Featured recipe

Jidan guanbing

Flatbread filled with egg

Jidan guanbing, "egg-poured pancake", started in Henan and is now on breakfast carts across China: a layered flatbread puffs up like a balloon on the griddle, the cook tears a slit, pours beaten egg inside, then wraps it around lettuce with sweet bean sauce and chilli. The mistake is rolling the dough too thick so it never puffs; roll it thin and seal the oil paste well inside so steam separates the layers. Chef's tip: press the centre gently with a spatula as soon as it starts to rise, which pushes the air into one big pocket ready for the egg.

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PiperadePepper and tomato stew

Red, white and green, the colours of the Basque flag, sit in one pan in piperade, the summer dish of Bayonne, Espelette and the villages of the French Basque Country. Green peppers, onions and ripe tomatoes are stewed in olive oil until soft and sweet, then warmed with the region's mild, fruity Espelette pepper. Basque families eat it at lunch with crusty bread, spooned beside rice, or with eggs softly scrambled into it; restaurants often add a slice of Bayonne ham, which this version leaves out. Chef's tip: cook it slowly and let the liquid reduce; a good piperade is jammy, not watery.

55 min

French Vegetarian

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Ropa vieja canariaChickpea, beef and chicken fry-up

The 'old clothes' of the name are the leftover meats from Sunday's puchero, shredded and fried the next day with chickpeas, potatoes, peppers and tomato; it is a different dish from the Cuban ropa vieja, and on the islands it is Monday lunch and a fixture of bar menus in Las Palmas. Some versions include pork; this one uses beef and chicken, poached from scratch if you have no leftovers. A splash of white wine is common; it is optional and the dish is complete without it. Chef's tip: fry the chickpeas until a few catch and crisp, because those browned bits make the dish.

100 min

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Fouace aveyronnaiseOrange blossom brioche crown

Every village fête in the Aveyron, the old province of Rouergue, has a baker selling fouace: a big golden brioche ring scented with orange flower water and topped with crunchy sugar, carried home in a paper bag to be torn up at breakfast or after Sunday lunch. Laguiole and Rodez bakeries are famous for it, and families bake one for Easter, weddings and christenings. It is softer and less buttery than a Paris brioche, with a light, cottony crumb. Chef's tip: let the shaped crown rise until it is puffy and a fingertip leaves a dent that springs back slowly; underproved fouace tears in the oven.

240 min

French Baking

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Olive all'ascolanaStuffed fried olives

Olive all'ascolana are the pride of Ascoli Piceno in the Marche, sold in paper cones at street fairs and piled on platters of fritto misto at every celebration in the region. Large, mild green olives are cut from their stones in a spiral, wrapped around a filling of pork, beef and chicken cooked with soffritto and a splash of white wine, then breaded and fried until crunchy. The real Ascolana tenera olive is hard to find outside Italy, so any large, mild green olive in brine is a practical substitute. The filling uses white wine, and the note gives an alcohol-free option. Serve hot, with lemon wedges and other fried titbits or a glass of something cold. Chef's tip: rinse and soak the olives before stuffing them; if they are too salty they overwhelm the delicate meat filling.

100 min

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Rosca de PascuaEaster ring bread

Argentine Easter Sunday breakfast centres on the rosca de Pascua, a ring of soft, orange-scented brioche-like dough laid with stripes of pastry cream, candied cherries and pearl sugar, with whole boiled eggs pressed into the dough as a symbol of new life. Bakeries in every barrio stack them in the window from Holy Thursday, and families share it with coffee or mate after the Easter egg hunt. The crumb is fluffy and pale yellow, and the custard bakes into soft, golden ridges. Because the eggs bake for 30 minutes on top of their boiling, they are fully cooked; many people keep them for decoration and peel them later. The mistake to avoid is piping the pastry cream too thick, which slides off as the ring rises; thin lines give neat ridges. Chef's tip: cook the custard until it is very thick and chill it before piping, and brush the ring with egg before (not after) the cream goes on.

210 min

Argentinian Baking

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Qamar al-dinApricot drink

Damascus is famous for its apricots, and much of the summer harvest is pressed into thin orange sheets of apricot leather called qamar al-din. In Ramadan, almost every Syrian home soaks a sheet overnight and blends it into a thick, velvety drink to break the fast — it is sweet, slightly tart and full of energy after a long day. Serve it chilled, sometimes with a few soaked pine nuts on top. Common mistake: blending without soaking long enough; the leather needs time to soften or the drink is gritty. Chef's tip: add a splash of orange blossom water and a squeeze of lemon to wake up the apricot flavour.

10 min

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Olla gitanaChickpea, pumpkin and green bean stew

The name means gypsy pot, and in Murcia and the neighbouring Vega del Segura it is the stew of autumn and Lent: chickpeas cooked with pumpkin, green beans and potato, perfumed with saffron and mint, and finished with a crushed paste of fried almonds, garlic and bread. What makes the Murcian version stand out is the pear, added near the end so its sweetness comes through the broth. It has no meat at all and is vegan as written. Chef's tip: choose firm pears, such as Conference, that keep their shape in the pot.

145 min

Spanish Vegetarian

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Victoria sponge

Named after Queen Victoria, who took a slice with her afternoon tea, the Victoria sandwich is the cake of English village fetes, Women's Institute competitions and every birthday tea in the shires. It is two light butter sponges joined with raspberry jam and buttercream, finished with a dusting of caster sugar. Chef's tip: weigh the eggs in their shells and use the same weight of butter, sugar and flour; that is the classic way to get a perfect crumb.

45 min

British Baking

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RoscónGuava-filled sweet bread ring

Every Bogotá bakery has a tray of roscones by the counter: soft, enriched bread rings glazed and sprinkled with sugar, hiding a seam of melted guava paste inside. They are eaten at onces, the afternoon coffee break, or for breakfast with hot chocolate, and they are a favourite thing to bring when visiting. The dough is a gently sweet milk-and-butter bread, close to a brioche but lighter. Chunks of guava paste that are too big are what normally goes wrong: they melt, burst the seam and burn on the tray, so cut it into thin batons and seal the dough firmly around them. Plan about 2 hours, most of it rising time. Look for guava paste (bocadillo or goiabada) in Latin shops; quince paste works in a pinch. Chef's tip: brush with the egg wash twice, once before the second rise and once before baking, for a deep, shiny crust that holds the sugar.

