Featured recipe

Jegar

Lamb liver skewers in bread

On winter evenings in Tehran, the smell of jegaraki stalls, small grill shops selling skewers of lamb liver, heart and kidney, drifts across the streets, and people queue for a few skewers wrapped in warm lavash with raw onion and basil. This home version uses lamb liver cut into cubes and grilled fast over very hot coals so it stays soft and juicy, then seasoned only with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon at the end. A common mistake is salting the liver before grilling; it draws out moisture and makes it tough, so salt it as it comes off the heat. Chef's tip: ask the butcher for very fresh liver and peel off the thin outer membrane before cutting; it makes the cubes tender.

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Mazorca desgranadaSweetcorn with chicken and cheese

Food trucks and street corners in Bogotá and Medellín sell mazorca desgranada in plastic tubs, late into the evening: sweet corn kernels cut off the cob, fried in butter and layered with shredded chicken, melted cheese, crunchy potato sticks, pineapple sauce and salsa rosada. Some stands add bacon, beef or quail eggs; this version keeps to chicken. It is sweet, salty and gooey, and a hit with teenagers. Using tinned corn without draining it well is a common error: the water dilutes the sauces and the tub gets soggy. Chef's tip: fry the corn until a few kernels brown and pop; that caramelised edge stands up to all the sweet sauces. For a vegetarian tub, skip the chicken and use a cheese made with microbial rennet.

35 min

Colombian Fast Food

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Trucha a la navarraTrout with cured ham

The trout streams of the Navarrese Pyrenees, the Irati above Burguete and the Bidasoa among them, gave this dish to the whole of Spain, and it is still the summer lunch in the mountain inns where anglers stay. The fish is opened, a slice of cured ham laid inside, then floured and fried in olive oil so the ham's salt seasons the flesh. This contains pork (serrano ham). Serve it with boiled potatoes or a green salad. Chef's tip: cook in two pans or two batches rather than crowding one, so the skin crisps instead of steaming.

25 min

Spanish Fish

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Tallarines verdesSpaghetti with basil and spinach sauce

Peru's answer to pesto came from Italian-Ligurian families who settled in Lima and Callao, and it was quickly rebuilt with what Peruvian kitchens had: spinach to stretch the basil, queso fresco instead of hard cheese, and a can of evaporated milk to make it creamy. Menú restaurants in Lima serve it on weekdays, often with a breaded steak or a fried egg beside it, and the sauce turns out milder, softer and greener than the Genoese original. This version stays vegetarian: serve it with a tomato and onion salad, or crown each plate with a fried egg if you eat them. The classic mistake is boiling the leaves too long, which turns the sauce khaki and dull; they need only 20 seconds in hot water. Note that queso fresco is usually made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian (microbial-rennet) fresh cheese if that matters to you. Chef's tip: blend the sauce with the evaporated milk while the leaves are still cold from their ice bath and it will stay bright for the whole meal.

30 min

Peruvian Pasta & Noodles

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TaloGriddled corn flatbread

At Bilbao's and San Sebastián's Santo Tomás fair each 21 December, queues form at stalls where cooks pat out talos and slap them onto hot iron plates. The dough is nothing more than finely ground maize flour, warm water and salt, and the flatbreads were once the everyday bread of Basque farms. This vegetarian version is folded around melting cheese; Idiazabal, the classic choice, is made with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian sheep's cheese if you need to. A common mistake is a dough that is too dry, which cracks at the edges when you press it out. Chef's tip: keep your hands wet while shaping, and the discs will come out smooth and round.

30 min

Spanish Breads & Parathas

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Kabab torshSour beef kebabs with walnut

Kabab torsh, the 'sour kebab', comes from the green, rainy province of Gilan on the Caspian, where roadside grills around Rasht and Fuman sell it with smoky kateh rice and fresh herbs. Cubes of beef are rubbed with a thick paste of ground walnuts, pomegranate molasses, garlic and crushed dried mint or wild herbs, left overnight, then grilled until the paste turns into a dark, sticky crust. It is tangy, nutty and quite unlike the saffron kebabs of Tehran. A common mistake is grilling over fierce flames; the walnut paste scorches before the meat is done, so use steady medium coals. Chef's tip: keep back a few spoons of the paste and brush it on in the last minute for a fresh, glossy finish.

