Featured recipe

Rougag (Saharan paper-thin flatbread)

Across the oases of the Algerian Sahara, from Biskra to Ouargla, women spread a soft semolina dough over a domed griddle so thin that light shows through it, then lift the sheet off within a couple of minutes. Rougag is the base of chakhchoukha and rfis, torn into pieces and soaked in sauce, but fresh sheets are also eaten folded around dates or a spoon of stew. Freshly made it is soft and flexible with toasty brown blisters; left to dry, it keeps for weeks in a tin. An upturned wok or a large non-stick pan stands in for the griddle. Chef's tip: oil your hands, not the pan; dough that is not wet enough to stretch is the common mistake, so it should feel almost too sticky to handle.

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Cochinillo asadoRoast suckling pig

In Segovia, in the shadow of the Roman aqueduct, restaurants bring out the roast suckling pig whole and carve it with the edge of a plate to show how tender it is, then smash the plate for luck. It is the great Castilian Sunday and celebration lunch, served with a plain lettuce salad and nothing else. This contains pork (suckling pig and lard). At home, half a pig fits in most ovens; ask your butcher to split it. Chef's tip: roast it skin-side down in water first, then flip it, so the meat steams tender before the skin turns to glass.

170 min

Spanish Meat

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Cock-a-leekieChicken and leek soup

Cock-a-leekie is Scotland's national soup, a clear broth of chicken and plenty of leeks, traditionally served on Burns Night and St Andrew's Day. A few prunes go in at the end, which sounds odd but gives little bursts of sweetness against the peppery broth. Some families thicken it with a handful of rice or barley. Chef's tip: add most of the leeks only for the last 15 minutes, so they stay green and silky instead of turning grey.

105 min

British Soups

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Coda alla vaccinaraBraised oxtail

Testaccio was home to Rome's slaughterhouse, and the vaccinari who skinned the cattle were partly paid in offcuts, among them the tail. The trattorie of the quarter still serve coda alla vaccinara as their signature dish: oxtail braised for hours in tomato with a mountain of celery until the meat slides off the bone, the sauce finished with a hint of bitter cocoa, pine nuts and raisins for a sweet-sour depth. A splash of red wine goes in early, with an alcohol-free option in the ingredients. Eat the meat with bread, and toss any leftover sauce with rigatoni the next day. Chef's tip: braise it a day ahead, chill it and lift off the hard layer of fat before reheating; the sauce will be cleaner and the flavour deeper.

265 min

Italian Meat

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Codornices en hoja de parraQuail in vine leaves

When the grapes are picked in the vineyards of Olite and the Ribera in September, quail are fat from the stubble fields and the vines still have their leaves, so Navarrese cooks bring the two together. Each bird is wrapped in a vine leaf and a strip of bacon and roasted fast; the leaf keeps the lean meat moist and adds a gentle, lemony tang. This contains pork (streaky bacon). Serve with fried potatoes or bread and, in season, a bunch of grapes. Chef's tip: taste before salting, because brined vine leaves and bacon already bring plenty.

45 min

Spanish Meat

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Cogollos de Tudela con ajosLettuce hearts with garlic oil

The lettuce hearts grown around Tudela in the Ribera of Navarre are small, tight and sweet, and they carry their own protected name. In the bars of Tudela and Pamplona they come to the table split lengthwise, still cold, with olive oil poured over them straight from the pan where garlic has just turned golden. Many places lay an anchovy on each quarter; this version leaves the fish out and is vegan. Chef's tip: dry the lettuce really well, because water left between the leaves makes the hot oil spit and leaves the dressing watery.

15 min

Spanish Salads

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Çökertme kebabıBeef strips with garlic yoghurt

Çökertme is the kebab Bodrum is proud of: a bed of crisp, matchstick-thin fried potatoes, a layer of garlicky yoghurt, then tender strips of sautéed beef on top, finished with tomato sauce and butter. It is restaurant food in the town but easy to make at home for a Saturday lunch, and the contrast of hot, crunchy, cool and creamy is what makes it. Chef's tip: cut the potatoes very thin and fry them in two batches just before serving; made ahead, they go limp under the yoghurt.

60 min

Turkish Meat

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Cornish stargazy piePilchard pie

Stargazy pie is baked in the Cornish fishing village of Mousehole every 23 December for Tom Bawcock's Eve, celebrating the fisherman who is said to have sailed out in a storm and saved the village from famine. Whole pilchards or sardines are baked under pastry with egg, potato and bacon, their heads poking out so they gaze at the stars and their oil runs back into the filling. The bacon is smoked pork. Chef's tip: ask the fishmonger to bone the fish but leave the heads on; it makes the pie much easier to eat.

