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Hassle: Not bad, though this isn’t the easiest of all guacamoles.

Cost comparison: It costs about one and a half times as much to buy your guaca-mole as to make it, depending on the price of fresh avocados.

8 ounces tomatillos (about 8 crab apple–size tomatillos), husked

2 fresh serrano chiles

2 garlic cloves, unpeeled

½ onion, finely chopped

¼ cup chopped cilantro

4 ripe avocados

Kosher salt

1. Preheat the broiler on high.

2. Put the tomatillos, chiles, and garlic on a baking sheet under the broiler. When they’ve blistered and blackened on one side, after about 3 minutes, turn them over and broil on the other side. Cool.

3. Pull the stems from the chiles and peel the garlic.

4. Combine the chiles, tomatillos, and garlic in a food processor or blender. Process until coarsely pureed. Transfer to a bowl and add the onion and cilantro.

5. Scoop the avocado from the shells and mash. Add to the tomatillo mixture and stir. Season with salt. Eat promptly, as this doesn’t keep for more than a few hours.

Makes 4 cups—enough for a crowd

HOTSAUCE

I first made this salsa with habaneros, which produced a tangerine-colored salsa so hot that I worried I’d seared my tongue when I tasted it. For the next batch, I moved down the Scoville heat scale to serranos, which were still too fiery for me. You can use any chile, but I like Fresnos, which make a cherry-red sauce with the perfect bite. This sauce is vibrant and fruity, and to me, Tabasco now tastes thin and musty.

Make it or buy it? Make it.

Hassle: Approximately 4 minutes of labor, then you put the sauce in the cupboard and blender jar in the dishwasher.

Cost comparison: Homemade: $0.02 per teaspoon. Crystal brand: $0.05 per teaspoon. Tabasco: $0.18 per teaspoon.

1 pound Fresno chiles

1½ cups cider vinegar

4 garlic cloves, peeled

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1. Cut the stems off the chiles but leave the seeds. Combine the chiles with all the other ingredients in a blender or food processor. Puree until liquefied. Pour the contents into a jar with a lid and cap tightly. Store in a dark place for 6 weeks.

2. Refrigerate. The sauce will keep indefinitely.

Makes 3 cups

SALSA

Unlike store-bought guacamole, store-bought salsa can be quite tasty, but in summer, when local tomatoes are in season, homemade can’t be beat.

Make it or buy it? Make it.

Hassle: Lots of wet chopping

Cost comparison: In high summer, this costs between $0.50 and $1.00 per cup. Year-round, barring a sale, Tostitos medium chunky salsa costs $2.00 per cup.

3 tablespoons chopped onion

2 cups chopped tomatoes

2 chiles, such as jalapeños or serranos, minced

3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Juice of 1 lemon or lime

1 unpeeled peach, chopped (optional, but great)

Combine all ingredients and mix well. If you have time, let the salsa sit for an hour at room temperature so the flavors can mingle. Use immediately. This doesn’t keep well overnight.

Makes 2 cups

CHAPTER 5

RESTAURANT FOOD

Here are words I like to see on a menu when I go to a restaurant: Soft-shell crabs. Wood-burning oven. Lobster rolls. Peking duck. Marrow bones. Sous vide. Sweetbreads. I don’t necessarily love to eat sweetbreads, but their presence on a menu suggests that the cook is doing something I can’t, don’t, or won’t do at home.

Here’s what I don’t like to see on a menu: Meat loaf. Meatballs. Roasted chicken. Pot roast. Macaroni and cheese. I see those words a lot.

“We’re in uncertain times, and this is the time when we crave comfort food,” said a commentator on NPR not long ago. I disagree. In the Depression, which pretty much defined “uncertain times,” people who could afford to splurge splurged on mock turtle soup and saddle of venison. They didn’t dress up and go out for meat loaf. I think we go out for meat loaf because a lot of us have stopped cooking meat loaf.

A short alphabetical survey of dishes to