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Breaded pork tenderloin sandwich
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Breaded pork tenderloin sandwich

The breaded pork tenderloin sandwich is the pride of small-town diners in Indiana and Iowa: a pork cutlet pounded so thin and wide that the crisp, golden edges stick out far beyond the bun. It came from the German schnitzel tradition of the farming towns, and people drive miles to compare them. It's dressed simply with mustard, pickles, onion and lettuce. Chef's tip: pound the pork evenly to 5 mm; thin pork cooks through in the time it takes the crumb to turn golden.

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Taiwanese sesame oil chicken soup

When the first cold fronts reach Taipei, steam rises from clay pots of this at street-corner stalls, and families make it at home for new mothers and anyone run down by winter. Bone-in chicken is browned in dark, toasty black sesame oil with a mound of ginger fried until curled and crisp, then simmered in rice wine for a deeply warming, slightly bitter-sweet broth that is eaten with rice or thin wheat noodles. This soup is traditionally made with plenty of rice wine, and simmering does not cook all the alcohol off; for an alcohol-free pot, use the stock option given with the wine. A common error is heating black sesame oil on a high flame: it scorches quickly and makes the whole soup bitter. Chef's tip: fry the ginger slowly in the oil before the chicken goes in, until the slices curl at the edges and look dry; that is where the soup's warmth comes from.

60 minTaiwaneseSoups
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20 minGeorgianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Unfold the dried lotus leaf at a Hong Kong yum cha table and a cloud of tea-scented steam rises from a parcel of glossy sticky rice, hiding a centre of soy-braised chicken thigh, shiitake and slices of lap cheong, the sweet Chinese pork sausage. Teahouses from Sheung Wan to Mong Kok sell it from the morning trolleys, and office workers grab one as a filling breakfast with a pot of pu'er. The rice is chewy and sticky but each grain stays whole, and the leaf gives it a faint grassy perfume. Shaoxing rice wine goes into the filling; an alcohol-free swap is given in the ingredient list. The most common mistake is cooking the rice in water like plain rice: soaked glutinous rice must be steamed, or it turns into paste. Chef's tip: wrap the parcels tightly and steam them again from cold or frozen; they reheat better than almost any dim sum.

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Bela biscuitTwice-baked tea biscuit

Old Chittagong bakeries, some of them in the Chandanpura area for well over a century, still fire their wood ovens for bela biscuit, a pale oval rusk so hard it cracks rather than snaps. It starts as a lightly sweet, enriched yeast dough that is baked once like a bun and then dried for a long time in a cooling oven until crisp right through. In Chittagong homes it comes out at teatime and when guests arrive, and the whole point is the dunk: a few seconds in hot milky tea and it softens into something like buttery bread. The classic slip is pulling the biscuits from the second bake too soon; they feel firm while warm but go chewy overnight if the centre is still damp. Chef's tip: break one open after drying; if the middle is pale and soft, give the tray another 20 minutes.

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Order this at a Hong Kong cha chaan teng or a dim sum breakfast and it lands on the table glossy, mahogany brown and smelling of the wok, a plate of nothing more than noodles, soy sauce, bean sprouts and spring onions. Thin egg noodles turn springy and slightly crisp at the edges, coated in a sweet-salty soy glaze, while the sprouts stay crunchy. Locals eat it for breakfast with milk tea, or share it at yum cha next to steamed dumplings, often with a dab of chilli oil. Wet noodles are the enemy here: if they go into the wok damp, they steam, clump and turn soggy instead of frying. Chef's tip: toss the noodles with chopsticks or tongs rather than a spatula, lifting and shaking them through the sauce, so the strands stay long and separate.

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65 minAfricanFishGluten freeSpicy
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AkpanFermented corn drink

Street sellers in Cotonou and Porto-Novo keep akpan in cool boxes, ladled into cups or tied plastic bags as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. The base is fermented maize starch cooked into a thick pap, then left to sour further until it tastes like a mild, slightly yeasty yoghurt; cold milk and sugar loosen it into a creamy drink you can sip or eat with a spoon. It is refreshing, tangy and filling, and many people treat it as a light meal on hot days. Budget a day for the second souring, though the hands-on time is under half an hour, and always use pasteurised milk and keep the finished drink in the fridge. Don't let the fermented base sit at room temperature for longer than stated; past that it sours too far. Chef's tip: sieve the slurry before cooking; any maize husk left in makes the drink gritty.

30 minAfricanDrinksGluten free
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AmiwoRed tomato cornmeal

Fon cooks in southern Benin make amiwo for weddings, christenings and big Sunday tables, and you will find it at celebrations across the border in Lomé too. Maize meal is cooked straight into a well-fried tomato, onion and pepper base until it becomes a thick, brick-red paste that is savoury, slightly sweet and full of tomato. Most often it arrives with fried chicken; this meat-free version uses vegetable stock and comes with fried ripe plantain and an extra spoonful of tomato sauce. Chef's tip: hold back a ladle of the tomato base before adding the cornmeal and spoon it over each portion to serve.

55 minAfricanRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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PinonGari in tomato and onion sauce

On a busy weeknight in Cotonou or Porto-Novo, pinon (also spelled piron) is the answer: gari, the toasted cassava granules every Beninese kitchen keeps on hand, stirred into a hot tomato and onion sauce until it swells into a soft, fluffy, orange mound. Ready in about twenty minutes, it is savoury and tangy from the fermented cassava, with a kick of pepper. People eat it with fried fish or grilled chicken; this meat-free plate pairs it with a pot of beans in red oil or fried plantain. Chef's tip: lower the heat before adding the gari and sprinkle it in gradually, stirring all the time, so every grain absorbs the sauce evenly.

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GanfanRice with stir-fried beef and peppers

Ganfan is a dish of the Dungan people, Chinese Muslim communities who settled in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in the 1870s, and it is ordered in every Dungan café in Bishkek and Karakol: a plate of plain rice with a ladle of stew on top, made by stir-frying thin strips of beef or lamb with peppers, aubergine, celery, tomato and garlic, seasoned with soy sauce and vinegar. A common mistake is crowding the wok, which makes the meat grey and watery. Chef's tip: cut the beef into thin strips against the grain and stir-fry it first in small batches over a fierce heat, then return it at the end. No pork is used in Dungan cooking. Beef strips are done when no pink remains.

60 minKyrgyzRice & Grains
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BereketeFenugreek and cumin Shabbat bread

Among Ethiopian Israelis in Kiryat Malakhi, Netanya and Ashkelon, the Friday meal begins when the eldest at the table blesses a round loaf of berekete and breaks it for everyone. The bread is plain, dense and wheaty, with a soft crumb and the warm, faintly bitter scent of fenugreek, cumin and coriander baked in. It is eaten with spiced lentils, cabbage and potatoes or with a little honey on Shabbat morning. The usual mistake is baking it in a hot oven like a white loaf, which burns the bottom before the thick centre cooks. Chef's tip: bake it in a covered heavy pan at a moderate heat, as it would be on a mitad, so it steams through before browning.

