Featured recipe

Sandwich grec

Kebab baguette

In Paris, a "grec" is the late-night kebab sandwich named after the Greek-run shops that first sold it in the Latin Quarter. On rue de la Huchette and rue Saint-André-des-Arts near Saint-Michel, students queue after a night out for crusty bread or pitta stuffed with meat shaved from a turning spit, lettuce, tomato and onion, a garlicky white sauce, and, the Paris touch, a handful of fries pushed right inside. This home version marinates chicken thighs in spiced yoghurt, sears them hard and slices them thin, with oven fries. It contains milk, egg (in the mayonnaise) and wheat. Chef's tip: slice the meat thinly across the grain after resting; thick chunks don't feel like a grec.

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MsabbahaWhole chickpeas in tahini sauce

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MutzbratenMarjoram roast pork shoulder

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175 min

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Kermanshah in western Iran is famous for its nan-e berenji, and in the weeks before Nowruz bakeries there pack them by the boxful for guests who come visiting through the holiday. Made with rice flour, they are pale, crumbly and melt on the tongue, scented with cardamom and rosewater and sprinkled with a few poppy seeds. Many families make the dough a day ahead. The common mistake is letting them colour in the oven; they should come out white with only the faintest gold underneath. Chef's tip: rest the dough in the fridge for at least an hour so the rice flour hydrates; otherwise the cookies crack and spread.

120 min

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Nan-e sangakPebble-baked whole-wheat flatbread

Sangak means 'little stone': at bakeries in Tehran the dough is stretched onto a sloping bed of hot river pebbles inside a domed oven, and customers queue at dawn to carry home metre-long sheets folded over their arms, picking off the stones still stuck to the bread. It is a dimpled, chewy whole-wheat flatbread with a slight sourness and a toasted, blistered crust, eaten with cheese and herbs for breakfast or alongside kebabs. At home a tray of clean pebbles or a baking steel does the job. The common mistake is a stiff dough; sangak dough is very soft, almost a thick batter, which is what gives it its holes. Chef's tip: wet your hands well when stretching the dough onto the stones so it slides into a thin sheet without tearing.

195 min

Persian Breads & Parathas

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Nan-e taftoonThin tandoor flatbread

Taftoon is the everyday bread of many Iranian towns, from Qazvin to Kerman: thin, soft and slightly bubbly, slapped onto the hot clay wall of a tanoor and peeled off a minute later, then piled on the sofreh at lunch to wrap herbs and cheese or to scoop up stews. It is softer and thinner than barbari but less papery than lavash. A heavy pan or upturned wok on the hob gives very good results at home. The common mistake is rolling it unevenly; thin patches burn while thick ones stay doughy. Chef's tip: stack the breads in a tea towel as they come off the heat; the trapped steam keeps them soft and foldable.

125 min

Persian Breads & Parathas

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Nan-e tiriPaper-thin rolled bread

In the Zagros mountains of Lorestan and among the Bakhtiari nomads, women roll out nan-e tiri with a long, thin rod (the tir) until the dough is almost see-through, then flip it onto a domed iron saj over a wood fire. It cooks in seconds and is stacked high, and because it dries so thin it keeps for weeks and is softened with a sprinkle of water before eating. It needs only flour, water and salt. The usual mistake is resting the dough too little; it fights back and shrinks when rolled. Chef's tip: wind the dough around a long thin rolling pin as you roll and unroll it, as the Lori bakers do; it stretches the dough evenly without tearing.

90 min

Persian Breads & Parathas

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Nan-e YazdiCardamom and rosewater cupcakes

Nan-e Yazdi, often called Yazdi cakes, are the small domed cupcakes every Iranian bakery sells for breakfast and afternoon tea, first made in Yazd and now loved in Tehran and far beyond. The crumb is soft and a little dense, perfumed with cardamom and rosewater, and the tops are scattered with pistachio or sesame before baking. Children eat them dunked in milk. A common mistake is overbeating after the flour goes in, which makes the cakes tough and peaked; fold just until smooth. Chef's tip: rest the batter in the fridge for an hour before baking for a taller, crackled dome.

37 min

Persian Baking

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Navajas á pranchaGriddled razor clams

Razor clams are pulled from the sandy beds of the Galician rías, and in the seafood bars of Vigo and A Coruña they arrive straight from the griddle, opened up and glistening with garlic oil. They take two minutes to cook and are eaten with the fingers. Live razor clams twitch or pull in when touched: throw away any with cracked or broken shells, or that don't react at all. A common mistake is leaving them on the heat after they open, which turns the meat rubbery. Chef's tip: lay them all hinge side down in the same direction so they open evenly and the juices stay in the shells.

20 min

Spanish Fish

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Nebraska runzasBeef and cabbage bread pockets

Runzas came to Nebraska with Volga German settlers, who called them bierocks, and today they are the state's fast food, packed for Cornhusker football games and long drives across the plains. A soft, slightly sweet bread dough is wrapped around a peppery filling of beef mince, onion and cabbage and baked into a rectangular pocket. Chef's tip: let the filling cool and drain it in a sieve before filling; hot, wet filling makes the dough soggy and tear.

