Featured recipe

Shikampuri kebab

Mutton and chana dal kebabs

Shikampuri means 'full belly', and the name comes from the surprise inside: a spoonful of thick hung yoghurt with onion and mint sealed into a silky patty of mutton mince ground with chana dal. In Hyderabad they turn up at weddings and family feasts, and during Ramzan the lanes between Charminar and Mecca Masjid fill with griddles frying them for the evening iftar crowd. The outside is crisp and dark, the meat soft as pâté, and the centre cool and tangy. Serve hot with onion rings, lemon and mint chutney. Chef's tip: strain the yoghurt in the fridge for a few hours; if it is runny it leaks out and splits the kebab in the pan.

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70 min

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100 min

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In the covered Hamidiyeh souk in Damascus, men pound booza in frozen metal drums with long wooden pestles, and the thump of the mallets is part of the show. The ice cream is milky, chewy and elastic, thanks to sahlab (orchid-root flour) and mastic, then rolled in crushed pistachios. This home version thickens the milk with sahlab powder or cornflour and beats it as it freezes to get that stretch. Serve in scoops or slices, plain or with a spoon of rose syrup. Common mistake: grinding the mastic alone, which turns gummy; always pound it with a spoonful of sugar. Chef's tip: real sahlab gives the true chew, but a mix of cornflour and a pinch of guar gum gets very close.

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30 min

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BourdetoSpicy red pepper fish stew

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50 min

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30 min

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Brandade de morueWhipped salt cod with garlic

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65 min

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Brasato al BaroloBeef braised in red wine

Brasato al Barolo is the winter centrepiece of the Langhe, the hills around Alba where Barolo is made, served for Christmas lunch and long autumn Sundays after the truffle fairs. A whole piece of beef is marinated overnight in red wine with vegetables and spices, then braised for hours until it can be cut with a spoon; the vegetables are blended into a dark, velvety sauce. The dish uses a whole bottle of red wine, and Barolo-style nebbiolo is traditional, but any full-bodied dry red works; an alcohol-free version with stock, grape juice and vinegar is given in the ingredient note. Serve thick slices with soft polenta or buttery mashed potato. Chef's tip: braise it a day ahead, chill it in its sauce and slice it cold; it cuts neatly, and the flavour deepens overnight.

230 min

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35 min

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50 min

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55 min

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80 min

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Broas de melSpiced molasses biscuits

Alongside bolo de mel, every Madeiran Christmas table has a tin of broas de mel: small, round, dark biscuits made with the same sugarcane molasses and spices, crisp at the edge and slightly chewy inside. Children are given them when they go door to door on the Missas do Parto mornings before Christmas, and they are good dunked in coffee or tea. Chef's tip: chill the dough for half an hour before shaping; molasses dough is sticky when warm.

40 min

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Brodetto all'anconetanaTomato fish stew

Fishermen in Ancona made brodetto from the unsold catch, and the city's harbour restaurants still serve it as a festive dish, traditionally with many kinds of fish: scorpionfish, gurnard, monkfish, cuttlefish, mussels and clams among them. Unlike the saffron brodetto further south at Porto Recanati, this one is red, built on tomato, garlic and a sharp splash of vinegar, and every piece of fish keeps its shape in a thick, peppery sauce. It comes to the table in the pot and is spooned over slices of toasted bread rubbed with garlic. Use whatever firm white fish your fishmonger has; the more variety, the better. Chef's tip: layer the fish by cooking time, firm and bony pieces at the bottom, delicate fillets on top, and shake the pot rather than stirring.

85 min

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Budín de panBread pudding

Thrifty Argentine kitchens never throw away stale bread: it becomes budín de pan, soaked in sweet milk and eggs, poured into a caramel-lined ring mould and baked in a water bath until it sets into something between a flan and a pudding. Bodegones in Buenos Aires and neighbourhood bakeries serve it in fat wedges, cold, with a spoonful of dulce de leche or whipped cream, the amber caramel running down the sides. The texture should be smooth and dense with only faint traces of bread, studded with plump raisins. The mistake to avoid is skipping the blending or soaking: chunks of dry bread turn into wet sponges and the pudding splits into layers. Chef's tip: let it cool and chill overnight in the mould before turning it out; a warm budín breaks when unmoulded and the caramel won't have melted into a sauce.