145 min

Colombian Baking

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TeurgouleCinnamon rice pudding

The name means 'twisted mouth' in Norman dialect, after the face you pull if you eat it too hot. Teurgoule comes from the Calvados countryside around Houlgate and Honfleur, where farm women left it in the bread oven overnight after baking; it is still the dessert at village fêtes and family Sundays, served with a slice of brioche-like fallue. Short-grain rice bakes for hours in creamy milk with sugar and cinnamon until it turns thick and pale caramel inside under a dark, almost burnt crust. Use a deep ovenproof dish that holds at least 2 litres. Chef's tip: never stir it once it is in the oven; the crust that forms on top is the best part and seals the creamy pudding underneath.

310 min

French Desserts

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Camembert baked in its box

Normandy dairy farmers have always known that a Camembert just past its best is perfect for the oven, and baked Camembert is now what friends share on cold evenings across the region, from Caen to the Pays d'Auge, with crusty bread, apple slices and boiled potatoes for dipping. The cheese stays in its wooden box, gets scored, studded with garlic and thyme and baked until the inside is liquid under a just-holding rind. It is ready in 20 minutes and makes a light supper with a salad. Real Camembert de Normandie is made with animal rennet; for a vegetarian version use a vegetarian Camembert-style cheese. Chef's tip: take off any plastic wrapping and tie the box with kitchen string if it is stapled; cheap boxes can split in the heat.

25 min

French Snacks & Starters

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Bredele: Alsatian cinnamon stars

From the start of Advent, kitchens across Alsace turn out bredele, dozens of kinds of little Christmas biscuits kept in tins and offered to every visitor until New Year, while the markets in Strasbourg and Kaysersberg sell them by the bag. Cinnamon stars are among the most loved: chewy almond and cinnamon biscuits with a crisp white meringue top, and no flour at all. They take patience rather than skill and keep for weeks, so families make them early in December. The same dough also works rolled into small balls. Chef's tip: spread the meringue on the rolled sheet before you cut the stars, rather than icing each biscuit; it is far quicker and gives a clean, sharp edge.

57 min

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MsabbahaWhole chickpeas in tahini sauce

Hummus shops in Jerusalem's Old City and in Nablus open before dawn, and alongside the smooth hummus they ladle out msabbaha: whole, just-cooked chickpeas bathed in a loose, garlicky tahini and lemon sauce, still warm. It is a working breakfast, eaten with raw onion wedges, green chilli and plenty of bread, and it is just as popular in south Lebanon. The texture is the point, soft chickpeas in a creamy pool rather than a purée. The common mistake is making the tahini sauce too thick; it should pour like double cream so it seeps around every chickpea. Chef's tip: crush a handful of the hot chickpeas into the sauce before you spoon it over; it makes the msabbaha richer and creamier.

90 min

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Omelette au brocciu et à la mentheFresh cheese and mint omelette

Inland Corsica, around Corte and the mountain villages, serves this omelette from late autumn to early summer, the months when shepherds make fresh brocciu. The cheese goes in at the last moment so it stays creamy, and wild mint picked from the maquis cuts through its richness; it is a light lunch or supper with a green salad and bread. Brocciu is made from the whey of rennet cheeses, so vegetarians often use ricotta labelled vegetarian instead. Chef's tip: season the cheese and mint, not just the eggs, because fresh whey cheese is very mild.

13 min

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Irish buttermilk scones

Irish scones are the centre of afternoon tea in hotels and country houses from Galway to Wicklow, and the bake that every Irish cook makes from memory. Buttermilk makes them light and tender with a faint tang, and an egg wash gives the glossy golden top. Serve warm, split, with butter, raspberry jam and whipped cream. Chef's tip: press the cutter straight down without twisting; twisting seals the edges and stops them rising tall.

25 min

Irish Baking

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ZorongolloRoast pepper and tomato salad

Zorongollo is the summer salad of the Extremaduran countryside around Cáceres and the Vegas del Guadiana, made when red peppers are sweet and cheap. The peppers and tomatoes are roasted until blackened, peeled, torn by hand into strips and soaked in olive oil, garlic and a little vinegar, and it is served on its own with bread or beside grilled meat at summer lunches. It keeps for days in the fridge and improves overnight. Chef's tip: tear the peppers along their natural ridges rather than slicing them, so the strips stay soft and catch more dressing.

60 min

Spanish Salads

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Sagu de vinhoTapioca pearls in red wine

Glossy, wine-dark and wobbling with little translucent pearls, sagu is the dessert of the serra gaúcha, the Italian-settled wine country around Caxias do Sul and Bento Gonçalves, where it ends Sunday lunch at family tables and galeteria buffets. Tapioca pearls are cooked until clear, then simmered in red wine with sugar, cloves and cinnamon so they soak up the colour and spice. Locally it comes with a spoon of vanilla custard on top. The dish contains red wine, and simmering does not remove all the alcohol; for an alcohol-free version, use red grape juice and cut the sugar by half. Choose a vegan wine if that matters to you, as some are fined with egg or fish products. The common mistake is adding the wine before the pearls are clear, which leaves white chalky centres. Chef's tip: rinse the cooked pearls under cold water before they go into the wine, so the starch washes off and the dessert stays glossy.

50 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Mtabbal shamandarBeetroot and tahini dip

Beirut's modern mezze bars made mtabbal shamandar a fixture next to hummus and moutabal: roasted beetroot blended with tahini, garlic, lemon and a little yoghurt into a magenta dip that is earthy, nutty and bright. It is quick to make and keeps well, so it is good for a weekend spread with warm flatbread, crisp cucumbers and radishes. Common mistake: boiling the beetroot, which waters it down; roasting in foil concentrates the sweetness. Chef's tip: add the lemon a little at a time and taste — beetroot varies a lot in sweetness, and the dip should taste lively, not sugary. Use plant yoghurt to make it vegan.

