If you know how to do them justice, economical chicken drumsticks can be a delicious choice for the grill. We started by soaking them in a saltwater brine to season them and help them retain their juices during cooking, and then we coated them with a flavorful spice rub. We cooked them all the way to between 185 and 190 degrees over indirect heat, which provided plenty of time for their connective tissue to soften and allowed the skin to render gently without the risk of flare-ups. We finished by cooking the drumsticks briefly over the coals to capture some char and crispiness.

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Sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb are a winning flavor combination, but they can turn into a soupy mess when baked unless you take steps to manage their high water content. In our recipe, we macerate the rhubarb and some of the strawberries with sugar to draw out their excess liquid; then we cook the resulting syrup down with the remaining strawberries to make a jam-like mixture that is folded back into the rhubarb. Because we have removed the excess water, we are able to use less thickener and more fruit than is used in most strawberry-rhubarb pies, which results in an intensely flavored filling that is chunky and softly gelled. To complement the tartness of the fruit, we top our double-crust pie with a generous amount of water and sugar, which bakes to a crackly finish.

"There are few desserts that aren’t improved by a swirl of fresh whipped cream. But if you want to make your own, you have to haul out a mixer or, worse, whisk until your arm goes numb. Luckily, there is an easier way to make homemade whipped cream: Use a cream whipper, a pressurized canister powered by nitrous oxide. You simply fill the canister with heavy cream, twist on a single-use nitrous oxide charger (sold separately for about $0.50 a pop), shake to distribute the gas, and press a lever to pipe out swirls and rosettes. Beauty doesn’t come cheap, however—many cream whippers retail for upwards of $100.00. Are cream whippers worth the expense?"