70 minIsraeliBreads & ParathasVegan
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Gammeldags æblekageLayered apple compote dessert

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45 minScandinavianDesserts
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Steamed egg with minced pork

Hong Kong grandmothers make this on busy weeknights, and it is one of the first dishes children there learn to love: a trembling, glass-smooth egg custard with a layer of soy-seasoned minced pork underneath, served in its dish with a drizzle of soy and sesame oil and a bowl of white rice. It costs little, cooks in minutes and tastes of comfort. Getting the texture right is all about gentle heat. The pitfall nearly everyone hits is steaming on full blast with no lid on the dish, which gives a pitted, spongy surface; cover the bowl and steam on a medium heat instead. Chef's tip: use warm stock or water at 1½ times the volume of the beaten eggs, and strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the bubbles.

25 minHong KongMeatGluten free
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Beef brisket noodles

Queues form outside the brisket shops of Central and Sham Shui Po at lunchtime for a bowl of ngau naam min: wobbly chunks of beef brisket, braised for hours with chu hou paste, star anise, cinnamon and dried tangerine peel until the fat and sinew melt, set over springy egg noodles in a separate, clear, peppery broth with daikon. The braise is dark, sticky and aromatic, the broth light and clean, and you dip between them. A slosh of Shaoxing rice wine goes in the braise; an alcohol-free swap is in the ingredient list. Many home cooks cut the brisket before cooking into small cubes, which then shrink and dry out; braise it in big pieces and cut it afterwards. Chef's tip: the braise is better the next day, so make it ahead, chill it and lift off the fat before reheating.

180 minHong KongPasta & Noodles
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Milkfish belly congee

Tainan breakfast stalls open before six for this, ladling it into bowls beside plates of fried dough sticks and braised fish skin. It is not the thick Cantonese kind: cooked rice is simmered briefly in a light, ginger-scented broth, so the grains stay separate, and slices of rich, boneless milkfish belly are poached in it until just set, then showered with celery, fried shallots and white pepper. Milkfish is farmed in the ponds around Tainan; look for boneless frozen belly in Asian supermarkets, or use sea bass belly. The error most cooks make is boiling the belly hard, which breaks the soft fat and clouds the broth. Chef's tip: lower the slices into the pot skin-side down and keep the liquid just shivering; the belly firms gently and keeps its sweet, silky layer of fat.

40 minTaiwaneseBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Black sesame soup

Steaming bowls of inky ji ma wu are a staple of Hong Kong dessert shops on cool evenings, eaten after dinner or as a late-night snack on the way home. The soup is thick enough to coat a spoon, nutty and roasted with a faint bitterness that balances the rock sugar, and so smooth it feels like warm velvet. It's often paired half-and-half in one bowl with almond tea or walnut soup, or served with sweet glutinous rice balls. Over-toasting the sesame is the mistake to avoid; once the seeds scorch, the whole pot tastes acrid. Chef's tip: blend the toasted seeds with water for a full two minutes, until no grit is left between your fingers, before it goes into the pan.

30 minHong KongDessertsVeganGluten free
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Bermuda cassava pieCassava pie with chicken and pork

No Bermudian Christmas table is complete without cassava pie, a dense, golden, faintly sweet bake of grated cassava, eggs, butter, sugar and nutmeg layered around a filling of stewed chicken and pork. Families compare recipes and argue over sweetness; it is served in slices with the turkey on Christmas Day and eaten cold for days after. The pork here is boneless pork shoulder, stewed with the chicken until tender. The common mistake is underbaking: the cassava must set firm and brown deeply, or it is gluey in the middle. Use frozen grated cassava, squeezed dry. Chef's tip: make the filling the day before; cold meat is easier to layer and the stock gels into a juicy middle.

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Berner PlatteSmoked meats and sauerkraut platter

The Berner Platte is Bern's great feast platter, said to celebrate the victory over the French at Neuenegg in 1798, and it is still served in the old taverns under the arcades of Bern's old town, especially in autumn and winter: a heap of smoked pork belly, smoked pork shoulder, tongue, beef, Bernese sausages and marrow bones, laid over sauerkraut, dried green beans and boiled potatoes. This dish contains pork. A common mistake is boiling everything together for the same time; the sausages split and the beef is still tough. Chef's tip: cook each meat for its own time in the same pot, adding the sausages only for the last 20 minutes at a gentle simmer. Whole pork cuts must reach 63 °C and sausages 71 °C.

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Ginger milk curd

Born in the Pearl River Delta town of Shawan in Panyu, Guangdong, ginger milk curd crossed the border to become a favourite of Hong Kong dessert parlours in Jordan and Causeway Bay, ordered hot on a winter night. There's no setting agent: an enzyme in fresh ginger juice curdles hot milk within minutes into a trembling, spoonable custard that's sweet, creamy and warming, with a peppery ginger kick. It is eaten straight from the bowl while still warm, with nothing alongside. Long-life UHT milk is the classic mistake, since its proteins have been changed by the high heat and it simply won't set; use fresh pasteurised whole cow's milk. Chef's tip: use mature, fibrous ginger rather than young pink-tipped ginger, and heat the milk to 70–75 °C, measured with a thermometer.

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Mango pudding

Wobbling out of fish-shaped moulds at the end of a Hong Kong dim sum lunch, mango pudding is just as popular in small cups from dessert chains, which sell it through the sticky summer months when Philippine and Thai mangoes flood the markets. It's smooth, creamy and full of fruit, with pieces of fresh mango through it and a drizzle of cold evaporated milk on top. Restaurants usually set it with gelatine; this version uses agar, which keeps it vegetarian and sets slightly firmer and cleaner. The problem with agar is impatience: it begins to set below about 40 °C, so cold purée added too slowly turns into lumpy strands. Chef's tip: warm the mango purée before you mix it in, then whisk briskly and pour into the moulds right away.

30 minHong KongDessertsGluten free
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Tainan beef soup

Before dawn in Tainan, workers and night owls fill steamy shops near the slaughterhouse districts for bowls of fresh local beef sliced paper-thin and blanched by a ladle of boiling broth, eaten with rice and a saucer of soy and ginger as a sunrise breakfast. The meat is tender and rosy, the broth clean, sweet and beefy. Traditionally the slices are barely cooked; this recipe gives a safer 30-second dip in simmering broth and a fully cooked option. The pink version is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. People often cut the beef too thick, so it toughens before it cooks through; firm it in the freezer and slice it as thin as you can. Chef's tip: bring the broth to a hard, rolling boil right before every ladle; a broth that has dropped off the boil never cooks the beef evenly.

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BezarSpice blend

Every Emirati kitchen keeps a jar of bezar, and many families in Dubai and Al Ain still roast and grind their own each winter to last the year. It is the warm, earthy backbone of machboos, saloona, harees and grilled fish, built mainly on coriander and cumin with fennel, a little chilli heat, cinnamon and plenty of turmeric for colour. Toasting the whole spices first gives it a deeper, nuttier taste than any ready-mixed powder. The common slip is toasting everything together on a high heat, so the small seeds burn while the coriander is still raw. Chef's tip: stir the turmeric and ground ginger in after grinding, never into the hot pan, or they turn bitter.