40 min

Persian Meat

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Tamales de chipilínChipilín leaf tamales

Chipilín is a small-leaved wild legume that grows along the fields of Chiapas and Tabasco, and its grassy, faintly bitter leaves turn up in soups, rice and, most of all, these tamales. In Tuxtla Gutiérrez and San Cristóbal they are sold from steaming pots in the early evening and taken home for supper with hot chocolate or atole: soft, pale green-speckled masa wrapped around a cube of fresh cheese, often with a spoon of tomato salsa. Cooks there beat the masa with lard; vegetable shortening gives the same light texture. Frozen chipilín is sold at Central American grocers; spinach with a few watercress leaves is a fair stand-in. Chef's tip: strip the leaves from the stems by pinching and pulling down; stems make the masa stringy.

125 min

Mexican Snacks & Starters

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Tamales norteñosBeef corn tamales

Families in Salta and Jujuy make tamales by the hundred, usually for the national holidays or for the winter fiestas in the Quebrada, with everyone at the table spreading dough onto husks, spooning in filling and tying parcels. The northern Argentine tamal is different from the Mexican one: the dough is made from finely ground white or yellow maize cooked with squash and beef fat, and the filling is a red, peppery mix of beef (traditionally from the head or charqui, dried beef) with onion, ají molido and cumin. Each parcel is folded and tied with a strip of husk into a little bundle, then boiled. Expect a long, hard afternoon, but they freeze well. Look for dried corn husks and fine maize flour in Latin American shops; masa harina also works. The filling must reach 71 °C, as for any mince, before it goes into the husks. Dough that is too dry is the usual mistake and cracks as it cooks; it should feel like soft polenta. Chef's tip: soak the husks in hot water for 30 minutes so they fold without splitting.

180 min

Argentinian Meat

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Tamales oaxaqueñosTamales with black mole and chicken

In Oaxaca, tamales are wrapped in banana leaves rather than corn husks, which makes them flat, square and very moist, with a faint grassy scent from the leaf. These are the classic version filled with mole negro and shredded chicken, sold from steaming pots at morning markets and made by the dozen for Christmas, Candlemas on 2 February and the Day of the Dead. The masa is beaten with pork lard, which gives the traditional light, rich texture; vegetable shortening works if you avoid pork. Use leftover mole negro, or a simplified mole made from good ready-made paste thinned with broth. Eat them with hot chocolate or atole. Chef's tip: keep a coin in the bottom of the steamer; when it stops rattling, the water has run low and needs topping up.

135 min

Mexican Chicken

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Tamalitos verdesGreen fresh corn tamales

Bright green from a whole bunch of coriander, tamalitos verdes are the morning snack of Chiclayo and Trujillo, sold warm at market stalls and bakeries and unwrapped at the table with a heap of salsa criolla on top. Fresh corn is ground with coriander, onion and ají amarillo into a soft dough, wrapped around a strip of fresh cheese in corn husks and steamed. They should be tender, moist and herby, with a slightly sweet corn flavour and a salty melting middle. Traditional ones are made with lard; this version uses vegetable oil to stay vegetarian. The classic problem is a dough that's too wet, which makes the tamales fall apart; the starchy Peruvian choclo is ideal, and if you use sweet corn, add the cornmeal to firm it up. Queso fresco is usually made with animal rennet, so look for a vegetarian fresh cheese. Chef's tip: keep the steamer water at a steady simmer and top it up with boiling water, never cold, so the steam never stops.

90 min

Peruvian Snacks & Starters

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Tamar hindiTamarind drink

During Ramadan in Damascus, street sellers in bright waistcoats pour tamar hindi from tall brass jugs on their backs, clinking cups to call buyers before iftar. The drink is a deep brown infusion of tamarind, sweetened and sharpened with lemon and a touch of rose or orange blossom, served ice cold to quench a day's thirst. It is fruity, tangy and refreshing, and made in a big batch to keep in the fridge. Common mistake: boiling the tamarind hard — gentle soaking gives a clean taste, while boiling makes it muddy. Chef's tip: strain twice, the second time through a cloth, for a clear, glossy drink.

15 min

Syrian Drinks

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SericaiaCinnamon baked egg custard

Sericaia is the pride of Elvas, on the Spanish border, and of Alentejo convent baking: a light custard of eggs, milk and sugar lifted with beaten whites, spooned into a clay dish, dusted with cinnamon and baked until it puffs and splits into deep cracks. It is always served with Elvas plums in syrup, whose sharpness cuts the sweetness; any good plums poached in syrup will do. It is a Sunday and festive dessert across the region. A common mistake is spreading the mixture smooth: drop it in large spoonfuls so it bakes into the craggy, cracked top that defines it. Chef's tip: cook the yolk custard until really thick before folding in the whites; a thin custard collapses in the oven.