90 min

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Bugnes lyonnaisesFried carnival pastries

When Carnival comes round in February, bakeries across Lyon pile their windows with bugnes, thin twisted ribbons of dough fried until they blister and then buried in icing sugar. Lyon's are the crisp, shattering kind (in Saint-Étienne they are puffier), and children eat them by the paper bagful through Mardi Gras. Some families add a spoonful of rum to the dough; this version uses orange flower water and lemon, so it is alcohol-free. Chef's tip: roll the dough so thin you can almost see the worktop through it; thick bugnes turn bready instead of crackly.

105 min

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Bullit de peixFish and potatoes in saffron broth

Bullit de peix is Ibiza's two-course fishermen's lunch, still served at the beach restaurants of Cala Mastella and the fishing ports on long Sundays. First comes rockfish such as grouper, scorpionfish and John Dory, simmered with potatoes in a saffron broth and eaten with allioli; then the same broth cooks a second course, arròs a banda, rice served on its own. Use firm white fish that holds together. Chef's tip: keep the pot at a bare simmer once the fish goes in, so the pieces stay whole for the platter.

90 min

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Buñuelos de calabazaPumpkin doughnuts

When the Fallas bonfires go up in Valencia each March, every other street corner has a stall frying bunyols de carabassa: rough, ring-shaped pumpkin doughnuts pulled from the oil by the dozen and eaten standing up, usually with a cup of thick hot chocolate. The dough is little more than yeasted flour and cooked pumpkin, which keeps the inside soft and faintly orange and the outside crisp and blistered. They contain no egg, milk or butter, so they are suitable for vegans. A common mistake is adding flour until the dough feels like bread dough; it should be sticky and slack, almost a thick batter, or the doughnuts come out heavy. Chef's tip: keep a bowl of water beside the pan and wet your hands before shaping each one; the dough then slides off your fingers into the oil instead of clinging to them.

65 min

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Bunyols de l'EmpordàAnise fritters

During Lent, bakeries and grandmothers across the Empordà in Girona fry bunyols: light, irregular rings of enriched yeast dough flavoured with anise and lemon, dusted with sugar while hot. Families make them together, poking a hole in each ball with wet fingers as it goes into the oil. The dough traditionally takes a splash of anise liqueur; the alcohol-free option, milk infused with aniseed, is in the ingredient list. Chef's tip: keep a bowl of water by the pan and wet your fingers before shaping each one; the dough then stretches cleanly instead of sticking.

70 min

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Ciudad Juárez is where the burrito as most of the world knows it began, but the ones sold from Juárez street stands and lunch counters are slim: a thin flour tortilla rolled tightly around a single filling, eaten two or three at a time. Chile colorado, beef braised in a smooth red sauce of dried chillies, is the favourite, earthy and mildly hot, with the meat soft enough to pull apart. Serve them with nothing but a little extra sauce and some pickled jalapeños. Chef's tip: keep the stew thick, like a paste that coats the meat, or the tortillas turn soggy before you can roll them.

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Around Barranquilla, the street call of 'butifarra, butifarra' comes from vendors pushing carts out of Soledad, the town that made these little sausages famous; there's even a festival for them every July. They are small, round links of beef and pork seasoned with nothing more than salt and plenty of black pepper, boiled rather than grilled, so they stay tender, juicy and pale. Sellers squeeze lime over them and hand them out with a bollo de yuca, a firm steamed cassava roll. They are simple, peppery and a little sour from the lime. Using lean meat is the usual mistake: without the pork fat they turn dry and grainy. Chef's tip: tie the links into small, round balls about 4 cm across and boil them gently; a rolling boil splits the casings.

105 min

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ButterkuchenButter and almond yeast cake

Butterkuchen is the cake of northern German celebrations: in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Holstein it is baked on huge trays for funerals, weddings and christenings, which is why it is also called Freudenkuchen, joy cake. A thin, soft yeast base is dimpled all over with your fingertips, the holes filled with butter, then the whole thing showered with sugar and flaked almonds. In the oven the butter and sugar melt into little caramel pools. A common mistake is making the dimples too shallow, so the butter just runs off; press right down to the tray. Chef's tip: as soon as the cake comes out, spoon a few tablespoons of cream over it; it soaks in and keeps the base tender for two days.

110 min

German Baking

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ButtermilchgetzenButtermilk and onion potato bake

Getzen is the potato dish of the Erzgebirge, the Ore Mountains on Saxony's border with Bohemia, where miners' families lived on potatoes, linseed oil and buttermilk. Grated raw potato and mashed cooked potato are mixed with buttermilk, onion and a little egg, then baked in a hot, well-greased pan until the base and edges form a thick brown crust while the middle stays soft and slightly tangy. It is eaten hot, cut in wedges, with apple sauce or a dark berry compote, and often with a glass of cold buttermilk. A common mistake is a cool oven, which gives a pale, soggy bake. Chef's tip: heat the fat in the tin in the oven before you pour in the mixture so the crust starts forming at once.

