Best Recipes of 2012

"My grandma always used to .... [fill in the blank]." I love this about kids: Do something memorable once or twice or three times and it fixes in memory as if experienced week-in-week-out for years. "My grandma always used to make pancakes in animal shapes. My grandma always kept an open bag of candy in a kitchen drawer, right in front where it was easy to get to." True stories.

Here at Kitchen Parade, it is also true though that every year I "always" look back over the year's recipes and do my best, as hard as it is, to collect in one place what I think are the best recipes. Two recipe styles – sensibilities, really – stand out. My favorite recipes tend to be concepts as much as "recipes", ones where adaptation is expected, where the centers are solid but the edges blurry. My favorite recipes tend to be staples, the stuff we just might "always make" week-in-week-out.

With no further ado ...