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Zrir
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Zrir

Sesame, nut and honey paste

When a baby arrives in a Tunis family, visitors who come to see mother and child are offered zrir, a dense, glossy paste of toasted sesame, hazelnuts and almonds bound with butter and honey, believed to give strength to the new mother. It is served in tiny bowls or shaped into a mound and studded with nuts, and a spoonful is plenty. The taste is like a very rich halva with honey and toasted nuts. It keeps for a couple of weeks in a jar. Chef's tip: grind the sesame while it is still slightly warm; the oils release more easily and the paste turns smooth rather than sandy.

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160 minBrazilianSoups
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Fiadone is the cake of Corsican Easter and village feast days: fresh brocciu, the island's soft ewe's- or goat's-milk whey cheese, beaten with eggs, sugar and lemon zest and baked until the top is freckled brown. There is no base, so it is naturally gluten free, and it tastes lighter and less sweet than most cheesecakes. Brocciu is made from whey left after rennet cheesemaking, so it is not strictly vegetarian; well-drained ricotta labelled vegetarian is the usual stand-in outside Corsica. Some families add a spoon of local eau-de-vie; it is left out here. Chef's tip: drain the cheese well; a dry cheese gives the light, almost soufflé-like texture.

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Sopa de grão com espinafresChickpea and spinach soup

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Feijoada à transmontanaRed beans with smoked sausages

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210 minPortugueseMeatGluten free
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LeberkäseBaked pork and beef loaf

Despite its name, Bavarian Leberkäse contains neither liver nor cheese: it is a smooth, finely ground loaf of pork and beef baked until it has a dark, crunchy crust. In Munich it is the mid-morning snack, a thick warm slice folded into a crusty roll with sweet mustard and eaten standing at the butcher's counter. Made at home without curing salt, the inside bakes pale grey rather than pink, which is normal. Chef's tip: everything, including the bowl of the food processor, must be ice-cold; if the mix warms above about 12 °C the fat separates and the loaf turns crumbly.

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Sopa de tomate à alentejanaTomato soup with poached eggs

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MohnnudelnPotato noodles with poppy seeds

The Waldviertel, the cool, forested uplands of Lower Austria, is poppy country: in July its fields bloom white, pink and violet, and the grey poppy seed grown there has a protected name. Mohnnudeln are its favourite sweet dish, served as a main meal on meatless days or as dessert. Soft potato dough is rolled into little tapered noodles, boiled, then tossed in foaming butter with a generous amount of freshly ground poppy seed and icing sugar, so they taste nutty, buttery and gently sweet. A common mistake is using whole or stale poppy seeds; whole seeds give no flavour and old ground ones taste bitter. Chef's tip: grind the poppy seed yourself in a spice grinder just before using, in short bursts so it doesn't turn to paste.

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Sopa seca chinchanaSpaghetti in basil chicken broth

Despite the name, there is no soup in a bowl: sopa seca is spaghetti cooked like a risotto in a well-seasoned chicken broth with basil, ají panca and tomato until every drop is absorbed and the noodles turn reddish-green and fragrant. In Chincha and Ica it always arrives on the same plate as carapulcra, the two together forming the famous festive 'matrimonio', with a chicken thigh on top. Expect soft, very savoury pasta with a mild warmth from the chilli. Where it goes wrong is pouring in all the broth at once, which leaves the pasta swimming and mushy; add it in stages, as for risotto. Chef's tip: blend the basil with a little oil and stir it in only in the last minutes, so it stays green instead of turning brown.

60 minPeruvianPasta & Noodles
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Sopa tarascaBean and tomato soup

Named after the Tarascan (Purépecha) people of Michoacán, sopa tarasca is the soup served in the restaurants around the plazas of Pátzcuaro and Morelia, especially on cool highland evenings. It is a smooth, brick-red purée of beans, tomato and ancho chilli, poured over crisp tortilla strips and finished with cream, fresh cheese and fried chilli rings. Some versions use chicken stock; this one uses vegetable stock and loses nothing. Fresh cheese may be made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian one if needed. Chef's tip: fry the blended soup base in hot oil before adding the stock; it cooks out the raw tomato taste and deepens the colour.

50 minMexicanSoupsGluten free
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Gallina pintaBeef, pinto bean and hominy stew

Despite the name, there is no hen in gallina pinta: the 'speckled hen' of Sonora is a hearty soup of beef, pinto beans and hominy, the speckles being the beans among the white corn. It is cold-weather food across the state, ladled out at family gatherings and in Hermosillo diners, and every cook uses bony cuts such as oxtail or beef shank so the broth turns rich and silky. The beans need soaking overnight, so start the day before. Serve it in deep bowls with chopped onion, oregano, lime and a dried red chilli crumbled over, plus warm flour tortillas. Chef's tip: add the hominy only in the last half hour, so the kernels stay plump and chewy rather than splitting.

230 minMexicanSoupsGluten free
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GondiChicken and chickpea-flour dumplings

Gondi is the Friday-night dish of Tehran's Persian Jewish families, served at the Shabbat table before the main course or as a light lunch after. Big, soft dumplings of minced chicken, grated onion and roasted chickpea flour, scented with cardamom, are poached in a clear turmeric broth with chickpeas, and each bowl gets one or two with plenty of broth, fresh herbs and flatbread. The texture should be tender and slightly crumbly, a little like a dense matzo ball. A common mistake is using raw chickpea flour; buy roasted chickpea flour (nokhodchi flour) or dry-toast plain gram flour first, or the dumplings taste raw. Chef's tip: chill the mixture for 30 minutes before shaping so the dumplings hold their shape in the broth.

