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Raclette

In the Valais, the vineyard-and-glacier canton along the upper Rhône, raclette began as a herders' meal: half a wheel of cheese propped beside an open fire, the melting face scraped (racler) onto a plate of potatoes. Today Valais families and village festivals still serve it the slow way, one plate at a time, while at home most people use a tabletop grill with small pans. The cheese is soft and pungent from the wheel and turns sweet and nutty as it bubbles, set off by sharp cornichons and little pickled onions. A proper Valais raclette needs nothing else: no charcuterie, just potatoes, pickles, pepper and a glass of Fendant or hot tea. Raclette cheese is usually made with animal rennet; choose a wheel or slices labelled with microbial or vegetarian rennet. Chef's tip: keep the potatoes hot in a covered basket wrapped in a cloth, so each scoop of cheese lands on a steaming potato and stays runny.

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Caldo de gallinaHen broth with noodles

In Lima's markets and the all-night caldo stalls of districts like La Victoria, a bowl of caldo de gallina is the dawn breakfast for market porters, taxi drivers and anyone coming home late: a deep, golden broth from a slow-simmered hen (a boiling fowl) with ginger and spring onion, ladled over thick noodles and yellow potato, with a boiled egg, lime and ají chilli on the side. The common mistake is boiling the broth hard, which clouds it and toughens the meat; keep it to a lazy simmer. The chicken must reach 74 °C, though after this long simmer it will be well past that. Chef's tip: cook the noodles separately, then put them in the bowls; cooked in the pot they drink the broth and turn it starchy.

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Gigot de sept heuresSeven-hour braised lamb

This is the slow Sunday gigot of the French countryside, set in a low oven after breakfast and eaten at the family lunch or supper, especially in winter and at Easter. The leg of lamb is browned, then braised so long with whole garlic heads, onions, carrots and white wine that the meat is served with a spoon rather than a knife, and the garlic melts into the sauce. Serve with white beans, mashed potatoes or simply crusty bread. It cooks with wine; for an alcohol-free version use the same amount of extra stock with a tablespoon of cider vinegar. The usual mistake is a lid that does not fit, so the liquid escapes and the meat dries; seal it with foil under the lid. Chef's tip: turn the leg every two hours and baste it, so the top never dries above the liquid.

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HoenderpasteiChicken pie

Church bazaars from Paarl to Graaff-Reinet sell hoenderpastei by the slab, and a family-sized dish turns up at Christmas lunch and funerals alike. Under its puff pastry lid sits shredded chicken in a pale, silky sauce scented with allspice, cloves and a little nutmeg, with slices of boiled egg tucked through it. Sago is the old trick here: soaked and cooked in the stock, the little pearls swell into a glossy thickener that sets as the pie cools, so slices hold their shape. Serve it with geelrys, buttered green beans and a sharp beetroot salad. Chef's tip: let the filling cool before the pastry goes on; a hot filling melts the butter in the pastry and the lid bakes flat instead of rising into flaky layers.

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HojichaRoasted green tea

Hojicha was born in Kyoto in the 1920s, when tea merchants started roasting the coarse late-season bancha leaves and stems over charcoal to sell what would not keep. Today the smell of tea roasting in a shop doorway is part of walking down Teramachi or past the Nishiki market. Roasting drives off much of the caffeine and all the grassy bitterness, so hojicha is the pot that comes out after an evening meal, with rice crackers, or for children and older relatives who avoid stronger tea. The cup is reddish brown, smells of caramel and roasted nuts, and tastes soft and slightly sweet with almost no astringency. Unlike sencha, it likes really hot water and a very short steep. The common mistake is treating it like black tea and leaving the leaves in for several minutes, which makes it flat and woody; 30 seconds is enough for the first pour, and the leaves give a good second pot. It is ready when the liquor is clear russet and the steam smells of toasted sugar. Chef's tip: if your packet has lost its perfume, warm the leaves in a dry pan for 30 seconds until they smoke very faintly before brewing.

