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706 recipes

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.

60 minBalticDrinks
by KrazyBadal 0 views

FliederbeersuppeElderberry soup with dumplings

In northern Germany, from Hamburg to Schleswig-Holstein, the elder bushes hang heavy with black berries in late summer, and a bowl of hot Fliederbeersuppe is a harvest-time comfort around Erntedank, said to keep colds away for the winter. The dark purple soup is sweet and tart, with pieces of apple and little fluffy semolina dumplings (Grießklößchen) floating on top. It is eaten as a first course or a light supper, hot in autumn and sometimes cold in summer. Important: elderberries must be fully ripe, stripped from every stem and always cooked, as raw berries, stems and leaves can make you sick. Chef's tip: strip the berries with a fork straight into a bowl; it is quick and leaves the green stems behind.

60 minGermanSoups
by KrazyBadal 0 views

MartinshörnchenMarzipan crescent pastries

On 11 November children in Lower Saxony, Saxony and much of Germany walk through the dark streets with paper lanterns, singing songs for St Martin, the soldier who cut his cloak in half to share it with a beggar. Bakeries sell Martinshörnchen, sweet crescent-shaped yeast pastries, and many families break them in half to share, as St Martin did. This version is filled with soft marzipan and ground almonds and finished with a thin lemon glaze. Chef's tip: roll each wedge from the wide end with a gentle tug so you get at least three turns of dough, which gives the crescents their shape.

60 minGermanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

SchwenkbratenMarinated grilled pork neck steaks

Schwenkbraten is the pride of the Saarland, where every village fair, football club party and summer Kirmes has a Schwenker: a round grill hung from a tripod and swung gently over a beech-wood fire. The meat is pork neck steaks marinated overnight with heaps of onion, garlic, marjoram and paprika, and they come off juicy, smoky and slightly charred. Locals often add beer to the marinade, but this recipe leaves it out, so no alcohol is involved. Serve with bread rolls, potato salad and mustard. Chef's tip: pork neck has fine marbling, so it stays moist; do not swap it for lean pork loin, which dries out on the grill.

35 minGermanMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KirmeskuchenPlum streusel yeast cake

When the Kirmes, the yearly fair for a village church's patron saint, comes to the Rhineland and Hesse, families bake enormous trays of Kirmeskuchen to share with the relatives who come home for the fun-fair, the dancing and the procession. This version is the most loved: a soft, buttery yeast dough covered edge to edge with tightly packed plum halves and a thick, crumbly streusel. Cut it into squares and serve it with whipped cream and coffee in the afternoon. Chef's tip: stand the plum halves upright, cut side up and overlapping like roof tiles, so the juice stays in the fruit instead of soaking the dough.

80 minGermanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

NonnenfürzleSugared choux puffs

Nonnenfürzle, the cheeky 'nuns' puffs', are a Swabian Fasnet treat, fried in kitchens from Rottweil to Stuttgart in the days before Lent when butter, eggs and fat had to be used up. A choux-style dough is cooked in the pan, beaten with eggs and dropped by the spoonful into hot fat, where the little balls puff up and turn themselves over. Dusted with cinnamon sugar, they are crisp outside and hollow and custardy inside. The common mistake is adding the eggs while the dough is still hot, which scrambles them and stops the puffs rising. Chef's tip: dip the spoon in the hot oil before each scoop so the dough slides off cleanly.

45 minGermanDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

115 minPeruvianSoups
by KrazyBadal 0 views

QuittengeleeQuince jelly

Quinces are too hard and sour to eat raw, so in Germany they are turned into Quittengelee, one of the jewel-coloured jars set out with the pumpkins and sheaves of wheat for Erntedank, the October harvest thanksgiving. The fruit is simmered whole in pieces, the juice drips through a cloth overnight, and then it is boiled with sugar until it sets into a clear jelly the colour of rosé, with a perfume like pear, honey and roses. Eat it on bread rolls, with cheese, or melted as a glaze for apple tart. Chef's tip: quince skin and cores are full of natural pectin, so cook them in with the flesh rather than peeling.

180 minGermanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

HeringssalatPickled herring and beetroot salad

When the carnival ends in the Rhineland and northern Germany, Ash Wednesday brings the Heringsessen, a herring meal shared in pubs and homes to mark the start of the Lenten fast. This rosy salad mixes diced pickled herring with beetroot, apple, gherkin and boiled potato in a creamy yogurt-mayonnaise dressing, and is served with rye bread. Use pickled herring bought ready-made in jars from the chiller, which has been commercially cured, and keep the salad in the fridge. Pickled and cured fish is not cooked, so it is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system; for a safer version use hot-smoked mackerel or cooked fish. The common mistake is dressing the salad while the potatoes are hot, which turns it mushy. Chef's tip: make it the day before; the flavours deepen overnight.

