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Pizza de muzzarellaThick-crust mozzarella pizza

The pizza de muzzarella, or simply muzza, is the pride of Buenos Aires' old pizzerías along Avenida Corrientes, eaten standing at the counter after the theatre, often with a slice of fainá on top. Unlike a Neapolitan pizza it has a thick, soft, bready base baked in a round metal pan, a thin smear of oregano tomato sauce and a deep layer of mozzarella that bubbles and browns, finished with green olives. The common mistake is using fresh mozzarella balls: they release water and the pizza swims. Use firm, low-moisture mozzarella grated or sliced thick. Many mozzarellas use animal rennet; choose a vegetarian one if you prefer. Chef's tip: give the dough a second rise in the oiled pan, so the base bakes airy inside and fried-crisp underneath.

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Bife de chorizoGrilled sirloin steak with chimichurri

Bife de chorizo, despite the name, has nothing to do with sausage: it is the thick sirloin (strip loin) steak that every parrilla in Buenos Aires grills, from the steakhouses of Palermo to the roadside grills of the pampas, and it is the Saturday-night order for anyone who wants beef and nothing else. It is cut at least 3 cm thick, seasoned only with coarse salt and grilled over hot embers, then served with chimichurri and a simple tomato and onion salad. The common mistake is cooking it straight from the fridge and turning it constantly; it greys outside and stays raw in the middle. Bring it to room temperature for 30 minutes and turn it only once. Chef's tip: salt the steak with coarse salt only just before it goes on the grill, and cut into it only after a 5-minute rest.

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Canelones de verduraSpinach and ricotta crêpe cannelloni

In Argentina, Sunday lunch at the nonna's house in Rosario or Buenos Aires often means canelones, a legacy of Italian immigrants made the Río de la Plata way: thin crêpes instead of pasta tubes, rolled around chard and ricotta, then baked under tomato sauce and béchamel. They are often served on the 29th of the month or for Christmas too. The common mistake is thick crêpes: they turn stodgy. The batter should be as thin as single cream and the pancakes almost see-through. Hard cheeses are usually made with animal rennet; use a vegetarian hard cheese if you prefer. Chef's tip: roll the canelones and chill them for an hour before saucing; they hold their shape better in the oven.

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Tarta pascualinaSpinach and egg pie

Tarta pascualina came to Buenos Aires and Montevideo with Ligurian immigrants, and it is still baked for Easter (Pascua, hence the name), though most porteños now buy or make it any weekday for a light supper with a tomato salad. A crisp, olive-oil crust holds chard or spinach bound with ricotta and cheese, with whole eggs baked into hollows so every slice shows a ring of yolk. The usual mistake is not squeezing the greens: the filling floods and the base goes soggy. Wring them in a clean tea towel until no more water drips. Hard cheeses such as Parmesan are usually made with animal rennet; use a vegetarian hard cheese if you prefer. Chef's tip: bake the tart on the lowest shelf on a hot baking sheet so the bottom crust browns as well as the top.

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Platte kaas met radijsjesQuark and radish on brown bread

In Flanders the evening meal is often a boterham, a plate of open bread slices, and one of the most loved toppings in Ghent and Antwerp is platte kaas: fresh, soft quark seasoned with chives, salt and pepper, spread thickly on brown bread and covered with crunchy radish slices. It is cool, light and ready in five minutes, a good supper after a big lunch. Some quark and fresh cheeses are set with a little animal rennet, so check the label for a vegetarian one. The common mistake is using thin, low-fat quark straight from the tub, which is watery and slides off the bread; stir it well and drain off any liquid first. Chef's tip: slice the radishes paper-thin and salt them only at the moment you serve, so they stay crisp.

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Tostado de jamón y quesoPressed ham and cheese sandwich

The tostado is what Buenos Aires orders in a café at merienda or as a light late dinner, and what Uruguayan kids get made at home: thin crustless pan de miga layered with cooked pork ham and mild cheese, buttered outside and pressed until crisp and oozing. The common mistake is too much filling; this sandwich is meant to be thin, so the cheese melts before the bread burns. Chef's tip: if you have no sandwich press, weigh it down in the pan with a second heavy pan so it toasts flat and even.

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Revuelto de zapallitosCourgettes scrambled with egg and cheese

Revuelto de zapallitos is a weeknight dinner in Buenos Aires homes and all over Argentina in summer, when the little round courgettes called zapallitos are cheap: diced courgette and onion cooked down in oil, scrambled with eggs and finished with grated cheese. It is eaten with bread or as a side to a salad. Grated hard cheese like reggianito or Parmesan is usually made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese for a vegetarian dinner. The common mistake is adding the eggs before the courgettes have given up their water, which turns the scramble wet and grey. Chef's tip: salt the courgettes as they go in, so they release their juice early and it cooks away.

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ShebaTomato and onion relish

On 24 September, Heritage Day, South Africans light the braai, and next to the boerewors and chops there is always a pot of stiff pap with sheba spooned over it. Sheba is the everyday township relish of onions and tomatoes cooked down with chilli and curry powder until thick and jammy, sweet, sour and gently hot. It keeps well, so many families make a big pot the day before. Chef's tip: cook the onions slowly first; their sweetness is what balances the sharp tomatoes.

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OsterpinzeEaster anise brioche

Osterpinze is the Easter bread of Styria, Carinthia and the area around Trieste, a soft, golden brioche dome with three deep cuts on top for the Holy Trinity, so that it opens into a crown as it bakes. The dough is rich with egg yolks and butter and flavoured with anise and lemon; old recipes add a splash of white wine, left out here. It is blessed in the Easter basket on Holy Saturday and eaten on Easter morning with ham, horseradish and eggs, or with butter and jam. Chef's tip: make the three cuts with scissors just before baking, deep enough to reach halfway down, so the crown opens wide.

