All recipes

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Tonkatsu (panko pork cutlet)

Tonkatsu took shape in Tokyo's Ueno and Ginza in the early 20th century, and the specialist katsu restaurants there still serve it the same way: a thick pork loin cutlet in a light, spiky panko crust, sliced into strips, with a mountain of feather-fine cabbage, rice, miso soup and a pot of thick, fruity tonkatsu sauce. This version uses a simple homemade sauce of ketchup, Worcestershire and soy rather than the miso sauce of Nagoya. The common mistake is frying too hot: the crumbs burn before the centre cooks. Fry at 170 °C, then rest the cutlets, which finish cooking as they sit; pork loin is safe at 63 °C after a 3-minute rest. Chef's tip: snip the fat along the edge every 2 cm before crumbing so the cutlet stays flat.

35 min

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Carpaccio di manzoRaw beef carpaccio

Carpaccio was created at Harry's Bar in Venice in the 1950s for a countess whose doctor had told her to avoid cooked meat, and it was named after the painter Vittore Carpaccio for its deep red colour. Venetians eat it as a light first course at lunch: beef sliced so thin you can see the plate through it, with a creamy mustard-lemon sauce drizzled in lines across the top, rocket and shaved Parmigiano. The classic version is completely raw, which is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system; the safer version here sears the outside of the beef first, which kills surface bacteria and keeps the centre rosy. Chef's tip: wrap the beef tightly and freeze it for 40 minutes before slicing; firm meat lets you cut wafer-thin slices with an ordinary sharp knife.

22 min

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Japanese cream stew (chicken white stew)

When the first cold evenings arrive in Hokkaido, where dairy farming is king, and then across the rest of Japan, home cooks make cream stew: chunks of chicken thigh, potato, carrot and onion simmered in stock and finished with a silky milk sauce, eaten with rice or bread. It was a school lunch favourite after the war and is still one of the gentlest, most child-friendly Japanese dinners. This version makes the roux from scratch instead of using a block. A common mistake is adding cold milk to a fast boil, which can make it split; stir it in over a low heat. Chef's tip: add the broccoli only in the last 3 minutes so it stays bright green.

50 min

Japanese Chicken

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Bombette pugliesiCheese-stuffed pork rolls

In the white towns of the Valle d'Itria in Puglia, Cisternino, Martina Franca and Locorotondo, butchers' shops double as grill restaurants in the evening: you pick your meat at the counter and it is cooked on the spot over coals. The stars are bombette, small parcels of thin pork neck wrapped around cubes of caciocavallo and pancetta (cured pork belly), skewered and grilled until the cheese melts. They are eaten hot, with bread and a glass of the local wine. Chef's tip: fold the meat tightly around the cheese and close every gap; any opening lets the cheese leak out and burn on the grill.

40 min

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Shokupan (Japanese milk bread)

Shokupan is the everyday sandwich loaf of Japan, sold by the half loaf at bakeries from Sapporo to Fukuoka and toasted in thick slabs for breakfast with butter and jam. Its feathery, pull-apart crumb comes from a cooked flour paste (yudane-style) that lets the dough hold more water, so the bread stays soft for days. You need a 900 g loaf tin and a few hours of mostly waiting. The usual mistake is slicing it while hot, which squashes the delicate crumb into gummy layers; let it cool fully. Chef's tip: roll each piece of dough into a tight spiral before it goes into the tin, which gives the tall, even rise and those stringy, tearable layers.

75 min

Japanese Baking

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Chikuzenni (Fukuoka simmered chicken and root vegetables)

Chikuzen is the old name for the Fukuoka area of northern Kyushu, where this sweet-savoury simmer of chicken and root vegetables is called gameni and turns up at every family gathering; across Japan it is packed into the New Year osechi boxes and eaten cold. The chicken and vegetables are first stir-fried in oil, then simmered in dashi with soy, sugar, sake and mirin until the liquid reduces to a glaze. The sake and mirin simmer for 20 minutes, so the alcohol cooks off; use water and extra sugar for an alcohol-free version. The common mistake is stirring too much, which breaks the taro and lotus root into mush; shake the pan instead. Chef's tip: let it cool in the pot; the vegetables soak up flavour as it cools, so it is even better the next day.

50 min

Japanese Chicken

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SundaeKorean blood sausage

Sundae is the steamed sausage sold sliced from big steaming trays in every Korean market, from Seoul's Sillim-dong sundae town to the Byeongcheon market in Cheonan, and eaten with salt and pepper, tteokbokki sauce or a bowl of soup. This home version fills cleaned pork casings with pork blood, glass noodles, sticky rice, cabbage and bean sprouts, then poaches them gently until firm, giving soft, savoury, slightly springy slices. It is pork through and through: pork blood and pork casings. Buy the blood fresh from a butcher, keep it chilled and use it the same day. The common mistake is boiling the water hard, which bursts the casings; keep it at a lazy simmer and prick any air bubbles. Chef's tip: fill the casings only about three-quarters full; the rice swells as it cooks and an overfilled sausage splits.