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Mojarra fritaFried whole tilapia

On the beaches of Bocagrande and in the open-air kitchens of La Boquilla outside Cartagena, the lunch plate is a whole mojarra (tilapia) fried until its fins crackle, served with coconut rice, smashed green plantain patacones and a tomato and onion salad with lime. The skin goes shatteringly crisp, the flesh stays sweet and moist, and you eat it with your fingers, pulling meat off the bone. Scoring the sides lets the heat and seasoning reach the thick part near the spine. The mistake to avoid is putting a wet fish into the oil, which spits dangerously and leaves the skin soggy: pat it very dry and dust it lightly. Chef's tip: fry one fish at a time in plenty of oil and don't move it for the first 4 minutes, so the skin sets before you turn it. Serve with arroz con coco for the full Caribbean plate.

50 minColombianFishGluten free
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Sopes mallorquinesCabbage broth with brown bread

Sopes are a winter ritual in Mallorca, simmered in a wide clay greixonera and eaten for breakfast by country people and for Sunday lunch by everyone else. Cabbage, chard, cauliflower, artichoke and mushrooms cook in a garlicky, paprika-tinted broth, which is then poured over wafer-thin slices of dry brown bread until it soaks it all up into a spoonable mass, more stew than soup. Pork ribs often go in; this version is all vegetables. Serve with pickled chillies and black olives on the side. Chef's tip: buy the bread sliced for sopes at a bakery or slice a hard loaf on a mandolin, as thin bread is the whole texture of the dish.

70 minSpanishSoupsVegan
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Mojica de pintadoCatfish and cassava stew

Thick, golden and soothing, mojica is the stew Cuiabá cooks with pintado, the big spotted catfish of the Pantanal rivers. Cassava simmers in a tomato and onion broth until it starts to break and thicken it, then cubes of firm fish poach gently on top, and the whole pot is finished with cheiro-verde and a squeeze of lime. It is eaten at family lunches and riverside restaurants in Mato Grosso, with white rice and a hot pepper sauce, and is known as a cure for a tired body. Outside Brazil, use catfish, monkfish or thick cod loin. People often stir the fish into the pot like a curry, which breaks it into shreds; lay it on top and let it steam. Cassava must always be cooked right through. Chef's tip: mash a few pieces of the cooked cassava against the side of the pot before adding the fish; it thickens the broth without any flour.

65 minBrazilianFishGluten free
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GalinhadaChicken and turmeric rice

Sunday lunches, church festas and roadside restaurants in Goiás all revolve around a big pot of galinhada: chicken browned with garlic and onion, then cooked with rice in its own stock until each grain is golden from açafrão-da-terra. In Brazil that word means turmeric, not true saffron, and it is turmeric that gives the dish its colour. Goianos add pequi, the cerrado fruit with a heady, cheesy-tropical scent; you can buy it in jars in Brazilian shops, but warn your guests: the stone is covered in fine spines under the flesh, so nibble gently and never bite into it. It comes out moist, fragrant and comforting, finished with plenty of cheiro-verde. The common mistake is adding too much water, which makes it mushy; the rice should be loose, like a paella that has just settled. Chef's tip: brown the chicken until it leaves a dark crust in the pot, then let the rice dissolve it.

70 minBrazilianChickenGluten free
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Feijão tropeiroBeans with cassava flour and bacon

Mule drivers, the tropeiros, crossed Minas Gerais with sacks of beans, cassava flour and pork, and their trail food has become the state's pride: you will find feijão tropeiro at every comida mineira restaurant, at football grounds in Belo Horizonte and on Sunday tables, with rice, couve, torresmo and a grilled pork chop. The beans are cooked just tender, drained, and tossed in bacon and sausage fat with onions, scrambled egg, cassava flour and shredded collards, so the dish is moist but loose, smoky and very savoury. This is a pork dish: smoked bacon and pork sausage give it its flavour. If you start from dried beans, soak them overnight. The usual mistake is overcooking the beans; mushy beans turn the farofa into paste. For a vegetarian version, skip the meats and use butter and an extra egg. Chef's tip: add the farinha off the heat a handful at a time and stop when it looks moist and fluffy, not dry.

50 minBrazilianRice & GrainsGluten free
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Lechazo asadoRoast milk-fed lamb

Along the Duero valley, in towns like Aranda de Duero, Sepúlveda and Peñafiel, wood-fired asadores roast quarters of lechazo, lamb fed only on its mother's milk, in clay dishes with nothing but water and salt. Families drive out for it on a Sunday and eat it with bread and a salad of lettuce and onion. A little lard is rubbed on in some asadores; this contains pork (lard), or use olive oil. Milk-fed lamb is small and pale; spring lamb works but needs longer. Chef's tip: don't add herbs or garlic; the delicate flavour is the point.

130 minSpanishMeatGluten free
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PlinsenBuckwheat pancakes with quark

Plinsen come from Lusatia, the Sorbian-speaking borderland of Brandenburg and Saxony, where buckwheat once grew in the sandy soil. They are thin, soft pancakes, slightly thicker than a crêpe, made with buckwheat or a mix of buckwheat and wheat, and they are eaten for breakfast or as a sweet supper with sweetened quark, apple sauce or, in July, wild blueberries from the Lusatian pine woods. The buckwheat gives a nutty, earthy edge. A common mistake is cooking them in a too-cool pan, which makes them pale and rubbery; the butter should sizzle as the batter hits it. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 30 minutes so the buckwheat swells and the pancakes don't tear.

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Hamsili pilavAnchovy-wrapped rice bake

Hamsili pilav is the showpiece of a Trabzon or Rize winter table: a dome of rice cooked with currants, pine nuts, allspice and dill, packed into a tin lined with butterflied anchovies, more fish laid over the top, and baked until the skins turn crisp. Turned out and cut like a cake, it shows silver fish outside and fragrant rice within, and families make it for guests and New Year gatherings. Serve with a sharp salad and lemon. Common mistake: fully cooking the rice before baking, which turns it mushy; it should still have a bite when it goes into the tin. Bake until the fish is opaque and flakes. Chef's tip: lay the anchovies skin side down against the tin, overlapping like roof tiles, so no rice escapes.