90 min

German Vegetarian

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CachuelaSpiced pork liver spread

Cachuela belongs to the matanza, the winter pig slaughter that once filled every village in Extremadura with family and neighbours for several days. The fresh liver was cooked straight away with lard, onion, garlic and plenty of pimentón, then mashed into a coarse, spicy spread for breakfast on toast. People still make it in Badajoz and Cáceres homes through the cold months, and it keeps for a few days in the fridge. This contains pork (pork liver and pork lard). Chef's tip: cook the liver through but not a minute longer; overcooked liver turns grainy and bitter.

45 min

Spanish Snacks & Starters

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Cabrito al pastorSlow-roasted young goat

Monterrey is the capital of cabrito: young milk-fed goat spread on a stake and roasted slowly beside glowing wood embers, the speciality of the city's big grill restaurants and of weekend family feasts in Nuevo León. The meat is pale, delicate and juicy with crackly, salty skin, and it comes with salsa, flour tortillas, guacamole and a bowl of frijoles charros. Kid goat is hard to find, so this home-oven version also works with a bone-in lamb shoulder, which is a little fattier but just as good; ask a halal or specialist butcher for goat. Chef's tip: roast it covered and low first, then uncover and blast it at the end; starting at high heat is what dries out lean goat.

240 min

Mexican Meat

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Cacciucco alla livorneseSpicy mixed fish stew

Cacciucco is the great fish stew of Livorno, the port city on the Tuscan coast, where it is said to need at least five kinds of seafood, one for each C in its name. Fishermen once made it with the unsold catch; today the harbour trattorie ladle it, thick and fiery with chilli, over slices of toasted bread rubbed with garlic. This version uses firm white fish, squid, mussels, clams and prawns cooked in tomato and red wine; the wine is traditional, and the note gives an alcohol-free option. Serve it as a whole meal, with more garlic toast on the side. Chef's tip: add the seafood in stages, from the firmest to the most delicate, so nothing turns rubbery.

90 min

Italian Fish

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CachangaThin fried bread

On cold mornings at markets in Puno, Juliaca and Arequipa, women stretch rounds of dough over their knuckles and drop them into big pans of hot oil, and cachangas come out puffed, blistered and golden, to be dusted with sugar and eaten with a cup of coffee, hot chocolate or api. The bread is thin, chewy in the middle and crisp at the edges, a cousin of the sopaipilla. Some cooks leave them plain and eat them with cheese. The commonest problem is oil that isn't hot enough: the dough soaks up fat and turns heavy instead of puffing. Keep it at 180 °C and fry one at a time. The dough uses butter and milk, so it is vegetarian but not vegan; swap both for oil and water if needed. Chef's tip: rest the dough for 20 minutes before rolling so it stretches thin without springing back.

45 min

Peruvian Breads & Parathas

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CachelosBoiled potatoes with paprika oil

At Galician fairs, and above all at O Carballiño's octopus festival every August, octopus is served on wooden plates with cachelos: potatoes boiled in their skins, cut into chunks and splashed with olive oil, coarse salt and paprika. They are just as good on their own, as a side for grilled fish or meat. A common mistake is adding paprika to sizzling oil, where it burns in seconds and turns bitter; warm the oil, take it off the heat, then stir it in. Chef's tip: boil the potatoes with a bay leaf and plenty of salt, and leave the skins on, so they stay whole and full of flavour.

30 min

Spanish Sides

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CachopoBreaded veal with ham and cheese

Asturias takes cachopo so seriously that Oviedo holds an annual contest for the best one, and some restaurants serve versions big enough to hang off the plate. At home it is a Friday-night or Sunday treat: two thin veal steaks enclosing serrano ham and a good melting cheese, breaded and fried, then cut at the table so the cheese oozes. This contains pork (serrano ham). Serve with chips and roasted green peppers. Chef's tip: chill the assembled cachopo for 20 minutes before frying so the crumb sets and the edges stay sealed.

45 min

Spanish Meat

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CachorrinhoCheese and sausage pressed sandwich

This is Porto's late-night snack, born in the bars around the Praça dos Poveiros in the 1960s and still eaten standing at the counter after a football match. A thin sausage goes into a slim roll with cheese, the whole thing is toasted flat in a press until it shatters, then cut into bite-sized pieces and doused in a hot, tangy sauce. This contains pork (pork frankfurters). Chef's tip: brush the outside of the bread with butter before pressing, so it goes evenly golden and crisp.