70 min

Lebanese Chutneys & Dips

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Orellas de EntroidoCrisp sugared carnival pastries

Orellas, 'ears' in Galician, are fried for Entroido in villages across Ourense and Lugo, from Laza to Xinzo de Limia, and handed round in big baskets during the carnival days. The thin dough blisters and turns crisp in hot oil, and the pastries are finished with sugar or honey. This version uses a little aniseed spirit (aguardiente), as is traditional, so it contains alcohol; for an alcohol-free version use orange juice with a pinch of ground anise. Old recipes use pork fat; this one uses butter, so it is vegetarian. A common mistake is rolling the dough too thick, which gives chewy, greasy pastries instead of crisp ones. Chef's tip: roll until you can almost see the worktop through the dough.

70 min

Spanish Desserts

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ŞöbiyetSemolina cream and pistachio filo

Gaziantep's baklava shops lay out trays of şöbiyet beside the classic squares: buttery filo triangles hiding a soft semolina cream and a thick seam of pistachio, soaked in cool syrup. Families buy them by the kilo for bayram visits and engagement days, and they are best eaten the day they are made, while the top layers still crackle. Home versions use shop filo and a quick milk cream instead of the clotted cream the masters fold in. Pour cold syrup over hot pastry, never hot over hot, or the layers turn soggy. Chef's tip: chill the cream until it is firm enough to slice; a soft filling oozes out as you fold the triangles.

90 min

Turkish Desserts

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Irish potato soup

Potato soup is what Irish pubs and farmhouse kitchens set down on a wet afternoon from Kerry to Mayo, always with a heel of brown soda bread. Floury potatoes, onion and leek are sweated in butter and simmered in stock, then blended to a velvety, comforting soup with a gentle onion sweetness. A swirl of buttermilk and chives adds freshness. Chef's tip: sweat the leeks slowly without browning them; colour makes the soup taste bitter and turns it grey.

50 min

Irish Soups

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Orkney clapshotSwede and potato mash

Clapshot is the Orkney way with neeps and tatties: equal amounts of swede and potato mashed together with butter, chives and plenty of pepper, rather than served side by side. Islanders eat it with oatcakes and cheese, with mince, or alongside haggis on Burns Night. It is sweet, earthy and soft-orange. Chef's tip: dry the boiled vegetables in the hot pan before mashing, or the swede makes it watery.

40 min

British Sides

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Mazapán de ToledoAlmond marzipan figures

Toledo's convents have shaped marzipan for centuries, and in December the city's pastry shops fill their windows with coiled eels, half-moons and little figures, glazed golden and sold by weight for Christmas. Toledo's version is firm and almond-rich, with less sugar than many, and the best is made with Marcona almonds. Chef's tip: let the shaped pieces dry, uncovered, overnight before glazing; they hold their shape and the glaze sets glossy instead of soaking in.

50 min

Spanish Desserts

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French dip sandwich

Two downtown Los Angeles delis founded in 1908 still argue about who first dunked a roll into the roasting pan juices, but either way the French dip is LA's own sandwich: thin slices of roast beef piled into a crusty French roll that is dipped in a rich, savoury beef jus, eaten with hot mustard at the counter. Chef's tip: make the jus from the roasting pan; the browned bits stuck to the tin are where the flavour lives.

110 min

American Meat

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Rote GrützeRed berry pudding

Rote Grütze is the summer dessert of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, made when the gardens are full of redcurrants, raspberries and sour cherries. The fruit is cooked briefly, thickened with a little cornflour and chilled until it sets to a glossy, spoonable jelly, tart and deep red, with whole berries still in it. Northerners pour cold vanilla sauce or plain cream over it; with a plant-based vanilla sauce it is fully vegan. A common mistake is boiling all the berries: add the soft raspberries last, off the heat, so they keep their shape. Chef's tip: frozen mixed berries work beautifully out of season, and their juice gives an even deeper colour.

20 min

German Desserts

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Firik pilavıSmoky green wheat pilaf

Each June farmers around Gaziantep cut wheat while it is still green and burn off the husks in the field, which gives firik its gentle campfire smell. Cooked as a pilaf with onion, pepper paste and a handful of chickpeas, it has a chewy, nutty bite that sits well beside grilled kebabs or simply a bowl of ayran and a tomato salad. It is the everyday grain of the region's home kitchens, cheaper than rice and more filling. Rinse the grains well: grit and bits of chaff are common in firik. Chef's tip: let it rest under a tea towel for ten minutes after cooking; the steam finishes the grains and they separate beautifully.

45 min

Turkish Rice & Grains

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Muéganos de HuamantlaFried dough in piloncillo syrup

Huamantla, in Tlaxcala, is known for its August fair, when the streets are carpeted with coloured sawdust and flowers, and for muéganos: little cubes of fried dough glued together with dark piloncillo syrup into a sticky cluster, often pressed onto a round wafer. Visitors buy them in stacks from sweet shops around the main square. The dough is crisp and light, the syrup spiced with cinnamon and clove. Chef's tip: cut the dough into small, even cubes so they all fry golden at the same time.

60 min

Mexican Desserts

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Irish porter cake

Porter cake is the Dublin fruit cake made with stout, the dark beer once drunk by the porters of Dublin's markets and docks; it is baked for Christmas, christenings and wakes across Leinster. The fruit is simmered in the stout, which gives the crumb a deep, malty, slightly bitter flavour and keeps it moist for weeks. This recipe contains alcohol: most of it cooks off, but for an alcohol-free version use strong black tea or alcohol-free stout. Chef's tip: wrap the cooled cake and leave it for 2–3 days before cutting; it slices better and tastes richer.