60 min

Portuguese Desserts

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Tourte de blettesSweet Swiss chard pie

Visitors to Vieux-Nice are often surprised to find a pie of green chard leaves sold as a dessert, by the slice, in the old-town bakeries. The sweet tourte de blettes mixes chard with raisins, pine nuts, apple and a little cheese inside a sugared pastry, and Niçois families set it out on Christmas Eve as one of the thirteen desserts. The raisins are traditionally plumped in rum or marc; warm orange juice is used here, so it is alcohol-free. Parmesan is made with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian hard cheese if you need to. Chef's tip: use only the green leaves; the white ribs make the filling watery, but keep them for a gratin.

100 min

French Baking

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Khubz taboonDimpled flatbread

In Palestinian villages the taboon is a small clay oven lined with hot pebbles, and the bread baked on them comes out round, chewy and pocked with dimples where the stones pressed in. Women still bake it at dawn in the Galilee and around Nablus, and it is the bread that wraps musakhan, gets dipped in olive oil and za'atar, and is torn for breakfast with labneh. At home, a tray of clean pebbles or a very hot baking steel gets you close. Common mistake: rolling it too thin, which makes a cracker; it should be about 1 cm thick. Chef's tip: a little wholemeal flour and an overnight rest in the fridge give the nutty, slightly sour taste of village bread.

50 min

Palestinian Breads & Parathas

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KazandibiCaramelised milk pudding

Kazandibi means 'bottom of the cauldron', and in the old pudding shops of Istanbul's Beyoğlu and Fatih it is cut from a big tray whose base was caramelised on purpose over a flame. The square is rolled up so the burnished, faintly bitter top hides a soft, cool vanilla pudding inside. Serve it chilled with a dusting of cinnamon and a glass of tea. The traditional palace version had shredded chicken in it; this everyday version is purely milk, rice flour and sugar. Chef's tip: use a heavy-based, non-stick pan or tin and give the sugar a full deep amber before the pudding goes in, because pale caramel just tastes sweet rather than toasty.

45 min

Turkish Desserts

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MurtuğaButter-toasted flour with egg

A Van breakfast is famously huge, with herb cheese, honey, kaymak and olives, and in winter it often includes a pan of murtuğa: flour slowly toasted in plenty of butter until golden, then scrambled together with eggs into rich, crumbly nuggets. It's a dish from cold mountain homes where a filling breakfast had to last until evening, eaten hot with bread or on its own with tea. Common mistake: rushing the flour on a high heat so it scorches before it cooks through; keep it low and keep stirring. Chef's tip: beat the eggs with a splash of water before adding them; they spread through the flour more evenly and stay softer.

20 min

Turkish Breakfast & Brunch

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Zibdiyit gambariBaked prawns with tomato and garlic

In Gaza's seafront restaurants zibdiyit gambari arrives bubbling in the same clay bowl (zibdiya) in which the sauce was pounded: prawns baked in a fierce tomato sauce full of garlic, green chilli and dill seed, with olive oil pooling at the edges for dipping bread. Families make it at home for special Friday lunches when the catch is good. Common mistake: cooking the prawns as long as the sauce, which makes them tough; they need only a few minutes at the end. Chef's tip: pound the garlic, chilli and dill seed by hand; the rough paste fries into the oil and gives the sauce its punch.

30 min

Palestinian Fish

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Soda farlsGriddled soda bread

Soda farls are the griddle bread of Northern Ireland, cooked on a flat pan rather than baked, and split and fried in the Ulster fry or eaten warm with butter and jam. Plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk make a quick, light dough that is shaped into a round and cut into four farls. Chef's tip: get the griddle hot before the dough is mixed; the soda starts working as soon as the buttermilk goes in.

30 min

British Breads & Parathas

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Kabab bargSaffron lamb fillet kebabs

Kabab barg is the prized kebab of Tehran's old chelow-kababi restaurants, ordered for celebrations and served on a mound of buttery-looking saffron rice with grilled tomatoes and a raw egg yolk for those who like it. The name means 'leaf kebab': lamb loin or beef fillet is pounded into thin sheets, marinated overnight in onion juice and saffron, then threaded flat on wide sword skewers and grilled fast over hot charcoal. It is tender enough to cut with the edge of a spoon. A common mistake is leaving onion pieces in the marinade; they burn on the grill, so use only the juice. Chef's tip: score the meat lightly in a criss-cross with the back of a knife; it stops the strips curling and lets the marinade in.