140 min

Korean Meat

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Shogayaki (ginger pork)

Shogayaki, thin slices of pork loin seared in a sticky ginger and soy glaze, is the single most popular set lunch at Tokyo's teishoku diners, served with a mound of shredded cabbage, rice and miso soup, and it is just as common in home bento. This recipe uses pork, with sake and mirin (Japanese rice wines) in the glaze; both bubble down in the hot pan so the alcohol mostly cooks off, and water and sugar make an alcohol-free swap. The mistake to avoid is marinating the pork for hours: fresh ginger contains an enzyme that turns the meat mushy, so 10–15 minutes in the fridge is plenty. Chef's tip: dust the slices lightly with flour before frying; it helps the sauce cling and keeps the pork tender.

25 min

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Polenta con le spuntaturePolenta with pork ribs

In the towns of the Ciociaria and the Sabine hills of Lazio, polenta is poured straight onto a wooden board, the spianatora, set in the middle of the table, and topped with spuntature, short pork ribs stewed with pork sausage in tomato. Everyone eats from their own patch of the board, working inwards. It is a winter feast for the feast of Sant'Antonio in January and for big family Sundays. Alcohol is used here: white wine, which you can replace with water and a spoonful of vinegar. Chef's tip: brown the ribs well before the tomatoes go in; the colour and crusty bits make the sauce rich and meaty.

140 min

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Torta della nonnaLemon custard pine nut tart

Torta della nonna, "grandmother's tart", is on the dessert menu of almost every trattoria in Florence and across Tuscany: a shortcrust case filled with thick lemon-scented custard, covered with a second layer of pastry and scattered with pine nuts and icing sugar. Despite the name it was probably invented by a Florentine restaurant cook in the 1900s, but it tastes of family Sunday lunches. Contains pine nuts. Chef's tip: let the custard cool completely before filling the tart; warm custard melts the butter in the pastry and makes the base soggy.

90 min

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Sanshoku soboro don (three-colour rice bowl)

Japanese mothers have packed sanshoku soboro bento for school trips and sports days for generations: brown soy-simmered chicken mince, yellow sweet scrambled egg and green beans laid in three neat stripes over rice. It is cheap, colourful and loved by children, and it travels well cold. The chicken is cooked with a splash of sake and mirin that simmers right off; use water and a pinch more sugar for an alcohol-free version. The common mistake is clumpy soboro: stir the mince with four chopsticks held together over a low heat from the start, and it breaks into fine, fluffy crumbs. Chicken must reach 74 °C with no pink. Chef's tip: take the eggs off the heat while still slightly wet; they finish cooking in the hot pan and stay soft.

30 min

Japanese Chicken

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Savoiardi

Savoiardi were created in the 1300s at the court of the House of Savoy in Piedmont, for a visit by the King of France. They are long, light finger biscuits of whipped eggs, sugar and flour, with a crisp sugary crust and a dry, spongy inside, made to be soaked: in coffee for tiramisù, in liqueur for zuppa inglese, or in milk for children's breakfast. Chef's tip: dust the piped fingers twice with icing sugar, 5 minutes apart; this forms the pearly crust that keeps them crisp outside.

37 min

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Scarcella puglieseEaster egg biscuit bread

In Bari, Foggia and the Salento, scarcelle are baked in the days before Easter, often by children with their grandmothers: a soft, lemony shortbread-like dough shaped into baskets, doves, hearts or dolls, each holding a whole egg in its shell held down by strips of dough, then iced and covered in sprinkles. They are given as gifts on Easter morning and to children as a sign of new life. Chef's tip: use raw eggs in their shells and wash them first; they cook in the oven while the biscuit bakes. They are decorative, so wash and dry them well.

75 min

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Abbacchio alla romanaRoman Easter lamb

Abbacchio is the Roman name for young milk-fed lamb, and abbacchio alla romana is what Roman families cook for Easter Sunday: small pieces of shoulder and leg browned in a pan, then cooked slowly with garlic, rosemary and sage and finished with a paste of anchovy and vinegar that cuts through the richness. It is served with roast potatoes or puntarelle. Outside Italy, use young spring lamb on the bone. Chef's tip: brown the lamb in batches until really golden before adding anything else; pale lamb gives a pale sauce.

95 min

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Torta capreseFlourless chocolate almond cake

Torta caprese was born on the island of Capri in the 1920s, the story goes, when a baker forgot to add flour to a chocolate almond cake and created a classic by accident. It is now the cake of the Amalfi Coast: dense, moist and fudgy in the middle, with a thin crackled crust and a dusting of icing sugar. Restaurants in Capri and Sorrento serve it with a spoonful of cream or lemon sorbet. It is naturally gluten free. Contains nuts. Chef's tip: take it out while the middle is still slightly soft; it firms up as it cools and stays moist for days.