140 min

Irish Baking

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Sonoran hot dog

The Sonoran hot dog came north from Hermosillo in Mexico and is now the late-night street food of Tucson, Arizona, sold from carts and small stands called dogueros. A frankfurter is wrapped in bacon (pork) and griddled until crisp, then tucked into a soft, split-top bolillo roll with pinto beans, onion, tomato, mayonnaise, mustard and jalapeño salsa. Chef's tip: wind the bacon tightly in a spiral and start it seam-side down, so it sticks and doesn't unravel.

35 min

American Fast Food

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Mirabelle plum tart

Lorraine grows most of the world's mirabelles, small golden plums with a blush of red that ripen for only a few weeks from mid-August, when Metz holds its Mirabelle festival and every pâtisserie in Nancy fills its window with this tart. The plums are halved and packed tightly into a crisp shortcrust, sometimes over a thin layer of almond or semolina to soak up the juice, and they bake into a jammy, honey-sweet layer. Families eat it warm or cold for Sunday dessert or at four-o'clock goûter. Out of season, use small yellow plums or halved apricots. Chef's tip: stand the halves upright and overlapping, cut side up; they shrink as they bake, and a tight layer stops the tart looking bare.

75 min

French Baking

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Irish apple cake

Every Irish county has its apple cake, but it is especially loved in Armagh's orchard country and in Kerry, baked in late September when the Bramleys come in. Sharp cooking apples bake into soft, tart pockets in a buttery sponge, under a crunchy sugar and cinnamon crumb. Serve warm with custard or softly whipped cream. Chef's tip: toss the apple slices in lemon juice and sugar only at the last minute, or they release water into the batter.

75 min

Irish Baking

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PaidakiaGrilled lamb chops

In the mountain villages around Athens and in Roumeli, families drive out on Sunday to psistaries where paidakia are sold by the kilo: thin lamb rib chops grilled over charcoal until the fat crackles, then showered with lemon, salt and oregano and eaten with your fingers. Chips, a horiatiki salad and tzatziki complete the meal. Common mistake: marinating them for hours in lemon, which makes the meat mushy; season simply and add lemon after grilling. Chef's tip: leave a thin rim of fat on each chop and grill fat-side first for a minute; it renders and bastes the meat.

20 min

Greek Meat

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Sancocho canarioSalt fish with potatoes and mojo

Sancocho is the Canary Islands' Good Friday dish and a Sunday favourite in Gran Canaria, where whole families sit down to a platter of desalted cherne (wreckfish), boiled potatoes and sweet potatoes, red mojo poured over the top and a ball of pella de gofio on the side. Salted cherne is soaked for a day or two in the fridge to draw out the salt, then poached gently. If you cannot find cherne, salt cod or fresh hake works well. Chef's tip: before cooking, poach a small flake in boiling water for a minute and taste it; it should be pleasantly seasoned, like well-salted fresh fish, and if it is still briny, soak a few hours more.

60 min

Spanish Fish

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Idaho fry sauce

In Idaho and neighbouring Utah you don't get your fries without fry sauce, the pale pink dip that drive-ins and burger stands across the potato state put out in paper cups. It is mayonnaise and ketchup at heart, sharpened with a little pickle brine, garlic and smoked paprika, and it goes on chips, burgers and onion rings. Chef's tip: make it an hour ahead and chill it, so the garlic and paprika have time to bloom.

5 min

American Chutneys & Dips

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Mahyaveh-style anchovy and spice spread

In Bandar Abbas, Lar and the villages of Hormozgan, mahyaveh is a dark, pungent sauce made by leaving tiny fish with salt, mustard seed and spices to ferment in the sun for weeks; it is smeared on hot flatbread for breakfast or with eggs. That open-air fermentation is hard to control safely at home, so this version gets the same deep, salty flavour from ready-cured anchovy fillets blended with toasted mustard seed, cumin, coriander seed, fennel and a little vinegar, and it lives in the fridge from the start. It is still a cured-fish product: not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. A common mistake is spreading it thickly like a pâté; it is a seasoning, so a thin smear is enough. Chef's tip: toast the spices until the mustard seeds just start to pop, which takes the raw bitterness out and gives the spread its roasted edge.

20 min

Persian Basics

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Rajas con cremaPoblano strips in cream

Rajas means strips, and in Puebla they mean poblano chillies, the dark green pepper the state is named after, charred, peeled and sliced, then simmered with onion, sweetcorn and cream. Poblanos are mild with a grassy, gently smoky bite, so the dish is rich rather than fiery. It turns up on Puebla tables as a side for rice, as a taco filling at fondas, or in a tamal for breakfast. Some cooks melt in Chihuahua or Oaxaca cheese, which may be made with animal rennet; use a vegetarian melting cheese if needed. Chef's tip: sweat the peeled chillies in a covered bowl for 10 minutes; the steam lifts the skins off cleanly without rinsing away the smoky flavour.

35 min

Mexican Sides

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Rougail saucissesSmoked sausages in spicy tomato sauce

On Réunion Island, rougail saucisses is the everyday favourite cooked in a big cast-iron pot for family lunches, beach picnics and Sunday gatherings, and it is a pork dish built on smoked pork sausages. The sausages are blanched, browned, then simmered in a thick sauce of onions, ripe tomatoes, garlic, ginger, turmeric and fresh chilli until everything turns rich and slightly smoky. It is always served Creole-style with white rice and grains (red beans stewed with garlic and thyme) and, for those who like heat, a spoonful of fresh tomato-chilli rougail on the side. Chef's tip: blanch the sausages first; it removes excess salt and fat so the sauce tastes clean and bright.

85 min

French Meat

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MuhlamaCornmeal, butter and melted cheese

Up in the yayla summer pastures above Trabzon and Rize, breakfast often arrives as one blackened pan set in the middle of the table, with everyone tearing bread and dragging it through. Muhlama is butter, coarse cornmeal and a young stringy cheese stirred together until the cheese melts into long, glossy threads and a pool of golden butter rises to the top. Eat it straight from the pan with cornbread or crusty bread, black tea and a plate of tomatoes and cucumbers. Common mistake: adding the cheese before the cornmeal has toasted in the butter, which leaves a raw, gritty taste and stops the oil separating. The Black Sea cheese (Trabzon or Kolot) and kaşar are usually made with animal rennet; a vegetarian mozzarella-style cheese works well. Chef's tip: don't stir once the cheese has gone in until it has fully melted, then stir in one direction only; that is what gives the long, elastic strands.