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Bissy tea (kola nut tea)

Kola trees came to Jamaica with enslaved West Africans, and the nut, called bissy on the island, has stayed in country medicine ever since. Older people in St Mary, St Elizabeth and the hills of Clarendon still keep a dried bissy in the kitchen and grate some into boiling water when the stomach is upset or after eating something that disagreed with them,. Parched in a dry pan first, the grated nut gives a reddish-brown tea that smells faintly of cocoa and tastes bitter and astringent, softened by plenty of sugar. The common mistake is boiling raw, ungrated nut and expecting much flavour: whole pieces give little. Grate it finely, parch it until it darkens and smells like toasted cocoa, then boil. It is ready when the tea is a deep reddish-brown and coats the tongue with bitterness. Kola nut is very high in caffeine, as strong as a big mug of coffee or more, so drink one cup, not late in the day, and keep it away from children, pregnant people and anyone sensitive to caffeine or with heart trouble. Chef's tip: strain it through a fine cloth; the grated nut leaves a gritty sediment that a sieve lets through.

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Teh halia (ginger milk tea)

Sit down at any mamak stall in Kuala Lumpur, Penang or Johor Bahru, from breakfast roti canai to the after-football supper at 1 a.m., and someone at the table will order teh halia. It is teh tarik's spicier cousin: dust-fine black tea is boiled with plenty of crushed ginger, mixed with condensed and evaporated milk, then 'pulled' between two mugs from arm's length until a thick froth forms. The result is sweet, creamy and malty, with a ginger heat that catches your throat, most loved on wet monsoon evenings. The common mistake is adding ginger to tea at the end; it then tastes raw and thin. Boil the ginger in the water first for several minutes so the heat goes into the liquid. It is ready when the tea is the colour of milky caramel and a dense froth a few centimetres high sits on top. This contains caffeine, so it is not for children. Chef's tip: practise pulling with water over the sink first, then start low and raise the mug slowly as you pour.

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Horchata de morroMorro seed and rice drink

In El Salvador horchata means horchata de morro, made with the seeds of the morro or jícaro tree, whose round gourds also become cups and bowls. It is poured from big glass jars at pupuserías every evening, sold in plastic bags with a straw outside schools, and drunk at home with Sunday lunch. Markets in San Salvador and Santa Ana sell a ready-ground mix, but toasting your own is easy: rice, morro seeds, sesame, pumpkin seeds and cacao, with cinnamon and allspice. The drink is light brown, cool and creamy, with a nutty, toasted taste, a hint of chocolate and warm spice; quite different from the white Mexican rice horchata. The common mistake is skipping the soak and blending the powder straight with water; it stays gritty and tastes thin. Let it soak at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge. It is ready when it is smooth, beige-brown, coats the glass faintly and smells of toasted seeds and cinnamon. Outside Central America, look for semilla de morro or horchata mix in Latin shops; if you cannot find it, use extra pumpkin seeds and sesame. Chef's tip: toast each seed separately, because they brown at different speeds.

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LampreadoCassava starch cheese fritters

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Bunelos agaBanana fritters

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HrousFermented onion chilli paste

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Families in San Luis Potosí and across central Mexico make this for a slow weekend breakfast or almuerzo: strips of charred poblano chilli simmered in a loose tomato broth, eggs poached right in the pan, and cubes of fresh cheese softening on top, with warm corn tortillas to mop it up. The name, "the mestiza's petticoat hem", is said to come from the ragged strips of chilli. The common mistake is cooking the sauce too thick: it should stay brothy, almost like a soup, or the eggs scorch before they set. Some queso fresco is made with animal rennet; for a vegetarian dish choose one made with microbial rennet, or use paneer. Cook the yolks until firm for pregnant people, young children, older or vulnerable people. Chef's tip: sweat the poblano strips in the oil before the tomato goes in, so their smoky flavour seasons the whole broth.

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Dulceață de nuci verziCandied green walnuts

Around Sânziene in late June, families in Moldavia and Transylvania climb the walnut trees to gather nuts that are still green and soft, before the shell has begun to form. A week of patient work follows: peeling, pricking and soaking in water changed morning and evening until the harsh bitterness leaches out, then slow simmering in a syrup scented with cloves and lemon until the nuts turn glossy black. The finished dulceață is offered the old way, one walnut on a small glass saucer with a teaspoon and a glass of cold water for a visitor, or with coffee on a winter afternoon. Each nut is tender all the way through with a faint crunch at the heart, tasting of caramel, cloves and something resinous and bittersweet. The decisive mistake is picking too late: if a darning needle no longer slides easily through the centre, the shell is hardening and the nuts will stay woody whatever you do. The syrup is done when a drop holds its shape on a cold plate. Chef's tip: wear gloves for every stage, as green walnut juice stains skin brown-black for days.