15 minGulf ArabianBasicsVeganGluten free
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GajakSesame jaggery brittle

Winter in Punjab has a sound, and it is the snap of gajak: thin, glossy sheets of toasted sesame bound in jaggery, sold from piled trays outside the sweet shops of Multan, Gujranwala and Lahore from the first cold week of December. It is nutty, crunchy and toffee-sweet, with the earthy depth of gur, and families keep a tin of it beside the heater to nibble after dinner with green tea or to share with visitors. The commercial kind is hammered and pulled into flaky layers, but the home version poured thin and rolled flat is what most households make. The pitfall is pulling the jaggery off the heat too early, which gives a brittle that turns chewy and sticky after a day. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; it must snap cleanly at once, and that hard-crack stage is reached quickly, so have the sesame warm and ready. Take care: the syrup is far hotter than boiling water.

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BhakkaSteamed rice cakes

On foggy December mornings in Biratnagar, Itahari and the bazaars of Jhapa and Morang, street sellers sit behind a smoking clay pot turning out bhakka one at a time, little round cakes of damp, freshly ground rice flour steamed in a cloth-covered bowl over boiling water. Each one is light and crumbly, almost like a soft rice sponge, and slightly sweet, and it is eaten straight away, broken up and dipped into a hot, garlicky tomato achar. It is a Tharu and Madhesi winter favourite that has become everyone's breakfast in the eastern Terai. Many first attempts fail because the flour is too fine and dry, so it packs into a hard puck. Chef's tip: grind soaked rice coarsely at home and keep it just damp enough to clump when squeezed, then sprinkle it loosely into the bowl without pressing.

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Cocktail bunCoconut-filled sweet buns

Bakeries across Hong Kong pull trays of cocktail buns from the oven before the morning rush, and schoolchildren and commuters buy them warm in paper bags to eat on the bus or with milk tea at a cha chaan teng. The story goes that 1950s bakers invented them to use up day-old bread mixed with sugar and coconut, so the name is a playful nod to a cocktail of leftovers. Today the soft, milky roll holds a sweet, buttery coconut filling that's slightly sandy and chewy, under two piped stripes and a scatter of sesame seeds. A soft, warm filling tends to ooze out during proving and baking, so chill it until firm before you roll the buns. Chef's tip: roll each bun up tightly from the long side and pinch the seam well, then place it seam-down; loose rolls split open in the oven.

150 minHong KongBaking
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Bhatmas sadekoRoasted soybean salad

Sadeko means marinated, and in Kathmandu it is the word for the punchy little salads served in khaja ghar snack houses and at family gatherings during Dashain and Tihar card games. The soybean version is the cheapest and one of the best: dried soybeans roasted in a dry pan until they crack and turn nutty, then tossed while warm with red onion, green chilli, ginger, garlic, coriander, lemon and a spoonful of pungent raw mustard oil. It is crunchy, sharp and hot, eaten by the handful with beaten rice (chiura) or as a side to a dal bhat plate. The pitfall here is under-roasting the beans, which leaves them hard and grassy rather than crisp. Chef's tip: roast the beans until they split their skins and smell like popcorn, then rub off and blow away the loose skins before dressing them.

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Bhee patataLotus stem and potato curry

Sindhis have a particular love of bhee, the lotus stems that come up from the lakes and canals around Manchhar and Keenjhar, and bhee patata is the most loved way of cooking them at home in Karachi and Hyderabad. Cut on the slant, the stems show their lacy, many-holed cross-section and keep a pleasing crunch even after a long simmer, while the potato pieces go soft and soak up a thick masala of browned onion, tomato and coriander. It is a Sunday lunch dish served with phulka or with plain rice and a bowl of yogurt. Mud trapped in the hollow channels is the usual problem and it makes the curry gritty. Chef's tip: slice the stems first and then wash every piece under running water, poking out any dark patches with a skewer, before you par-boil them.

60 minPakistaniVegetarianVeganGluten free
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GaboutStuffed dumplings in tomato stew

Gabout is old Kuwaiti home cooking, the kind grandmothers in Kuwait City still make for family lunches in winter, and a close relative of the Iraqi dumplings brought along the trading routes of the Gulf. Soft flour dough is wrapped around spiced lamb or beef mince with chickpeas, and the dumplings are simmered in a sour tomato and dried-lime stew until they are tender and plump. It is filling and comforting, eaten with bread or on its own. The mistake people make is rolling the dough too thick, which makes the dumplings heavy and doughy. Chef's tip: wet your fingers when sealing, the dough must close tightly or the filling leaks into the stew.

120 minGulf ArabianMeat
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Bhindi goshtMutton and okra curry

Summer in Punjab means okra in every bazaar, and the moment small, tender pods appear, households start making bhindi gosht for lunch: a dry-ish mutton curry with whole fried okra folded through at the end, tasting of tomato, green chilli and a little dried mango. It is eaten with chapati and a bowl of plain yogurt or raita on the side, and leftovers are even better packed in a tiffin the next day. The okra should be tender and bright, not slimy. That stringy texture comes from washing the okra and cutting it while wet, so wash and dry it completely before you trim it. Chef's tip: fry the okra separately until its edges blister, then add it to the meat only in the last ten minutes; it keeps its shape and the gravy stays clean.

90 minPakistaniMeatGluten free
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Bhuga chawalBrown onion rice

Bhuga means fried, and in this everyday Sindhi rice it is the onions that are fried, slowly and patiently, until they are a deep mahogany brown, so the cooking water and then every grain turn a warm tan colour with a sweet, almost smoky flavour. In Karachi and Sukkur homes it is the rice that goes with Sindhi kadhi on a Friday, or with sai bhaji, the green dal and spinach stew, and a crisp aloo tuk or papad on the side. It is simple enough for a weeknight and good enough for guests. Burnt onions are the trap: there is only a short moment between dark brown and bitter black. Chef's tip: once the onions start to colour, lower the heat and stir constantly, and add the water the moment they reach the shade of strong tea.

45 minPakistaniRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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FyddzhynBeef and onion pie

In North Ossetia, pies come in threes, for the sun, earth and sky, and the meat pie in that stack is fyddzhyn: a thin, soft yeast crust wrapped around juicy minced beef, onion, garlic and a little chilli, with a small hole in the middle to let out steam. The Ossetian people serve it at every family gathering and feast, hot and dripping with butter brushed on as it leaves the oven, cut into wedges and eaten with the hands. A common mistake is rolling the crust thick; good fyddzhyn is all filling and the dough should be barely 4 mm. Chef's tip: add a few spoons of cold stock to the mince; it turns to steam in the oven and keeps the filling juicy.

105 minRussianMeat
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Fuži s tartufimaHand-rolled pasta with truffle

Autumn in the Mirna valley of inland Istria, around Motovun and Buzet, means truffle hunters and dogs in the oak woods and plates of fuži in every village konoba. Fuži are small squares of egg pasta wrapped round a stick into quills, and here they are tossed with butter, a splash of their cooking water and grated truffle, so each one carries a glossy, earthy coat. Fresh black or white truffle is best; a little truffle paste works too, but read the label and avoid products that rely on artificial truffle aroma. The aged hard cheese is often made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian hard cheese if you need to. Where most people go wrong is cooking the truffle: heat kills its scent, so add it off the heat. Chef's tip: store the fresh truffle overnight in a closed jar in the fridge with the eggs for the dough; they soak up its perfume through the shell.