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AllerheiligenstriezelBraided sweet loaf

In Bavaria and Austria, godparents give their godchildren an Allerheiligenstriezel on All Saints' Day, 1 November: a large braided loaf of sweet yeast dough, brushed with egg and scattered with almonds or pearl sugar. The braid is said to recall the old custom of cutting a plait of hair in mourning, and the size of the loaf once showed how generous the godparent was. It is lightly sweet, with lemon and vanilla, and is eaten sliced with butter or jam. Some recipes add rum-soaked raisins; these are soaked in warm water instead. Chef's tip: braid four strands for an impressive, high loaf.

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SkābputraSoured barley porridge drink

Skābputra, 'sour porridge', is one of the oldest Latvian foods, and at Jāņi, Midsummer on 23–24 June, it is served cold alongside caraway cheese, pīrāgi and wreaths of flowers. Pearl barley is cooked soft, then soured with buttermilk or kefir for a day or two until it is tangy and fresh-tasting, and it is thinned with milk into a thick, cooling drink sipped or eaten with a spoon on hot summer days. This home version uses bought live buttermilk to start the souring safely. Chef's tip: use clean jars and utensils, and taste it each day; once it is pleasantly sour, chill it so it stops souring.

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Cape Malay half-moonsCurried beef mince pastries

In Cape Town's Bo-Kaap and across the Cape Malay community, the weeks of Ramadan mean freezer boxes of half-moons, samoosas and pies, fried just before sunset and sent to neighbours as part of the custom of sharing boeka treats. Half-moons are soft pastry rounds folded over curried beef mince, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried until crunchy, and they are eaten with a cup of tea when the fast is broken. A potato-and-pea version is a variation to add later. Chef's tip: cool the filling completely before you fill the pastry, as warm mince makes the dough tear and leak.

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Boudin blanc aux pommesWhite sausage with apple compote

In Liège and across Wallonia, Christmas Eve supper often begins with boudin blanc: pale, delicate sausages of finely minced pork and milk, sometimes with a little chicken, gently fried in butter until golden and served with warm, chunky apple compote and bread. Butchers make piles of them in December. Buy them fresh from a good butcher, or poached and ready to fry. Chef's tip: prick nothing and cook gently; boudin blanc is fragile, and a hot pan splits the skins.

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Umphokoqo with amasiCrumbly maize pap with soured milk

Umphokoqo is the dry, crumbly pap of the Eastern Cape, beloved at Xhosa family gatherings and often brought out on Heritage Day as a taste of home. Instead of the stiff pap stirred into a smooth mound, the maize meal is steamed in a little water and broken up with a fork until it falls into fine, fluffy crumbs. It is served cold or at room temperature, with chilled amasi (thick soured milk) poured over, sour, cool and filling, or warm beside braai meat and chakalaka. Chef's tip: don't stir in circles like ordinary pap; cut and fluff with a fork so it stays crumbly.

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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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RabarbrikookRhubarb crumble cake

By Jaanipäev, Estonian Midsummer on 24 June, the rhubarb in every country garden is tall and red, and Estonians take rhubarb cake to the Jaaniõhtu bonfire evening along with grilled sausages, cheese and the beer for the grown-ups. Rabarbrikook is a simple, soft butter cake packed with sharp rhubarb under a thick, sweet crumble that soaks up the juices. Serve it warm with vanilla sauce or cold in squares. Chef's tip: toss the rhubarb in a spoonful of sugar and flour first; the flour thickens the juice so the cake below does not go soggy.

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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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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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Three-bean salad

No Heritage Day braai is complete without a row of salads on the table, and the sweet-sour three-bean salad is one of the oldest, handed down in Afrikaner and Cape kitchens and usually made the night before. Crisp green beans, creamy butter beans and red kidney beans soak in a sharp vinegar and sugar dressing with thin onion rings until they pickle lightly. It cuts through rich grilled meat or a vegetarian braai of mielies and halloumi. Chef's tip: dress the beans while the green beans are still warm so they drink up the dressing.

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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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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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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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Waatlemoenkonfyt (Cape watermelon-rind preserve)

In the farm kitchens of the Western Cape, late summer meant turning the pale rind of big watermelons into jars of konfyt, a preserve that then came out all winter. The pieces are translucent green, firm and almost crunchy at the edge, soaked through with a ginger-spiked syrup. It is served with a wedge of mature cheese, on buttered bread or toast, beside coffee when visitors arrive, and in little dishes on the table at Christmas. Like all Cape konfyt it is naturally egg-free: a soak in food-grade pickling lime lets calcium firm the rind's own pectin so the pieces keep their shape, and the long simmer in sugar syrup preserves and sets them. Start two days ahead; the rind needs an overnight soak and a night resting in the syrup. Chef's tip: rinse the rind in several changes of water after the lime soak; the common mistake is rushing this, which leaves the konfyt tasting chalky.

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Quinotos en almíbar (Argentine kumquats in syrup)

In Buenos Aires and the river provinces of the Litoral, kumquat trees ripen in the middle of winter, between June and August, and the fruit goes straight into jars of syrup. Grandmothers' pantries held quinotos for the whole year, brought out for birthdays and long Sunday lunches. Each little fruit turns glossy orange and translucent, with a soft, bittersweet skin and a sharp, juicy centre. Spoon them over vanilla ice cream, serve them with a slice of fresh cheese in the style of postre vigilante, or eat them straight from the jar. Many bar menus offer them steeped in spirits; this version keeps only the syrup. Naturally egg-free, the quinotos rely on sugar syrup to preserve them, while pectin from the peel gives the syrup a light, jammy body. Chef's tip: blanch the fruit three times from cold water; the common mistake is skipping this, which leaves the skins tough and bitter.

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