20 min

Turkish Vegetarian

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QuarkkeulchenPotato and quark pancakes

Quarkkeulchen are the sweet little pancakes of Saxony, the kind a Dresden or Leipzig grandmother makes on a Saturday afternoon from yesterday's boiled potatoes: mashed potato, quark, egg, a little flour and sugar, lemon zest and raisins, shaped into small thick discs and fried in butter until golden. They are crisp outside, soft and slightly tangy inside, and come dusted with cinnamon sugar beside a bowl of apple sauce. A common mistake is using freshly boiled warm potatoes, which make a sticky dough; use cold ones from the day before. Chef's tip: soak the raisins in hot water for 10 minutes so they plump up and don't burn in the pan.

40 min

German Desserts

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Gâteau bretonSalted butter cake

Somewhere between a shortbread and a cake, gâteau breton is the big round that Breton bakeries cut into wedges for the road, and families buy one for the weekend or a picnic at the coast near Concarneau or Lorient. It is made from almost as much salted butter as flour, with lots of egg yolks, and baked thick so the edges are crisp and the middle is dense, moist and fudgy. The top is glazed and marked with a criss-cross pattern using a fork. Plain is traditional; some bakers add a layer of prune purée in the middle. Chef's tip: chill the dough in the tin before baking; it holds its pattern and bakes up with a sharp, shiny crust.

60 min

French Baking

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OuziSpiced rice and lamb filo parcels

Ouzi is the showpiece of Jordanian and Damascene wedding buffets and Eid lunches: golden filo bundles that break open to spiced rice, minced lamb, peas and toasted nuts. The name comes from the whole roast lamb once served on a mountain of rice; the parcels are the neat, home-sized version, made ahead and baked as guests arrive. Serve with plain yoghurt or a cucumber-yoghurt salad. The common mistake is filling the filo with wet rice, which turns the bottoms soggy, so cook the rice until just tender and spread it out to steam dry. Chef's tip: lay a few nuts and peas in the bowl first, then the filo, then the filling, so each parcel comes out with a pretty top.

100 min

Jordanian Meat

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Ovos moles de AveiroEgg-yolk and sugar cream

Nuns in Aveiro's convents used leftover yolks, after the whites had starched their habits, to make this soft, intensely sweet cream, and the town's shops now sell it in painted wooden barrels or wrapped in thin wafer shaped like shells and fish. Visitors buy boxes at the railway station and along the canals where the moliceiro boats run. Only yolks, sugar and water go in, cooked slowly until thick and shiny. Chef's tip: cool the syrup slightly before adding the yolks and cook over the lowest heat, as a common mistake is hurrying it and ending up with sweet scrambled egg.

45 min

Portuguese Desserts

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Empanadas tucumanas

Tucumán takes its empanadas so seriously that the town of Famaillá holds a national empanada festival every September, and judges count the pleats. The local style is small and juicy, filled with beef cut by hand with a knife (never minced), lots of white onion and spring onion, cumin, paprika and hard-boiled egg, and the dough is made with beef fat. They are baked very hot, traditionally in a clay oven, until blistered, and eaten standing up at peñas, football matches or family lunches, a drop of lemon squeezed in. The beef filling must reach 71 °C; it cooks first in the pan and again in the oven. A dry filling is the mistake to avoid: cook the onion slowly and let the filling cool so the fat sets, which turns to juice in the oven. Chef's tip: chill the filling overnight if you can; cold filling is easier to spoon and the empanadas come out juicier.

105 min

Argentinian Snacks & Starters

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RubacãoRice with cowpeas and dried beef

Paraíba's cousin of baião de dois, rubacão (also spelt rubação) is cooked for long family lunches in João Pessoa and Campina Grande, and it is a fixture of the São João season in June. Rice and freshly shelled green cowpeas (feijão verde) cook together with dried beef and smoky bacon, then coalho cheese and cream are folded through so the pot turns soft, creamy and stretchy, salty from the meat and sweet from the beans. Serve it on its own with a tomato salad and pepper sauce; it is a meal in one pot. If you use charque or carne seca, it needs soaking overnight in the fridge. The pitfall to avoid is adding the cheese while the pot is on the flame, which turns it rubbery; fold it in off the heat and let the steam soften it. Chef's tip: save the bean cooking water and use it to cook the rice; it gives the dish its earthy colour and flavour.

65 min

Brazilian Rice & Grains

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Pa amb oli mallorquíTomato olive oil bread

In Mallorca pa amb oli is supper on a hot evening, the snack in every village bar and the picnic on a boat. Slices of dense, unsalted brown country bread are rubbed with the island's tomàtigues de ramellet, small tomatoes kept hanging in bunches through winter, then soaked with olive oil and salted. On the side go green olives, capers, pickled sea fennel and slices of Mahón cheese; this vegetarian plate leaves out the usual cured ham. Mahón is normally made with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian semi-cured cow's milk cheese if that matters to you. Chef's tip: toast the bread only lightly, or not at all, so it stays soft enough to drink up the tomato.

15 min

Spanish Snacks & Starters

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Salade lyonnaiseFrisée, bacon and poached egg salad

Every bouchon in Lyon, the small checked-tablecloth restaurants of the old town and the Presqu'île, puts salade lyonnaise on its menu as a starter or light lunch. Bitter, crunchy frisée is tossed with a sharp mustard vinaigrette, then topped with hot smoked pork lardons, garlicky croutons and a poached egg whose yolk spills into the leaves and turns the dressing creamy. It's the meeting of hot and cold, soft and crisp that makes it work. The egg is served runny, so use pasteurised eggs for pregnant women, young children, older people or anyone with a weakened immune system, or cook the egg until set. Chef's tip: deglaze the lardon pan with the vinegar and pour it warm over the leaves so they wilt very slightly.