80 min

British Fish

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ColacionesDulce de leche meringue pastries

Small enough to eat in two bites, colaciones have been Córdoba's sweet gift since colonial times, when they were made in the city's convents; today confiterías in the old centre still sell them stacked in paper trays, and visitors carry them home with the alfajores. A crumbly short pastry encloses a spoon of dulce de leche, shaped into a little dome, baked pale and then dipped in a glossy white glaze that hardens into a crisp sugary shell. They are lovely with coffee or mate after lunch. The usual problem is leaking: too much filling, or edges that aren't sealed, and the dulce de leche boils out in the oven, so use a level teaspoon and press the rims firmly. The glaze is a light Italian meringue, where hot syrup cooks the egg white. Chef's tip: chill the filled colaciones for 15 minutes before baking; cold pastry keeps its shape and seals better.

85 min

Argentinian Baking

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ColcannonMashed potato with kale

Colcannon is the Halloween potato dish of Ireland, from Munster farmhouses to Dublin kitchens, where a ring or a coin was once hidden in the bowl to tell fortunes. Floury potatoes are mashed with hot milk, a lot of butter and dark leafy kale or green cabbage, so it is creamy, green-flecked and savoury. Serve it with a well of melted butter in the middle, alongside sausages or a nut roast. Chef's tip: warm the milk with the spring onions before mashing; cold milk makes the mash gluey and tastes flat.

40 min

Irish Sides

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Colombo de pouletChicken curry with aubergine and chayote

In Guadeloupe and Martinique, colombo is the curry brought by Tamil workers in the nineteenth century and now a fixture of Sunday lunches, christenings and Carnival feasts. Its spice blend, also called colombo, mixes toasted coriander, cumin, fenugreek, mustard seed and turmeric with a little toasted rice that thickens the sauce. Chicken is marinated in lime and garlic in the fridge, then simmered with aubergine, chayote (christophine) or courgette and potato into a golden, earthy, gently tangy stew, with a whole Scotch bonnet for perfume. Serve with white rice and a wedge of lime. Chef's tip: leave the Scotch bonnet whole and lift it out at the end for flavour without fierce heat; prick it only if you want it hot.

90 min

French Curries

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Conejo a la aragonesaRabbit braised with garlic and wine

Rabbit has always been the everyday meat of rural Aragon, and in the farmhouses of the Somontano and the Cinco Villas it is braised slowly in a clay pot with lots of garlic, thyme and rosemary from the hillside, and a glass of the local white wine. The result is lean, tender meat in a small amount of rich, garlicky sauce, served with fried potatoes or bread. The wine can be replaced with chicken stock and a spoonful of vinegar if you prefer no alcohol. A common mistake is boiling the rabbit hard; the lean meat tightens and goes stringy, so keep it at the gentlest simmer. Chef's tip: mash a few of the soft braised garlic cloves into the sauce at the end; they thicken it and make it sweeter.

90 min

Spanish Meat

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Conejo en salmorejoMarinated rabbit with garlic and peppers

Nothing to do with the cold tomato soup of Córdoba: in the Canaries salmorejo is a punchy marinade of garlic, red pepper, paprika, thyme, oregano, vinegar and wine, and rabbit cooked in it is the star of Tenerife's hillside guachinches and Sunday family lunches. The rabbit soaks overnight, then is fried and simmered in the marinade until tender, and served with papas arrugadas to mop up the sauce. The marinade uses white wine; for an alcohol-free version, swap it for water with an extra spoon of vinegar. Chef's tip: dry the rabbit pieces well before frying, so they brown properly rather than stew grey in the marinade.

75 min

Spanish Meat

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Confit de canard, pommes sarladaisesDuck confit with garlic potatoes

Every farmhouse in the Périgord and Gascony once lined its larder with stoneware jars of confit, duck legs salted, cooked slowly in their own fat and sealed under it to last the winter. Today it is the order of the day at Sarlat's Saturday market restaurants, served with pommes sarladaises: potato slices fried in that same duck fat until golden, then tossed with garlic and parsley. The skin should crackle and the meat should fall from the bone in soft, savoury shreds. The legs are cured for 12–24 hours in the fridge before cooking, so start the day before; a sharp green salad with walnut oil is all it needs alongside. Chef's tip: add the garlic and parsley to the potatoes only in the last two minutes, so the garlic stays sweet instead of turning bitter.

