Lists by Aubrey Koch

Dinner without it becoming a project. Everything here runs fifteen to forty minutes start to finish, and no two are alike, so you're not scrolling past eight versions of pasta to find the one you want. There's salmon, lamb, a curry, a couple of soups. Pick whichever matches how much you have left in you tonight.

A tour of what we do best with our spices. It opens with things you could have on the table in the next fifteen minutes and climbs from there to a pie worth an afternoon, so take whichever one suits the day you're having.

You reach for the hot sauce before you've tasted the dish, and there's chili crisp on the table year round. You'll find fresh and dried chiles here, along with jerk seasoning, vindaloo, harissa, and a chocolate cake with chile in it. Aleppo Pepper Basil Lemonade counts as the cool-down.

You caramelize the onions well past the point most recipes tell you to stop, and you keep a head of roasted garlic in the fridge for whenever. These recipes build depth slowly, with porcini, miso, smoked brisket, gumbo, and a mac and cheese we'd defend in public. There's also an Umami Apple Pie in here, which sounds like a dare and turns out to be a good idea.

You buy herbs by the handful, put radicchio in the salad, and start the morning with matcha. These recipes stay on the clean, leafy, faintly bitter side, and where another cook might tame the bitterness, you leave it in. Expect a lot of salads, a gazpacho, and one mojito.

You stir cinnamon into your oatmeal and brown the butter before it goes into the batter. This is the round, gentle end of the spice cabinet, with cardamom, garam masala, and the warm baking spices we reach for once the weather turns. There's dinner in here as well as dessert, though we won't judge the order you cook them in.

You're the one raiding the olive bowl before dinner is on the table. These recipes run cured, briny, and deeply savory, from mussels steamed in vinho verde to Elliott Bay crab cakes, Cuban picadillo, and pan de tomate under Piment d'Espelette. Several take about ten minutes, which helps when the olives are already gone.

Sour is the flavor you cook toward. You reach for the lemon wedge, add the extra splash of vinegar to the dressing, and keep a jar of pickles that never lasts the week. These recipes lean on citrus, tart fruit, sumac, and anything brined or fermented. Start with the Caraway Kraut if you want a project, or Grandma's Lemon Wedges if you want something on the table tonight.