30 min

French Salads

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AlegríasAmaranth and honey bars

Amaranth has been grown on the chinampa gardens of Xochimilco and Tulyehualco, in the south of Mexico City, since Aztec times, and each February Tulyehualco holds a fair in its honour. Its tiny seeds are popped on a hot comal and bound with honey or piloncillo syrup into alegrías ('joys'), crunchy, light bars sold at bus stops, school gates and church doors and studded with pumpkin seeds, peanuts or raisins. They are naturally gluten free and full of protein for a sweet. Chef's tip: use bought puffed amaranth; popping it yourself works but takes patience and a lidded pan, as the seeds jump everywhere.

30 min

Mexican Snacks & Starters

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Mahi sobour stuffed with herbs and tamarind

Each spring the shad (sobour) swims up the Karun and Arvand rivers, and in Ahvaz and Khorramshahr the season is marked by whole fish split open, packed with a sour paste of herbs, garlic and tamarind and cooked over coals or in a hot oven. The rich, oily flesh is a perfect match for the sharp filling. Shad is very bony, so most home cooks outside Khuzestan use sea bass, sea bream or mackerel, which take the same filling beautifully. A common mistake is overfilling the fish so it bursts open and the stuffing burns; pack it firmly but leave a finger's width at the edges. Chef's tip: cut three shallow slashes in each side and rub a little filling into them, so the sourness reaches the whole fish.

55 min

Persian Fish

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Sakızlı muhallebiMastic milk pudding

Çeşme looks across the water to Chios, the island where mastic trees weep their resin, and the town's pudding shops have long used it to perfume a simple, wobbly milk pudding. The flavour is hard to describe: piney, a little floral, very fresh against cold creamy milk. It is the dessert to order after a long fish lunch in Alaçatı. Chef's tip: grind the mastic with a teaspoon of sugar in a mortar; on its own it gums up into sticky lumps.

25 min

Turkish Desserts

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Fried mahi sefid with bitter orange

Along the Caspian shore from Bandar Anzali to Babolsar, the silvery kutum (mahi sefid) arrives in late winter, and families fry thick steaks of it for weekday lunches and for the Nowruz table. The coating is nothing more than flour, turmeric, salt and pepper, so the sweet, firm flesh does the talking; it comes to the table with wedges of bitter orange (narenj), rice and a plate of fresh herbs. Any firm white fish with skin works if you can't find kutum: sea bass, hake or cod steaks. A common mistake is crowding the pan, which drops the oil temperature and leaves the crust pale and greasy. Chef's tip: dry the fish properly and flour it only at the last moment, so the turmeric crust fries to a crisp golden shell instead of turning pasty.

25 min

Persian Fish

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Gazpachuelo malagueñoHot fish soup with mayonnaise

Málaga's fishermen once made gazpachuelo on the beach with whatever the nets brought in, and today it is a winter comfort soup in the city's homes and old-style taverns: a clear broth with potatoes, hake and prawns, slowly poured over a homemade mayonnaise until it turns pale and creamy. Done right it is silky, lemony and light. The eggs in the mayonnaise must be heated through properly, so this method brings the soup to 72 °C at the end without boiling it. Chef's tip: add the broth to the mayonnaise, never the other way round, and at first only a ladle at a time.

65 min

Spanish Soups

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PaçocaPeanut and cassava flour sweet

Kids across Brazil grow up on paçoca, the pale peanut sweet that melts into sandy crumbs the moment it is bitten, and no festa junina bag of treats is complete without a few. It started in the countryside of São Paulo and Minas as a way to use the peanut harvest, pounded in a wooden pestle with sugar and cassava flour, and today it is mostly pressed into little discs called rolhas. The flavour is pure toasted peanut, salty-sweet, with a texture between shortbread and fudge. Fine cassava flour (farinha de mandioca fina) is sold in Brazilian shops; you can leave it out for a richer, softer paçoca. Under-roasting the peanuts is the usual pitfall: pale peanuts give a raw, beany taste. Chef's tip: grind the mixture only until it just starts to clump; if it turns to butter, it will not hold a crumbly shape.

20 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Paçoca de carne de solPounded dried beef with cassava flour

Not the peanut sweet of the same name: in Ceará, Piauí and Maranhão, paçoca is a savoury, fluffy tangle of fried carne de sol pounded with toasted cassava flour and onion in a big wooden pilão. Cowboys of the sertão carried it on long rides because it keeps for days, and today it is served at roadside restaurants and at home with baião de dois, boiled macaxeira, ripe banana and a cold glass of cajá juice. It should be dry, crumbly and full of crisp beef threads, salty and deeply savoury. The thing that goes wrong most often is adding the cassava flour to a wet pan, which turns it into paste; the beef must be fried really dry first. Without a pilão, a large mortar or short pulses in a food processor do the job. Chef's tip: let the pounded paçoca rest for ten minutes before serving; the farinha soaks up the beef fat and the texture turns soft and fluffy.

65 min

Brazilian Meat

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Pacu assadoRoast whole river fish

Cuiabá's fish restaurants and weekend riverside lunches in the Pantanal put a whole pacu on the table, stuffed with farofa and roasted until the skin is golden and crisp. Pacu is a round, fat-rich river fish with sweet, juicy flesh; ask your fishmonger for whole sea bream, pompano or a large tilapia if pacu is not available. The stuffing is cassava flour toasted with onion, garlic, pepper, tomato and herbs, and it soaks up the fish juices as it cooks. Serve with white rice, a tomato vinagrete and lime. The mistake to watch for is over-roasting until the flesh dries out; check at the backbone and stop when it is just opaque. Pacu has fine Y-shaped bones in the belly, so eat carefully. Chef's tip: cut deep slashes on both sides and push a little lime-garlic paste into them; it seasons the thick flesh and helps it cook evenly.