240 min

French Meat

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Cordero al asadorSpit-roasted lamb

Southern Patagonia raises sheep on vast estancias, and when the shearing ends or a fiesta comes round in Santa Cruz or Chubut, a whole lamb goes on the asador: an iron cross pushed into the ground beside a fire of lenga or ñire wood. Lambs fed on wild steppe grasses taste clean and faintly herbal, so the seasoning is only salt and a brine to baste, and the result is crackling skin over meat that falls into juicy strands. Serve with chimichurri, a simple salad and bread. Order a whole lamb of 10–12 kg dressed weight from a butcher. Rushing it with a big flame near the meat is the commonest error; the heat must be steady and gentle. Chef's tip: give it about three hours with the ribs to the fire and only the last hour or so skin side, then check the thickest part of the leg reads at least 63 °C (Patagonian cooks take it to about 70 °C, cooked through).

300 min

Argentinian Meat

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CordialesAlmond and candied pumpkin cakes

Murcian Christmas tables always have a plate of cordiales, small domed cakes of ground almond and egg with a spoonful of cabello de ángel, the stringy candied squash jam, hidden in the middle. They are sold in every pastry shop in Murcia from December and baked at home in the weeks before Christmas, traditionally on a round of edible wafer so they lift cleanly off the tray. They should be crisp at the very tips and soft and moist inside. Chef's tip: make them a day ahead; the almond paste firms up and the flavour deepens.

43 min

Spanish Baking

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Cork spiced beefSpiced pressed brisket

Spiced beef is the Christmas meat of Cork city, sold in the English Market in December and served cold in thin slices on St Stephen's Day with brown bread and chutney. A piece of brisket or silverside is rubbed with salt, brown sugar, allspice, cloves and juniper and turned in the fridge for a week, then simmered slowly and pressed. The meat comes out deep pink, tender and fragrant. Chef's tip: keep it in the fridge the whole week of curing and turn it every day so the cure reaches every side.

270 min

Irish Meat

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Cortado de lecheCurdled milk in panela syrup

On farms in Antioquia and Santander, when there was more milk than anyone could drink, it became cortado: milk deliberately split with lime juice, then simmered slowly with panela and spices until the curds turn tender and tan and the whey reduces into a thin, molasses-flavoured syrup. It is a country dessert, served warm or cold in small bowls after Sunday lunch, sometimes with a piece of white cheese on the side. The texture is somewhere between a soft ricotta and baked custard, sweet and lightly spiced with cinnamon and clove. Because lime does the curdling, there is no rennet involved. Stirring hard as soon as the lime goes in is the usual mistake; it breaks the curds into grainy specks, so let them form undisturbed and then move the pan gently. Chef's tip: use full-fat milk that is not ultra-heat-treated; UHT milk gives smaller, softer curds.

60 min

Colombian Desserts

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CorundasTriangular corn tamales

Corundas come from the Purépecha people of Michoacán, around Lake Pátzcuaro and Morelia, and they look nothing like a usual tamal: small, plump and triangular or star-shaped, wrapped in the long green leaves of the corn plant rather than dried husks. The masa is soft and fluffy, usually plain or with a little cheese and poblano inside, and corundas are eaten with crema, salsa roja and crumbled cheese, often for breakfast or at fiestas. Traditional dough uses pork lard; we use vegetable shortening or butter. Cheese may be made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian one if needed. Chef's tip: beat the fat until it is white and fluffy before adding the masa; a spoonful of dough should float in water when it is light enough.

105 min

Mexican Snacks & Starters

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Cotoletta alla milaneseBreaded veal cutlet

The Milanese cotoletta is a thick, bone-in veal rib chop, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried slowly in clarified butter until the crust is deep gold and the meat inside is still juicy and faintly pink. It is the standard Sunday and celebration dish in Milan's old trattorie, served with just a lemon wedge and perhaps a rocket and tomato salad or a few roast potatoes. Unlike the thin, beaten schnitzel, the true cotoletta keeps its bone and is only lightly flattened, so it stays tender. Chef's tip: clarify the butter yourself or use ghee; ordinary butter burns at frying heat and leaves bitter black specks on the crumb.

30 min

Italian Meat

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CotriadeFish and potato soup

Cotriade is the Breton answer to bouillabaisse, plainer and kinder on the purse, made in the ports of the south coast from Concarneau to Quiberon with whatever the boats could not sell. Chunks of several fish, both firm and oily, are poached with potatoes and onions in a thyme-scented broth, then served in two parts: the broth poured over toasted bread, and the fish and potatoes moistened with a sharp mustardy vinaigrette. The contrast of the soft, buttery broth and the bright dressing is the whole point. Serve it with good bread and salted butter. Chef's tip: add the firm fish first and the delicate ones last, so nothing falls to pieces in the pot.

