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Escabeche de polloChicken in vinegar and carrot

Pollo en escabeche is a home classic in Córdoba and Buenos Aires, a legacy of Spanish preserving that Argentines make on a Saturday to eat cold all week. It comes out of the fridge for a picada before the asado, as a summer lunch with a green salad and crusty bread, or packed for a day in the sierras. Chicken is browned, then gently cooked in oil and vinegar with carrot, onion, red pepper, garlic, bay and black peppercorns, and left to rest at least a day. The meat turns tender and lightly tangy, the carrots keep a little crunch, and the oil carries the flavour of bay and pepper. Because garlic sits in oil, safety matters: the liquid is half strong vinegar (at least 5% acidity, never diluted beyond what the recipe says), and the jar always lives in the fridge, never on the shelf. Eat it within 5 days. The common mistake is letting it boil hard, which makes the chicken dry and stringy; it should barely tremble. It is ready the next day, when the chicken tastes seasoned right through and the oil has turned golden. Chef's tip: take it out 20 minutes before serving so the oil melts back to liquid.

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Capeletis a la CarusoStuffed pasta in cream sauce

Capeletis a la Caruso were created in a Montevideo restaurant in the 1950s and named after the great tenor, and they are still a Sunday lunch favourite in Uruguayan homes: little stuffed pasta hats in a rich sauce of cream, cooked ham (pork), mushrooms and onion, finished with grated cheese. Buy good fresh capeletis or tortellini; the sauce is what you make. The usual mistake is boiling the cream sauce hard, which makes it oily and grainy. Chef's tip: cook the mushrooms in a dry hot pan first until they squeak and brown, before any butter goes in, for a deeper taste.

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Khanom pang sangkhayaBread with pandan custard

In Bangkok, from the old Chinese coffee shops of Yaowarat to night markets, khanom pang sangkhaya is soft steamed or toasted bread dunked into a bowl of bright green pandan custard made with coconut milk and egg. It is eaten in the morning with patongko dough sticks and strong iced coffee. The mistake is cooking the custard over high heat; the egg scrambles and it turns grainy, so stir it slowly over a gentle flame. Chef's tip: blitz fresh pandan leaves with a splash of water and squeeze the juice through a cloth; it gives a colour and fragrance that essence can't match.

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Tarta de zapallitosCourgette and cheese tart

In Buenos Aires every rotisería sells tartas by the slice, and at home a tarta de zapallitos is baked on Sunday evening so that a wedge can go into the vianda (packed lunch) for school and work all week. Zapallitos are round green courgettes; ordinary courgettes work just as well. The common mistake is adding the courgette raw, which floods the pastry; sauté it until the liquid has cooked away. Argentine queso rallado and many hard cheeses are made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese. Chef's tip: bake the tart on a preheated baking tray so the base crisps before the filling soaks in.

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Sándwich de bondiolaGrilled pork shoulder sandwich

Along the Costanera Sur riverside in Buenos Aires, beside the Reserva Ecológica, the carritos have grilled for cyclists, walkers and taxi drivers for generations, and the bondiola sandwich is their pride: a thick pork shoulder steak, marbled and juicy, grilled until charred and laid in a crusty roll with chimichurri and salsa criolla. Weekend afternoons are the busiest. Chef's tip: leave the fat on the steak and turn it only once; the fat bastes the meat and the crust is the best part.

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Ka'i ladrilloPeanut molasses bricks

Ka'i ladrillo — 'monkey brick' in Guaraní — is the sweet sold by vendors on Asunción buses and at country fiestas: roasted peanuts bound in boiled cane molasses and set in brick-shaped blocks, crunchy and dark with a slightly smoky toffee taste. It contains peanuts, so keep it away from anyone with a peanut allergy. The common mistake is taking the syrup off too soon, so the bricks stay sticky and never set. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; it is ready when it sets into a brittle thread that snaps.