80 min

Brazilian Fish

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Bobó de camarãoPrawns in cassava and coconut purée

Velvety, coral-coloured and rich with coconut, bobó de camarão is what Bahian families put on the table when there is something to celebrate, and beach restaurants from Praia do Forte to Itacaré serve it in clay pots with white rice and farofa. Cassava is boiled until it falls apart, blended with coconut milk into a smooth cream, then folded into prawns cooked with onion, tomato, peppers and a slick of dendê oil. The result is somewhere between a stew and a thick sauce, sweet from the prawns and gently earthy from the cassava. A frequent mistake is boiling the prawns in the purée for too long, which leaves them tough and curled; they go in at the very end. Cassava must always be cooked right through, never eaten raw: cut out the woody core and boil it until a knife meets no resistance. Chef's tip: blend the cassava while it is still hot, with some of its cooking water; cold cassava turns gluey in the blender.

65 min

Brazilian Curries

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Merluza a la sidraHake baked in cider

Asturias has two great loves at table, the fish landed at ports like Cudillero and Avilés and the cider pressed from its orchards, and merluza a la sidra brings them together. Families cook it for Sunday lunch, the hake settled on a bed of soft onion and potato with cider poured over, until the sauce turns sweet-sharp. The cider is alcoholic; cloudy apple juice with a little cider vinegar makes a good alcohol-free swap. Chef's tip: add the hake only when the potatoes are nearly tender, so the fish stays juicy.

60 min

Spanish Fish

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QidraLamb and rice clay-pot

Qidra takes its name from the tall copper or clay pot it is cooked in, which in Hebron is sealed and carried to the neighbourhood bakery to cook slowly in the bread oven for Friday lunch, weddings and Eid. The rice is golden with turmeric and cumin, studded with whole garlic cloves and chickpeas, and the lamb underneath turns meltingly tender. At home, a heavy lidded casserole in the oven does the job. Common mistake: lifting the lid to stir, which breaks the rice and lets the steam escape. Chef's tip: soak the rice for 30 minutes and use only as much broth as the recipe says; the sealed pot loses almost nothing.

180 min

Palestinian Meat

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Balmoral chicken

Balmoral chicken, named after the royal castle on Deeside, is the Scottish hotel and wedding-dinner dish of chicken breast stuffed with haggis, wrapped in smoked streaky bacon (pork) and roasted, usually with a whisky cream sauce. This version uses a peppercorn cream sauce with no alcohol. Chef's tip: make a deep pocket rather than butterflying the breast, so the haggis stays inside as it cooks.

55 min

British Chicken

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Paiche a la parrillaGrilled paiche steaks

Paiche (arapaima), one of the largest freshwater fish on earth, has thick, white, almost boneless flesh, and in Iquitos it is farmed and cut into meaty steaks that sizzle on the grills of riverside restaurants. Marinated briefly in garlic, lime, cumin and achiote, it chars on the outside and stays juicy and mild inside, a little like cod but firmer. Serve it with a tomato and onion salad, rice, or tacacho (mashed fried plantain balls). Frozen farmed paiche is sold in some fishmongers; thick cod, halibut or hake loin are good stand-ins. Leaving it in lime too long is the big mistake: the acid starts to 'cook' the surface and it sticks and tears on the grill, so 15 minutes is plenty. Chef's tip: oil the fish, not the grill, and don't move it for the first 3 minutes so it forms a crust and releases cleanly.

25 min

Peruvian Fish

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Sweet-sour pickled pumpkin

When the pumpkin harvest peaks in October, from the Rhineland to Saxony, German kitchens turn the firm orange flesh into Süß-sauer eingelegter Kürbis, golden cubes preserved in sweet spiced vinegar. Through the winter they come out of the cellar to sit beside roast dinners, game, cheese boards and cold cuts, or a simple plate of potatoes and quark. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger and a little lemon peel make them taste of Christmas. The mistake is using a watery carving pumpkin, which falls apart; choose a dense one such as Hokkaido or butternut. Chef's tip: steep the raw cubes in the cold vinegar overnight before cooking; it firms them so they stay in neat, glassy cubes.

60 min

German Sides

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Pain d'épices de DijonHoney spice loaf

Dijon has been baking pain d'épices since the Middle Ages, and the shops near the old ducal palace still sell it by the slice, plain or glazed with orange. It is a dense, fragrant honey loaf, sold all year but eaten most in December, when Burgundian families toast slices for breakfast, spread them with butter, or serve them with cheese and pears. The Dijon style uses wheat flour and a whole egg, which makes it softer than the rye-flour loaves of Reims. Chef's tip: wrap it and wait a day before cutting; the crumb turns moist and the spices settle and deepen.

75 min

French Baking

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RumbledethumpsPotato, cabbage and onion bake

Rumbledethumps comes from the Scottish Borders, a thrifty supper of mashed potato, buttery cabbage and onion baked under a crust of cheddar, usually made with the Sunday roast leftovers on a Monday night. The name is said to come from the rumbling and thumping of the pans. Traditional cheddar is often made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian cheddar if that matters to you. Chef's tip: cook the cabbage only until bright and just tender so it keeps some bite in the bake.

70 min

British Vegetarian

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Sandre au beurre blancPike-perch with butter sauce

Beurre blanc was first whisked up on the banks of the Loire near Nantes, and riverside restaurants from Anjou to the Muscadet vineyards still serve it with sandre, the firm, mild pike-perch of the river. The sauce is nothing but shallots reduced in white wine and vinegar, then mounted with cold butter into a pale, foamy emulsion that tastes sharp and creamy at once. The crisp-skinned fish sits on top, with steamed potatoes or leeks alongside. The reduction uses dry white wine; an alcohol-free option is in the notes. If you can't find pike-perch, sea bass or hake fillets are good substitutes. Chef's tip: keep the butter fridge-cold and add it a few cubes at a time, and the sauce will never split.