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The name just means 'boiled', but Dar es Salaam families treat mchemsho as comfort food, made on a cool rainy evening or for anyone feeling under the weather. Beef on the bone simmers with garlic and ginger into a clear, savoury broth, and whole potatoes, carrots, green bananas and wedges of cabbage go in late so each stays distinct. It arrives in wide bowls, everything in big pieces, with lime and fresh chilli on the table to sharpen it to your taste; some cooks make it with chicken instead. Adding all the vegetables at once is the common error, leaving the cabbage grey and the potatoes in pieces. Chef's tip: blanch and rinse the beef first, then start again in fresh water, for a broth that stays clear.

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Irumban puli acharBilimbi pickle

Almost every Kerala compound has an irumban puli tree, its trunk studded with clusters of small, cucumber-shaped green fruit so sour they make your eyes water. Through the monsoon months the tree fruits non-stop, and the surplus is salted and turned into this pickle. The bilimbi pieces soften into a tangy, juicy mass in a red masala of chilli, garlic and ginger cooked in gingelly oil, with roasted fenugreek giving a gentle bitterness. Eat it with kanji and payar (rice gruel and green gram), with a simple meal of rice, thoran and moru curry, or with chapati. The common mistake is cooking the fruit for too long: bilimbi is very watery and soft, and if stewed it breaks down to mush. Salt it first to draw out the water, then just warm it through in the masala for a couple of minutes. It is ready when the masala clings to the pieces and the oil glistens on top. Very acidic, but with fresh garlic and ginger, so store it in the fridge and use within a month. Abroad, use sour, green, unripe star fruit (its close relative) or green gooseberries. Chef's tip: dry the salted pieces in the sun for an afternoon for a firmer, chewier pickle.

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IsijingiPumpkin and maize porridge

When the big grey-skinned pumpkins come in at the end of summer, Xhosa grandmothers around Butterworth and Ngcobo stew them down and stir in maize meal to make isijingi, a bright orange porridge that children love and adults secretly do too. It is soft and spoonable, gently sweet from the pumpkin and a little sugar, with the faint corn flavour of the meal underneath. Serve it as a side to beans or a vegetable stew, or eat a bowlful on its own for supper on a cold evening. Watery pumpkin is the classic mistake, so cook the pumpkin until most of its liquid has evaporated before the meal goes in. Chef's tip: use a dense, deep orange pumpkin or butternut, not a watery jack-o'-lantern type, for the sweetest flavour.

40 min

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Karuveppilai sadam (curry leaf rice)

Around Madurai and Tiruchirappalli this dark, peppery rice comes out when there is a big handful of curry leaves and very little else in the kitchen, and it keeps so well that it goes into lunch boxes and onto long bus journeys. The leaves are roasted until crisp with chana and urad dal, black pepper, cumin and red chilli, then ground into a fragrant podi. The common mistake is roasting wet leaves: they steam instead of crisp, and the powder clumps. Dry them well on a towel first. Chef's tip: grind a double batch of the podi and store it airtight; it keeps for two weeks and makes lunch in five minutes.

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Jogi guiGrilled yellow croaker

Yellow croaker from Yeonggwang on Korea's west coast is so prized that dried gulbi are given as gifts at Chuseok, and a simply grilled or pan-roasted croaker is a classic of the family table and of ancestral memorial meals. The fish is salted, dried briefly and cooked whole until the skin crackles and the flesh comes away in sweet, moist flakes; you eat it with rice, kimchi and a few vegetable banchan. Suitable as part of a balanced diet: high in protein with no batter or flour. About 210 kcal and 1 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is turning the fish too early, so the skin tears and sticks; wait until it releases on its own. Small sea bream or red mullet work if you cannot find croaker. Chef's tip: pat the fish completely dry and leave it uncovered in the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking for the crispest skin.

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