60 minBalkanPasta & Noodles
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FrüchtewäheFruit custard tart

The Wähe is the open tart of German-speaking Switzerland, known as Kuchen or Fladen depending on the canton: a thin pastry base covered with sliced apples, plums, apricots or cherries, then a simple custard of cream, egg and sugar poured around the fruit and baked until set. Swiss families eat it as a light supper on Fridays, sometimes after a bowl of soup, and fruit Wähe is often dusted with cinnamon sugar. A common mistake is skipping the ground nuts on the base, which lets the fruit juice soak the pastry. Chef's tip: scatter ground hazelnuts on the pastry first; they soak up the juice and keep the base crisp.

60 minSwissBaking
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Fritaja sa šparogamaWild asparagus scrambled eggs

Come April, families across Istria and the Kvarner coast of Croatia walk the hedgerows picking thin, dark wild asparagus, and the first bunch nearly always becomes fritaja. Despite the name it is softer than an omelette: the spears are fried in olive oil, then beaten eggs are stirred through until they set in loose, creamy curds. Wild asparagus tastes greener and slightly bitter, which is lovely against the rich egg; thin garden asparagus works if you can't forage. Eat it for breakfast or a light supper with crusty bread and a glass of cold water or fresh juice. The usual slip is cooking the eggs hard and dry; stir gently over a low heat and stop while they still look moist. Chef's tip: snap each spear and keep only the part that breaks cleanly; the woody ends never soften.

20 minBalkanBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Siu yuk (Cantonese crispy roast pork belly)

Hanging in the window of every Hong Kong siu mei shop beside the char siu and roast goose, siu yuk is a slab of pork belly whose skin has been roasted into a glassy, bubbled crackling that crunches loudly over juicy, five-spice-seasoned layers of meat and fat. Shops chop it into cubes for rice boxes at lunch, and whole slabs are carried to temples and family altars at Ching Ming and on festival days. Serve it with English-style mustard and a dish of sugar for dipping, plus rice and greens. The usual error is a damp skin: any moisture left on it steams instead of crackles, so the belly must dry uncovered in the fridge overnight. Chef's tip: prick the skin all over with a sharp skewer until it looks like sandpaper; those tiny holes are where the blisters start.

150 minHong KongMeatGluten free
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Bibikhana pithaBaked rice flour and coconut cake

The name means something like a lady's dish, and bibikhana pitha has long been the grand, special-occasion pitha of well-off households in Dhaka, Comilla and Noakhali, made in winter when a son-in-law or important guest is expected. It is closer to a cake than most pithas: rice flour, eggs, milk, grated coconut and date-palm jaggery are beaten together and baked slowly, traditionally in a heavy pan over charcoal with more coals heaped on the lid, until it sets into a dense, moist, caramel-brown cake. It is cut into wedges and served with tea in the afternoon. Baking too hot is the typical slip, so the jaggery burns before the middle sets; a moderate oven and patience give an even colour. Chef's tip: let it cool completely before cutting, as it firms up and slices cleanly only once cold.

60 minBangladeshiBakingGluten free
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BibikkanCoconut jaggery cake

Bibikkan is the darkest, stickiest cake in the Sri Lankan repertoire, baked by Burgher families for Christmas and by Sinhala households for the New Year table, and nobody quite agrees whether its roots lie in Portuguese or local kitchens. Freshly grated coconut is first cooked in melted kithul jaggery, then mixed with roasted semolina, flour, eggs, cashews, raisins, chopped ginger preserve and a mix of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves, and baked until almost black on the outside. The crumb is moist, heavy and chewy with coconut, with a deep treacle sweetness and a warm, spiced finish, and slices are served with tea. Baking it too hot is where it often goes wrong, as the jaggery burns before the middle sets, so keep the oven moderate and cover it if the top darkens early. Chef's tip: cook the coconut in the jaggery until it looks thick and sticky before mixing; that is what gives bibikkan its fudgy texture.

90 minSri LankanBaking
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FrikkadelsFried spiced meatballs

Frikkadels came to Sri Lanka with the Dutch in the 1600s and were reinvented by the Burgher community into small, crumbed, deep-fried meatballs scented with onion, garlic, cinnamon, cloves and dill. They are party food first, piled on platters at Burgher Christmas gatherings, christenings and Colombo club teas, and they are also tucked into lamprais parcels or eaten with a sharp seeni sambol and bread. Good ones are crunchy outside and very juicy within, never dense or dry. The trap to avoid is overworking the mince and skipping the soaked bread, which together make the balls tough. Chef's tip: shape them the size of a walnut and chill them for 30 minutes before crumbing, so the coating sticks and they hold their round shape in the hot oil.

60 minSri LankanMeat
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BichakPumpkin-filled half-moon pastries

Across northern Afghanistan, around Mazar, Kunduz and Shibirghan, the autumn pumpkin harvest is turned into bichak, plump half-moon pastries that show the region's Uzbek and Turkmen neighbours in their name and shape. A soft, thin wheat dough wraps a filling of grated pumpkin and onion seasoned only with salt, black pepper and a little chilli, which bakes into something sweet, savoury and juicy, best eaten warm with a glass of tea or alongside a bowl of yogurt. Some families bake them, others fry them in a wok of oil; this version bakes them. The filling must not be wet, or the bottoms go soggy and the seams burst, so squeeze the grated pumpkin hard before mixing. Chef's tip: grate the onion finely too, so it melts into the pumpkin instead of staying in crunchy pieces.

55 minAfghanSnacks & StartersVegan
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Water chestnut cake

Dim sum halls across Hong Kong lay out amber squares of water chestnut cake on small plates, and every Lunar New Year home kitchens steam a tray to give away to visitors. Set from water chestnut starch and brown slab sugar, the cake is translucent and gently chewy, flecked with pieces of fresh water chestnut that stay crisp and juicy. It is eaten cold and wobbly in summer, or sliced and pan-fried until the outside forms a caramel crust with a soft centre, with a cup of jasmine or oolong tea. A frequent problem is a lumpy, cloudy cake, which comes from pouring the hot syrup into the starch all at once without stirring. Chef's tip: let the cake set completely, ideally overnight in the fridge, before slicing with a knife dipped in water.

65 minHong KongDessertsVeganGluten free
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Frikandel speciaalSausage with mayo and onion

The frikandel is the snack-bar sausage of the Netherlands, fried from frozen in every cafetaria and eaten at football matches and after a night out: a long, skinless sausage of finely minced meat, and 'speciaal' means split open and topped with mayonnaise, curry ketchup and raw chopped onion. Factory frikandellen use a mix of meats; this homemade version uses beef and pork mince, so it contains pork. A common mistake is skipping the poaching step, so the sausages break up in the fryer. Chef's tip: roll them in cling film and poach first, then chill; they hold their shape and fry crisp in minutes. Minced meat must reach 71 °C.

