Eastern European

These thin, crispy, savory meat-and-vegetable-topped Armenian flatbreads can sprayed with lemon juice and eaten like pizza, or turned into sandwiches by rolling them around a salad of fresh or pickled vegetables. Our dough started with a higher-protein all-purpose flour to create an ample amount of gluten that gave the dough both crispness and tenderness but not so much that it turned tough.

I developed this recipe to show off some of my favorite local Baltic ingredients in a modern way. Historically, smoking was a key preservation technique of the region, hence the inclusion of the smoked cheese.

A Hungarian cook in Cleveland taught me the method of cooking shrimp in beer. The broth gives the crustaceans a remarkable taste. When you bring the liquid to a boil, watch it carefully so it doesn't bubble over. Serve the shrimp with cocktail sauce.