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Oil-cured olives are quite salty, and we love their chewy texture, but you can use brined black olives if you prefer.

You may ask yourself, Does this sandwich really need mayonnaise? The answer is yes. A swipe of mayo, not butter, on the bread encourages that gorgeous exterior. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

Don’t be dismayed by this recipe’s length: Packed with make-ahead moments, the dish is a low-stress showstopper.

Vietnamese pho is built on a long-simmered and aromatic stock infused with charred ginger and onion, spices, and fish sauce, ladled over rice noodles and most commonly served with thin slices of beef. This is not that. We borrowed the technique of charring the onion and toasting the spices to give a quick, weeknight-friendly boost to store-bought chicken stock for this pork and noodle soup.

For a beautiful, almost bone-white soup, don’t let the leeks and onion take on any color as they soften.

Chicken legs, potatoes, and briny Kalamata olives star in this easy one-pan dish.

If you prefer a spicy pie, use twice as much hot soppressata and none of the sweet type. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

Homemade stock made from a whole bird has two upsides: You get a rich, balanced liquid for the gumbo, and plenty of tender poached chicken meat.

Ask for a thick center-cut piece of halibut, which makes for the nicest presentation.

This slow-roasted pork shoulder comes out of the oven before it collapses into a shreddable texture; it will be succulent and tender but easy to slice.

Gigante beans have a nutty, buttery flavor and creamy texture, and hold together when cooked.

Jaew is a tart, smoky dipping sauce from Thailand, usually served with grilled meats and sausages. Hot Joy chef Quealy Watson takes it to a Tex-Mex place in this eggy, cheesy rice dish that might remind you of nachos (it works). Watch the step-by-step video here.

The intensely flavored soffritto is the foundation of this rich pasta; double the ingredients and freeze half for next time.

In search of a classic tuna melt? This is the best we’ve tried. Palace Diner makes its own pickles, but of course you can start with store-bought.

Chorizo adds smoky flavor to this vegetable-heavy frittata; use bacon if you prefer.

There are as many stromboli fillings as there are pizza toppings. Feel free to improvise, but don’t use too many wet ingredients in this stromboli recipe, or the dough will be gummy inside.

Not that this pulled chicken recipe is hard, but you can make it even easier by using a store-bought rotisserie chicken instead of the breasts called for here.

Think of this pasta from Tosca as a carbonara, but with tomatoes in place of the eggs.

We’re now obsessed with this snail-shaped pasta (which is made from scratch at Tosca).

Does Tosca’s roast chicken recipe take work? Yes, but the results—from the drippings-soaked sourdough toasts to the glossy pan sauce—are transcendent.

The more chiles you use, the closer you’ll come to the tear-inducing flavor of the dish as it’s served at Thai-Khun.

Prefer a turkey, pork, or lamb sausage? By all means, use that instead.

Is it hot? Sure, it’s hot. But the bracing pickled cabbage, cooling fresh herbs, and sweet-tasting rice will help keep the flames in check in this incendiary dish from Thai-Kun.

Lamb shoulder has great fat content and rich (not gamey) flavor, which makes it ideal for this sweetly spiced, Mediterranean-inspired braise.