Salad for Dinner

• A shredded beef salad with a crusty baguette provides a refreshing, yet hearty, summertime meal. For a Mexican-inspired salad, use a spicy vinaigrette with lime juice and chili powder, mix in thinly sliced red onions and radishes, pickled pepperoncini or jalapenos and add sliced avocados to temper the spiciness. For Asian flavors, add Asian hot sauce or curry powder for spiciness along with sliced water chestnuts, shredded carrots and cilantro.

The Flavors of Mexico

• The day before cooking beef for Mexican dishes, rub on a mix of chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper and let the meat sit overnight in the refrigerator. Cook it in beef broth with canned tomatoes, canned chilies, prepared chipotle sauce made from dried jalapeno peppers and minced garlic. Use the beef in burritos along with pinto or black beans, in enchiladas with potatoes, or in tostadas with refried beans and sliced onions.

Old Clothes and Fried Cow

• The shredded beef in the Cuban classics, ropa vieja, or old clothes, and vaca frita, fried cow, begin with beef cooked with an onion and a bay leaf. Ropa vieja gets its spicy flavors after cooking when you add sauteed onions, chopped green peppers, plenty of minced garlic, chopped chili, parsley, oregano and tomato puree; a spicy garlic-lime marinade after shredding turns the beef into vaca frita. Serve either dish with rice and beans on the side, on kaiser rolls as a beef sandwich or in tortillas, Mexican-style.

Barbecue Across the U.S.

• Pick your favorite barbecue for the shredded beef from numerous regional styles, all of which include a spicy kick. Kansas City style typically includes smoky flavors along with either tangy garlic or hot chipotle, dried jalapenos, while North Carolina sauce gets a kick from vinegar, pepper and chili powder. In Michigan, barbecue sauces sometimes include lots of black pepper and Worcestershire sauce for a spiciness. And in Texas, you might see sauce with mustard, lime and habanero peppers.