60 minDutchFast Food
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BidosReindeer stew

Bidos is the festive stew of the Sámi, the reindeer-herding people of the far north of Norway, Sweden and Finland: reindeer meat simmered slowly in a clear broth with potatoes and carrots, seasoned only with salt and pepper so the gamey meat shines. It is served at Sámi weddings and confirmations, and at Easter festivals in Kautokeino and Karasjok. Reindeer is sold frozen in Nordic shops; beef chuck or venison works too. A common mistake is adding the potatoes at the start, so they fall apart before the meat is tender. Chef's tip: thicken the broth only lightly with a spoon of flour if you like; traditionally it is clear and thin.

150 minScandinavianCurriesGluten free
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Sesame balls (jin deui)

No Hong Kong Lunar New Year feels complete without a plate of jin deui, though dim sum restaurants serve these golden globes every day of the year with morning tea. Each one is a thin, crackly shell of fried glutinous rice dough wrapped in toasted sesame seeds, hollow and chewy inside around a spoonful of red bean or lotus seed paste. They are best eaten within minutes of frying, alongside a pot of tea, when the shell still shatters and the seeds smell nutty. Dropping the balls into very hot oil is the classic error: the seeds scorch before the dough expands, and the balls can burst. Chef's tip: start them in moderately hot oil and keep gently pressing them against the side of the pan with a slotted spoon, which makes them swell and turn hollow.

60 minHong KongDessertsVegan
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Fries suikerbroodCinnamon sugar bread

Fries suikerbrood, sûkerbôle in Frisian, is the bread Frisian families bring when a baby is born: a soft white loaf filled with large sugar nibs and cinnamon, so that as it bakes the sugar melts into sticky, crunchy pockets. Leeuwarden bakeries sell it every day, sliced and buttered with coffee. A common mistake is using fine sugar, which dissolves completely; it must be the big pearl sugar nibs. Chef's tip: knead in the sugar only at the end and gently, and bake the loaf in a tin so the melting sugar caramelises against the sides.

80 minDutchBaking
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Ginger scallion sauce

Every Hong Kong siu mei shop keeps a tub of this pale green relish beside the chopping block, spooned next to white-cut poached chicken over rice or tossed through plain lo mein at late-night dai pai dong stalls. Smoking-hot oil is poured over raw ginger and spring onion, and the sizzle softens their bite into a sweet, salty, fragrant sauce with a gentle heat from the ginger. It is just as good with steamed tofu, plain congee, poached fish or a bowl of rice on its own. Many home cooks blitz everything in a food processor, which bruises the spring onions into a watery paste; chop them by hand instead. Chef's tip: pour the oil while it is properly hot, shimmering and just starting to smoke, so you hear a loud crackle; lukewarm oil leaves the sauce raw and greasy.

10 minHong KongChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Red bean soup

Hong Kong Cantonese restaurants often send out a small bowl of hung dau sa on the house at the end of a banquet dinner, and dessert shops in Mong Kok serve it hot in winter and chilled with ice in summer. Long simmering breaks the adzuki beans down into a thick, velvety soup, part smooth and part whole beans, scented with the faintly bitter citrus of aged tangerine peel and sweetened with clean-tasting rock sugar. Some add a spoonful of coconut milk, lotus seeds or little glutinous rice balls. Adding the sugar too early is the common misstep, because it keeps the bean skins tough so they never collapse. Chef's tip: soak the beans, then freeze them in their soaking water for a few hours; the ice crystals crack the skins and halve the simmering time.

120 minHong KongDessertsVeganGluten free
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African chicken (Macanese galinha africana)

Macau restaurants have served galinha africana since the 1940s, and the story most often told is that a hotel chef in the city created it from spices that Portuguese sailors brought back from Mozambique and Angola. Today it is a signature at Macanese and Portuguese restaurants from Taipa village to Coloane, eaten at long weekend lunches with rice or crusty bread. Chicken pieces are marinated, grilled until charred, then baked under a thick, brick-coloured sauce of ground peanuts, coconut milk, chilli, paprika, garlic and onion that is rich, nutty and quietly fiery. It is often made with a pale, timid sauce; cook the onion, garlic and paprika slowly until really deep red before the coconut goes in. Chef's tip: marinate the chicken overnight in the fridge so the garlic and chilli reach the bone.

75 minMacaneseChickenGluten freeSpicy
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Fricasé de polloChicken stew with olives and raisins

Fricasé de pollo is a family dinner all over Cuba: chicken pieces marinated in sour orange and garlic, browned, then simmered with potatoes, green olives, capers and a few raisins in a light tomato sauce. The sweet-salty balance is what makes it so Cuban. A frequent mistake is skipping the marinade time; even an hour in the fridge seasons the meat right through. Serve with white rice. Chef's tip: add the raisins with the potatoes rather than at the start, so they plump up but don't melt into the sauce.

80 minCubanChickenGluten free
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Bihari kebabPapaya-marinated beef strips

Migrants from Bihar who settled in Karachi after 1947 brought this kebab with them, and it has become one of the city's signature grills, served from the smoky stalls of Burns Road, Hussainabad and Boat Basin. Thin ribbons of beef are beaten flat, marinated with raw papaya paste to tenderise them, mustard oil, browned onion and a heady spice mix, then threaded onto skewers and grilled fast over coals, finished with a puff of charcoal smoke. They are soft enough to pull apart with your fingers and are eaten with paratha, sliced onion and mint chutney. Leaving the papaya on too long is the risk, because it keeps working and turns the meat mushy; four to six hours in the fridge is plenty. Chef's tip: slice the beef while it is half-frozen, across the grain, and you will get even, paper-thin strips with ease.

40 minPakistaniMeatGluten freeSpicy
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FrgályYeast tarts with pear or cheese

At weddings and church fairs in Moravian Wallachia, in the hills around Rožnov and Vsetín, tables are stacked with frgály: yeast tarts as wide as a dinner plate, rolled so thin the filling seems to sit on a crisp, chewy disc. The classic toppings are dried pear mixed with plum butter, sweet tvaroh (Czech quark), or poppy seed, all scattered with a buttery crumble. This recipe makes four, two with each of the first two fillings. Tvaroh is usually set without rennet, but some brands use it, so check the label. The usual slip is leaving the dough thick in the middle, which makes a bready tart; roll right to the edge, about 3 mm thick. Chef's tip: bake on the lowest oven shelf on a hot tray, so the base browns before the filling dries.

150 minCzechBaking
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FrenaShabbat flatbread

In Moroccan-Jewish homes from Ashdod to Kiryat Shmona, frena comes out of the oven on Friday afternoon and sits on the Shabbat table beside a dozen little salads: carrots with cumin, matbucha, beetroot, roasted peppers. The dough is wet and soft, pressed into a pan pooled with olive oil, so the base fries as it bakes and turns crackly while the inside stays airy and chewy. It is torn, never sliced, and dragged through the salads. The usual mistake is adding flour until the dough feels easy to handle; a stiff dough gives a dense, bready frena. Chef's tip: dimple the risen dough hard with oiled fingers right down to the pan, so the oil rises into the pockets and every bite has a crisp edge.