100 minTurkishFishGluten free
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Sorrentinos de calabazaSquash and ricotta pasta parcels

Mar del Plata claims the sorrentino, a big round stuffed pasta about the size of a jam-jar lid that Italian-Argentine cooks made their own in the mid-20th century; despite the name, you won't find it in Sorrento. Every fresh-pasta shop in Buenos Aires province sells them by the dozen on Sunday mornings, and the squash version, with roasted calabaza, ricotta and nutmeg, is the most loved. The filling is sweet and soft, the pasta thin but sturdy, and the sauce is either brown butter with sage or a plain tomato filetto. The classic mistake is boiled squash: it carries too much water, the filling weeps and the parcels burst in the pot, so the squash is roasted until dry and caramelised. Grated hard cheese is usually made with animal rennet; choose a vegetarian hard cheese if needed. Chef's tip: chill the filling until firm before you shape it; a cold, stiff filling is far easier to seal without air pockets.

100 minArgentinianPasta & Noodles
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Handkäs mit MusikMarinated sour-milk cheese

Handkäs mit Musik is the bar snack of Frankfurt's Sachsenhausen cider taverns, where it is served on a small plate beside a glass of apple wine; apple juice or a sour apple spritzer is the alcohol-free match. Handkäse is a small, firm, low-fat sour-milk cheese, ripened until it turns glassy and translucent at the edge, and the 'music' is the marinade of onion, vinegar, oil and caraway it soaks in. It is eaten with a knife and fork on buttered rye bread. Most Handkäse is made without rennet, using acid alone, but check the label if you are strict. A common mistake is serving it straight away: the cheese needs at least an hour in the marinade. Chef's tip: choose a cheese that is still chalky white in the very middle, which gives a mix of creamy and fresh textures.

15 minGermanSnacks & Starters
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Koloocheh FumanWalnut-filled cookies

On the road from Rasht up to the hill village of Masuleh, the little town of Fuman is lined with bakeries selling koloocheh: thick round cookies, crisp outside and cake-like inside, filled with ground walnut, sugar and cardamom and stamped with a pattern on top. Travellers buy them by the box for tea, and they are a favourite gift at Nowruz. A common mistake is overworking the dough, which makes them tough rather than tender and crumbly. Chef's tip: chill the filled discs for 15 minutes before stamping and baking, so the pattern stays sharp and the walnut filling does not burst through.

65 minPersianBaking
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Sosis bandariSpicy sausage and tomato sandwich

Sosis bandari, 'port-style sausage', began in the Gulf ports of Bushehr and Bandar Abbas and is now the late-night snack of sandwich shops all over Iran, from Tehran to Shiraz. Sliced beef or chicken frankfurter-style sausages (Iranian sausages are never pork) are fried with lots of onion, potato, tomato paste and chilli until sticky and hot, then stuffed into a soft baguette with pickles and tomato. It is spicy, greasy in the best way and ready in minutes. A common mistake is crowding the pan; the onion steams instead of browning, so use your widest pan. Chef's tip: a pinch of curry powder and a squeeze of lemon at the end is how the bandari shops give it their southern kick.

28 minPersianFast FoodSpicy
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Mojo verdeGreen coriander and garlic sauce

Green mojo is the cooler partner to red mojo picón on every Canarian table, the sauce that goes with grilled fish at harbour restaurants in Puerto de Mogán and La Restinga, with papas arrugadas, and with fried goat cheese. Fresh coriander and green pepper are pounded with garlic and cumin, then sharpened with vinegar and loosened with olive oil into a bright, grassy sauce. Some islands use parsley instead of coriander. It keeps for three or four days in the fridge. Chef's tip: add the oil slowly while you stir, so the sauce emulsifies into a thick, creamy green rather than splitting into herbs floating in oil.

15 minSpanishChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Turrón de JijonaSoft almond and honey nougat

The hill town of Jijona (Xixona) in Alicante has been grinding almonds and honey into turrón for centuries, and its soft, beige, slightly oily bars are on almost every Spanish table between Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night. Unlike hard Alicante turrón, Jijona turrón is a smooth almond paste that crumbles and melts in the mouth, deeply nutty with a floral sweetness from the honey. A common mistake is under-toasting the almonds; pale almonds give a bland, grey paste, so take them to a light, even gold. This version uses honey and egg white, so it is vegetarian but not vegan. Chef's tip: press the warm paste into its mould under a weight and leave it a full two days before slicing; it firms up and the oil settles evenly through it.

50 minSpanishDessertsGluten free
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Tortitas mendocinasFlaky round breakfast breads

Every panadería in Mendoza fills a tray with tortitas in the early morning, and they go out in paper bags to be eaten warm with mate, split and spread with butter, quince paste or a slice of cheese. They are flat, round, slightly salty breads, soft and layered in the middle and crisp at the edges, with the fork marks that give them away. The traditional fat is beef lard (grasa), which makes them very short; here butter or vegetable shortening takes its place to keep them vegetarian, and both give a good flaky result. The mistake to avoid is rolling them thin like crackers: they should be a generous centimetre thick, or they bake hard and dry. Chef's tip: fold the dough in three twice before the final roll, like a quick puff pastry; those folds give tortitas their layers.