60 min

French Soups

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Couscous trapaneseFish couscous

Trapani, on Sicily's western tip, looks across the sea to Tunisia, and its cuscusu is the clearest sign of that old connection; every September the nearby town of San Vito Lo Capo holds a whole festival for it. The couscous is steamed, then soaked in a deep, saffron-tinged fish broth made from mixed fish, tomato and ground almonds, so the grains swell and taste of the sea; the fish itself is served alongside. Traditionally the grains are rolled by hand, but bought couscous is perfectly fine. Serve with a bowl of extra hot broth for each person. Chef's tip: after pouring the broth over the couscous, cover it tightly and leave it alone for a full 20 minutes; this resting is what makes the dish.

105 min

Italian Fish

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CoyotasPiloncillo-filled turnovers

Coyotas were first baked in the Villa de Seris neighbourhood of Hermosillo, and today Sonorans buy them by the dozen in paper bags to eat with morning coffee or take as a gift when they travel. They are flat, round, pale pastries with a crisp, crumbly crust and a thin layer of molten piloncillo inside, like a giant cookie with a toffee middle. Some bakers add guava or cajeta, but brown sugar loaf is the classic. Chef's tip: pinch the edges firmly and prick the tops; otherwise the hot sugar bubbles out and burns on the tray.

50 min

Mexican Baking

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Cozido das FurnasSlow-cooked meat and vegetable pot

In Furnas, on São Miguel, cooks lower tall pots of meat and vegetables into holes in the hot volcanic ground by the lake at dawn, cover them with earth and dig them up at lunchtime six hours later. The steam cooks everything gently in its own juices, so the meats are falling apart and the cabbage tastes of smoked sausage. A low oven gives a very similar result at home. This contains pork (belly, chouriço and blood sausage). Chef's tip: seal the pot tightly with foil under the lid; the dish relies on steam, not added water.

370 min

Portuguese Meat

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Cozido de grãoChickpea stew with pork and chouriço

Inland Alentejo makes its cozido with chickpeas instead of the cabbage-heavy versions of the north: a big pot of chickpeas, pork, chouriço and blood sausage, with potatoes, carrots, green beans and pumpkin all cooked together and finished with fresh mint. It is a winter Sunday lunch, and leftovers become soup the next day. This contains pork (pork belly, chouriço and morcela). Start the chickpeas the night before. A common mistake is adding the vegetables at the start; they go in near the end so they hold their shape. Chef's tip: keep the sausages whole while they simmer, then slice them, so they flavour the broth without falling apart.

180 min

Portuguese Meat

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CranachanOat, raspberry and whisky cream dessert

Cranachan began as a harvest-home dessert in the Highlands, made when the raspberries ripened in June and July, and it is now served on Burns Night and at Scottish weddings. Layers of whipped cream sweetened with heather honey, toasted pinhead or rolled oats and fresh raspberries make it crunchy, rich and sharp all at once. The traditional splash of Scotch whisky contains alcohol; for an alcohol-free version use a few drops of vanilla and a squeeze of orange juice instead. Chef's tip: toast the oats until they smell nutty and look golden; raw oats taste floury.

20 min

British Desserts

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Creole calasSweet rice fritters

Calas are little fritters of cooked rice, egg and nutmeg that were once sold hot in the early mornings of the French Quarter by free and enslaved Black women calling 'Belle cala, tout chaud!'. Many saved the earnings to buy their freedom. Today they appear at Creole brunches and on Mardi Gras mornings, dusted with sugar or drizzled with cane syrup. Chef's tip: use cold, day-old rice, which holds the batter together; fresh warm rice makes the fritters fall apart.

40 min

American Breakfast & Brunch

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Crespillos de borrajaSugared borage leaf fritters

In the villages around Zaragoza and Huesca, the large, soft leaves of the borage plant become a sweet in spring: each leaf is dipped in a light batter, fried until it puffs and crackles, and dusted with sugar and cinnamon. Crespillos are made for Holy Week and for the Easter Monday picnics, and the leaf inside stays green and tender, with a fresh taste that cuts the richness of the frying. Some families add a splash of anise liqueur to the batter; this version leaves it out and uses lemon zest and a pinch of ground anise instead. A common mistake is using wet leaves, which make the oil spit and the batter slide off. Spinach or chard leaves work if borage isn't available. Chef's tip: hold each leaf by its stalk and let the extra batter drip off for a few seconds; a thin coat fries lacier and crisper.

