Pimento cheese is one of those foods that everyone associates with the South. The South isn’t the only place where people thought of putting pimiento peppers and cheese together. But the South is the only place where the dish became so legendary. The first time I ever tried it was when I was in elementary school. The cafeteria served us a pimento cheese sandwich alongside a bowl of tomato soup. The tomato soup I didn’t like—I gave that away. The pimento cheese sandwich, though, was something else: It was new. It was different. I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. But I kept eating it, nibbling off of it a little at a time. So many of my chef friends make it, and I’ve had so many good versions, that it’s really grown on me. My favorite way to eat it is, of course, on pork skins—or layered onto a BLT for a BLTPC.

The Krewe of Zulu was always my favorite Mardi Gras Day parade in New Orleans. And snagging a hand-painted coconut was the ultimate prize. The Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, the largest predominantly Black Carnival organization, commissioned a signature king cake from my neighborhood bakery in Baton Rouge, Ambrosia Bakery. Ambrosia’s Zulu King Cake is filled with cream cheese, chocolate, and coconut—all the best parts of the Zulu parade! This chocolate, cream cheese, and coconut babka is inspired by that king cake, and this delectable blend of ingredients is irresistible!

My mother made fantastic, tall buttermilk biscuits with flaky layers and airy pockets. Just like Mom knows, the keys to making perfect biscuits are ice-cold butter and milk and not overworking the dough. That cold butter creates steam in a hot oven that bakes into flaky layers made to capture jam, gravy, and good ole maple syrup. Yaasss!

Is there anything more lavish than having a donut for breakfast? Inspired by Italian bombolone—a fried pastry coated in granulated sugar and piped with pastry cream—our fluffy and tender donuts are bursting with a decadent chocolate hazelnut center. Made 100% dairy-free thanks to a double rise and a coconut base, our Chocolate Hazelnut–Filled Donuts are for mornings worth celebrating.

Everyone has gotta have a good go-to bolognese recipe in their back pocket, and this is mine. A classic ragu bolognese is not a super tomatoey-saucy sauce, as it’s made with ground meat and its juices. I used mushrooms because they’re superior to meat and just as juicy! Sure, there’s usually red wine in the base of the bolognese, but I made the executive decision to not do that—you can also tweak this to your liking. It’s also traditional to use a flat pasta like pappardelle or tagliatelle, and you want to kiss and coat the noodles, not drown them in sauce!

This is the brunch recipe you should make if you’re looking to impress guests but want to put in zero effort . . . which probably describes every person who has ever hosted guests for breakfast. These require almost no prep work and come out of the oven looking gorgeous every time. I love prosciutto here because it’s leaner than bacon and crisps up perfectly in the oven—it has just the right amount of crunch, and it goes so well with eggs. If you can’t find Manchego cheese, try Parmesan or crumbled feta. The spoonful of fresh chive pesto adds nice color, too. This dish is delicious and beautiful, a perfect individual meal in a little cup. How else could you cook up a dozen eggs for guests without any stress?

I love a pork roast, but part of me loves the next-day pork bap, apple sauce and stuffing even more. The addition of pear to this roast gives it something extra special, but don’t feel guilty if you’re more excited about a bap now.

Nián gāo (黏糕, in Mandarin) are the fruitcake of Chinese desserts. The difference is that they’re steamed, not baked, and made of glutinous rice flour instead of wheat flour. But like fruitcake, they show up (sometimes inconveniently) on major holidays. Nián gāo means “sticky cake” and is also a pun for “a year better than the last,” so around the new year, you make it to bribe the Kitchen God and glue his mouth shut, as he’s to report on everything he’s overheard in your kitchen the past year. That classic texture can be polarizing for people who are unfamiliar with it, so for this version, I looked toward butter mochi, a favorite from the 1970s era of Oriental-style convenience baking. Baking turns nián gāo into a cake of wonderful contrasts—still chewy but topped with a golden crust. Winter is peak nián gāo season, so I use brandied cherries, like Luxardo, but feel free to use other dried fruit; rehydrate for fifteen minutes in some hot water, rum, or brandy, then chop into ½-inch pieces so they stay evenly distributed throughout the cake.