45 minIsraeliBreads & ParathasVegan
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ForshmakChopped herring pâté

Forshmak came to Odesa with its Jewish community and became a citywide favourite, spread on toast at family celebrations, in Moldavanka courtyards and on restaurant zakuska boards. Salted herring is chopped with tart apple, hard-boiled egg, onion and bread soaked in milk, then whipped with soft butter into a pale, creamy pâté that is salty, sweet and gently sharp all at once. Serve it on toasted rye or white bread with spring onion. Herring for forshmak is cured but not cooked, so buy ready-salted fillets from a good fishmonger, commercially prepared or previously frozen, keep everything cold and eat within 2 days; it is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Blitzing it to a smooth paste is the usual error; Odesa cooks like a little texture. Chef's tip: grate the apple at the last moment and add a squeeze of lemon, so it stays white and fresh.

30 minUkrainianSnacks & Starters
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Bingka ubiBaked cassava cake

Golden-brown slabs of bingka ubi are cut from big trays at Malay and Peranakan kueh stalls in Singapore and taken home for tea, or baked at home for Hari Raya when there is a crowd to feed. Freshly grated cassava, coconut milk, eggs and sugar bake into a dense, chewy, slightly sticky cake with a custardy centre and a caramelised, almost leathery top, scented with pandan. It needs nothing with it but a cup of strong tea or kopi. Cassava must always be fully cooked and never eaten raw; buy it fresh from a trusted greengrocer, peel off every bit of the thick skin and pink layer, or use frozen grated cassava, which is already prepared. The usual mistake is pressing out all the cassava's liquid and adding too little coconut milk, which bakes it dry and rubbery. Chef's tip: finish under the grill for the last few minutes for the dark, blistered top, then cool fully before cutting so the slices hold.

80 minSingaporeanDessertsGluten free
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FogueteFried pastry tubes with pumpkin preserve

Foguete means rocket in Portuguese, and these slim, golden pastry tubes, fried crisp and stuffed with sticky ash-pumpkin preserve, really do look like little fireworks lined up on the Christmas tray of a Portuguese Burgher household. A rich dough of flour, egg, butter and coconut milk is rolled thin, wrapped around metal tubes and fried until blistered, then filled with chopped preserve mixed with cashews, cardamom and rosewater. They shatter when you bite, then give way to a soft, fragrant, honeyed centre, and are eaten with tea through the Christmas week. The trap is frying in oil that is too hot, so the pastry browns before it crisps and goes soft once cool; keep it steady at about 170 °C. Use cannoli tubes, or short lengths of thick, clean wooden dowel. Chef's tip: grease the tubes well and seal each pastry with egg white only along the overlap, never on the tube, or the tubes will be impossible to slide out.

75 minSri LankanBaking
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Bint al sahnLayered honey bread

Bint al sahn, 'daughter of the plate', is the grand bread of Sana'a, set in the centre of the table for guests, weddings and Eid and pulled apart with the fingers while it is still warm. Many paper-thin sheets of egg-rich dough are stacked with melted ghee, baked until the top is deep gold and the inside is flaky and soft, then soaked with warm honey and sprinkled with nigella seeds. It is eaten with Yemeni coffee or tea, often as the sweet that opens a big meal. The mistake that ruins it is skimping on the ghee between the layers; without it the sheets fuse into a dense loaf. Chef's tip: roll the first sheets slightly bigger than the rest, so the bottom layers wrap up around the sides and hold the stack together.

105 minGulf ArabianBaking
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Steamed custard buns (lau sa bao)

Tear one open at a Hong Kong yum cha table and a stream of golden, buttery custard runs out, which is exactly why the name means 'flowing sand'. The filling is sweet and salty at once, grainy with mashed salted duck egg yolk and rich with butter and milk powder, wrapped in a snow-white, cotton-soft bun. Teahouses from Central to Mong Kok bring them out in bamboo baskets of three, usually near the end of the meal with a pot of pu'er or chrysanthemum tea. Most failures happen when the filling goes into the dough soft: it smears, leaks through the seams and never turns runny inside. Chef's tip: freeze the filling balls until rock hard before wrapping, then serve the buns within a few minutes of steaming, while the butter is still liquid.

120 minHong KongDesserts
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Singapore curry puff

Spiral curry puffs are a tea-time thing in Singapore, picked up warm in paper bags from Malay kueh stalls at Geylang Serai, from heritage bakeries in Tiong Bahru, or eaten at the 4 pm break with teh tarik. The pastry is the point: two doughs rolled together into a log, sliced, and rolled out so that the cut edge shows tight spirals that shatter into crisp layers when fried. Inside is a soft, peppery filling of potato and onion cooked with curry powder and curry leaves. Shops also sell versions with chicken and a wedge of hard-boiled egg; this one keeps to potato and uses vegetable shortening so the pastry stays dairy-free. The usual mistake is frying in oil that is too hot, which browns the outside while the inner layers stay doughy; a steady medium heat lets the spirals open. Chef's tip: let the filling cool completely and keep it fairly dry, or steam from the potato will burst the seams in the oil.

100 minSingaporeanSnacks & StartersVegan
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BirzFresh honey water

In Gojjam and Gondar, where honey is plentiful, birz is poured for children, for guests who do not drink, and at church feasts and weddings beside the tej. It starts the same way as honey wine, with honey stirred into water, but it is drunk fresh within hours, so it stays sweet, mild and completely alcohol-free. Good, flowery honey is everything here; it should taste like a cool, floral lemonade without the lemon. Because birz is honey and water, it will start to ferment by itself if left warm, so drink it the same day and keep it in the fridge until you pour it. Honey is not suitable for babies under 12 months. Chef's tip: dissolve the honey in a little warm water first; stirred straight into cold water, it sinks to the bottom in a sticky lump.

10 minEthiopianDrinksGluten free
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Bayagyaw (split pea fritters)

Every Yangon tea shop worth its sweet milky tea keeps a tray of these by the counter from dawn, and hawkers sell them by the bag at bus stops. Soaked yellow split peas are ground until coarse, mixed with sliced onion, chilli and a spoon of rice flour, then dropped into hot oil as thin, ragged patties that fry up shatteringly crisp at the edges and nutty in the middle. People snap them into bowls of mohinga, crumble them over noodle and rice salads, or eat them plain with a sharp chilli-garlic vinegar. Blending the peas to a smooth paste is the trap: you lose the gritty texture that makes them crunch and the fritters turn dense. Chef's tip: soak the peas the night before, and fry a test fritter first; if it falls apart, stir in another spoon of rice flour.

40 minBurmeseSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Flygande JacobChicken, banana and bacon bake

Flygande Jacob, 'flying Jacob', was invented in 1976 by Ove Jacobsson, an air-freight worker, and the recipe appeared in a Swedish magazine; within years it was one of the most-made party dishes in Sweden. Cooked chicken is mixed with whipped cream and chilli sauce, layered with sliced banana, baked, then topped with crisp bacon and salted peanuts and served with rice. This dish contains pork, in the bacon. It is sweet, salty and creamy, and gloriously retro. A common mistake is using raw chicken, which leaks juice and makes the sauce thin. Chef's tip: use roast chicken from the day before; it must already be cooked to 74 °C.

