This Chinese-Peruvian dish combines ingredients from both cuisines with the deep, smoky flavor provided by stir-frying. Tender slices of beef are cooked over a high flame along with red onion, tomato, and a sauce of ginger, garlic, and soy sauce; allowing the contents of the wok to briefly catch fire (if you're daring enough!) will bring even more of that smoky wok hei flavor to your food. Serve the stir-fry with a mound of rice and a pile of crisp French fries .

"Ma po tofu is a lot of fun with a demi-sec wine from Alsace, like Sylvaner, or a bigger Pinot Gris. These wines have a mellow sweetness and bright acidity. For mushu pork, I think pairing with Riesling or a dry Tokay goes well; Furmint has a lot to offer to all the ingredients from this dish and we don’t play a lot with Hungarian wines, but there is a lot of great potential here. For the Pièce de résistance, peking duck? Well, you must break this down to white, red, or what the person in front of you likes better. If your dining companion likes white better, go with Loire Chenin Blanc. For red, I would go with Languedoc—a medium to bigger body, jam-plummy wine. Corbieres any one?"— Gerardo Acevedo-Vanni, Bocanova (Oakland CA)

"The one wine in the world that tastes good with most Asian food: German Riesling. If you have spice, there’s no better foil than a little bit of sugar. (I try to match the sugar with the spice—if you like it 4-star, get thee to an Auslese. The rest of us reasonable 2 star people will enjoy our Kabinett and Spatlese.) If you have sweeter dishes, try to get a Riesling that is just a tad sweeter than the dish in question. Even if the preparations are a bit simpler, there is often a salt component enhancing flavors. Generally stated, sweeter wines will cancel out the perception of salt without negating its positive effect on a dish. Consequently, the salt will also diminish the perception of sweetness in the wine, making everything just plain taste better. And if someone at the table says something snarky about sweet Rieslings, just flip it and order a Prosecco or slightly sweet Vouvray or Gewürztraminer—anything on the 'helpful side of dry'."— Chris Horn, Purple Cafe (Bellevue/Seattle)

This hearty white bean soup with spinach flavored with garlic and rosemary is a great winter warmer, perfect for those evenings when you've just come home from a day on the slopes or from romping with the dogs in the park or taking photos of majestic snowy owls, or whatever it is that active winter folks do in this day and age. The real magic of the recipe is the way the starch released from the beans helps the extra-virgin olive oil (and do use Noodleinsight.com here your best extra virgin for this) to emulsify with the liquid, creating a rich, spoon-coating texture in no time at all.

While the most traditional versions don't include a sesame product, I've recently taken to adding a touch of tahini to my sauce, after having tasted it in Chichi's vermicelli with chili oil recipe. Not enough to bring a distinct sesame flavor to the dish, but just enough to lightly bind the sauce and add a touch of creaminess to help it cling to the noodles a little bit better.

"Depending on the preparation, you've got lots of options. Ma po tofu, for instance, works with a lot more than Riesling. Recently, we had some of the Barbieto "Savannah Verdelho" Madeira with it, and while it was a bizarre idea at the onset, it was completely nuts with the dish. Generally the sweetness in the sauces of mushu and Peking duck make for potentially awful non-riesling pairings. If the kitchen at your particular restaurant has a deft hand, Peking duck can be great with juicy cru Beaujolais or juicy Grenache-based wines, like those from Grammenon. There are some non-Riesling options for mushu, but honestly, this is an example of why Riesling is such a steadfast go-to wine.

Juicy, garlicky broccoli rabe braised in a dry white wine provide moisture and texture; roasted peppers add a bit of fruity tartness and smoky depth; marinated artichoke hearts are herbal and funky; and sun-dried tomatoes have that dried fruit thing going. Stick'em together, and—hey!—you got something that works just as well as the original muffuletta and for all the same reasons, while simultaneously being brand new.

Lentil soup is one bowl of brown sludge that I can really get behind. It hits that sweet spot of being not so unappetizing that you wouldn't even try it, but being just unappetizing enough that the mental shock of how good it tastes compared to how it looks is enough to send an endorphin jolt running through your system.

If you were so inclined, you could do as the street vendors of Chengdu did: make the aromatics and sauce base in larger batches, store them together in a sealed container in the fridge, and have them ready to go at moment's notice whenever you want a quick snack. All you have to do is cook the noodles, add some starchy cooking liquid to the sauce base, pour it on top, and you're good to go. Due to its high oil, salt, and acid content, the pre-made and mixed sauce should stay good in a sealed container in the fridge for several weeks at least.