75 minArgentinianBaking
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Trenza de AlmudévarNut and raisin braided bread

Almudévar, a small town between Zaragoza and Huesca, gave its name to a braid that is now sold all over Aragon and given as a present at Christmas: a golden plaited loaf, layered with chopped nuts and liqueur-soaked raisins and brushed with syrup until it shines. The town's bakeries use a laminated, puff-like dough that takes a day; this home version uses a buttery brioche rolled around the filling and cut and braided so the layers show. The raisins are traditionally soaked in rum or brandy; use warm orange juice for an alcohol-free loaf. A common mistake is braiding too tightly, which squeezes out the filling and stops the dough rising. Chef's tip: chill the filled roll for 15 minutes before cutting it lengthways; the butter firms and the cut is much cleaner.

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SoumadaAlmond syrup drink

On Crete and several Aegean islands, a glass of cloudy-white soumada is offered to guests at weddings and on hot summer afternoons. It begins as a thick almond syrup kept in the fridge, which is stirred into iced water to make a cool, gently sweet drink that tastes of marzipan and orange blossom. Some islanders add a few bitter almonds for an edge; they are not safe to eat in quantity, so this version uses a drop of almond extract instead. Common mistake: boiling the syrup hard after the almond milk goes in, which makes it cloudy and grainy rather than smooth. Chef's tip: squeeze the almond pulp in a muslin bag with real force; the last drops are the richest.

45 minGreekDrinksVeganGluten free
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Mole negro con polloChicken in black mole

Of Oaxaca's seven moles, mole negro is the one brought out for weddings, christenings and the Day of the Dead, when families cook it in huge clay pots and send guests home with containers of it. Its near-black colour comes from chillies toasted very dark and from seeds and tortilla charred on purpose, balanced by fried plantain, raisins, sesame and a little Mexican chocolate, so the sauce tastes smoky, bittersweet and deeply savoury rather than sweet. The true base is the Oaxacan chilhuacle negro, which is hard to find outside the region; this version uses a practical mix of pasilla, mulato, ancho and guajillo, which gets very close. Serve it over the poached chicken with white rice and warm corn tortillas. Oaxacan cooks often fry the sauce in pork lard; vegetable oil works just as well and keeps the dish pork-free. Chef's tip: make the sauce a day ahead; like most moles it rounds out and deepens overnight in the fridge.

210 minMexicanChicken
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Favas guisadas com chouriçoBroad beans with chouriço

When broad beans come in across the Alentejo in April and May, this is the dish that announces them: young beans stewed with chouriço and a little cured pork belly, garlic, onion and a big handful of coriander, until the beans are soft and the sauce is red with paprika fat. It is a weekday lunch with bread, or with a poached egg on top. This contains pork (chouriço and bacon). Frozen broad beans work well out of season. A common mistake is boiling the beans until they turn grey and mealy; stop when they are tender and still green. Chef's tip: a spoonful of vinegar at the end brightens the rich, fatty sauce.

50 minPortugueseMeatGluten free
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Duelos y quebrantosScrambled eggs with chorizo and bacon

Cervantes names this dish in the first lines of Don Quixote as the knight's Saturday supper, and in La Mancha it is still a quick, filling plate of soft eggs scrambled into fried chorizo and streaky bacon. It turns up for a late breakfast in roadside inns near Campo de Criptana, or for supper on a busy weeknight with bread and a salad. This contains pork (chorizo and bacon). Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly wet; they finish cooking on the plate.

17 minSpanishBreakfast & Brunch
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Soupe de poissons with rouilleFish soup with rouille

Not to be confused with bouillabaisse, where whole pieces of fish are served, soupe de poissons is the smooth, rust-coloured soup made all along the coast from Marseille to Sète from small rockfish too bony to eat any other way. The fish are fried with fennel, tomato, garlic and saffron, simmered and then pressed through a food mill, giving a velvety soup tasting deeply of the sea. In harbourside restaurants it arrives with a tray of toasted croutons, a pot of fiery garlic rouille and grated cheese, and everyone builds their own bowl. This rouille is thickened with potato and bread, with no raw egg. Chef's tip: press the cooked fish hard through the mill or sieve; the flavour is in the pulp, not just the liquid.

100 minFrenchSoups
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KolompehDate and walnut pastries

Kolompeh is the pride of Kerman, a flat, round pastry stamped with a pattern on top and filled with date paste spiced with cardamom, cinnamon and a little fennel seed. Kermanis bake it for Nowruz and for guests, and it keeps well enough to travel, which is why tins of it go home with every visitor. The pastry is short and tender with a hint of sweetness. A common mistake is making the date filling too wet, which seeps through the pastry; it should be a stiff paste you can roll into a ball. Chef's tip: warm the dates for a few seconds before mashing, and they turn into a smooth paste in moments.

70 minPersianBaking
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Trigona PanoramatosCustard-filled filo cones in syrup

Up in Panorama, the hillside suburb above Thessaloniki, pastry shops fill crisp filo triangles to order, and people carry boxes of them down to the city for Sunday visits and name days. Each cone is baked until it shatters, dunked for a second in lemony syrup, then piped full of a cold, light custard cream. The contrast is the point: brittle, buttery shell against soft, barely sweet filling, best within a couple of hours. Common mistake: filling the cones while the syrup is still warm, which melts the cream and turns the pastry limp. Chef's tip: roll each cone around a cone-shaped metal mould or a twist of foil so it keeps a wide, open mouth for piping.

90 minGreekDesserts
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South Dakota chislicFried lamb cubes

Chislic is the official nosh of South Dakota, brought to the prairie by Germans from Russia and served at taverns and county fairs around Freeman and Sioux Falls. Bite-size cubes of lamb or mutton are deep-fried or grilled on skewers, tossed in garlic salt and eaten with cocktail sticks, with saltine crackers and hot sauce on the side. Chef's tip: cut the cubes all the same size, about 2 cm, so they cook evenly in the short time in the oil.