35 min

Spanish Desserts

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Kritika paximadiaTwice-baked barley rusks

Every Cretan bakery stacks bags of dark, rock-hard paximadia, and every Cretan home keeps a tin: barley bread baked once, sliced, then dried slowly until it will keep for months. Farmers carried them to the fields, and they are still the base for dakos, softened with a splash of water and piled with grated tomato and soft cheese, or broken into salads and dunked into coffee. They taste nutty and faintly sweet, with a crunch that softens to chewiness when moistened. Common mistake: drying them too hot, which browns the outside while the centre stays soft and goes mouldy in the tin. Chef's tip: dry the slices at the lowest oven setting with the door slightly ajar; they are ready when one snaps cleanly and sounds hollow.

255 min

Greek Breads & Parathas

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CrubeensCrisped pig's trotters

Crubeens are boiled pig's trotters, once sold hot from stalls at fairs and in Cork and Dublin pubs as a salty, sticky snack to go with a pint. They are pork, and very gelatinous: simmered for hours until the meat almost falls from the bone, then crisped in the oven with a mustard and breadcrumb coating, which is how many cooks finish them today. Eat them with your fingers, with brown bread and pickles. Chef's tip: ask your butcher for split, cleaned trotters, and singe off any stray hairs with a kitchen blowtorch before cooking.

220 min

Irish Meat

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CuajadaSheep's milk junket with honey

In the green valleys of northern Navarre, Ultzama and Roncal above all, sheep's milk is set into cuajada, a wobbly, faintly tangy junket that is eaten as dessert in village restaurants and sold in little clay pots at Pamplona's markets. Shepherds once warmed the milk by dropping a red-hot stone into a wooden pot, which is why some cuajadas taste lightly smoky. It is always eaten cold, with honey and walnuts. Most rennet is made from calves' stomachs; for a vegetarian cuajada use a microbial or vegetable rennet. Chef's tip: once the rennet is in, don't move the pots at all until they have set, or they turn grainy and weep.

20 min

Spanish Desserts

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Cuajada con melaoCurd cheese with panela syrup

Simplicity is the charm of this Andean dessert: a slab of fresh, milky cuajada, barely salted, with a dark syrup of panela poured over it, still warm. Highland fondas between Bogotá and Boyacá serve it after a lunch of ajiaco or sancocho, and the contrast of cool, squeaky curd with molasses-deep, spiced syrup is the point. Cuajada is set with rennet, traditionally animal; buy a vegetarian curd or fresh ricotta-style cheese, or make cuajada at home with microbial rennet. Panela is unrefined cane sugar; dark muscovado is the closest swap. The mistake is boiling the syrup too long: it turns to toffee as soon as it meets the cold cheese. Take it off when it coats a spoon thinly. Chef's tip: a strip of lime zest in the syrup cuts the sweetness beautifully.

20 min

Colombian Desserts

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CucaBanana crumble yeast cake

German settlers in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina brought the Streuselkuchen, and their descendants call it cuca: a soft, enriched yeast dough baked under a layer of fruit and a thick, buttery crumble called farofa. In Blumenau, Pomerode and the serra gaúcha it is sold in colonial bakeries and roadside cafés and served at the long afternoon café colonial with coffee, jams and cheeses. Banana with cinnamon is the classic, but grape, apple and guava versions are common. The usual misstep is letting the dough rise in a cold kitchen and then baking it anyway: it stays heavy and dense, so wait until it really has doubled. Chef's tip: rub the crumble together and chill it in the freezer while the dough rises, so it stays in big, crunchy clusters in the oven.

120 min

Brazilian Baking

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CulurgionesPotato and pecorino dumplings

Culurgiones come from Ogliastra, on Sardinia's rugged eastern coast, where women seal each dumpling with a row of tiny pinches that look like an ear of wheat. Inside is a soft, warm filling of potato, aged pecorino, garlic and fresh mint. In villages such as Ulassai and Lanusei they are made for the end of the harvest and for 2 November, All Souls' Day, as a token of good luck and protection. Some families work a little lard into the dough; here it is olive oil. Chef's tip: chill the filling; firm, cold filling is far easier to pleat and won't tear the thin dough.

120 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Curau de milhoFresh corn pudding

São Paulo and Minas call it curau; in parts of the Northeast the same thing is canjica, which can confuse anyone travelling for the June festivals. Whatever the name, it is fresh sweetcorn blended with milk, strained and stirred over the heat until it sets into a soft, pale yellow pudding, served cold in little bowls with a dusting of cinnamon. You find it at every arraial in the interior of São Paulo and Goiás and at corn shops beside the pamonha. It tastes of milky fresh corn, gently sweet, and the texture should be silky, never grainy. A frequent slip is to stop stirring: corn starch catches on the base within seconds and gives the whole pot a burnt taste. Chef's tip: cook it in a heavy pan and use a flat wooden spatula so you can scrape every corner of the base.