70 min

American Meat

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New Mexico biscochitosAnise cinnamon cookies

Biscochitos are New Mexico's official state cookie, baked by the thousand at Christmas, weddings and baptisms in Hispanic homes from Las Cruces to Taos. They are crumbly, short and scented with anise seed, cut into stars or fleurs-de-lis and dipped in cinnamon sugar. Grandmothers use lard, which gives the classic texture; this version uses butter so it stays vegetarian. Traditional recipes add a splash of brandy; here orange juice is used instead. Chef's tip: lightly crush the anise seeds to release the flavour.

37 min

American Baking

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NicuatoleCorn and cinnamon pudding

Nicuatole is a Zapotec sweet sold in little squares from glass cases at Oaxacan markets and at village fiestas, often with a bright pink top coloured with cochineal. It is made from corn masa cooked with water, sugar and cinnamon until it thickens enough to set when cool, a cousin of atole you can cut with a knife. The texture is soft, slightly bouncy and cool, and it is eaten as an afternoon treat. We give a coconut-milk option and use beetroot juice or a natural red food colouring instead of cochineal (which comes from insects) for the red layer. Chef's tip: cook it until the spoon leaves a clear path across the pan base for a full second; undercooked nicuatole never sets.

40 min

Mexican Desserts

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NoghlSugar-coated almond slivers

Noghl, the craggy white sugar-coated slivers of almond, is the confection of celebration in Iran, and the town of Urmia in West Azerbaijan is its home. It is showered over newlyweds at weddings, offered to guests at Nowruz and set beside tea on special days. Professionals build the spiky coat in a rotating copper pan over many hours; this home version does the same job in a wide pan, adding the rosewater syrup a little at a time. The usual mistake is adding too much syrup at once, which glues the almonds into a lump instead of building the knobbly crust. Chef's tip: keep the almonds moving constantly and wait until each coat is completely dry before the next.

120 min

Persian Desserts

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Tavuk pilavChicken and chickpea rice

Glass-fronted carts parked outside Istanbul's ferry piers and office blocks sell tavuk pilav from early morning: rice cooked in rich chicken stock with butter and chickpeas, heaped into a dish and topped with shredded chicken, black pepper and a pickled pepper on the side. Workers eat it standing up with a glass of ayran. At home it is just as easy and makes a whole chicken go a long way. Common mistake: stirring the rice while it steams; it breaks and turns sticky. Chef's tip: wash the rice until the water runs clear and soak it in warm salted water for 30 minutes; every grain stays separate and glossy.

90 min

Turkish Chicken

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Northumberland pan haggertyLayered potato, onion and cheese

Pan haggerty is a frugal supper from Northumberland and the Durham pit villages, made in a single heavy frying pan from thin layers of potato, onion and grated cheese. The bottom turns crisp and brown while the top melts under the grill, and it is eaten straight from the pan with pickles. Cheddar is often made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian cheddar. Chef's tip: slice the potatoes paper-thin and dry them in a tea towel; wet slices steam instead of browning.

60 min

British Vegetarian

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Nürnberger RostbratwürsteSmall marjoram pork sausages

Nuremberg's little pork sausages are barely longer than a finger, grilled over beechwood in the old town's sausage kitchens and sold three at a time in a crusty roll, 'Drei im Weggla', at the Christmas market and all year round. They are delicate, coarse-ground and fragrant with marjoram, mace and lemon zest, and at a sit-down meal six or twelve come on a pewter plate with sauerkraut and horseradish. Making them at home needs a mincer with a sausage nozzle and narrow sheep casings, and is a satisfying weekend project. Vegetarians can buy small vegetarian bratwursts and grill them with the same sides. Chef's tip: keep the meat and mincer ice-cold; warm fat smears and the sausages turn crumbly.

75 min

German Meat

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ObatzdaBeer-garden cheese spread

Obatzda is what a Munich beer garden puts beside a giant soft pretzel: overripe Camembert mashed with soft butter, sweet paprika, caraway and raw onion until it turns a creamy, rusty orange. It is a thrifty spread that grew up in Bavarian taverns as a way to use cheese that had gone a little too far, and it is still eaten in the afternoon sun with radishes and dark bread. Camembert is usually made with animal rennet, so pick one labelled vegetarian if that matters to you. A common mistake is blitzing it in a processor, which makes it gluey; mash with a fork so a few soft lumps stay. Chef's tip: make it an hour ahead and chill it, then let it stand 15 minutes before serving, so the paprika flavour blooms and it spreads easily.

15 min

German Chutneys & Dips

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OcopaPeanut, huacatay and cheese sauce

Arequipa's picanterías put ocopa on the table as a starter, a pale olive sauce spooned thickly over sliced boiled potatoes, and the smell of toasted chillies and huacatay (black mint) is what sets it apart from Lima's huancaína. The chillies are dried ají mirasol, charred in a dry pan, which gives a smoky, raisin-like warmth rather than sharp heat, and toasted peanuts make the sauce nutty and almost velvety. Many cooks thicken it with crackers; this version uses only peanuts and cheese, so it stays gluten free. Serve it at room temperature with yellow potatoes, a black olive and a few lettuce leaves, plus a halved boiled egg for anyone who eats eggs. The mistake people make is toasting the onion and chillies black, which turns the sauce bitter; they should be blistered in spots only. Queso fresco is often made with animal rennet, so look for a vegetarian fresh cheese. Chef's tip: huacatay paste comes in jars from Latin shops; without it, use a small handful of mint plus a few tarragon leaves.