25 minAmericanMeatGluten free
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Soutzoukakia SmyrneikaCumin meatballs in tomato sauce

Refugee families from Smyrna brought these long, cumin-heavy meatballs to Thessaloniki and Kalamaria in the 1920s, and they're still a weekday favourite in northern Greek homes. The mince is mixed with soaked bread, garlic and plenty of cumin, shaped into fat little logs, browned and then simmered in a cinnamon-tinged tomato sauce until tender. Serve over rice pilaf or with chips and a spoon of yoghurt. Many cooks add a splash of red wine to the sauce; this version uses red wine vinegar instead, so it's alcohol-free. Common mistake: squeezing the bread dry — it should stay damp, which keeps the meatballs juicy. Chef's tip: chill the shaped soutzoukakia for 20 minutes so they hold their shape in the pan.

70 minGreekMeat
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Mango bicheGreen mango with salt and lime

Paper and plastic cones of mango biche are sold from street carts in Cali, Barranquilla and Bogotá, especially around schools, parks and bus stops. Biche means unripe: the mango is still hard and pale green inside, so it is crunchy and mouth-puckeringly sour, and the vendor cuts it into long strips and shakes on salt, lime and black pepper, sometimes a pinch of chilli. It is a refreshing, almost savoury snack, eaten in the afternoon heat. Choosing a mango that has started to ripen is the slip that spoils it: the flesh should be firm and white-green with no yellow, or it turns soft and sweet. Look for green mangoes in Asian and Latin shops. Chef's tip: chill the mango for 30 minutes before cutting; the strips stay crisp and the salt and lime cling better.

10 minColombianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Fasulye turşusu kavurmasıFried pickled green beans

Every autumn, Black Sea households pack crocks with green beans and brine, and through the winter those sour, soft beans are fried with onion and a little butter or oil into one of the region's most loved side dishes. Kavurma means fried, and the beans take on golden edges while keeping their tangy bite; a beaten egg sometimes goes in at the end. Eat it with cornbread, rice pilaf or a bowl of fried anchovies. Common mistake: frying the beans straight from the jar; they spit and taste harshly sour. Chef's tip: soak them in fresh water for half an hour first, tasting as you go, until they are pleasantly sour rather than puckering.

30 minTurkishVegetarianGluten free
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Ensalada de chontaPalm heart salad

Iquitos restaurants and the riverside cafés of the Peruvian Amazon serve ensalada de chonta as a cool counterpoint to grilled fish and juanes: long, pale ribbons of fresh palm heart, crisp and faintly sweet, tossed with tomato, avocado, red onion and lots of lime. At Belén market you can watch sellers shave the chonta into curls with a big knife. Outside the Amazon, fresh palm heart is hard to find, but good jarred hearts of palm cut into thin strips work well, and the salad becomes a ten-minute job. It's crunchy, juicy and sharp, perfect with rice and beans or any fried snack. Where most people go wrong is adding the avocado and salt early, so the salad turns soupy and grey; dress it at the last moment. Chef's tip: slice the palm hearts lengthwise on a mandoline or with a peeler for thin, curling ribbons that look like the Iquitos original.

15 minPeruvianSaladsVeganGluten free
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Spaghetti all'assassinaCharred spicy spaghetti

Spaghetti all'assassina was born in a Bari restaurant in the late 1960s and has become the city's cult late-night pasta. The raw spaghetti go straight into a hot iron pan with garlic, chilli and tomato, and are cooked like a risotto, a ladle of tomato broth at a time, until some strands blacken and turn crunchy while others stay chewy. It is smoky, sweet and properly hot, and Baresi argue about how burnt it should be. Chef's tip: use a wide iron or steel frying pan, never non-stick; you want the pasta to stick a little and scorch.

35 minItalianPasta & NoodlesVeganSpicy
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Spaghetti alla chitarra con le pallottineSpaghetti with tiny meatballs

In Teramo, in northern Abruzzo, Sunday lunch and village festivals often start with chitarra pasta and pallottine, meatballs no bigger than a chickpea. The pasta is cut on a chitarra, a wooden frame strung with wires, which gives square-edged strands with a rough surface that grips the sauce. The tiny beef meatballs are simmered right in a light tomato sauce, so every forkful has a few. Serve with grated pecorino and nothing else; this is a dish of patience rather than complication. Chef's tip: roll the meatballs with damp hands on a tray; at this size you'll make well over a hundred, so put the radio on.

120 minItalianPasta & Noodles
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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 minSpanishSaladsVeganGluten free
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Mollejas a la parrillaGrilled sweetbreads

Order an asado in any Argentine parrilla and the mollejas arrive early, before the big cuts, crusty and golden outside, soft and almost custardy within, with nothing but lemon. They are the thymus glands of young cattle, mild in flavour and rich in texture, and parrilleros treat them as a treat for the guests who hang around the grill. Ask a butcher for veal sweetbreads (heart sweetbreads are the plumpest) and cook them the day you buy them. Grilling them hot and fast is the common mistake: the outside chars while the centre stays raw and rubbery. As offal, they must be cooked right through, to at least 71 °C in the middle. Chef's tip: a brief blanch firms them, makes the membrane easy to peel and means the grill only has to crisp them.

65 minArgentinianMeatGluten free
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Lacón con grelosCured pork shoulder with turnip tops

Lacón con grelos is the great dish of Entroido, the Galician carnival, when restaurants in Lugo and A Coruña serve platters of it to tables of friends. This contains pork (cured pork shoulder and chorizo). The lacón is soaked, then simmered with chorizo, and turnip tops and potatoes are cooked in the same rich broth. It's served with olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika. A common mistake is skipping the soaking, which leaves the meat far too salty to eat. Chef's tip: save the cooking liquid, as it makes the base for a caldo the next day.