40 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Cuscuz de tapiocaTapioca and coconut cake

Breakfast stalls in Salvador and the street markets of Recife and Fortaleza sell cuscuz de tapioca by the slice from a big round tray, often with a drizzle of condensed milk on top. It needs no cooking at all: granulated tapioca (tapioca granulada) soaks up hot sweetened milk and coconut milk and swells into a firm, white, bouncy cake with a chewy, pearly texture and a gentle coconut taste. It is eaten cold, at breakfast or as an afternoon sweet with coffee. Granulated tapioca is a Brazilian product made of small irregular crumbs, not pearls; Brazilian shops sell it in bags. Cutting it too early is the usual mistake, and the slices crumble because the granules are still dry at the centre. Chef's tip: pour the liquid in while it is steaming hot and cover the dish straight away; the trapped steam swells the granules evenly.

20 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Cuscuz paulistaCornmeal with palm heart and sardines

Nothing like North African couscous, cuscuz paulista is a moulded cake of corn flakes cooked in a rich tomato sauce, packed into a ring mould decorated with sardines, sliced egg, tomato, palm hearts and peas, then turned out so the pattern shows. São Paulo bakeries and family lunches serve it cold or at room temperature, in slices, for birthdays, Easter and Sunday tables. It is moist, savoury and tangy, with bursts of olive and fish. It needs at least an hour to set in the fridge, so it is perfect to make the day before. The thing that most often goes wrong is a mixture that is too dry, which crumbles when turned out; it should look like soft, wet polenta before it goes into the mould. For a vegetarian version, skip the sardines and add extra palm hearts. Chef's tip: oil the mould generously and press the decoration against the sides firmly, so it sticks to the cuscuz and not the tin.

55 min

Brazilian Rice & Grains

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DaggaPounded tomato, dill and chilli salad

Dagga, sometimes called salata ghazawiyya, is the salad that sits on every table in Gaza, pounded in a clay bowl (zibdiya) with a wooden pestle until the tomatoes collapse into a juicy, chunky relish. Fresh dill, green chilli, garlic and lemon make it sharper and hotter than any salad in the north, and it is spooned over fish, rice and grilled meat or scooped up with bread. Common mistake: using a blender, which turns it into a smooth sauce; you want broken pieces in their own juice. Chef's tip: pound the garlic, chilli and salt to a paste first, then add the dill, so its oils bloom before the tomatoes go in.

15 min

Palestinian Salads

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DampfnudelnSteamed yeast dumplings with vanilla sauce

Dampfnudeln are a Friday supper in Bavaria and the Palatinate, from the days when meatless Fridays meant a sweet main course. Soft yeast buns are packed into a heavy pan with milk, butter and a little sugar, the lid goes on, and they steam until fluffy on top while the liquid boils away and leaves a salty-sweet caramel crust underneath. They come to the table with warm vanilla sauce. The famous mistake is lifting the lid too early: the steam escapes and the buns collapse. Chef's tip: listen to the pan instead of looking; when the bubbling turns to a crackle, the crust is forming and you have about 3 minutes left.

55 min

German Desserts

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Daube provençaleRed wine beef stew with olives

In Provence the daube is the Sunday and winter-feast dish, traditionally simmered all morning in a pot-bellied clay daubière at the edge of the fire. Chunks of beef are marinated overnight in the fridge with red wine, garlic, herbs and a strip of orange peel, then braised slowly with black olives until the sauce turns dark, glossy and fragrant with citrus. It uses red wine, and the ingredient note gives an alcohol-free version; the optional smoked lardons make it a pork dish too. In Avignon and Nice the leftover sauce dresses macaroni (the macaronade), but polenta or plain boiled potatoes are just as good. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead; it tastes even better reheated, and the fat is easy to lift off once cold.

250 min

French Meat

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Dawood bashaMeatballs in tomato sauce

Named, so the story goes, after an Ottoman governor who loved it, dawood basha is a homely Damascus and Beirut supper of small spiced meatballs simmered with baby onions in tomato sauce, finished with pine nuts. Families serve it ladled over vermicelli rice, and it is one of the first dishes Syrian children learn to love. The sauce is lightly tangy from pomegranate molasses and fragrant with allspice and cinnamon. Common mistake: crowding the meatballs when browning — they steam instead of colouring; fry in batches. Chef's tip: grate a little onion into the meat and squeeze out the juice first; the meatballs stay tender without falling apart.

