Top 10 Culinary Arts Recipes of 2008

Scrambled eggs are a great way to start your day, and they're a great way to start off our Top 10 Recipes of the Year. The key to making the perfect scrambled eggs is whisking the eggs thoroughly and vigorously before cooking them. Whisking incorporates air, which produces fluffier scrambled eggs.

Spaghetti Carbonara is a wonderful dish to serve as the weather turns cooler, and it's one of the most popular pasta dishes served at restaurants. If you're craving that creamy, bacony goodness, you don't have to go out. You can make it at home and save a few bucks!

Always a favorite, Chicken Piccata is a classic Italian dish that takes nearly all the difficulty out of cooking chicken. That's because it's made with super thin cutlets (scallopine in Italian, escalopes in French) that are done as soon as they're brown. The simple, tangy sauce is pretty heavenly, too!

These simple scones are light, flaky and buttery, and there are endless variations on this basic recipe. They're perfect for breakfasts, brunches, afternoon tea — and best of all, they're absolutely moist and delicious. Here are some more scone recipes you might like:

• Lemon Blueberry Scones
• Strawberry Almond Scones
• Cranberry Orange Scones

You don't need to go out to breakfast to have delicious home fries. (After all, there's a reason they're called "home" fries.) Potatoes are notoriously cheap and filling, and a batch of home fries goes a long way. You might also enjoy this crispy hash browns recipe.

Most people cook their bacon in pans that are way too hot. Bacon should be cooked slowly, with low heat. My preferred method for cooking bacon is to skip the stovetop altogether and cook it in the oven. It's practically foolproof, and a breeze to clean up. And when it comes to bacon, life is too short for anything less than perfect.

This simple oil & vinegar salad dressing, which is also called a basic vinaigrette or basic French dressing, can be mixed up in a flash. It uses the standard 3:1 vinaigrette ratio, meaning 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.

• Italian Vinaigrette
• Herbed Vinaigrette
• Mustard Vinaigrette

By putting overripe bananas, that would otherwise be destined for the garbage, to good use, banana bread is another good recipe for people looking to economize — and these days, that's pretty much everyone but Wall Street CEOs!

Often served as a side dish with lamb and other meats or poultry, this traditional French ratatouille also makes a hearty meal served over rice or couscous. And while this recipe calls for chicken stock, it can be made with vegetable stock, making it suitable for vegetarians or vegans.

And this is it, the most popular recipe of the year according to your clicks! Beef pot roast is perfectly suited to the cooler days and nights, but it's been popular all year long. Besides being tasty and satisfying, it's an economical dish because the best meats for braising are less expensive cuts of meat such as beef chuck and brisket.

Here's more about braising:

• Moist-Heat Cooking
• Braising & Stewing
• Video: How to Make Pot Roast