170 minSpanishMeatGluten free
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Molletes de AntequeraSoft flat breakfast rolls

Ask for breakfast in any café between Málaga and Seville and someone will offer you a mollete: a flat, pale, floury roll from Antequera, split, toasted and spread with olive oil and crushed tomato. Bakers there bake them hot and fast so the crust stays thin and soft and the crumb is open and moist. They freeze well, so it is worth making a batch on a slow weekend morning. A common mistake is baking them until golden; molletes should come out pale and soft, with only a faint blush of colour. Chef's tip: bake them at the very top heat for only about 10 minutes; if they brown, they have gone too long and will be crusty rather than soft.

42 minSpanishBreads & ParathasVegan
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Torta galesaDark fruit and walnut cake

Welsh settlers arrived in the Chubut valley in 1865 and their descendants still serve afternoon tea in Gaiman and Trelew, where the casas de té bring out pots of tea, scones, cream cakes and, always, a slice of torta galesa. It is a dense, almost black fruit cake made with brown sugar and black treacle, studded with raisins, candied peel and walnuts, and it was built to last through long Patagonian winters and journeys across the steppe. The crumb is moist and sticky, rich with spice and caramel. An oven that is too hot is the classic error: the outside chars before the middle is set, so it bakes low and slow under a sheet of paper. There's no alcohol in this version; many cooks brush it with rum after baking, so leave that out or use strong tea. Chef's tip: wrap the cooled cake tightly and wait two or three days before cutting; it turns moister and the flavours deepen.

140 minArgentinianBaking
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MolotesFried potato and chorizo masa turnovers

Around Puebla's zócalo and in the evening stalls outside its churches, molotes are fried to order: masa turnovers rolled into long spindles with pointed ends, crisp and blistered outside and soft inside. The favourite filling is potato mashed with pork chorizo, though stalls also sell them with tinga, quesillo or huitlacoche. They are eaten hot from a paper plate, split open and spooned with salsa, cream and crumbled cheese, as an evening snack or a light supper. Chef's tip: press the dough between two sheets of plastic cut from a freezer bag, so the thin disc lifts off cleanly and doesn't tear when you fold it.

75 minMexicanSnacks & Starters
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Galinha ao molho pardoChicken in dark blood sauce

Country cooking from the state of Rio and southern Minas Gerais, galinha ao molho pardo (also called galinha de cabidela) is cooked at weekend gatherings with a free-range hen, and served with angu, white rice and okra. The chicken is braised with onion, garlic, tomato and herbs, then the sauce is finished with the bird's blood mixed with vinegar, which turns it dark brown, velvety and savoury, with a gentle sourness. It tastes richer and deeper than an ordinary stew. Buy fresh chicken blood from a licensed poultry butcher or halal butcher, ask for it mixed with vinegar so it does not clot, keep it in the fridge and use it within 24 hours. The usual mistake is boiling the sauce hard after the blood goes in, which makes it grainy; stir it at a gentle simmer instead. The blood must be cooked right through. Chef's tip: temper the blood with a ladle of hot sauce before adding it to the pot.

90 minBrazilianChickenGluten free
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Guariroba refogadaSautéed bitter palm heart

Goiás is the one place in Brazil where people seek out bitterness in a palm heart: guariroba, from a cerrado palm, tastes like a cross between artichoke, chicory and jiló, and Goiânia's lunch counters serve it braised with tomato and onion beside rice, beans and pequi. The pale slices turn tender and silky, and the sharp, clean bitterness is softened by the sweet tomato base. Fresh guariroba is sold in Goiás markets, and jars or frozen packs in some Brazilian shops; elsewhere use ordinary palm heart with a handful of sliced chicory or radicchio for the bitterness. Cooks unfamiliar with it often boil it first to tame the bitterness, but that washes out the flavour that makes the dish; sauté it directly instead. Chef's tip: slice it thinly across the grain, because thick pieces stay fibrous however long you cook them.

30 minBrazilianSidesVeganGluten free
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Guaraná raladoGrated guaraná drink

Long before fizzy guaraná, people in Mato Grosso started the day with this: a hard, dark stick of roasted guaraná seed paste grated into a glass of cold water with sugar and stirred well. Cuiabá's older generation still drink it at breakfast or in the heat of the afternoon, and market stalls sell the sticks along with the traditional grater, the dried tongue of the pirarucu fish (a fine microplane works just as well). It tastes bitter-earthy, a little like cocoa without the fat, and the caffeine is strong. Because guaraná contains more caffeine than coffee, keep to one glass a day, and avoid it for children, during pregnancy or if you are sensitive to caffeine. The usual error is grating far too much, which makes it bitter and overpowering; a level teaspoon per glass is plenty. Chef's tip: let it stand for a minute after stirring so the powder hydrates, then stir again before drinking.

5 minBrazilianDrinksVeganGluten free
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Verdinas con mariscoGreen beans with prawns and clams

Verdinas are small, pale-green dried beans grown around Llanes in eastern Asturias, prized for their thin skins and buttery texture; seaside restaurants there pair them with whatever shellfish came in that morning. It is a newer dish than fabada, lighter and greener, often eaten in summer on the terraces above the harbour. If you can't find verdinas, French flageolet beans are the nearest match. Chef's tip: make a quick stock from the prawn shells and heads; it gives the beans far more flavour than plain water.

120 minSpanishFishGluten free
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SpetzofaiSausage and pepper stew

Spetzofai is the dish shepherds in the Pelion mountains near Volos cooked over the fire: spicy village pork sausages sliced and stewed with long green and red peppers in a thick tomato sauce. Now it's on every tsipouro-bar menu in Volos, served sizzling in a clay dish with bread and feta. Use coarse pork sausages with leek or orange peel if you can find them. Common mistake: cooking the peppers to mush — they should be soft but still hold their shape. Chef's tip: brown the sausage slices hard first; the fat they leave flavours the peppers.

