Kemp's Timeless Favorites: 2000s Recipes + Menus : gourmet.com

Macaroni and Cheese

Consider this the ultimate mac and cheese: Buttery, Parmesan-flecked bread crumbs create a blanket of crisp contrast to the perfect union of pasta and a creamy, Cheddar-stoked sauce. Make it stripped-down simple or with mix-ins—it doesn’t get better than this!

Asian Pulled Pork with Vietnamese Slaw

We may call this Asian, yet the flavors of soy sauce, hoisin, and ginger are as familiar to Americans as ketchup and mustard. Fuse them with pork shoulder in a long, slow braise and you’ll end up with the most insanely delicious morsels of meat you’ve ever put between a bun. Don’t forget the slaw!

Double Chocolate Layer Cake

Having earned the top rating and nearly 1,500 comments, this is the most-reviewed recipe on Epicurious.com. Originally from Gourmet, this cake is super—moist—thanks to the magic of oil, not butter—with a dense, fudgy frosting. You'll get raves whenever you make it, which could turn out to be often.

Hot Pepper and Garlic Shrimp

Whether called scampi or shrimp, these are America’s favorite pink and curvy crustaceans. And there’s nothing like thinly sliced garlic, a little crushed dried chile, and sizzling olive oil to bring out the best in them.

Asparagus Mimosa

Roasted asparagus may be the rage right now, but it will never beat a platter of beautifully peeled spears perfectly—and quickly—cooked in a skillet of simmering water, adorned with a fragrant tarragon vinaigrette, and crowned with a sunny mimosa-like spray of sieved hard-boiled eggs.

Salt-Roasted Chicken

How many recipes do you need for roast chicken? Only one. This one. Trust us when we say it’s the best and easiest roast chicken we’ve ever had. If you let the bird rest in the fridge with it’s rubbed-on salt for the full 48 hours, you will be rewarded with the juiciest meat and the crispiest skin.

Short Ribs with Coffee Ancho Sauce

Once you’ve experienced the succulence of braised short ribs, it’s hard to go back to chuck stew meat. The earthy sweetness of dried ancho chiles mingles with coffee to create a complex, nuanced sauce. This recipe is so outstanding, it was repeated twice within three years in Gourmet magazine.

Gratin Dauphinois

Leave it to the French, who revere potatoes as “apples of the earth,” to transform them—with the help of a little cream, milk, and Gruyère—into the most delicious iteration of au gratin potatoes you have ever had. We can thank Jacques Pépin for the inspiration for this very fine version.

Lemon Curd Tart with Olive Oil

In the dessert world, there are as many lemon lovers as chocolate fanatics. This tart, filled with lemon curd, strikes the perfect puckery balance between tart and sweet. With an easy crust that’s spreadable (no rolling!), this recipe puts pastry success within reach of even novice bakers.

Three Cities of Spain Cheesecake

Through the decades, cheesecake was the dessert category most often requested by Gourmet readers. And the hands-down best cheesecake ever was from Three Cities of Spain coffeehouse in Santa Fe. Though the café closed in the ‘70s, its recipe lives on: impossibly creamy, with the merest hint of tang.

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