Gourmet

Creaminess is added to buttery Yukon Golds with just olive oil and potato water.

This colorful one-pot main dish meshes savory mussels with Asian aromatics for a contemporary take on moules marinière. Bottled fresh carrot juice is a flavorful (and not-to-be-sniffed-at) shortcut.

Nutty fried cauliflower florets plus raw shavings of the vegetable's stem give flaky striped bass more complexity (and panache) than the usual fish with lemon.

This rich side dish gets unexpected encouragement from orange, cream, and Chinese five-spice powder.

Celery—often dismissed as one of the produce world's poorest relations—contributes an intriguing earthiness to moist chicken infused with the flavors of white wine and garlic.

Inspired by a dessert served at Le Bistro Paul Bert, in Paris, we used Indian spices to restyle this elegant classic custard. It takes its French name ("eggs in the snow") from the lightly poached dollops of meringue that top it.

Il Vino d'Enrico Bernardo, a wine-centric Paris restaurant, features a delicious dish of lamb chops, carrots, and chickpeas with North African spices and black truffles. Skipping the truffles makes it more everyday, but it's still wonderful.

This substantial early-fall dish was inspired by one served at Au Vieux Chêne, in Paris. Roasting some of the mushrooms and sautéing the rest until just warmed through creates different flavors and textures. Cumin seeds—popular with today's Parisian chefs—deepen the earthiness.

The keys to this fast, simple dish, which was inspired by a crab-stuffed tomato at Yves Camdeborde's Paris brasserie, Le Comptoir du Relais, are ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs, and excellent crabmeat.

The French know how to take the proverbial ham-and-cheese combo and turn it into something special. And this super-satisfying main dish just couldn't be easier.

Ginger and cilantro add Southeast Asian oomph to this French-style butter sauce, which lightly coats big, meaty shrimp.

Chef Christian Constant's unforgettable potatoes stuffed with pigs' trotters at Les Cocottes, in Paris, inspired this homey but adventurous take on an American favorite: the stuffed baked potato. We used breakfast sausage and a savory glaze that does double duty as a salad dressing.

As convenient as store-bought duck confit is, we find that its quality tends to vary. Making your own allows you to control the spicing and the cooking time to produce a velvety piece of meat. This ancient preservation method has three parts: First you cure the duck legs in salt (drawing out the water in which microorganisms can live), then you slowly cook them in fat, and finally you store them fully covered in the cooking fat so air can't get in.

Traditionally used to season pâtés and terrines, this French spice mixture also adds an earthy depth to the duck confit.

Evocative of cassoulet but so much easier, this bean soup manages to be both rugged and elegant. No part of the confit duck legs goes to waste: The bones add savor to the beans, the meat goes into the soup, and the crisped skin makes a delectable garnish. Flambéing the Armagnac before adding it to the pot takes the edge off the alcohol while leaving behind the deep flavor of the barrel.

In French bistros, confit duck legs are traditionally served with a very simple, sharply dressed frisée salad. This version of the light meal gilds the lily by switching out frisée for peppery watercress and adding juicy navel oranges and nuggets of toasted walnuts.

For this gratin recipe, food editor Paul Grimes drew inspiration from the Alsace region of France, where it is common to pair preserved meats with sauerkraut.

This rustic, one-dish meal incorporates ingredients that southwestern France is known for: prunes, Armagnac, leeks, potatoes, and mushrooms. The ragout's combination of sweet, salty, and earthy acts as a complex backdrop for the duck.

This fresh chutney combines pineapple with a recent Parisian obsession—mangoes—for a vibrant counterpoint to rich pâté.

While eating at one of the coveted counter seats at Les Cocottes, Christian Constant's chic restaurant, food editor Paul Grimes was deeply inspired by the pumpkin soup, which surprised him with savory little chunks of foie gras waiting at the bottom of the bowl. Here, Grimes explores squash's more savory side by cooking it with a touch of tomato and providing that little bit of sweet surprise in the form of chopped chestnut. With just a dollop of whipped cream, it is rich only in looks and spirit—a spoonful will reveal how unbelievably light it is.