55 minGreekMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Galeto al primo cantoRoast spring chicken

Caxias do Sul's galeterias serve galeto as an all-you-can-eat feast: young chicken, so small it is called al primo canto, at its first crow, marinated overnight in white wine, garlic, sage and rosemary, then roasted over embers and brought to the table with crisp fried polenta, pasta and salad. The habit came with the Italian immigrants of the Serra Gaúcha, and the meat is tender, juicy and fragrant with herbs. The marinade uses dry white wine; part of the alcohol cooks off during roasting but not all, so for an alcohol-free galeto use the same amount of chicken stock with 2 tbsp white wine vinegar. Marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge. Many cooks baste with the raw marinade right to the end; stop 10 minutes before the chicken is done so no raw juices reach the plate. Chef's tip: set the polenta the day before so it slices cleanly and fries crisp.

100 minBrazilianChicken
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Galayet bandoraStewed tomatoes with garlic and chilli

Ask anyone in Amman what they cook when the fridge is nearly empty and the answer is often galayet bandora: ripe tomatoes collapsed in a shallow pan with olive oil, garlic and hot green chilli until they turn jammy and sweet. It turns up at breakfast, as a quick supper, and over a camp fire on desert trips to Wadi Rum, always eaten straight from the pan with torn khubz or shrak. Some families add cubes of lamb; this meatless version is the one most homes make every week. The usual mistake is stirring too much and adding water, which gives you a thin sauce instead of glossy, slightly caramelised tomatoes. Chef's tip: let the tomatoes sit untouched for the first few minutes so their undersides catch and colour; that touch of browning is where the flavour comes from.

30 minJordanianVegetarianVeganSpicy
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GuajolotaTamal in a bread roll

Commuters in Mexico City grab a guajolota at the tamal stand by the bus stop at seven in the morning: a crusty bolillo roll split open with a whole steaming tamal pushed inside, sometimes with a smear of green salsa, eaten with a cup of atole. It is starch in starch, cheap and filling enough to last until lunch. The name means 'turkey hen', a joke about how stuffed it is. This recipe makes eight vegetarian tamales of roasted poblano strips and melting cheese (rajas con queso); four go into rolls and the rest freeze well. Shop-bought vegetarian tamales work if you are short of time. Chef's tip: warm the bolillo on the comal while the tamal rests, so the crust crackles against the soft masa.

120 minMexicanBreakfast & Brunch
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Spotted dogRaisin soda bread

Spotted dog, or 'spotted dick' and 'railway cake' in parts of Leinster, is white soda bread with a handful of raisins and a little sugar, the sweet loaf Irish grandmothers bake for the afternoon tea or Sunday visitors. It is soft, slightly cakey and best warm, split and buttered. Chef's tip: toss the dried fruit in the flour first so it stays spread through the loaf instead of sinking.

50 minIrishBreads & Parathas
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Spreewälder GurkenDill-fermented gherkins

In the Spreewald, the forest and canal country south-east of Berlin, cucumbers have been fermented in barrels of dill brine for centuries, and in late summer the riverbanks are lined with stalls selling them by the jar. These salt-fermented gherkins are sour, garlicky and crunchy, eaten as a snack, alongside sandwiches or with jacket potatoes and quark. No vinegar is used: lactic fermentation does the souring. The most common mistake is letting cucumbers poke above the brine, where mould can start. Chef's tip: choose small, firm, freshly picked cucumbers and add a few vine or oak leaves; their tannins keep the gherkins crisp.

30 minGermanSidesVeganGluten free
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Mona de PascuaEaster brioche with egg

On Easter Monday, families across the Valencian Community head out to the countryside or the beach to "menjar-se la mona": they eat an orange-scented sweet brioche, often with a whole egg baked on top, and children crack the egg on a friend's forehead. The bun is soft and fluffy, glazed and sprinkled with sugar or coloured aniseed sprinkles. Here the eggs are hard-boiled first, so they are cooked through whatever the size of your bun. A common mistake is adding all the flour at once to a sticky dough; it softens as you knead, so hold back the last 50 g until you've kneaded for a few minutes. Chef's tip: make the starter the evening before and the dough on the day; the slow start gives a lighter crumb that stays soft for two days.

70 minSpanishBaking
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Tocino de cieloEgg-yolk and syrup custard

Tocino de cielo means 'bacon from heaven', but there is no pork in it at all: the name refers only to its rich, deep-yellow colour. The story told in Jerez de la Frontera is that the sherry bodegas used egg whites to clarify their wine and gave the leftover yolks to the convents, whose nuns turned them into this. It is denser and silkier than flan, with no milk, and a small square goes a long way after Sunday lunch. Chef's tip: strain the yolk mixture twice and skim off every bubble; that is what gives the glassy, pore-free finish.

60 minSpanishDessertsGluten free
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MondeghiliFried beef and mortadella meatballs

Mondeghili are the thrifty meatballs of Milan, invented to use up the beef left from a pot of bollito misto and now a fixture on the aperitivo counters of the city's bars. The cooked beef is minced with mortadella, a soft pork sausage, then bound with milk-soaked bread, egg, grana and lemon zest, flattened slightly and fried in butter until crisp and brown. They are best warm, with a squeeze of lemon, a spoonful of green sauce or simply a cold drink before dinner. Leftover roast beef or veal works just as well as boiled meat. Chef's tip: flatten each ball a little before frying; they cook through evenly and get more of that crunchy crust.

