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BrasucadeGrilled mussels with garlic and parsley

At village fêtes around the étang de Thau in Languedoc, and on beaches in summer, people gather round a brasucade: mussels piled into a large pierced pan over a fire of vine prunings until they open, then doused with a garlicky oil of parsley and a little chilli and tossed. It is smoky, juicy and eaten by hand with bread. A barbecue grill works at home. Chef's tip: use a lid or a sheet of foil over the pan; the trapped steam opens the mussels evenly while the fire adds smoke.

25 minFrenchFish
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ManalaBrioche men

On 6 December, St Nicholas' Day, Alsatian bakeries fill with manala (also mannele): little brioche men with raisin eyes and buttons and a snipped belt, given to children by St Nicolas, who brings treats to good children. They are eaten for breakfast or an after-school snack, dipped in hot chocolate. The dough is a soft, buttery milk brioche. Chef's tip: shape the figures loosely and well apart, because they double as they rise and bake, and thin arms that touch become one blob.

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Brioche de Saint-GenixPink praline brioche

In Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers, in Savoie, this round brioche dotted with bright pink sugared almonds is baked for the feast of Saint Agatha on 5 February, and its shape is said to recall the saint's martyrdom. Today it is sold all year in the bakeries of the Savoie and Lyon, rich and buttery, with the pralines melting into sticky pink pockets. The dough rests overnight in the fridge, so start the day before. Chef's tip: crush the pralines roughly and fold them in at the very end, or they dissolve and stain the whole dough pink.

595 minFrenchBaking
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CornuellesAniseed biscuits

On Palm Sunday in Villebois-Lavalette, in Charente, stalls sell cornuelles, hard triangular biscuits with a hole in the middle, threaded onto a stick or a sprig of blessed box. The three points are said to stand for the Trinity, and children carry them home from church. They are crisp and scented with aniseed, glazed with a thin sugar icing. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin and even, about 5 mm, so every biscuit bakes through crisp without burning at the points.

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Chichi frégiChickpea flour fritters in sugar

On the seafront at L'Estaque, the old fishing quarter of Marseille, and at summer fêtes all along the coast, kiosks fry chichi frégi: long, ridged fritters of wheat and chickpea flour, rolled hot in sugar and eaten in a paper cone. The dough is a yeasted, egg-free batter piped straight into the oil, crisp outside and soft inside, with a faint nutty taste from the chickpea flour and a hint of orange flower. Chef's tip: keep the oil at 175 °C; cooler and the fritters soak up fat, hotter and they burn before the middle cooks.

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Tostadas de pataTostadas with pickled cow's foot

On the night of 15 September, when Mexicans gather for the Grito and the Fiestas Patrias, the table fills with antojitos: pozole, sopes and tostadas de pata, a favourite of Mexico City and Puebla. Cow's foot is simmered for hours until it turns soft and gelatinous, then sliced thin and pickled in vinegar with onion, oregano and chilli. Piled on crisp tostadas over beans with lettuce, cream and salsa, it is tangy, rich and crunchy all at once. Chef's tip: slice the foot while it is cold from the fridge; warm, it falls apart.

240 minMexicanMeatSpicy
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Sopa teólogaTurkey broth with bread and cheese

Sopa teóloga ('the theologian's soup') goes back to colonial convents in Lima and Arequipa, where it was cooked for feast days, and it is still served at Holy Week and family celebrations. A rich turkey (or chicken) broth is thickened with soaked bread, milk and fresh cheese, with yellow potatoes and shreds of turkey, and finished with a little ají amarillo and chopped huacatay or parsley. It is thick, comforting and filling. Chef's tip: blend part of the soaked bread with broth before adding it, which gives the soup its creamy body without lumps.

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Dowina (Kurdish yogurt soup)

Dowina, called ash-e doogh in Persian, is warming spring food in Kurdish homes around Newroz, when yogurt is plentiful and the first herbs are cut from the garden. Rice and chickpeas simmer in a tangy, lightly thickened yogurt broth, finished with fresh dill, coriander and a sizzle of dried mint in oil. It is eaten warm, never boiling hot, with flatbread. The common mistake is to heat the yogurt too fast without stirring, which makes it split into grainy curds. Chef's tip: whisk an egg yolk and a spoonful of rice flour into the yogurt before it goes on the heat; it holds the soup smooth all the way to the simmer.

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Lengua a la vinagretaBeef tongue with vinaigrette

Argentina's Nochebuena is a hot summer night, so the table is full of cold dishes, and lengua a la vinagreta is one of the classics: beef tongue simmered until tender, peeled, sliced and covered with a sharp vinaigrette of parsley, garlic, red pepper, onion and chopped hard-boiled egg. It is made a day ahead and served chilled with vitel toné and Russian salad. Chef's tip: peel the tongue while it is still hot, as the skin comes away easily then and clings once it cools.