30 min

Peruvian Chutneys & Dips

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Oeufs en meurettePoached eggs in red wine sauce

In Burgundy, between Dijon and Beaune, a meurette is any dish cooked in red wine sauce, and oeufs en meurette is the one served as a starter in village restaurants and at weekend lunches. Eggs are poached in a reduced, glossy sauce of red wine, shallots and stock, then served with crisp smoked pork lardons, button mushrooms and garlic-rubbed croutons to dip into the yolks. The sauce is deep, winey and savoury; the eggs make it rich. The dish uses red wine, and an alcohol-free version is in the notes. The yolks stay runny, so use pasteurised eggs for pregnant women, young children, older people or anyone with a weakened immune system, or poach the eggs until the yolks are set. Chef's tip: poach the eggs in water with a dash of vinegar rather than in the wine itself, so the whites stay white.

55 min

French Snacks & Starters

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OfenschlupferBaked bread pudding with apples

Ofenschlupfer, literally 'oven-crawler', is how Swabian farmhouse kitchens used up stale rolls on a Friday: slices of bread layered with apples, raisins and a little cinnamon in a deep dish, soaked in vanilla egg milk and baked until puffed and golden. Some families pour in a splash of rum; this version doesn't. It was once eaten as a sweet main course after a bowl of soup and is still served warm with vanilla sauce in Stuttgart cafés. A common mistake is baking it straight after pouring in the custard, which leaves dry patches on top; let it soak for 20 minutes. Chef's tip: dot the top with butter and a spoon of sugar for a crackly, caramelised crust.

65 min

German Desserts

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Olho de sograCoconut-stuffed prunes

The 'mother-in-law's eye' is a slightly teasing party sweet from the docinhos tradition of weddings and birthdays: a prune slit open and filled with a pale coconut fudge, so it looks like a dark eyelid around a white eye. It shows up on Brazilian sweet tables from Rio to Porto Alegre, often finished with a single clove for the pupil and rolled in crystal sugar. Chewy, sticky prune against creamy, coconutty filling makes it less cloying than many docinhos. Older recipes add egg yolks to the filling; this one is egg free. Stuffing them while the filling is still warm is a frequent mistake; it smears and the shape is lost. Chef's tip: choose large, soft pitted prunes and open them like a book with a small knife, without cutting all the way through.

42 min

Brazilian Desserts

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OliaiguaOnion, pepper and tomato soup

The name is simply oli i aigua, oil and water, and that is how Menorcan farm workers started it: a pan of olive oil, a little water and whatever the vegetable patch offered, poured over slices of hard bread. Today oliaigua amb tomàtigues is a July and August supper all over the island, from Ciutadella to Maó, slow-cooked onion, green pepper and ripe tomato in a light broth. Menorcans eat it with fresh figs or grapes on the side, which sounds odd and works beautifully. Chef's tip: the bread must be stale and sliced paper-thin, so it softens in the broth without dissolving into paste.

60 min

Spanish Soups

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Olive all'ascolanaStuffed fried olives

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

100 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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Olla gitanaChickpea, pumpkin and green bean stew

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

145 min

Spanish Vegetarian

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Omelette au brocciu et à la mentheFresh cheese and mint omelette

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

13 min

French Breakfast & Brunch

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Orellas de EntroidoCrisp sugared carnival pastries

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

70 min

Spanish Desserts

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Orkney clapshotSwede and potato mash

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

40 min

British Sides

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PaidakiaGrilled lamb chops

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

20 min

Greek Meat

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OuziSpiced rice and lamb filo parcels

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

100 min

Jordanian Meat

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Ovos moles de AveiroEgg-yolk and sugar cream

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

45 min

Portuguese Desserts

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Pa amb oli mallorquíTomato olive oil bread

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

15 min

Spanish Snacks & Starters

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PaçocaPeanut and cassava flour sweet

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

20 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Paçoca de carne de solPounded dried beef with cassava flour

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

65 min

Brazilian Meat

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Pacu assadoRoast whole river fish

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

80 min

Brazilian Fish

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Paiche a la parrillaGrilled paiche steaks

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

25 min

Peruvian Fish

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Pain d'épices de DijonHoney spice loaf

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

75 min

French Baking

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Pan de CalatravaCaramel bread pudding

Pan de Calatrava is Murcia's thrifty Sunday dessert, a flan thickened with yesterday's bread or leftover sponge and baked over a layer of dark caramel. Murcian grandmothers made it to use up the end of a loaf, and it is still on the menu at family-run restaurants across the region, cut into slices and served cold with the caramel running down. The milk is infused first with lemon peel and cinnamon. Chef's tip: let it chill overnight before turning it out, so it slices cleanly and the caramel turns to syrup.

80 min

Spanish Desserts

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