40 min

Persian Meat

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LemonanaFrozen mint lemonade

From café terraces in Ramallah and Jaffa to juice bars along Hamra Street in Beirut, summer means tall glasses of lemonana: lemons and fistfuls of fresh mint blended with ice into a sharp, sweet, electric-green slush. It is the drink handed to you after a walk through the market at noon, and it cools a mezze lunch like nothing else. Everything goes in a blender, but the mint must be fresh and plentiful. The common mistake is blending the mint for too long, which bruises it and turns the drink murky and grassy. Chef's tip: make a lemon-sugar syrup first and chill it; dissolved sugar sweetens evenly and lets you blend for only a few seconds.

20 min

Palestinian Drinks

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ShrakPaper-thin saj flatbread

In Bedouin camps around Wadi Rum and Ma'an, shrak is baked fresh for every meal: dough stretched thinner than a handkerchief, flung over a domed iron saj above the fire and lifted off seconds later, soft and blistered. It is the bread that lines the mansaf platter and wraps grilled meat, and it is torn for galayet and labneh at breakfast. At home an upturned wok over a gas flame stands in for the saj. The common mistake is rolling the dough on a dry surface; it tears, so oil your hands and worktop instead and stretch the dough over the backs of your hands like a pizza maker. Chef's tip: rest the dough balls a full 30 minutes, well oiled and covered; relaxed gluten stretches to near see-through without fighting back.

65 min

Jordanian Breads & Parathas

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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 min

Lebanese Meat

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Zapallitos rellenosStuffed round squash

Round green zapallitos, the size of a tennis ball, pile up at every verdulería in Buenos Aires from December to March, and stuffing them is how home cooks turn a cheap summer vegetable into a main course. The shells are blanched, hollowed and refilled with their own flesh fried with onion and red pepper, bound with egg and melting cheese, and topped with breadcrumbs that bake to a crunchy lid. Expect a soft, savoury, slightly creamy filling under a golden crust; serve two per person with a tomato and onion salad or white rice. Overcooking the shells in the first boil is the trap: they collapse in the oven and leak water, so they only get 4 minutes. Round courgettes, eight-ball squash or short fat courgettes all work. The cheeses are usually made with animal rennet; swap in vegetarian versions if needed. Chef's tip: squeeze the chopped flesh in a clean cloth before frying it; drier filling means a firmer, tastier stuffing.

60 min

Argentinian Vegetarian

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Trucha fritaFried trout with potatoes and rice

Rainbow trout farmed in the cold, clear water of Lake Titicaca is what you eat in Puno, at lakeside restaurants and on the floating islands: a whole fish, dusted in flour and fried until the skin crackles, with boiled Andean potatoes, rice, a simple salad and lime. The flesh is pink-white, sweet and moist; nothing else is needed. Ask your fishmonger to gut and scale the trout. The most common mistake is moving the fish too early, which tears the skin; leave it until it releases from the pan by itself. Chef's tip: slash the thick part of each side twice before flouring, so the fish cooks evenly and the skin crisps right up to the head.

30 min

Peruvian Fish

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Kaymaklı ekmek kadayıfıBread pudding with clotted cream

Ekmek kadayıfı is a big disc of dried, airy bread that pudding shops in Istanbul and Afyon soak in syrup until it turns dark, sticky and soft, then top with a thick slab of buffalo-milk kaymak. The contrast is the point: cold, rich cream against the warm, almost caramel-flavoured, juicy bread. At home you can use slices of stale brioche-style bread if you can't buy the ready-made disc. Chef's tip: pour hot syrup over completely dry bread, a little at a time, and wait between pours so every crumb drinks it up evenly.

45 min

Turkish Desserts

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Tapao de pescadoFish and green plantain stew

Quibdó's riverside kitchens and the villages along the Atrato and Baudó rivers make tapao, which simply means 'covered': fish and chunks of green plantain cooked in a little water and a refrito of onion, tomato and herbs, with the pot sealed under a plantain leaf and a lid so it all cooks in its own steam. There's no coconut, unlike the Pacific's encocados, so it tastes clean and brothy, of fish and herbs, with the plantain soaking up the juices and thickening them slightly. It's a weekday dish, often made with bocachico or other river fish, and eaten from deep plates with a spoon and fingers. Adding the fish with the plantain from the start is a common slip; the plantain needs a head start or the fish falls apart before the plantain is tender. Chef's tip: if you can find bocachico or another river fish, use it; otherwise sea bream or tilapia steaks with the bone in give the broth the best flavour.