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Gardianne de taureauBull beef braised in red wine

Gardianne is named after the gardians, the mounted herdsmen who raise black bulls on the marshes of the Camargue, and it is served at the summer ferias and village fêtes of Arles and Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer with nutty Camargue red rice. Taureau (bull meat) is lean and deeply flavoured, braised slowly in red wine with onions, garlic, herbes de Provence and black olives until dark and tender; beef shin or chuck makes a fine substitute. This recipe contains alcohol: for an alcohol-free version, replace the wine with the same amount of beef stock plus 2 tbsp red wine vinegar and 1 tbsp grape juice. Chef's tip: marinate the meat overnight in the fridge for the deepest flavour.

235 minFrenchMeat
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Huauzontles capeadosBattered cheese-stuffed greens

In central Mexico, Lent and Holy Week bring meatless Fridays, and huauzontles capeados are a beloved vigil dish. Huauzontle is a leafy, broccoli-like green with tiny seed buds; little bundles of the blanched sprigs are pressed around a piece of fresh cheese, dipped in fluffy egg batter, fried and then simmered briefly in a light tomato and chile broth. If you can't find huauzontle, use tenderstem broccoli tips or quelites. Queso fresco is usually made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian one if needed. Chef's tip: squeeze the blanched greens very dry, as wet greens make the batter slide off.

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Galette comtoiseChoux king cake

While most of France eats a puff-pastry galette des rois at Epiphany in January, Franche-Comté has its own: a flat golden cake made from a choux-like dough, tender and slightly custardy inside and scented with orange-flower water. As elsewhere, a fève (a little charm or a dried bean) is hidden inside, the youngest child under the table calls out who gets each slice, and whoever finds the fève is crowned king or queen. Chef's tip: let the cooked paste cool for a few minutes before beating in the eggs, or they scramble.

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Relleno negroTurkey and pork black chilli stew

Relleno negro, or chilmole, is the great fiesta dish of the Yucatán peninsula, cooked for Christmas, New Year and village saints' days. Turkey is simmered in a jet-black broth coloured by recado negro, a paste of chillies charred until black, and served with a 'but', a meatball of minced pork and spices wrapped around hard-boiled egg. Recado negro paste is sold in Mexican shops; it is very hard to make at home safely because the chillies are burnt outdoors. Serve with corn tortillas or in tortas. Chef's tip: dissolve the recado in some of the warm broth first, so it blends smoothly instead of floating in black lumps.

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Gorditas de la VillaSweet corn griddle cakes

Every 12 December, millions of pilgrims walk to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City ('La Villa'), and all around it women cook gorditas de la Villa on clay comales: small, thick, sweet cakes of corn masa with piloncillo, cinnamon and a little anise, wrapped in coloured tissue paper to take home. They are soft and slightly chewy, with toasty spots. They are gluten free. Chef's tip: cook them on a dry, medium-low griddle; too hot and the sugar burns before the middle cooks through.

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Pajagua mascadaBeef and cassava patties

Pajagua mascada is a Paraguayan street-food classic that appears on every table for the San Juan festival on 24 June, when bonfires burn and the night is full of games and traditional food. Minced beef is mixed with mashed cassava, onion, garlic and a little egg and flour, shaped into flat patties and fried until crisp. The name comes from Guaraní and refers to the 'chewing' of old Paraguayan cooks, who made it from leftover meat. Chef's tip: dry the boiled cassava well and remove its woody core, which keeps the patties light and crunchy.

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Empanadas de vigiliaTuna empanadas

During Cuaresma (Lent) and on the Fridays of Holy Week, Mexican kitchens turn to 'vigilia' food without meat, and fish empanadas are a favourite: tender wheat pastry half-moons filled with tuna (or soaked salt cod) cooked with tomato, onion, olives, capers and pickled jalapeños, a cousin of bacalao a la vizcaína. They are baked here, but can be fried. Chef's tip: cook the filling until quite dry, as a wet filling makes soggy empanadas that leak.

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Pâté de Pâques berrichonPork, veal and egg pastry loaf

In the Berry region of central France (around Bourges and Châteauroux), Easter Sunday lunch begins with pâté de Pâques: a long loaf of puff pastry filled with seasoned minced pork and veal around a row of whole hard-boiled eggs, so every slice shows a golden yolk in the middle. It is eaten warm or cold with a green salad. Some cooks marinate the meat in white wine or Cognac; this recipe uses no alcohol. Chef's tip: cut a chimney in the top crust and keep it open with a roll of card, so steam escapes and the pastry stays crisp.

