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HafechabisLamb and cabbage pot

Hafechabis, literally 'pot cabbage', is the autumn one-pot of the Lucerne, Schwyz and Uri valleys, made when the cabbages come in and the lambs come down from the alps. Lamb shoulder, white cabbage, onions and potatoes are layered in a heavy pot with caraway and left to cook gently in their own juices with a little stock, until the cabbage is silky and the lamb tender. Serve it straight from the pot with mustard and crusty bread. The usual mistake is adding too much liquid: the cabbage gives off plenty of its own, and a flooded pot tastes boiled rather than braised. Slow-cooker option: layer as below and cook on low for 7 hours. Chef's tip: brown the lamb properly first, as the caramelised fat is what flavours every layer of cabbage.

125 minSwissMeatGluten free
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TereréIced yerba mate

In Asunción the hottest part of the day stops for tereré: a horn or cup packed with yerba mate, topped up again and again with ice water infused with crushed herbs, and passed round the group through a metal straw. It was recognised by UNESCO as part of Paraguay's cultural heritage, and the herbs (yuyos) change with the season and the drinker's mood. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so it isn't one for small children. The common mistake is pouring water straight into loose yerba, which then clogs the straw; tilt the yerba to one side first. Chef's tip: for tereré ruso, swap the water for cold orange or grapefruit juice.

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BusecaTripe and white bean stew

Buseca arrived in Montevideo with Italian immigrants from Lombardy and became a classic winter dish of Uruguayan bodegones and family kitchens, eaten on cold June and July days. Honeycomb tripe is simmered until tender, then stewed with white beans, pork chorizo, bacon, peppers, tomato and paprika into a thick, warming stew served with crusty bread. Buy tripe that is already cleaned and blanched (dressed). The usual mistake is undercooking the tripe: it needs a full 2 hours, until it's soft enough to cut with a spoon. Slow-cooker option: after step 4, cook on low for 8 hours. Chef's tip: a little grated lemon zest and parsley stirred in at the end lifts the rich, gelatinous sauce.

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Morcilla dulceSweet blood sausage with walnuts

No Uruguayan parrilla is complete without morcilla dulce: a soft pork blood sausage sweetened with sugar and scented with orange peel, studded with walnuts and raisins, grilled until the skin crisps and served first, as part of the achuras, while the beef is still cooking. It is pork throughout: pork blood, pork back fat and natural pork casings. Making it at home is a project. Buy fresh pork blood with an anticoagulant added from a butcher who supplies it for sausage making, keep it chilled below 4 °C and use it within a day. The common mistake is poaching at a rolling boil, which bursts the casings. Chef's tip: keep the water at 80–85 °C, just shivering, and prick a sausage after 25 minutes: it is done when brown, not red, juice comes out.

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Cocido quemadoBurnt sugar mate drink

Cocido is how Paraguay starts the day: in Asunción, in the villages of Guairá and Itapúa, and in school kitchens, a pot of burnt yerba is brewed and poured into cups with chipa, the cheesy cassava bread, or with a hard galleta. The old way is to drop a glowing piece of charcoal into a pot with yerba and sugar and stir until the sugar burns. On a home stove you caramelise them together in a dry pan instead, which is safer and gives the same smoky, toffee-like taste. The drink is clear amber-brown, with roasted, slightly bitter mate notes over burnt-sugar sweetness; with milk added it becomes cocido con leche, creamy and coffee-coloured. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so treat it like a cup of coffee. The common mistake is letting the sugar go black: it turns acrid and bitter. Pull it off the heat when the caramel is deep amber and the yerba smells toasted, not burnt. It is ready when the liquid is a clear dark amber and tastes of toffee and smoke. Chef's tip: the water will spit fiercely when it hits the hot caramel, so pour it in from the side, at arm's length.

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Luzerner ChügelipasteteVeal ball pastry shell

Chügelipastete is the Sunday and Christmas dish of Lucerne, a showpiece brought to the table whole: a big, tall puff pastry shell, like a giant vol-au-vent, filled with little veal meatballs (chügeli), sweetbreads or diced veal and mushrooms in a creamy white sauce, sometimes with raisins. Lucerne bakeries sell the shells ready-made. A common mistake is filling the pastry too early, which makes it soggy. Chef's tip: fill the warm shell at the very last moment and serve the extra sauce on the side. Veal meatballs must reach 71 °C.

120 minSwissMeat
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Minchi (Macanese minced meat with potatoes)

If one dish says home to Macanese families, the descendants of Portuguese and Chinese Macau, it is minchi: a quick hash of minced beef and pork seasoned with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and a touch of sugar, mixed with crisp little cubes of fried potato and crowned with a runny fried egg. It appears on weeknight tables, at Macanese restaurants near Rua do Cunha, and at gatherings of the Macanese community abroad, always with plain white rice. Savoury, slightly sweet and full of crunch, it tastes like the meeting of a Portuguese kitchen and a Cantonese wok. A common error is stirring the potatoes into the meat too early, which makes them soft and floury; fry them separately until crisp and fold them in at the end. Chef's tip: let the mince sit undisturbed for a minute in the hot pan before stirring, so it browns instead of stewing.