55 min

Colombian Fish

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Tapenade provençaleBlack olive and caper spread

The name gives the game away: tapeno is the Provençal word for capers, and a Marseille chef is said to have first pounded them with black olives in the 1880s. Across Provence, from the markets of Nyons to the cafés of Aix, tapenade comes out with the apéritif before a long summer dinner, spread thickly on toasted baguette. The classic recipe adds a few anchovy fillets; this version leaves them out and leans on extra capers and lemon for the salty, savoury edge, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: buy olives with stones and pit them yourself; ready-pitted black olives are often the dyed, bland kind and give a flat, inky spread.

15 min

French Chutneys & Dips

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Ka'ak bi haleebSoft milk cookies

Lebanese families bake ka'ak bi haleeb by the tray before Eid and Easter alike, stamping each round with a carved wooden mould so it comes out patterned like a little rosette. They are soft rather than crisp, gently sweet, perfumed with mahlab (ground cherry kernels), anise and orange blossom water, and dusted with sesame or left plain. Children dunk them in milk, grown-ups in tea. The common mistake is adding too much flour to make the dough easier to handle, which gives dry, bready cookies. Chef's tip: let the shaped cookies rise for 30 minutes before baking; the yeast makes them pillowy and keeps the stamped pattern sharp.

45 min

Lebanese Baking

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MeghliSpiced rice pudding

When a baby is born in Lebanon, the family cooks a big pot of meghli and hands out bowls to every visitor who comes to congratulate them; it also appears at Christmas in Christian homes. Ground rice is simmered with sugar and warm spices — caraway, cinnamon and anise — until it sets into a smooth, cocoa-brown pudding with no milk or eggs at all. Each bowl is topped with desiccated coconut and a generous pile of soaked walnuts, almonds, pistachios and pine nuts. Common mistake: walking away from the pot; ground rice catches and lumps fast, so it needs steady stirring. Chef's tip: soak the nuts in cold water overnight and peel the almonds; they turn plump and crisp, which is the hallmark of a good meghli.

50 min

Lebanese Desserts

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Truchas de batataSweet potato and almond pastries

Despite the name, there is no trout in these: truchas are crisp half-moon pastries that Tenerife and Gran Canaria fry by the hundred in the week before Christmas, and they are what neighbours bring each other on Christmas Eve. The filling is mashed sweet potato with ground almonds, sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and anise, wrapped in a thin olive-oil dough. Some families add a spoon of anise liqueur or sweet wine to the dough; this version uses neither and is vegan. Chef's tip: let the filling cool completely and keep it thick, or the steam softens the dough and it bursts in the oil.

90 min

Spanish Desserts

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Königsberger KlopseVeal meatballs in caper sauce

Königsberger Klopse come from old East Prussia, but today they are cooked all over Berlin and eastern Germany as a weekday family dinner and a school-canteen favourite. Soft meatballs of veal, or veal mixed with pork, are poached in broth, then served in a creamy, lemony white sauce dotted with capers, with boiled potatoes and beetroot salad. A little anchovy in the meat is traditional and gives a savoury depth without tasting of fish. Chef's tip: poach, never boil, the meatballs; a gentle simmer keeps them light and stops them breaking.

60 min

German Meat

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Maduro con quesoBaked plantain with cheese

Cali cooks treat a black-skinned plantain as a treat rather than a fruit past its best, and maduro con queso shows why. The plantain bakes in its own skin until the flesh turns sticky and caramel-sweet, then it is split lengthways and packed with soft white cheese that melts into the hot fruit. In the Valle del Cauca it turns up at home lunches beside rice, beans and a sudado, and at weekend corrientazo counters as the sweet note on a savoury plate. The cheese of choice is a mild, stretchy quesillo or queso campesino, both normally set with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian mozzarella-style cheese if that matters to you. Where it goes wrong is the plantain: a yellow one with a few spots stays starchy and dry, so wait until the skin is almost completely black and the fruit gives when pressed. Chef's tip: bake the plantains on a tray lined with baking paper, because the sugars leak out of the skins and burn onto bare metal.