45 minScandinavianChicken
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FlódniFour-layer poppy seed and fruit pastry

Four stripes of filling, black poppy seed, golden apple, nutty walnut and dark plum jam, stacked between thin sheets of shortcrust: that is flódni, the Hungarian-Jewish pastry of Budapest's old Jewish quarter around Kazinczy and Dob streets. Jewish families bake it for Purim and Hanukkah, and the bakeries of the seventh district sell it by the slab all year. Each cut slice should be moist, dense and not too sweet, best with a glass of tea or black coffee. Many families make the dough with a little sweet white wine and use margarine so it can follow a meat meal; this version keeps it alcohol-free with grape juice, and you can swap the butter for a firm baking margarine to make it dairy-free. The usual slip is rolling the sheets too thick, so the pastry swamps the fillings; each one should be barely 3 mm. Chef's tip: bake it a day ahead and slice it cold with a hot, wet knife, because the layers settle overnight and cut cleanly.

150 minHungarianBaking
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Bistec de palomillaThin steak with lime onion

Palomilla is the everyday steak of Havana lunch counters and Miami's Cuban cafés alike: top sirloin pounded very thin, marinated briefly in lime and garlic, seared in seconds and buried under a pile of raw chopped onion and parsley. It comes with white rice, black beans and fried plantain. The most common mistake is leaving the steak in the lime for hours, which turns the surface grey and mushy; 20 minutes to an hour in the fridge is enough. Beef steak can be cooked to your liking, but it is so thin it is usually cooked through. Chef's tip: get the pan smoking hot and cook one or two steaks at a time, or they stew instead of browning.

25 minCubanMeatGluten free
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Bistec encebolladoSteak with vinegar onions

Order bistec encebollado at a lunch counter in Santurce or a comedor in Santiago de los Caballeros and it comes the same way: thin steaks swimming in a heap of soft, sharp onions and a garlicky, vinegar-bright gravy, with white rice, beans and tostones alongside. Thin cuts are marinated in vinegar, garlic and oregano, seared, then braised gently with the onions until tender. The common mistake is boiling the meat hard, which makes thin steak tough; a gentle simmer under a lid keeps it soft. Chef's tip: give the steaks a few gentle pounds with a mallet before marinating so the vinegar can work into them.

45 minPuerto RicanMeatGluten free
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FlødebollerChocolate marshmallow wafer treats

Flødeboller, 'cream buns', are Denmark's favourite party sweet: a soft, fluffy meringue foam piped onto a thin wafer or marzipan base and dipped in dark chocolate, so it bites like a cloud in a crisp shell. Children take them to school on birthdays, and Copenhagen chocolatiers make fancy versions with liquorice or raspberry. This version uses a cooked sugar-syrup meringue, so the egg whites are heated safely. A common mistake is dipping warm foam into chocolate; it melts and slides. Chef's tip: chill the piped foam well, then pour the chocolate over rather than dipping, which is easier and gives a smooth shell. For gluten free, use marzipan bases.

80 minScandinavianDessertsGluten free
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Burmese pennywort salad

Myin khwa, 'horse's hoof', is the Burmese name for pennywort, after the shape of its round leaves, and Mandalay grandmothers swear by a plate of it to cool the body during the hot months before the monsoon. The fresh leaves are slightly bitter and grassy, a little like watercress, and they are tossed by hand with toasted chickpea flour, crushed peanuts, crunchy fried garlic and its oil, lime juice, tomato and sliced onion. The salad is served as a side to rich curries, where its clean sourness cuts through the oil. Wet leaves ruin it: the dressing slides off and turns watery, so dry them completely after washing. Chef's tip: look for pennywort sold as gotu kola at Asian and Sri Lankan grocers; young watercress makes a fair stand-in.

20 minBurmeseSaladsVeganGluten free
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FlijaLayered batter pie

Flija is the dish of long summer afternoons in Kosovo, from the Rugova valley to the villages around Prizren, when friends gather and take turns tending the saç, a domed iron lid heaped with embers. Thin batter is painted onto a round tray in spokes, cooked under the heat, brushed with a mix of sour cream and yogurt, then painted again, until 15 or more layers have built up over a couple of hours. Cut into wedges, it is chewy, buttery and lightly scorched, served with honey, white cheese, pickled peppers or a bowl of yogurt. At home, a very hot oven grill stands in for the saç. The most frequent mistake is crowding the batter: each spoke must leave a finger-wide gap for the next layer to fill, or the pie becomes a thick, gummy pancake. Chef's tip: keep the batter as thin as single cream, and whisk in a spoonful of water whenever it thickens as it stands.

240 minBalkanBaking
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Biye barir roastSweet wedding-style chicken roast

Ask anyone who grew up in Bangladesh what they look forward to at a biye bari, a wedding house, and the chicken roast is near the top, a single fried leg or breast lounging in a thick, sweet-spiced, ghee-glossed gravy beside a mound of polao. The word roast is a bit of a misnomer: the chicken is fried until golden and then simmered in a gravy of onion paste, yoghurt, milk and a little sugar, perfumed with cardamom, mace and kewra, so it tastes rich rather than charred. Children love it because it is mild and gently sweet, with only whole green chillies for warmth. A common error is skipping the frying, which leaves the chicken pale and lets it fall apart in the sauce. Chef's tip: use bone-in thighs and drumsticks with deep slashes, so the gravy gets into the meat during the short simmer.

75 minBangladeshiChickenGluten free
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Almond tea

Despite the name, there's no tea in hang yan cha, and almonds play no part either: Hong Kong's version is ground from sweet apricot kernels, the 'southern almonds' sold loose in Chinese herbal shops. Old-style dessert shops in Yau Ma Tei and Sheung Wan ladle it hot from big pots after dinner, sometimes with a black sesame swirl, and grandmothers make it for coughs in the dry winter months. It is pale, creamy and smooth as single cream, with a perfumed, marzipan-like aroma and a gentle sweetness from rock sugar. A grainy texture comes from skipping the straining, so press the blended mixture through muslin. Chef's tip: stir constantly once it's on the heat; the rice starch catches on the bottom of the pan within seconds and gives the whole pot a scorched taste.

50 minHong KongDessertsVeganGluten free
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Bizcocho dominicanoOrange sponge with pineapple filling

Every Dominican birthday in Santo Domingo or Santiago has one: a tall, buttery, orange-scented sponge split and filled with sticky pineapple, then swirled all over with glossy white meringue frosting called suspiro. Traditional suspiro whips hot syrup into raw whites; this version uses a Swiss meringue, heating the whites with sugar to 70 °C so it is safe for everyone, including pregnant women and small children. The common mistake is overbeating the batter after the flour goes in, which makes the famously moist crumb tough. Chef's tip: beat the butter and sugar for a full 8 minutes until almost white; that air is what gives bizcocho its tender, springy texture.

