Jacques Pépin

Achieve an immaculate golden bird in under an hour using chef Jacques Pépin’s foolproof technique.

A 4-ingredient glaze spikes holiday ham with extra flavor, while a gentle poaching to start keeps it extra juicy.

Salt cod and potatoes form the base of brandade, a classic French appetizer gratin that’s make-ahead- and party-friendly.

This recipe for eggs en cocotte calls for a stovetop steaming method rather than an oven-baked one, which means you can sit down to brunch even faster.

Caramelized almonds make this dense, velvety chocolate mousse party-ready.

This is a good summer recipe. I sear the chops briefly on a very hot grill and then transfer them to a warm oven, where they continue to cook slowly in their own residual heat. The sauce, a simple mixture of onion, capers, lemon juice, and olive oil, is made separately and the chops are coated with it before they are served. Be sure you don't overcook the chops. Although veal is not served rare, as beef is, it should be slightly pink inside and juicy throughout. Chicken or even a piece of fish also goes well with the caper and sage sauce.

Raspberries are pureed and strained, then the mixture is partially frozen, and, finally, the slush is served in sugar-rimmed glasses. If you prepare the dessert ahead and freeze the mixture until hard, defrost it in the refrigerator for an hour or so before serving, to achieve the desired silky consistency. Individually quick frozen (IQF) berries, available year-round at most supermarkets, are generally of high quality and have been picked at the peak of ripeness and frozen without sugar. If fresh raspberries are in season, of course, you can use them.

Polenta is cornmeal and comes in yellow and white as well as in instant form. Served on soup plates and eaten with a spoon, this soft polenta is topped with a mushroom stew that is particularly delicious when it incorporates some wild varieties. A satisfying side, the polenta can also be served in larger portions as a vegetarian main course.

Floating islands are similar to snow eggs but are baked in the oven in a bain-marie (water bath). The dessert can be made in individual portions, as here, or in a large soufflé mold. The bottom of each mold is coated with a caramel finished with butter to keep it a bit softer. The filled molds are then cooked, surrounded by water, in a roasting pan. Some of the caramel adheres to the bottom of the dishes when the floating islands are unmolded, but some of it drips down over the desserts to mix with the custard sauce. The rum-custard sauce is made with fewer egg yolks than traditionally called for in a custard cream. The milk, cornstarch, and sugar mixture is brought to a rolling boil and poured directly on top of the yolks. Because of the small proportion of egg yolks to milk, the temperature of the mixture rises to 180 degrees, ensuring that the lecithin in the egg yolks wil thicken. The sauce doesn't need further cooking and is strained to eliminate any curdled pieces. Here the custard sauce is flavored with rum, but it could be flavored with cognac, bourbon or vanilla instead. Floating islands can be cooked a day or so ahead and kept, covered, in the refrigerator so the tops don't get rubbery. Covering also keeps the dessert moist, preventing the sugar from hardening around the edge of the molds, and thus making the floating islands easier to unmold.

Baked Alaska is called an "omelette norvégienne" in French when made in the oval shape of an omelete. However, this dessert is done in a conical shape to emulate a volcano; hence its name. The top of a "volcano" is adorned with a hollowed-out lemon half that is filled (as soon as it comes out of the oven) with warm brandy, which is ignited, and the dessert is brought flaming to the table. The lemon mousseline cake, used here to hold the ice cream in the center, can be made a day or two ahead and stored in a plastic bag to keep it moist. If you prefer, a standard genoise or a sponge cake or pound cake can be substituted for the mousseline cake, as can ladyfingers. The volcano bakes quickly, in 10 to 12 minutes, and should be brought to the table as it comes out of the oven. Although the egg whites shouldn't be beaten until the last moment, the ice cream and cake can be assembled ahead and kept covered in the freezer.

A panachée is a mixture of two or more ingredients with different colors, flavors, or shapes. For this one, I mix fruits and fruit puree with cookies and cream. It takes only a few minutes to prepare and almost any berries will work. I like to serve these desserts in shallow glass bowls or goblets. Although any cookies will do, I prefer to use Scottish shortbread cookies in this dessert.

Butternut is one of my favorite squashes. We often bake a small butternut squash (about 1 pound) at home; we split it lengthwise, seed it, score the flesh with a knife, sprinkle on a little salt, and bake, skin side down, for 1 hour in a 400-degree oven. Excellent in soup and pureed, butternut squash is always welcome at our table. This gratin is quite rich and should be reserved for special occasions, like Thanksgiving.

In the Today's Gourmet series, I wanted to create dishes that were elegant, modern, original, light, and reasonably quick to prepare. TV demanded that the dishes be visually attractive, too.... Partially drying the tomatoes in the oven concentrates their taste, giving them a wonderfully deep flavor and great chewiness. The red of the tomatoes, the white of the cheese, and the green of the basil make this dramatically colorful salad especially enticing. Serve with good crunchy bread.

This may not be as good as a true foie gras, but it's similar enough in flavor for a dish that costs only pennies to make. Not only can the pâté be served on toast — it can also serve as a finish for a classic Beef Wellington or enhance a stuffing or a meat loaf.