40 min

Colombian Sides

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TaramosalataFish roe dip

Taramosalata is the star of Clean Monday, the first day of Greek Lent, scooped onto torn lagana at picnics while children fly kites, and it stays on taverna meze tables all year. The real thing is beige-pink, not bright pink, made from salted cured carp or cod roe (tarama) beaten with soaked bread, onion, lemon and oil into a salty, briny, mousse-like dip. Because tarama is cured rather than cooked, buy pasteurised roe for a safer version; even so, this dip is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Common mistake: adding the oil too fast, which splits it. Chef's tip: use white tarama if you can find it; it is less salty and lets the lemon shine.

20 min

Greek Chutneys & Dips

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Mejillones a la provenzalMussels with garlic and parsley

On the Atlantic coast around Puerto Madryn and the Golfo Nuevo, mussels from cold Patagonian waters are farmed and gathered in quantity, and seafood places along the rambla steam them a la provenzal, which in Argentina means lots of garlic and parsley. A splash of dry white wine goes into the pot; the alcohol mostly cooks off, but you can swap it for fish stock with a little lemon for an alcohol-free pot that tastes just as good. Serve with bread or chips to mop up the briny juices. Cooking mussels too long is the usual slip: they shrink and turn rubbery, so lift the lid as soon as most have opened. Before cooking, throw away any mussel with a broken shell or one that stays open when tapped; after cooking, discard any that stay shut. Chef's tip: keep the garlic in gently warm oil until it just smells sweet; brown garlic turns bitter and dominates the mussels.

25 min

Argentinian Fish

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Tarhana çorbasıFermented yoghurt and vegetable soup

Late every summer, women across Central Anatolia, from Uşak to Konya and Sivas, ferment a dough of yoghurt, flour, tomatoes, peppers and onion, dry it on cloths in the sun and rub it into crumbs. All winter that tarhana becomes a quick, warming soup with a gentle sourness and the sweetness of sun-dried pepper. It is breakfast in villages, a cure for colds in cities, and is eaten with bread and a squeeze of lemon. Common mistake: tipping dry tarhana straight into hot liquid, which forms stubborn lumps; soak it in cold water first. Chef's tip: finish with a spoon of butter sizzled with dried mint and chilli flakes drizzled over each bowl; it lifts the whole soup.

30 min

Turkish Soups

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Mexillóns en escabechePickled mussels

Galicia's estuaries are lined with the wooden rafts (bateas) where mussels grow on ropes, and the region's canneries have long sold them in escabeche: steamed, shelled and kept in a warm-spiced marinade of oil, vinegar and paprika. Made at home, they're a tapa for an aperitif with crisps and cold drinks, and they keep for several days. Throw away any mussels with cracked shells, and any open ones that don't close when tapped, before cooking. A common mistake is pouring the marinade over cold mussels straight from the fridge: mix while both are warm so the flavours soak in, then chill. Chef's tip: they taste best after a full day in the fridge.

40 min

Spanish Fish

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Kars kazıRoast goose with bulgur pilaf

In Kars, geese are raised all summer, slaughtered in the first frosts, salted and hung in the cold air, then roasted through the winter for weddings and long family dinners. The crisp-skinned meat is served on a bed of bulgur pilaf cooked in the goose's rich fat and broth, and nothing else is needed but pickles and ayran. This home version uses a fresh goose, salted for a day in the fridge. Common mistake: not pricking the skin, which traps the fat and leaves the skin flabby. Roast until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 74 °C and the juices run clear. Chef's tip: pour off the fat during roasting and keep it; a spoonful in the pilaf and the rest for roast potatoes.

240 min

Turkish Meat

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Tarta de chocloSweetcorn tart

Ask any Argentine rotisería for a slice of tarta and choclo will be next to the chard and the ham-and-cheese. This is the creamy one: sweetcorn kernels folded into a thick white sauce with softened onion and red pepper, set with egg and cheese inside a buttery shortcrust. It is lunchbox and picnic food, eaten warm or at room temperature with a green salad, and it is a big favourite with children for its sweetness. The filling should slice cleanly but still be soft. A runny centre is the usual problem, and it comes from a thin white sauce or from forgetting to blind-bake: make the sauce thick enough to coat the spoon heavily, and part-bake the case. Mozzarella and grated hard cheese are often made with animal rennet, so buy vegetarian ones if that matters. Chef's tip: blitz a third of the corn with the white sauce; it gives a creamier, more corn-tasting filling while the whole kernels keep some bite.