55 minGermanSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KourdassGrilled lamb liver bundles

After the sacrifice of Eid al-Adha, Moroccan families use every part of the lamb, and kourdass is one of the dishes made in the days that follow: pieces of tripe and liver rubbed with cumin and paprika, wrapped in caul fat and traditionally hung up to air-dry before grilling. This home version skips the drying, which is hard to do safely in a modern kitchen, and grills the bundles fresh over charcoal or under a grill until the fat crisps and the liver is cooked through. Buy cleaned, pre-cooked tripe and caul fat from a halal butcher. Chef's tip: wrap the bundles tightly so the caul fat bastes them as it melts.

90 minMoroccanMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

PflaumenmusOven-baked plum butter

When the late damson plums (Zwetschgen) ripen in September, German kitchens fill trays with them for Pflaumenmus, and jars of it stand on the decorated altar at Erntedank, the harvest thanksgiving in early October. Unlike jam, it uses little sugar and no pectin: the halved plums are baked slowly, uncovered, until they collapse and darken into a thick, almost black spread that tastes of plums and spice rather than sugar. Spread it on rye bread with butter, fill Dampfnudeln with it or stir a spoonful into quark. Chef's tip: bake it in the widest roasting tin you have, because the more surface, the faster the water steams off.

330 minGermanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

OsterlammEaster lamb sponge cake

In Germany and Austria an Osterlamm, a light sponge baked in a two-piece lamb-shaped mould, stands on the Easter breakfast table, dusted with icing sugar with a ribbon and bell around its neck and sometimes a little flag. In Catholic regions it is taken to church on Holy Saturday to be blessed with the Easter basket. The cake is a buttery, lemony sponge, firm enough to keep its shape. You need a lamb cake mould, sold in kitchen shops before Easter. Chef's tip: grease the mould with soft butter and dust it with breadcrumbs or flour into every crevice, or the lamb's head stays in the tin.

65 minGermanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ApfelkrautApple syrup

In the Rhineland, apples from the autumn harvest are pressed and boiled for hours in copper cauldrons into Apfelkraut, a dark, glossy, sweet-sour syrup that is spread on Schwarzbrot with butter and quark, and that families bring to the Erntedank harvest thanksgiving in October. It needs no added sugar at all: the apples' own sugar and pectin concentrate until the juice is as thick as treacle and tastes like baked apple and caramel. Eat it on rye bread, with potato pancakes (Reibekuchen) or in a sauce for Sauerbraten. Chef's tip: use a mix of sweet and tart apples; the tart ones give the tang and the pectin that makes it set.

450 minGermanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

MutzenmandelnQuark fritters in sugar

In Cologne and the rest of the Rhineland, bakeries pile their counters with Mutzenmandeln from Weiberfastnacht to Shrove Tuesday, and families fry them at home for carnival parties. A quick, soft dough of quark, egg, sugar and flour is rolled out, cut with a small almond-shaped cutter and fried until puffed and golden, then tossed in sugar while still warm. The common mistake is oil that is too hot, which leaves them raw and doughy in the middle. Chef's tip: a few drops of bitter almond extract or a little lemon zest gives them the classic bakery flavour.

40 minGermanDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

210 minArgentinianMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

85 minAustrianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KerbelsuppeChervil soup

In Germany, Maundy Thursday is called Gründonnerstag, 'green Thursday', and many families eat something green that day for health in the coming year: spinach with eggs, herb soup or this creamy chervil soup. Chervil is one of the first herbs of spring, with a delicate taste of aniseed and parsley, and the soup is simply potato, shallot and vegetable stock blended with a big bunch of fresh chervil and finished with cream. It is ready in half an hour and gluten free. Chef's tip: add the chervil only at the very end and blend straight away, because heat quickly dulls its colour and flavour.

30 minGermanSoupsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

60 minParaguayanMeat
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

130 minParaguayanDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

90 minParaguayanBreads & ParathasGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

75 minAustrianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

TihaneStuffed lamb spleen

Tihane, or tehal, is an old Eid al-Adha speciality from Moroccan towns such as Fez and Marrakech, made on the days after the sacrifice when the offal is shared out. The lamb's spleen is cut open into a pocket and stuffed with chopped liver and heart, a little fat, green olives, preserved lemon, garlic and cumin, then sewn shut, poached and roasted until browned. It is sliced thin and eaten warm or cold with bread. Ask a halal butcher for the spleen and offal. Chef's tip: prick the spleen with a fine needle before poaching so it doesn't burst in the pot.

130 minMoroccanMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

MartinsgansRoast goose with red cabbage

On 11 November, St Martin's Day, children in Germany and Austria walk in lantern processions, and families and restaurants serve the Martinsgans: a goose roasted slowly with apples, onion and mugwort or marjoram until the skin is crisp and the meat tender, with red cabbage, potato dumplings and a rich gravy. Legend says the geese's cackling gave away St Martin when he hid to avoid being made bishop. Goose gives off a lot of fat; save it for roast potatoes. Chef's tip: prick the skin all over (not the meat) and roast on a rack so the fat drains and the skin crisps.

270 minGermanMeat
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

65 minBalticBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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