25 min

Portuguese Snacks & Starters

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Café de ollaSpiced clay-pot coffee

In ranch kitchens and roadside fondas across central Mexico, coffee is not dripped but boiled in a tall clay pot (olla de barro) with a cone of piloncillo and a stick of soft Mexican cinnamon, then strained into clay mugs. It is sweet, spiced and earthy, and is served with pan dulce at breakfast, on cold evenings, and to visitors on Day of the Dead. A saucepan works fine if you have no olla. Chef's tip: turn the heat off before adding the coffee and let it steep rather than boil, or it turns bitter.

15 min

Mexican Drinks

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CafezinhoSmall strong sweet coffee

A tiny cup of black coffee is the first thing a Brazilian host offers, in a São Paulo office, a Minas farmhouse or a Recife shop, and saying no is almost impolite. Cafezinho is filtered rather than espresso: finely ground coffee goes into a cloth filter (coador de pano) and hot water runs through it, giving a strong, smooth, slightly thick brew served in small cups. Traditionally the sugar is dissolved in the water before brewing, so it arrives already sweet; leave it out if you prefer. A paper filter in a cone works if you have no cloth. Boiling the water with the coffee is the mistake to avoid, as it scorches the grounds and the cup turns bitter. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat when the first bubbles break the surface and wait 30 seconds; water just off the boil, around 92–95 °C, gives the sweetest cup.

10 min

Brazilian Drinks

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Cağ kebabıSpit-grilled marinated lamb

In Erzurum and nearby Oltu, cağ kebabı is cooked on a huge horizontal spit turning beside a wood fire; the cook slices off the charred outer layer onto long flat skewers, and you eat it straight off the metal wrapped in lavaş. At home, thin slices of lamb marinated overnight with grated onion and black pepper, threaded tightly and seared on a very hot grill or griddle pan, capture much of the flavour. Serve with lavaş, sliced onion with sumac and grilled peppers. Common mistake: slicing the meat too thick, so it's tough and chewy; aim for 5 mm. Cook lamb to at least 63 °C with a little pink, or longer if you prefer. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated onion through a sieve and use only the juice; it tenderises without leaving bits that burn.

45 min

Turkish Meat

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Cajeta de CelayaGoat milk caramel

Celaya, in the Bajío of Guanajuato, has made cajeta for centuries, once packing it into little wooden boxes (cajetes) that gave it its name. It is caramel cooked from goat's milk, so it is looser and has a gentle tang compared with the cow's-milk dulce de leche of Argentina. Mexicans spread it on crêpes and churros, pour it over ice cream, sandwich it between obleas (wafers) and turn it into glorias. A splash of rum-flavoured 'envinada' cajeta exists, but this one is plain and alcohol-free. Chef's tip: use a pan at least three times the volume of the milk; it foams high when the bicarbonate goes in.

95 min

Mexican Basics

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Caldeirada galegaWhite fish and potato stew

In fishing towns like Ribeira, Bueu and Muxía, caldeirada was the fishermen's way of cooking whatever the boat brought in, and it is still served at seaside restaurants and at the July fiestas of the Virgen del Carmen, patron of sailors. Unlike merluza á galega, it uses several kinds of fish, such as monkfish, ray, conger or hake, layered with potatoes and onion and cooked in very little water, then finished with plenty of ajada. A common mistake is stirring the pot, which breaks the fish into flakes; shake it gently instead. Chef's tip: put the firmest fish at the bottom and the most delicate on top, so everything finishes cooking together.

60 min

Spanish Fish

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CajuínaClarified cashew apple juice

Teresina, the capital of Piauí, treats cajuína as a matter of local pride, and the drink's traditional craft is officially recognised as part of Brazilian cultural heritage. It is cashew-apple juice that has been clarified until crystal clear, bottled and cooked in a water bath until the natural fruit sugars caramelise and turn it amber-gold. No sugar is added. Served ice-cold, it tastes of baked apple and honey with a hint of cashew, smooth and non-alcoholic. Small producers clarify the juice with gelatin or cashew-tree resin; this vegan home version clears it by settling and filtering instead, which takes patience. Real cajuína is shelf-stable thanks to commercial sterilising; this home batch must be kept in the fridge and drunk within a week. Skipping the slow filtering is the usual error, and cloudy juice turns murky brown instead of gold. Chef's tip: let the juice settle in the fridge overnight before filtering and pour off the clear top, leaving the sediment behind.

150 min

Brazilian Drinks

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