80 min

Argentinian Vegetarian

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Tarta de SantiagoFlourless almond cake

Pilgrims finishing the Camino in Santiago de Compostela see this cake in every bakery window around the cathedral, dusted white with icing sugar and stencilled with the cross of St James. It is made only from ground almonds, sugar, eggs and a little lemon and cinnamon, so it is naturally free of gluten, moist and dense with a thin crisp crust. Galicians eat it with coffee after Sunday lunch or at weddings. A common mistake is overbeating the eggs to a foam, which makes the cake rise and then sink; just mix until smooth. Chef's tip: cut a cross from paper and lay it on the cold cake before sifting over the icing sugar.

55 min

Spanish Baking

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Kärntner KasnudelnCurd cheese filled pasta half-moons

Kasnudeln are the pride of Carinthia in Austria's south, where every village claims the best filling and where they are eaten on Fridays and at church fairs. Big half-moons of thin noodle dough are stuffed with crumbly curd cheese, floury potato, onion and fresh mint, then sealed with a braided edge called 'krendeln' that keeps the filling in as they simmer. They are served with a generous pour of brown butter and chives, often with a green salad. A common mistake is rolling the dough too thick: it should be thin enough to see your hand through, or the folded edges turn stodgy. Carinthian Topfen is usually made without animal rennet, but check the label and pick a vegetarian quark. Chef's tip: if crimping feels tricky, press the edges with a fork first, then practise the braid on the last few.

90 min

Austrian Pasta & Noodles

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MaftoulHand-rolled couscous with chicken

Maftoul means 'rolled', and in Palestinian villages women still sit together in autumn rolling bulgur and flour by hand into pea-sized pearls, drying them in the sun to last the winter. For a family gathering, the maftoul is steamed over a pot of chicken simmering with onions, chickpeas and caraway, then served on a big platter with the chicken on top and the broth in bowls alongside. Bought maftoul or giant couscous is fine. Common mistake: boiling the maftoul like pasta, which makes it gluey; steam it, then moisten with broth. Chef's tip: toss the dry maftoul with oil and spices before steaming so every grain stays separate.

105 min

Palestinian Chicken

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Tarte au sucre lilloiseBrioche sugar tart

In Lille and across the Nord, a sugar tart is not pastry at all but a flat round of soft brioche dough, dimpled and covered with brown cassonade sugar, butter and a little egg and cream, which bakes into a sticky, caramelised top over a fluffy base. Families buy it from the boulangerie for Sunday breakfast and goûter, or bake one when guests come for coffee. The Nord's own beet sugar, vergeoise, gives it a deep, almost molasses flavour; soft dark brown sugar is the closest swap. Chef's tip: press deep dimples into the risen dough with your fingertips before adding the topping; the sugar and cream collect in them and bake into little pools of caramel.

55 min

French Baking

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Tarte aux pralines rosesPink praline tart

Lyon's pralines are almonds coated in hard, shocking-pink sugar, and the city's bakeries melt them with cream into a sticky, vivid filling for this tart, sold by the slice in every pâtisserie from Bellecour to the Croix-Rousse. It is very sweet and nutty, with a crunch from the almonds, and is eaten in small slices with coffee. Look for pink pralines coloured with plant-based colourings; some are coloured with carmine (E120), which comes from insects. Chef's tip: crush the pralines roughly in a bag with a rolling pin, leaving some pieces the size of a lentil for crunch.

80 min

French Baking

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MushabbakFried batter spirals in syrup

Glass counters in the souks of Nablus and Damascus are stacked with mushabbak, crisp latticed spirals of fried batter dunked in syrup until they glisten. They are bought by the bag for Christian and Muslim feast days, for Ramadan evenings and for no reason at all, and are best eaten within hours while the shells still crack. A lightly fermented batter piped into hot oil gives the hollow, crunchy rings. The mistake to avoid is oil that is not hot enough: the batter soaks up fat and the spirals turn heavy and limp. Chef's tip: the syrup must be cold and the mushabbak hot; dip, count to three and lift, and they stay crisp for hours.

105 min

Palestinian Desserts

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Mel i matóCurd cheese with honey and walnuts

On the road up to Montserrat, farm women once sat at stalls selling fresh mató, a soft, mild, unsalted curd cheese, and the dessert of mató drizzled with honey became a fixture of Catalan restaurants. It is as simple as dessert gets, and best with the freshest cheese. Shop-bought mató and some ricottas are set with animal rennet; this home version is set with lemon juice instead, so it is vegetarian. If you buy cheese, check the label for a vegetarian or microbial rennet. Chef's tip: heat the milk gently and stop at 90 °C; boiling makes the curds tough and grainy.

