Happily, the recipe’s relationship to memory isn’t the only reason Genova selected it. She and a friend have “obsessed” over this dessert from Todd English’s restaurant, Figs, for years. When we tested it, we understood why. The bread pudding is rich and creamy and, topped with a lustrous raspberry sauce, it’s a dessert that guests will…remember.  Enjoy!

In that era, explains See, Chinese restaurateurs, such as her grandfather, who owned a restaurant in Los Angeles’s Chinatown, created dishes to please American customers, and American tomatoes and beef were commonly paired with Chinese noodles. Similar dishes were found on every menu in Chinese-American restaurants  – such as the fictional restaurants in Shanghai Girls.

But Curried Tomato Beef Lo Main is a dish of the past:  “no one asks for it, orders it, or remembers it,” says See. “Tomato beef is a uniquely Chinese-American dish — symbolic in many ways of America’s ‘melting pot,’”  she adds. Her recipe has been passed down through generations in her family — from her grandfather’s dish to her father’s version which he has been perfecting for years. See says this taste of her childhood “is fast, colorful, and combines all the food groups.”

As Gregory explains, gingerbread was a rare treat during this period, because it derived its flavor from ginger, an expensive spice imported from the Mediterranean region. “Perhaps the Crusaders got the taste for it and brought it home to their castles, along with the other spices and herbs that helped sweeten and spice the bland cooking of the northern countries,” she writes.

Her recipe, adapted from a 15^th-century cookbook, combines boiling honey and spices with finely ground bread crumbs.  The resulting “dough” is rolled and cut into shapes, then decorated with cloves or leaves, or rolled into balls and dipped in cinnamon and sugar.   This wonderfully dense, rich, chewy candy is the perfect ending to any book club feast.

Ford’s hum bao recipe is surprisingly easy and impressive: these dumplings look and taste authentic.  The secret? Ford starts with frozen bake n’ serve white dinner rolls.  He stuffs them with ground pork (or ground beef, if you prefer) sauteed with whiskey, honey, soy sauce, and spices, and either steams them or bakes them to a lovely golden brown.  Our testers couldn’t get enough of these warm, puffed buns with the tangy filling.

We’re grateful to Jamie Ford for sharing his recipe – a sweet (not bitter) addition to our recipe collection.

Diamant graciously contributed a recipe for Israeli Salad to Table of Contents.   A tangy olive oil-and-lemon juice dressing coats a heaping bowl of freshly-chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and scallions – a salad bursting with freshness and hope, and a perfect start to any day.

Tinti’s recipe — Mrs. Sands’s Apple Crumble Pie — is the dessert she and her family savor for Thanksgiving each year. With its delicious crumbly topping (butter and sugar – need we say more?), it’s s a hit with our families, too!

We love Jackson’s tale about the origin of the pie’s name (see Table of Contents for the story).  And her explanation of why Rose Mae Lolley – her character in gods in Alabama who reappears in Backseat Saints – bakes Chess Pie while negotiating with her abusive husband, touched us.

Jackson recommends eating Chess Pie with a cup of strong black coffee.  We like this combination of bitter and sweet – a delicious reminder of the bitterness and sweetness that graces the lives of Jackson’s characters.