65 min

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Gyudon (beef and onion rice bowl)

Gyudon fuels Japan's commuters: at 24-hour counters near every big station from Tokyo to Osaka, a bowl of rice topped with soft onions and wafer-thin beef in sweet soy broth arrives in under a minute. At home it takes about 20. Sake and mirin go into the broth and simmer away, so very little alcohol is left; swap them for water and a little sugar if you prefer. The usual mistake is boiling the beef hard and long, which makes thin slices tough and grey; simmer the onion first, then add the beef only until it changes colour. Chef's tip: pile on pink pickled ginger (beni shoga) and a raw or soft-poached egg yolk for the full counter experience; use a soft-poached egg for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system.

20 min

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SujeonggwaCinnamon persimmon punch

After a big Seollal feast in Seoul, sujeonggwa comes out ice-cold in small bowls, dark red-brown and fragrant with cinnamon and ginger, with a soft dried persimmon and a few pine nuts floating in each one. It is the punch of the New Year season, made a day or two ahead and kept on a cold balcony. The cinnamon and ginger are boiled separately and then combined, which keeps each flavour clean. The common mistake is boiling the cinnamon too long or too hard: it turns bitter and cloudy, so keep it to a gentle simmer. Contains pine nuts. Chef's tip: soak the dried persimmons in the cooled punch only a few hours before serving, so they soften without falling apart.

60 min

Korean Drinks

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Pani ca' meusaVeal spleen sandwich

Pani ca' meusa ("bread with spleen") has been sold in Palermo since the Middle Ages, when the Jewish butchers of the city were paid with the offal of the animals they slaughtered and sold it in bread. At the old Focacceria San Francesco and the stalls around the Vucciria market, veal spleen and lung are boiled, sliced thin and then fried in pork lard in a huge pan before being piled into a sesame roll. Ordered "schettu" (single) it comes with lemon; "maritatu" (married) with ricotta and caciocavallo. Lung is not sold in many countries, so this recipe uses spleen only. Chef's tip: slice the boiled spleen while it is cold and firm; warm spleen crumbles.

170 min

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SikhyeSweet rice punch

Every Korean jjimjilbang (bathhouse) sells sikhye in little cans, and every grandmother makes a big pot of it before Seollal and Chuseok to sip after the heavy holiday meal, because it is believed to help digestion. Barley malt water and cooked rice are kept warm for several hours until enzymes turn the rice starch into sugar and the grains float up to the top, then the drink is boiled with ginger and chilled until icy. It is mild, lightly sweet and nutty, with soft rice grains to slurp. The usual mistake is letting it get too hot while it ferments: above about 65 °C the enzymes stop working and the grains never float. Contains barley (gluten). Chef's tip: use the rice cooker's 'keep warm' setting; it holds the perfect temperature on its own.

320 min

Korean Drinks

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Panino con il lampredottoTripe sandwich

Lampredotto is the fourth stomach of the cow, slowly simmered in a broth with tomato, onion and celery until tender, and for Florentines it is the true street food of the city. Lampredottai sell it from carts at the San Lorenzo market and Porta Romana from mid-morning: the meat is chopped on a board, salted, piled into a crusty roll whose top half is dipped in the broth, and topped with salsa verde and chilli oil. Ask a butcher for lampredotto or abomasum tripe, ready cleaned. Chef's tip: dip the top of the bun ("bagnato") briefly in the hot broth; it soaks up the flavour but shouldn't fall apart.

205 min

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DongeurangttaengPork and tofu patties

Dongeurangttaeng are the coin-sized pork patties that Korean families fry by the hundred in the days before Chuseok and Seollal, the whole kitchen floor in Seoul flats covered with newspaper and pans. Minced pork is mixed with mashed tofu, onion, carrot and spring onion, dipped in flour and egg and pan-fried until golden, tender and juicy. They are eaten warm or at room temperature with a soy-vinegar dip, and children love them. The common mistake is frying over high heat: the egg coating browns long before the pork is cooked through to the middle. Chef's tip: squeeze the tofu bone-dry in a cloth; wet tofu makes the patties fall apart and spit.

55 min

Korean Meat

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Cannoncini alla cremaCustard puff pastry horns

Every pastry shop in Turin and Piedmont has a tray of cannoncini: puff pastry wrapped around metal cones, baked until golden and flaky, then piped full of vanilla custard and dusted with icing sugar. Little ones are part of the "pasticcini mignon" bought on Sunday morning after church to take to lunch at the grandparents' house. You need cannoncino or cream-horn moulds. Chef's tip: fill them just before serving; custard softens the pastry within a few hours.

60 min