30 min

French Fish

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Scottish venison casserole

Venison from red deer on the Highland estates is cooked in autumn and winter when the stalking season brings it to Scottish butchers, and a slow casserole is the warming way to eat the cheaper cuts. Shoulder is braised with red wine, juniper berries and a spoon of redcurrant jelly until tender and dark. The wine contains alcohol; for an alcohol-free version use extra stock with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Chef's tip: venison is very lean, so cook it at a bare simmer; boiling makes it dry and stringy.

175 min

British Meat

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Sanduíche de mortadelaFried mortadella and cheese roll

Tourists queue for it at the Mercado Municipal in São Paulo, where the sandwich counters on the mezzanine fold slice after slice of mortadella onto a hot griddle until the stack is taller than the bread. Mortadella is a cooked pork sausage, and warming it this way crisps the edges, softens the fat and makes it taste sweeter and more peppery; a layer of melted provolone or mild cheese glues it together inside a crusty French roll. It is gloriously over the top, best eaten with both hands and a paper napkin. The mistake most people make is stacking cold mortadella flat, which stays rubbery; fold the slices loosely so the heat gets between them. Chef's tip: ask for the mortadella sliced very thin, almost see-through; thin slices ruffle up and give the sandwich its height and tenderness.

15 min

Brazilian Fast Food

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RummaniyehLentil and aubergine stew with pomegranate

Rummaniyeh, from rumman (pomegranate), is a Gazan autumn dish made when the pomegranates ripen: brown lentils and cubes of aubergine cooked to a thick, earthy stew, soured with pomegranate juice and molasses, enriched with tahini and finished with a sizzling oil of garlic, dill and chilli. It is eaten warm or at room temperature, scooped up with bread, and keeps well for days. Common mistake: adding the tahini over a high heat, where it seizes and turns grainy; stir it in off the boil. Chef's tip: fry the garlic and dill only until the garlic is pale gold; brown garlic tastes bitter against the sour fruit.

65 min

Palestinian Vegetarian

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Munster with cumin and potatoes

High in the Vosges above Munster, the farm-inns called fermes-auberges serve their pungent washed-rind cheese in the simplest way: a wedge laid over hot potatoes in their skins, with a little dish of cumin seeds for sprinkling. Alsatians eat it as a winter supper or as the cheese course after a walk in the hills, with a green salad and a glass of something cold. The cheese smells strong but tastes mild and milky once warm, and cumin is its traditional partner. Most Munster is made with animal rennet; for a vegetarian meal choose a vegetarian washed-rind cheese, or a ripe vegetarian brie or reblochon-style cheese. Chef's tip: toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan for a minute before serving; they go from dusty to nutty and lift the whole plate.

30 min

French Vegetarian

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Ate de membrilloQuince paste

Morelia is Mexico's city of ates, the firm fruit pastes sold in long blocks at the Mercado de Dulces beside the old Jesuit college, in guava, mango, quince and more. Quince (membrillo) is the classic: cooked slowly with sugar until it turns from pale yellow to deep amber-red and sets firm enough to slice. In Michoacán it is eaten in thin slices with a fresh or aged cheese, or on its own as an afternoon sweet. Most cheeses here use animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian one if needed. Chef's tip: cook the fruit with its cores and peel tied in muslin; they carry most of the pectin that makes the paste set.

150 min

Mexican Desserts

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Spätzle à l'alsacienne with browned butter and onionsEgg noodles with browned onions

In Alsace, spätzle (also called knepfle or spaetzle) are the side every winstub, the cosy wine taverns of Strasbourg and the wine route, puts next to a stew, and at home they make a quick supper in their own right. The batter is barely more than flour, eggs and milk, pushed through a spätzle press or a colander with big holes straight into boiling water, so the noodles come out short, soft and irregular. This version skips the cheese of the German käsespätzle: the noodles are tossed in nutty browned butter and topped with a heap of slowly crisped onions, with a green salad alongside. Chef's tip: beat the batter until it forms bubbles and slaps off the spoon in thick ribbons; that elasticity is what gives spätzle their bounce.

40 min

French Pasta & Noodles

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Sándwich de migaCrustless ham and cheese sandwiches

Birthday parties, office farewells and afternoon tea in a Buenos Aires confitería all bring out trays of sándwiches de miga: triple-decker sandwiches of paper-thin, crustless white bread with butter or mayonnaise and fillings of ham (pork) and cheese, egg, tomato, lettuce or olives, cut into neat rectangles. Specialist bakeries sell the large, very thin pan de miga sheets for them; at home, a soft sandwich loaf sliced thin and rolled flat works. They should be soft, moist and delicate, never dry at the edges. Dry sandwiches are the usual problem, so spread the mayonnaise right to the corners and keep finished trays under a damp tea towel. Chef's tip: assemble, wrap the stack in cling film and chill it for 15 minutes before trimming the crusts; the layers set and the knife cuts clean edges.

30 min

Argentinian Fast Food

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BozghormehPounded lamb and chickpeas with kashk

Bozghormeh is a dish of Kerman, the desert city in south-east Iran, cooked on winter weekends and for family gatherings. Lamb and chickpeas are simmered with turmeric until soft, then pounded together and finished with kashk (salty fermented whey), lots of fried onion and garlic and a dusting of dried mint; it is scooped up with flatbread rather than eaten with rice. The result is creamy, tangy and deeply savoury. A common mistake is boiling after the kashk goes in; it turns grainy, so add it at the end over a low heat. Chef's tip: if you can't find kashk, mix thick Greek yogurt with a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon; it's milder but close.

150 min

Persian Meat

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Irish brown soda bread

Brown soda bread is on every Irish table, from the Aran Islands to Wexford, sliced thickly at breakfast and served beside soup or smoked salmon in pubs. It is raised with bicarbonate of soda and sour buttermilk instead of yeast, so it is mixed and in the oven in ten minutes, with a nutty, coarse crumb and a hard crust. Chef's tip: mix with a light hand only until it comes together; kneading makes soda bread tough and heavy.

55 min

Irish Breads & Parathas

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