I’m a big fan of single ingredients that can, all by themselves, bring deep, complex flavors to the pot. In other words: little work, big flavor. And in the world of malt beverages, that means stout. If you’ve ever tasted this dense, dark brew, you know why: Along with its edge of bitterness, it brings rich undertones of chocolate, coffee, caramel, even a bit of smoke; and it’s great for braising, grilling, baking, and glazing.

Imagine walking past a garden, cool and green in the summer sun, and detecting a faint, slightly sweet, delicately aromatic fragrance of roses lingering gently in the air. That’s what rose water is like when it’s properly used. A relatively inexpensive product, rose water allows you, with just a drop or two, to add the allure of one of the world’s fragrances to your cooking: a grilled pound cake with peach compote, a rice pudding, a carrot salad – even your martini.

For years I ignored the dried limes I saw in Middle Eastern markets—just walked right past them. Dusky brown things slightly larger than ping-pong balls, ringed with faint, ghostly stripes, they always seemed vaguely sinister. But a clerk in a local Middle Eastern store mentioned them to me several times, and then one day, when my partner Stephen and I were shopping for other things in a store specializing in spices, he picked up a bag of them and said, “Why don’t you try these? They seem like they’re right up your alley.” So I did—and found one of my new favorite ingredients.