65 min

Syrian Meat

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Deniz börülcesi salatasıSamphire salad with garlic and lemon

Along the Aegean coast from Ayvalık down to Bodrum, every meze tray in early summer carries a tangle of deniz börülcesi, the salty, crunchy samphire gathered from the marshes. It is blanched, pulled off its woody cores, then dressed with plenty of garlic, lemon and olive oil and served cold beside grilled fish. It tastes of the sea in the best way. Chef's tip: don't salt the cooking water or the dressing; samphire carries all the salt it needs.

20 min

Turkish Salads

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Diots au vin blancSausages braised in white wine

Diots are the small pork sausages of Savoie, sold in every butcher's from Chambéry to Annecy and eaten at ski-resort tables and village fêtes all winter. They are browned, then braised slowly with plenty of onions in dry Savoie white wine with a bay leaf, until the onions melt into a sweet, winey sauce around the plump sausages. The traditional partner is crozets, tiny square buckwheat or wheat pasta, or a soft polenta. The braise uses white wine; an alcohol-free version is in the notes. If you can't find diots, use any coarse, garlicky pork sausage. Chef's tip: brown the sausages slowly over a medium heat rather than fiercely, so the skins colour without bursting.

70 min

French Meat

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DiplesFried pastry rolls in honey

In the tower villages of the Mani, no wedding, christening or New Year passes without trays of diples: paper-thin egg dough fried in a rolling twist, so each strip curls into a crisp, bubbled scroll, then drenched in warm thyme honey and showered with walnuts and cinnamon. They shatter when you bite and stay crunchy for days in a tin. Common mistake: rolling the dough too thick, which gives chewy, oily diples — you should almost see your hand through it. Chef's tip: hold the end of each strip in the oil with two forks and roll it as it puffs; the first few are practice, so don't worry about shape.

80 min

Greek Desserts

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Discada norteñaMixed-meat skillet with peppers and onions

In Chihuahua and across the northern ranchlands, discada is party food: a worn-out plough disc is set over a wood fire and filled, one by one, with bacon, pork chorizo, beef, ham and sausages, then peppers, onions and tomatoes, while everyone stands around with tortillas. It is a big, smoky, pork-heavy dish, made with pork bacon, pork chorizo and ham, and many cooks splash in beer near the end, for which stock is a fine alcohol-free swap. At home, a large wok or your widest heavy skillet does the job. Serve it straight from the pan with corn tortillas, salsa and lime. Chef's tip: add the meats in order, fattiest first, so each one browns in the fat of the last.

70 min

Mexican Meat

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Djaj mahshiRoast chicken stuffed with spiced rice

For Eid, Christmas or a wedding lunch in Palestine, a whole chicken stuffed with spiced rice is the centrepiece: the rice cooked with a little minced lamb, seven-spice and cardamom, packed into the bird and roasted until the skin is lacquered brown, then piled on a platter under handfuls of fried almonds and pine nuts. Serve with yoghurt and a chopped salad. Common mistake: packing the cavity tightly with raw rice, which leaves the centre undercooked; part-cook the rice first and stuff loosely. Chef's tip: simmer the chicken briefly in spiced water before roasting, as many Palestinian cooks do; it seasons the meat and keeps it moist.

160 min

Palestinian Chicken

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Doce de abóbora com cocoPumpkin and coconut sweet

Mineiro farm kitchens and the June festivals of the interior both lean on doce de abóbora, a deep orange spoon sweet of pumpkin cooked with sugar and cloves until thick, here finished with fresh grated coconut. It is eaten cold, by the spoonful from little bowls, or with a slice of fresh white cheese, the Brazilian way of pairing sweet and salty (pick a microbial-rennet cheese if you are vegetarian). The flavour is caramel-sweet and spiced, with the soft chew of coconut. Use a dry, dense pumpkin such as kabocha or butternut; watery pumpkins take forever to reduce. Adding the sugar before the pumpkin softens is a common misstep; the sugar firms the pieces and they never break down. Chef's tip: stop cooking when you see the base of the pan for a second as you drag the spoon through, as the sweet thickens further as it cools.

65 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Doce de abóbora com nozesPumpkin and walnut jam

When the big squashes are harvested in late autumn in Trás-os-Montes, every pantry gets a row of these jars. The pumpkin cooks down with sugar, lemon peel and cinnamon to a thick amber jam, and toasted walnuts are stirred in at the end. Locals spoon it over fresh requeijão or a slice of sheep's cheese after dinner, or onto toast at breakfast. Chef's tip: salt the cut pumpkin with the sugar overnight; it releases its water so the jam cooks faster and keeps its colour.