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CervelatGrilled sausage

The cervelat, a short, fat, smoked sausage of beef and pork, is called Switzerland's national sausage, and it is what every Swiss child grills on a stick over a campfire on 1 August, National Day, on school trips and on mountain hikes: the ends are cut into a cross so they curl open like a flower as they cook, and it is eaten with bread and mustard. This sausage contains pork. Cervelat is bought ready-cooked and smoked; grilling heats it through and crisps it. A common mistake is grilling over flames, which burns the skin black before the inside is hot. Chef's tip: grill over glowing embers and turn often until the scored ends open out; heat until piping hot, 71 °C.

15 minSwissMeat
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Fondue chinoise

Despite its name, fondue chinoise is a fixture of the Swiss Christmas and New Year table: a pot of simmering broth set on a burner in the middle of the table, into which everyone dips paper-thin slices of beef on long forks, cooks them for a few seconds and eats them with a spread of sauces, rice or potato chips, pickles and salads. It came to Switzerland via travellers to Asia in the 20th century. The broth is often made with white wine; this one uses stock only. A common mistake is slicing the meat thick, which takes too long and tightens. Chef's tip: half-freeze the beef for an hour so it slices paper-thin. Cook each slice until no longer pink, then eat; never use the same fork for raw and cooked meat.

45 minSwissMeat
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Berner PlatteSmoked meats and sauerkraut platter

The Berner Platte is Bern's great feast platter, said to celebrate the victory over the French at Neuenegg in 1798, and it is still served in the old taverns under the arcades of Bern's old town, especially in autumn and winter: a heap of smoked pork belly, smoked pork shoulder, tongue, beef, Bernese sausages and marrow bones, laid over sauerkraut, dried green beans and boiled potatoes. This dish contains pork. A common mistake is boiling everything together for the same time; the sausages split and the beef is still tough. Chef's tip: cook each meat for its own time in the same pot, adding the sausages only for the last 20 minutes at a gentle simmer. Whole pork cuts must reach 63 °C and sausages 71 °C.

180 minSwissMeatGluten free
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BündnerfleischAir-dried beef platter

Bündnerfleisch is the lean beef of Graubünden, salted with mountain herbs, pressed into its square shape and air-dried for months in the cold, dry mountain air around Davos and the Engadine, until it is deep red, tender and intensely savoury. It is sliced paper-thin and served on a wooden board with rye bread, butter, gherkins and pickled onions, often with a glass of something on a mountain terrace. It needs the mountain climate and is bought ready-made, not made at home. As a raw cured meat, it is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. A common mistake is slicing it thick, which makes it chewy. Chef's tip: slice it as thin as paper and leave it for 10 minutes at room temperature before serving, so the flavour opens up.

15 minSwissMeat
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Asado uruguayoGrilled beef short ribs and chorizo

Sunday in Uruguay means asado: in Montevideo backyards and the cattle towns of the interior, beef ribs (asado de tira), chorizo and morcilla cook slowly over the embers of a wood fire, with only coarse salt, while the family waits. The parrillero rakes coals under the grill and keeps the heat low and even. This recipe includes pork chorizo. The mistake is cooking over flames; the fire should burn down to embers you can hold your hand above for 6–8 seconds. Chef's tip: salt the meat only when it goes on the grill, with coarse salt, never fine.

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Zürcher GeschnetzeltesSliced veal in mushroom cream sauce

Zürcher Geschnetzeltes is the signature dish of Zurich's old guild restaurants and a favourite Sunday meal in homes across German-speaking Switzerland. Thin strips of veal are seared quickly, then the pan is deglazed with white wine and finished with cream and mushrooms into a pale, glossy sauce, and the whole thing is served beside a golden, crisp rösti. The wine adds alcohol (most cooks it off); for an alcohol-free version use the same amount of chicken stock with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. The usual error is cooking the veal in the sauce until it toughens; sear it fast, take it out, and only warm it through at the end. Chef's tip: boil the potatoes for the rösti a day ahead and chill them; cold, firm potatoes grate cleanly and fry up crisp.

65 minSwissMeatGluten free
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CapunsChard parcels of herby dough

Capuns come from the valleys of Graubünden, where every village in the Surselva and Engadin has its own way of making them, and they are cooked on cold evenings and for festivals in mountain inns. A soft spätzle batter flavoured with herbs and little cubes of air-dried salsiz sausage and bacon is wrapped in chard leaves, then the parcels are poached in a mixture of milk and stock and finished with butter and grated mountain cheese. The salsiz and bacon are pork. Most first attempts fail because the dough is too runny to wrap; it should drop slowly off a spoon, like very thick porridge. Chef's tip: dip the chard leaves into boiling water for just 10 seconds so they turn supple enough to roll without tearing.

80 minSwissMeat
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