35 minItalianSnacks & Starters
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SpundekäsWhipped quark and cream cheese dip

In Mainz and the wine villages of Rhine-Hesse, Spundekäs is what lands on the table at a wine festival or in a Straußwirtschaft, the pop-up taverns winemakers open in their courtyards in late summer. It is a light, airy whip of quark and cream cheese, sharpened with onion, garlic and plenty of sweet paprika, and it is scooped up with soft pretzels or Laugenbrezel. The name comes from the cone-shaped wooden 'Spund' it was once pressed into. A common mistake is using watery quark straight from the tub, which makes a runny dip; drain it first. Chef's tip: make it a couple of hours ahead so the onion softens into the cheese, then dust with fresh paprika just before serving.

15 minGermanChutneys & DipsGluten free
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GalatopitaMilk and semolina custard pie

Galatopita is the pie that Epirus shepherds' wives baked when the ewes were in full milk in spring, and you still find it in bakeries in Ioannina and Metsovo, cut into wobbly golden squares. Milk, eggs and semolina are cooked to a thick cream, poured into a buttered tin and baked until the top browns and puffs like a soufflé, then settles into a soft, set custard. Eat it warm or chilled with a dusting of cinnamon. Common mistake: baking at too high a heat, which cracks and weeps the custard — keep it moderate. Chef's tip: a single sheet of filo in the base makes it easier to lift out, but the old village version needs none.

70 minGreekDesserts
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FartonsSweet glazed buns for dipping

In Alboraya, just north of Valencia, the horchaterías that serve cold tiger-nut horchata in summer put a plate of fartons beside every glass: long, slim, soft buns with a shiny sugar glaze, designed to be dunked and to soak up the milky drink without falling apart. The dough is enriched with egg, milk and sunflower oil rather than butter, which gives them their light, cottony crumb. They are just as good with coffee or cold milk. A common mistake is rushing the second rise; under-proved fartons stay tight and bready instead of airy. Chef's tip: roll each strip a little thinner than you think, about as thick as your finger, because they almost double in the oven.

45 minSpanishBaking
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Zeytinyağlı taze baklaBroad beans in olive oil

In April, when the first tender broad beans arrive in İzmir's markets, Aegean cooks braise them whole, pods and all, with onion, dill and olive oil, and serve them cold under a blanket of garlic yoghurt. The pods turn silky and slightly sweet, nothing like the tough shells of older beans. It is one of the true markers of spring on the coast. Chef's tip: rub the pods with lemon and a little flour before cooking; it keeps them green and stops them blackening as they braise.

65 minTurkishVegetarianGluten free
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HaneenehWarm dates with breadcrumbs and ghee

Haneeneh is desert comfort food from the Bedouin tents of the Jordanian Badia: soft dates mashed into hot samneh with crumbs of yesterday's flatbread, scented with cardamom and pressed into a rich, fudgy sweet. It is made for guests, for new mothers and for cold mornings before herding, eaten by hand with black tea or Arabic coffee. It takes ten minutes and uses only store-cupboard things. The mistake to avoid is cooking the dates too long once they meet the ghee; they turn stiff and chewy instead of jammy. Chef's tip: toast the crumbs in the ghee first until nutty, then add the dates off the heat so the mixture stays soft.

20 minJordanianDesserts
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Hangtown fryOyster and bacon omelette

The Hangtown fry is said to have been ordered by a miner who struck gold near Placerville, then nicknamed Hangtown, in 1849, asking for the dearest dish in the house: oysters shipped up from San Francisco Bay, bacon (pork) and eggs, which were rare and costly in the gold fields. Today it is brunch at old San Francisco grills. Crisp crumbed oysters and bacon are set in a soft omelette. Chef's tip: fry the oysters before they meet the egg so their coating stays crisp.

30 minAmericanBreakfast & Brunch
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SteckerlfischMackerel grilled on a stick

Steckerlfisch, fish on a stick, is the smell of a Munich beer garden on a summer evening and of the Oktoberfest stalls: whole mackerel or lake whitefish threaded lengthways onto long wooden sticks, brushed with spiced oil and turned slowly in front of glowing charcoal. The skin turns crisp and golden and the flesh stays moist; it is eaten with fingers, a pretzel and a wedge of lemon. On a home barbecue the sticks are laid across the grill instead of stood around the fire. Chef's tip: grill over medium, not fierce, heat and be patient; the skin should blister slowly or it sticks and tears.

40 minGermanFishGluten free
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Yakhnet bazellaLamb and pea stew with rice

Yakhnet bazella is weekday food in almost every Lebanese household: cubes of lamb (or beef) simmered until tender with peas, carrots and tomato, with a last-minute hit of garlic and coriander, ladled over buttery vermicelli rice. Mothers in Beirut make it with frozen peas in winter and fresh ones in spring; children love its sweetness. Common mistake: adding the peas with the meat — they turn grey and mushy; put them in for the last 10 minutes. Chef's tip: brown the meat in small batches so it really sears; that browned base is where the stew's flavour comes from.

100 minLebaneseMeatGluten free
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Versunkener ApfelkuchenSunken apple sponge

Versunkener Apfelkuchen, the sunken apple cake, is the quickest cake in the German home repertoire, made on autumn weekends when the first Boskoop and Elstar apples come in from the orchards of the Altes Land near Hamburg and Lake Constance. Peeled apple halves are scored like a fan and pressed into a rich lemon sponge, which rises up around them as it bakes until they seem to sink in. Children love it still warm with whipped cream. A common mistake is cutting the scores too deep, so the apples fall apart; cut about two-thirds of the way through. Chef's tip: brush the apples with apricot jam the moment the cake comes out of the oven; it gives a shiny bakery glaze and keeps them from drying.

70 minGermanBaking
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