80 min

Portuguese Basics

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Doce de cajuCashew apples in clove syrup

Ceará grows more cashews than anywhere in Brazil, and in the season from September to December the soft, fragrant cashew apples are everywhere: pressed for juice, sold at roadside stalls and preserved whole in syrup like this. The fruit is pricked, squeezed of its astringent juice, blanched and then cooked slowly with sugar and cloves until it turns amber, glossy and tender with a chewy bite. Fortaleza families keep jars for Christmas and serve the fruit with a slice of white cheese or simply on a saucer with its syrup. Outside Brazil look for whole frozen cajus in Brazilian shops. Twist off and discard the grey nut before cooking: its raw shell holds a caustic oil and should not be cut, burnt or eaten at home. Skipping the squeezing and blanching is where it goes wrong; the sweet ends up rough and furry in the mouth. Chef's tip: let the fruit rest overnight in the syrup halfway through; it plumps up and soaks in the sugar evenly.

130 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Doces finos do AlgarveMarzipan fruits with egg-yolk cream

Tiny pears, oranges, strawberries and even fish, all made of almond paste and painted by hand: these are the sweets Algarve families order for Christmas, Easter and weddings, and that every January market in Loulé shows off. Inside each one sits a spoonful of doce de ovos, the sunny yolk cream found all over Portuguese convent baking. The almond paste here is cooked in syrup, which makes it smooth and easy to model. Chef's tip: dust your hands and the work surface with icing sugar, never flour, or the shapes go chalky.

115 min

Portuguese Desserts

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DöppekuchenGrated potato bake with bacon

Döppekuchen (also Dippekuchen or Knüles) is the Rhineland and Westerwald answer to a cold November evening, traditionally baked on St Martin's Day and at village fairs. Raw grated potatoes, onion, egg and smoked bacon are baked slowly in a cast-iron pot, the Döppe, until the outside is a thick dark-brown crust and the inside is soft and steamy. It is eaten with apple sauce and a green salad. For a meat-free pot, bake it with extra onions and two sliced leeks instead of the bacon. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated potato really dry; the less water, the crisper the crust.

180 min

German Meat

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Dolmeh-ye behStuffed quinces in sweet-sour syrup

Dolmeh-ye beh is autumn food in Tabriz and across Iranian Azerbaijan, made in October and November when golden quinces pile up on market stalls. The quinces are hollowed and filled with lamb or beef mince, rice, yellow split peas and cinnamon, then baked in a syrup of sugar, vinegar and saffron until the fruit is soft enough to cut with a spoon and its flesh turns pink. Each person gets a whole quince with bread and yogurt on the side. A common mistake is cooking the shells for too long before stuffing; they should only soften slightly or they collapse in the oven. Chef's tip: rub the cut quinces with lemon at once, as they brown within minutes.

120 min

Persian Meat

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Dublin gur cakeSpiced fruit and pastry slice

Gur cake was the cheapest treat in Dublin bakeries, made from the day's leftover bread and cake soaked with tea, dried fruit and spice and baked between two sheets of pastry. It gave its name to the 'gurriers', the kids who mitched school and bought slices for a ha'penny, and you still find it in the bakeries of the inner city, where it is also called Chester cake. It is dense, sticky and spiced. Chef's tip: let the filling soak for a good half hour so the bread breaks down completely into a smooth paste.

90 min

Irish Baking

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Dom RodrigosEgg-thread and almond sweets

Walk past any pastelaria in Lagos or Portimão and you will see little twists of bright foil piled in the window: each one hides a nest of golden egg threads bound with an almond and yolk cream, scented with cinnamon. They are eaten after Sunday lunch with a bica, bought by the half dozen to take home, and set out at Algarve weddings and christenings. The work is in the egg threads, drizzled into boiling syrup, but once you have the rhythm it goes quickly. Chef's tip: sieve the yolks twice, because any trace of white or the chalaza blocks the funnel and makes the threads break.

90 min

Portuguese Desserts

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DominosteineGingerbread, jelly and marzipan cubes

Dominosteine were invented in Dresden in the 1930s as an affordable Christmas treat and are still bought by the box across Germany through December: a cube of soft gingerbread, a layer of tart fruit jelly and a layer of marzipan, all coated in dark chocolate. Homemade ones are fresher and less sweet than the boxed kind and make a beautiful gift. The jelly is set with pectin, not gelatine, so they suit vegetarians. The mistake people often make is cutting the slab while the jelly is still soft, which smears the layers; leave it overnight. Chef's tip: trim the edges of the slab before cutting so every cube has three clean, sharp stripes.

75 min

German Desserts

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