110 minFrenchMeat
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KaguyjyWhite corn pudding

On the night of 23–24 June, Paraguayans celebrate San Juan with bonfires, games like walking over hot coals and the 'paso de fuego', and a table of traditional foods, and kaguyjy (also mazamorra) is one of them. It is a soft, creamy pudding of cracked white corn (locro) simmered slowly in water and then milk with sugar or honey, sometimes with orange peel. It is eaten warm or cold. It is gluten free. Chef's tip: soak the corn overnight and cook it until each kernel is tender before adding the milk, or it never turns creamy.

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KalanehWild leek stuffed flatbread

In Kurdistan and Kermanshah, Newroz arrives with the first spring greens on the hillsides, and families gather wild leeks to fold into kalaneh, thin griddle breads cooked over a fire or a hot pan and soaked in melted butter. The dough is plain and soft, rolled very thin around a pile of chopped leek or chives with a little salt and pepper, so the greens steam inside as the bread blisters. Eat it hot, torn into strips, with yogurt and tea at a Newroz picnic. The common mistake is wet greens, which turn the dough soggy and make it tear; dry them well after washing. Chef's tip: brush the butter on the moment the bread leaves the pan so it soaks right in.

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Chipa so'oCheese bread with spiced beef

In Paraguay, families bake chipa in the clay tatakua ovens on Holy Wednesday so there is food for Thursday and Good Friday, when cooking stops. Chipa so'o ('chipa with meat') is a cassava-starch and cheese bread wrapped around a little filling of minced beef cooked with onion and egg, then baked until crisp outside and chewy within. It is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: knead the dough until it no longer cracks at the edges when pressed; dry dough splits around the filling.

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Macaronade sétoisePasta with beef rolls and sausage

In Sète, on the Languedoc coast, families of Italian origin cook macaronade for Sunday lunch and above all for the Saint-Louis festival in August, when the harbour hosts its famous water-jousting. Thin slices of beef are rolled around garlic and parsley (braciole), browned with Toulouse-style pork sausage and simmered for hours in a tomato sauce, which then dresses thick pasta. Traditionally a splash of white wine goes into the sauce; it is optional here, and stock works just as well. Chef's tip: simmer the sauce very gently, with the lid ajar; the beef rolls need time to turn tender, not fast boiling.

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TaloaMaize flatbread with ham and cheese

During the Fêtes de Bayonne in July, when the whole town dresses in white with red scarves, stalls in the Pays Basque sell taloa: thick flatbreads of maize and wheat flour cooked on a hot griddle and folded around fillings. The classic is with jambon de Bayonne (a cured pork ham), with sheep's cheese or with ventrèche (cured pork belly), and it's eaten hot in the street. Cheese alone makes a good vegetarian version. Chef's tip: cook the taloa on a dry, very hot pan; it should blister and puff in patches like a tortilla.

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Berlingots de Carpentras (striped Provençal hard candies)

Carpentras, the market town below Mont Ventoux, has made berlingots since the nineteenth century, using the fruit syrups left over from its candied-fruit trade. The little four-sided pyramids are clear and glassy with fine white stripes, and they are sold year round at the Friday market and in paper cones for the Christmas sweet table. They crunch cleanly and dissolve slowly, here with a cool mint flavour; a fruit syrup can take its place. Offer them after a meal with coffee or herbal tea. Hard candy is naturally egg-free: the sugar, cooked to the hard-crack stage, sets glass-hard by itself, and glucose syrup keeps it clear instead of grainy. You will need heatproof gloves, oiled scissors and a warm place to keep the sugar soft while you shape it. Chef's tip: make these on a dry day; the common mistake is cooking sugar in a steamy kitchen, which leaves the berlingots sticky within hours.

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Morue en raïtoSalt cod in tomato sauce

In Provence the gros souper on Christmas Eve is a lean but festive meal eaten before midnight Mass, with seven meatless dishes for the seven sorrows of Mary, and salt cod en raïto is often the centrepiece. Pieces of soaked cod are fried, then simmered in raïto, a dark sauce of tomato, onion, garlic, black olives and capers that is traditionally cooked with red wine. Here the wine is optional: use vegetable stock with a spoon of red wine vinegar for an alcohol-free sauce. Serve with boiled potatoes or crusty bread. Chef's tip: soak the salt cod in the fridge for 36 hours, changing the water often, and taste a flake before cooking; it should be pleasantly seasoned, not salty.

90 minFrenchFish
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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