting short ribs with long bones, go ahead and use smaller pieces.

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

Fragrant bits of spicy ground lamb and heaps of fresh herbs in this recipe to transform ordinary lentils into the pantry party kid.

Charring the vegetables adds bittersweet depth; serve leftovers on scrambled eggs.

The butter (yep, a whole stick) mellows the tart lemon sauce and is key to the finished texture.

Three kinds of dried chiles add just the right amount of smoky heat when you cook this best beef chili recipe, and three cuts of beef deliver robust flavor. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

The smoky flavor of the fire-roasted tomatoes fits in here, but regular tomatoes would be good, too. This goes great with our beer-braised brisket.

This combo, served at Moon Juice in Los Angeles, is prized for its anti-inflammatory properties. Pineapple makes it palatable for green-juice newbies.

Braising octopus might sound advanced, but it’s as easy as simmering a pot of beans.

Maybe you’re coming down with a cold, or you hit one too many holiday parties. This comforting but complex-tasting soup is just what the doctor ordered.

You can substitute ancho chiles for the chilhuacle amarillo chiles and the chilcostle chiles in this mole, but for authentic color and flavor, order these hard to find chiles from spicetrekkers.com.

There are no dried chiles in this green mole; it boasts bright, fresh flavors instead.

Chilhuacle negro chiles give this mole its traditional flavor and should not be substituted. They’re difficult to find in the U.S., but you can find them—and the other chiles you’ll need—at spicetrekkers.com.