Memorize these easy dishes and techniques, and you’ll have an arsenal of easy meals at hand.

Everyone has one or two — or 20! — recipes that they know by heart. Perhaps, at first, you referred to the instructions every time you made it, but at some point, you memorized the measurements, how it should look and exactly how it should taste when it’s done. Eventually, it became a standby, your Old Faithful.

Memorize part or any one of these 18 recipes, beloved by readers and the Food staff alike — the sauce, the technique or the flavor combinations — and you’ll be able to recreate these dishes or amplify others. However you approach them, you’ll find these recipes are unforgettable.

1. Salt and Pepper Shrimp Rolls

This recipe from Kay Chun can be broken down into three component parts: fried pepper-salt shrimp, a garlicky mayo (for smearing inside a top-split hot dog bun) and a smattering of Fresno chiles and cilantro. Best of all, the sandwiches come together in about 15 minutes — and will probably last just as long. ADVERTISEMENT