30 min

Spanish Desserts

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Karadeniz mısır ekmeğiGolden cornbread

Along the Black Sea coast from Samsun to Artvin, cornbread was the everyday loaf long before wheat bread was common, and it still sits beside bowls of collard soup and plates of fried anchovies. This version is the simple household one: fine cornmeal scalded with hot water and milk, a little wheat flour and egg for lift, baked in a well-oiled pan until the crust cracks and the inside stays moist and slightly sweet. Cut it into wedges and eat it warm with butter, cheese or crumbled into soup. Common mistake: using cold water, which leaves the cornmeal gritty; scalding it first softens the grains. Chef's tip: heat the oiled pan in the oven before the batter goes in, so the base sizzles and forms a crisp, shiny crust.

50 min

Turkish Breads & Parathas

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Mulinciani chiniStuffed aubergines

Mulinciani chini, 'full aubergines' in Calabrian dialect, are what summer gardens across Calabria turn into in August: halved aubergines hollowed out, their pulp fried and mixed with soaked bread, pecorino, egg, garlic and basil, then piled back into the shells and baked in a light tomato sauce. They are made in big trays for family lunches and taken cold to the beach the next day. The filling turns soft and savoury, the shells silky. Chef's tip: they taste best after resting for an hour, so they are perfect to make ahead.

70 min

Italian Vegetarian

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Zapallo en almíbarCandied squash

Across the Argentine countryside, when the autumn squash harvest piles up, cooks turn some of it into zapallo en almíbar: cubes of firm orange squash soaked briefly in slaked lime (cal) and then simmered in syrup until they are crisp-skinned outside and tender, almost translucent inside. Farm stalls in Córdoba and Santiago del Estero sell it in jars, and it is eaten as dessert with a slice of cheese, the same idea as postre vigilante. This home version skips the lime and uses a short sugar cure instead, which still keeps the pieces whole. It is vegan as written; serve it with vegan cheese or toasted walnuts to keep it that way. The mistake to avoid is stirring: the squash breaks into purée, so shake the pan instead. Chef's tip: use a dense, dry squash such as Crown Prince or butternut neck, and cook the syrup slowly; if it boils hard the outside candies before the centre softens.

90 min

Argentinian Desserts

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MelcochasPulled panela taffy

Pulling melcocha is a spectacle at roadside stalls in panela country, around Villeta in Cundinamarca and the Santander highlands. A syrup of panela is boiled until thick, cooled just enough to handle, then stretched, folded and stretched again until it turns from dark brown to a pale, satiny gold and becomes chewy. It is twisted into ropes and cut into pieces that taste of caramel and molasses. Kids and adults both buy it in little bags, and it makes a fun kitchen project for a group. Getting the timing wrong is the usual mistake: too hot and it burns your hands and sticks, too cold and it snaps instead of stretching. Work when it feels like warm putty. The syrup is dangerously hot, so keep children well back until it has cooled. Chef's tip: a sugar thermometer takes the guesswork out; take the syrup off at 125 °C for a chewy result.

45 min

Colombian Desserts

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Tas kebabıBraised beef with rice

Despite the name, tas kebabı never sees a grill: it is a bowl ('tas') of beef braised slowly with lots of onion, tomato and a little pepper paste until the meat is soft and the sauce is rich and glossy. It is a mainstay of esnaf lokantası, the tradesmen's restaurants where workers eat a hot lunch from steam trays, and is served over buttery rice pilaf or alongside mashed potato. Common mistake: crowding the pan when browning, so the beef boils grey. Chef's tip: cook the onions down until jammy before the tomato goes in; they melt into the sauce and give it body without any flour.

125 min

Turkish Meat

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MelitiniaSweet cheese cups with mastic

Santorini's Easter sweet is melitinia: small, thin pastry cups pinched around a soft filling of fresh cheese, sugar and mastic, baked until the tops crack and turn golden. Islanders bake trays of them on Holy Saturday and offer them on Easter Sunday with coffee, and their resinous, piney mastic perfume sets them apart from cheese pastries elsewhere in Greece. Fresh mizithra is the island cheese; ricotta, usually rennet-free, is a good substitute. Common mistake: grinding mastic on its own, which makes it gum up; always crush it with a spoon of sugar. Chef's tip: roll the pastry very thin, about 2 mm, so it bakes crisp around the creamy filling.

70 min

Greek Baking

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