This is the broccoli salad you will get special requests for. The combination of bacon, sour cream, mayonnaise, scallions and Cheddar is hard to resist.

This crustless quiche is perfect for brunch or dinner served with a green salad on the side. You can shred Brussels sprouts yourself with a sharp knife or look for pre-shredded sprouts with other prepared vegetables in your local grocery store. We love the smoky flavor of bacon, but pancetta is an easy substitute.

These bacon-wrapped dates are stuffed with creamy goat cheese for the perfect salty-sweet appetizer bite. Deglet Noor dates are smaller than Medjool dates and work best for this recipe. Center-cut bacon has had fat removed from either side of the strip, making it a leaner choice. If you’re having trouble keeping the bacon in place, secure it with a wooden pick before baking.

This chicken carbonara has the classic all-yolk sauce, which yields a rich and creamy texture. For some carbonara recipes the residual heat and starch from the pasta are enough to thicken the yolks, but we prefer the double-boiler method to gently cook the egg yolks to a custard-like texture without the risk of overcooking them to a scramble.

These buns are a grab-and-go street food in China. Use a multi-tray bamboo steamer can cook all the buns at one time. To make them up to two months ahead, fill the dough, and freeze unsteamed buns on a tray in the freezer before placing them in a freezer-safe zip-top plastic bag. Steam directly from the freezer for an additional five minutes. Serve these for a meal or as a fantastic appetizer for entertaining.

This healthy oven-roasted pork is as easy as it gets. Boneless center-cut pork loin is lean and uniform in shape, so it cooks evenly in the oven. Lowering the oven temperature after 30 minutes prevents the roast from drying out, so don't skip that step! Don't have fresh herbs on hand? Use dried instead. Substitute 1 teaspoon dried herbs for every 1 tablespoon fresh. Serve with green beans and crispy potatoes.

Deeply savory gochujang adds a mild heat to these quick-cooking grain bowls. Look for gochujang, a fermented red pepper paste, in Asian markets or in the Asian foods aisle of your local supermarket. Leftover brown rice can also be used in these grain bowls.

This foolproof meatball recipe makes enough to stash away for another day. They're great to have on hand for easy dinners (see three ways to use them, below). But they also make good impromptu appetizers.

In this variation on Italian piccata, we cook thin strips of pork in a wok. Lemon juice is a critical component of classic pork piccata, but you can't add it to a carbon-steel wok because it will strip the patina. We call for lemon wedges to be served on the side instead.

Traditional pulled pork is barbecued, which gives it a smoky flavor. But the slow cooker happens to be the absolute easiest way to cook pulled pork—and you can get a hint of smoke by adding chipotle chile. Serve the pulled pork with potato salad, collard greens and grits, or make it into a sandwich and serve it on a bun with coleslaw.

This basic braised pork shoulder recipe is a great foundation for all sorts of meals. Try it in creamy pasta, stuffed into a sandwich with provolone and peppers or on top of a pizza.

Toasting and grinding your own spices for a flavorful rub is the quickest, easiest way to build surefire flavor in this easy pork chop recipe. Serve with a simple tossed salad and some roasted sweet potatoes to round out the meal.