100 minPuerto RicanBaking
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Shan pickled mustard greens

Jars of sour, olive-gold mustard greens sit on every noodle stall in Shan State, from Kengtung to the five-day markets around Inle Lake, and families keep a crock going through the cool season. The greens are wilted, rubbed with salt and packed under cloudy water saved from rinsing rice; its starch feeds the natural fermentation, and after a few days the leaves turn crunchy, tangy and pleasantly funky. A spoonful goes on top of Shan noodles, beside sticky rice, into soups, or stir-fried with garlic and chilli as a side dish. Leaves poking above the brine are the main thing that goes wrong, since that is where mould starts; keep everything pressed under the liquid. Chef's tip: use the cloudiest rice water from the first rinse, and add a spoon of cooked rice to get the souring going faster.

30 minBurmeseSidesVeganGluten free
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Wu gok (crispy taro dumplings)

Few dim sum crack like wu gok: the shell of mashed taro puffs in the fryer into a golden, honeycomb lace so delicate it shatters at a touch, giving way to a soft, nutty taro layer and a juicy filling of diced pork, shiitake and oyster sauce. Hong Kong teahouses fry them to order through the morning and they are a must at Lunar New Year banquets. Eat them straight away, with a pot of jasmine tea to cut the richness. Lard is the traditional fat in the taro dough; vegetable shortening works too. The classic failure is oil that is too cool or too hot: below about 170 °C the dumplings fall apart, above 190 °C they brown before the lace forms. Chef's tip: chill the shaped dumplings for half an hour so the dough is firm and the lace blooms evenly.

90 minHong KongSnacks & Starters
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Steamed scallops with garlic and glass noodles

At the seafood stalls of Sai Kung and Lei Yue Mun, diners pick shellfish from the tanks and the kitchen sends them back in minutes: scallops on the half shell, each sitting on a nest of glass noodles under a heap of garlic, half fried golden and half left raw, steamed just until the scallop turns opaque, then finished with a splash of soy and a hiss of hot oil over spring onions. The noodles soak up all the sweet juices, the scallop is soft and barely firm, and the garlic is both mellow and sharp. Serve one or two each as a starter. Use only very fresh scallops: discard any that smell off or have cracked or broken shells. Most people overcook them; a large scallop needs only 5 to 6 minutes. Chef's tip: frying half the garlic and keeping half raw is the restaurant trick for deep, rounded garlic flavour.

25 minHong KongFishGluten free
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FlatkökurRye flatbread

Flatkökur are round, flat rye breads that Icelanders char straight on the hot plate of the stove, or over a gas flame, until they are speckled black and smoky; they are eaten buttered, with smoked lamb (hangikjöt) or cheese, at every Christmas and confirmation and in lunchboxes all year. The dough is made with boiling water so it is soft and easy to roll. A common mistake is letting the dough cool before rolling; scalded rye dough stiffens and cracks. Chef's tip: roll it while warm and prick all over with a fork so it stays flat as it chars.

30 minScandinavianBreads & ParathasVegan
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Flamiche dinantaiseStrong cheese tart

The flamiche of Dinant is eaten only one way: straight from the oven, so hot it burns the fingers, as the townspeople say. It is a rich, wobbly tart of strong fresh boulette or Herve-style cheese beaten with eggs and plenty of butter on a thin yeasted base, and Dinant's 'Confrérie de la Flamiche' still holds an annual tasting. Boulette and Herve cheeses are usually made with animal rennet; a strong vegetarian soft cheese mixed with fromage frais works. A common mistake is letting it cool; it sets and loses its creaminess. Chef's tip: serve it the moment the top puffs and turns golden.

60 minBelgianVegetarian
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BlitvaSwiss chard and potatoes

Order grilled fish in any konoba along the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, from Zadar down to Dubrovnik, and a heap of blitva usually comes with it. Swiss chard and potatoes are boiled together until soft, then crushed roughly with lots of good olive oil and a little garlic, so the potatoes turn creamy and the chard stays silky and green. It is humble, quick and very good, also with grilled vegetables, eggs or a simple bean dish. The usual slip is not draining well enough, which leaves a watery, grey mush; let everything steam dry in the colander for a minute. Chef's tip: use the best olive oil you have and add a final drizzle at the table, as Dalmatians do, so its peppery taste stays bright.

30 minBalkanSidesVeganGluten free
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Pandan chiffon cake

No Singapore birthday table, office tea or visit to grandma's feels complete without a pandan chiffon cake, the pale green ring sold whole at heritage bakeries and neighbourhood confectioners and carried home in a box, and travellers fly home with one in their hand luggage. The crumb is cottony and springy, moist from coconut milk, and the flavour comes from juice squeezed from blended pandan leaves: grassy, vanilla-like and faintly nutty. It is served plain, in tall wedges, with kopi or tea. The usual mistake is greasing the tube pan; a chiffon needs to cling to bare metal to climb, and cooling it upside down is what keeps it tall. Chef's tip: beat the egg whites only to firm, glossy peaks that curl over at the tip; stiff, dry whites won't fold in smoothly and leave white streaks and holes.

80 minSingaporeanBaking
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Pe pyot (boiled yellow peas)

Before the city wakes, pe pyot sellers pedal through Yangon's townships calling out from bicycle baskets of warm, steaming peas, scooping portions into leaf parcels for families to eat with fried rice, flatbreads or toasted naan. Dried yellow or white peas are soaked overnight and simmered until creamy inside but still whole, then seasoned simply with salt and a spoon of oil fried with shallots. The flavour is mellow, earthy and slightly sweet, and the texture is soft and fluffy, like a good baked potato. Too much bicarbonate of soda is the common slip: a pinch softens the skins, but more turns the peas to soapy mush. Chef's tip: make a double batch; pe pyot keeps for three days in the fridge and turns tomorrow's leftover rice into pea fried rice.

60 minBurmeseBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
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Flaki po warszawskuBeef tripe soup

Warsaw's old milk bars and wedding receptions share one great soup: flaki, a peppery tripe broth scented with marjoram, nutmeg and ginger, served piping hot, traditionally late at night to revive tired guests. The Warsaw version adds tender beef meatballs (pulpety) and plenty of julienned root vegetables, so it is heartier than the plain flaki of other regions. Tripe has a soft, slightly chewy bite and soaks up the warm spices. Buy cleaned, blanched beef tripe from a butcher. A mistake that ruins many pots is skipping the first blanching: without it the soup smells strongly and never tastes clean. Make it a day ahead if you can; it improves overnight. Chef's tip: add the marjoram twice, a spoon during cooking and a generous pinch rubbed between your palms just before serving, which is what gives Warsaw flaki its signature smell.

240 minPolishSoups
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FlæskestegRoast pork with crackling

Flæskesteg is the Danish Christmas Eve roast: a pork loin or belly with its rind scored deep, rubbed with salt and bay, and roasted until the crackling puffs into crisp, golden ridges. This is a pork dish. It is served with brunede kartofler, red cabbage, plain boiled potatoes and gravy, and the crackling is the prize everyone fights over. A common mistake is scoring the rind too shallow or not all the way across, so it cracks unevenly. Chef's tip: start the joint rind-down in a little boiling water for 20 minutes, which softens the rind, then turn it up and roast; it crackles evenly. Whole pork joints are safe at 63 °C followed by a 15-minute rest.

140 minScandinavianMeatGluten free
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