Nothing heralds the end of winter more delightfully than the first slow trickle of sap and the tendrils of woodsmoke rising from sugarhouses across Vermont. "Maple starts the season," says Steve Atkins, chef and co-owner of The Kitchen Table Bistro in Richmond. "It's the beginning — before the ramps and the fiddleheads, all the tender little green things — the first local seasonal thing we have."

And like so many things, we sometimes take it for granted. It's hard to remember in Vermont, where maple syrup really does grow on (OK, in) trees, that there are many places in the world where it's an uncommon and special ingredient.

Lara Atkins, The Kitchen Table Bistro's pastry chef and co-owner, grew up on fake maple-flavored syrup in Knoxville, Tenn. "Real maple syrup, the real deal, was reserved for very, very special occasions," she says, "and only served over vanilla ice cream." When she first moved to Vermont and it was possible to indulge in maple syrup more frequently, Lara recalls, "I felt like the queen of some fancy place."

While maple syrup may start in those beautiful sugar maple trees, any Vermont preschooler can tell you it doesn't emerge ready to eat. All that faintly sweet sap requires careful collection and hours of boiling to yield the intense caramel-golden syrup we slather on pancakes, whisk into maple vinaigrettes and bake into buttery sweet maple pies.

Laura Sorkin and her husband, Eric, own Thunder Basin Maple Works in Cambridge, where they gather sap from 1,000 acres of sugar bush with a crew of 12 during peak sugaring season. For them, maple season is sweet, but also really hard work.

Sorkin, who trained at The French Culinary Institute and also ran an organic vegetable farm, now deploys her chef credentials cooking for the hungry crew on occasion from late January through mid-April. She makes pulled pork with maple barbecue sauce, pork chops with orange-balsamic-maple glaze and carrot cake with maple–cream cheese frosting. "My nickname around here is Sugar Mama," she jokes.

Maple Syrup Pie

Lara Atkins, pastry chef and co-owner, The Kitchen Table Bistro, Richmond

Lara bakes individual pies at The Kitchen Table Bistro, but we adjusted the recipe to make one family-size pie. She serves them with a vanilla crème anglaise sauce and an extra drizzle of maple syrup as well as a scoop of house-made vanilla ice cream — a nod to rare childhood treats of ice cream drizzled with maple syrup in her native Tennessee, far from any sugar maples.

1 9-inch pie crust, prebaked and, ideally, warm from the oven

1 tablespoon flour

¼ teaspoon fine salt

1½ cups maple syrup, preferably grade B

½ cup heavy cream

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

3 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, bring maple syrup and cream to a boil and allow to boil for about 20 seconds. Turn off heat but leave pan on burner. Stir butter in to melt completely. Whisk a little bit of maple-cream mixture into the flour mixture to make a slurry and then whisk in the rest. Whisk a little of the maple-cream-flour mixture into the beaten eggs and then whisk the tempered eggs back into the maple-cream mixture until completely incorporated. Pour hot filling into warm prebaked pie shell. Bake about 50 to 60 minutes until dark golden-brown and set in the center such that a sharp knife comes out clean from the center of the pie. (Pie will settle as it cools.) Serve at room temperature with ice cream, whipped cream or crème fraîche.

Maple-Apple Vinaigrette

Steve Atkins, chef and co-owner, The Kitchen Table Bistro, Richmond

This favorite Kitchen Table vinaigrette bridges the seasons from the fall apple harvest through the winter until maple provides more cause for celebration in the spring. Its unusual use of apple butter provides body as well as a layer of subtle spice. The restaurant makes its own apple butter, of course, sweetened with maple and cider and lightly spiced with cinnamon, star anise and cloves. The vinaigrette goes beautifully over salads of sturdy greens — try ribboned winter greens like kale and spinach — with crumbles of cheddar or blue cheese, slices of fresh apple or persimmon, or roasted cubes of winter squash.

½ cup apple butter (apple sauce works, too, but you may want to add a little more maple)

1/3 cup sherry vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons maple syrup, preferably grade B

¾ cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1½ to 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

Warm water to thin to desired consistency

Put apple butter, vinegar, mustard and maple syrup in a blender. Blend to combine well before slowly drizzling in the vegetable oil through the opening in the blender lid with the machine running to emulsify. With the machine still running, pour in olive oil and season with salt. This is a thick vinaigrette and thickness will vary depending on the apple butter. Blend in a few tablespoons of warm water to reach a pourable consistency. Taste and add more salt or maple syrup as desired. Makes about 1¾ cups vinaigrette.

Chicken Leg 'Confit' With Maple Jus

Steve Atkins, chef and co-owner, The Kitchen Table Bistro, Richmond

At his restaurant, Steve Atkins simmers the chicken in eight cups of duck fat for a real confit, delicious but a stretch for the home cook who might not want to invest in that much duck fat. Instead, we borrowed a method from Williston-based author and cooking teacher Molly Stevens' cookbook, "One Potato, Two Potato," which yields lovely moist meat and a crackly skin.

4 whole chicken legs (drumstick plus thigh)

1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt

1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fennel seed, lightly toasted and crushed

1 tablespoon duck fat or olive oil

1 shallot, minced

About 10 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves minced to yield about 1½ teaspoons

1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade or low-sodium packaged

2 tablespoons maple syrup, preferably grade B

Salt and pepper to taste

Up to a day ahead, season legs with salt, pepper and fennel seed. Nestle legs skin side down in a baking dish that will hold them snugly, cover with foil and refrigerate at least one hour. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake chicken, covered, one hour. Turn pieces skin side up, replace foil and bake for another hour. Remove chicken to a rack to drain and cool briefly. Reduce oven to 250 degrees. Heat duck fat or oil in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat and carefully add legs to pan skin side down. Cook, without moving for 5 to 7 minutes, until golden-brown. Remove legs to an oven-proof platter or pan and return to low oven while finishing sauce. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat and juices from pan. Add shallot and thyme to pan and cook for one minute, stirring. Add chicken stock and maple syrup and increase heat to medium-high to a simmer. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes to reduce until syrupy. Season generously with salt and pepper to taste. Serve chicken legs with sauce spooned around them. Serves 4.

Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potato Oven Fries

Laura Sorkin, co-owner, Thunder Basin Maple Works, Cambridge, and graduate of The French Culinary Institute

The goodness of sweet potato gets a kick of heat and a kiss of maple in this easy crowd-pleasing recipe. It also works with cubes of winter squash or carrots and parsnips — just increase initial baking time until the vegetables are tender.

1½ teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1½ pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch wedges

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon maple syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together cumin, chili powder, salt and oil. Lay sweet potato wedges on a rimmed cookie sheet or shallow roasting pan in one layer and drizzle evenly with spice and oil mixture. Toss to coat evenly and put in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until fries are tender all the way through. Remove from oven and add butter and maple syrup to the hot pan. Increase oven temperature to 475 degrees. Gently toss fries in melting butter and maple syrup until coated evenly with glaze. When oven reaches temperature, return fries to oven for 3 to 4 more minutes until sizzling. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

~ Recipe-testing assistance by Sarah Strauss.