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Kluay pingGrilled banana

Kluay ping carts work the pavements of Silom and the lanes off Sukhumvit from mid-morning, when office workers want something sweet with their iced coffee. The vendor grills small, starchy nam wa bananas slowly over embers, presses each one flat with a wooden board and then brushes it with coconut cream cooked down with palm sugar and a pinch of salt. The outside turns sticky and smoky; the inside stays soft and fudgy. Ladyfinger bananas or firm, just-ripe small bananas work at home. Chef's tip: choose bananas that are yellow with no brown spots; overripe fruit turns to mush on the grill.

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Nam lamyai (longan drink)

Longan orchards cover the valleys of Chiang Mai and Lamphun, and every August the harvest is smoked and dried in big brick ovens so the fruit lasts all year. That dried lamyai is the base of nam lamyai, sold in plastic bags with a straw at Warorot Market, at roadside stalls on the way to Doi Suthep and in school canteens across the north, especially in the hot season from March to May. It tastes like toffee and smoked honey with a light floral note, and each glass comes with a few plump, chewy longans at the bottom to fish out. The common mistake is boiling the fruit too long with all the sugar at the start: the drink turns syrupy and the longans go mushy. Simmer the fruit first, sweeten at the end and taste before adding everything. It is ready when the liquid is clear amber-brown, the longans have swollen back to roughly their fresh size and the kitchen smells of caramel. It keeps 4 days in a closed jug in the fridge. Chef's tip: a tiny pinch of salt is the street-vendor trick that makes the sweetness taste rounder and brings out the smoky edge.

30 minThaiDrinksVeganGluten free
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Luk chin pingGrilled pork ball skewers

Outside Bangkok's schools at going-home time, and all evening around Victory Monument, vendors fan little charcoal grills lined with skewers of luk chin, bouncy meatballs that are pulled off the coals, dunked in a tub of sticky sweet chilli sauce and handed over in a plastic bag. This home version makes the springy pork balls from scratch, poaching them first so they cook through before they char. Children love them; leave the chillies out of a portion of sauce for little ones. Chef's tip: process the pork with iced water until it turns into a sticky paste; that is what gives the balls their famous bounce.

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Yen ta foPink noodle soup

You recognise a bowl of yen ta fo across a Bangkok food court by its startling pink colour, which comes from fermented red bean curd stirred into the sauce. Around the soi off Sala Daeng it is a lunchtime favourite: wide rice noodles in clear stock with bouncy fish balls, tender squid, fried tofu puffs, blanched morning glory and a scattering of crunchy fried wonton skins, with a sweet, sour and gently funky flavour. Chef's tip: add the squid only in the last minute; overcooked squid turns as chewy as a rubber band.

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Guiso de fideosBeef and pasta stew

Guiso de fideos is the winter weeknight stew of Argentina, cooked in Buenos Aires flats and on estancias alike, and as loved by children as by grandparents. Beef, potatoes and vegetables simmer in a light tomato and sweet-paprika broth, then short pasta cooks straight in the pot and thickens it into something between a soup and a stew. Serve it in deep plates with crusty bread and grated cheese for those who want it. The usual mistake is adding the pasta too early, so it swells and turns mushy; it goes in only for the last 10–12 minutes. Chef's tip: cut the beef into small cubes, about 2 cm, so it is tender in under an hour.

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Morcipán (blood sausage roll)

At any Buenos Aires asado, and at the street grills outside football grounds like La Bombonera in La Boca, the choripán has a twin: the morcipán, a soft, rich morcilla split and laid in crusty bread. Argentine morcilla is a pork blood sausage with pork fat, onion and spices, sometimes with nuts or raisins, and it grills to a crisp skin around a soft, spoonable centre that tastes deep and slightly sweet. A sharp chimichurri cuts through it. Chef's tip: grill it over a gentle heat and turn it carefully with tongs; on a fierce grill the casing splits and the filling runs out.

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Sándwich de vacíoGrilled flank steak sandwich

Vacío, the flank cut with its layer of fat and membrane, is grilled slowly for a long time at Buenos Aires parrillas, and at the street grills near football grounds and the weekend fairs of Mataderos it ends up sliced into crusty bread for a hearty midday sandwich. Cooked gently, it turns tender and very juicy, with a crisp, salty layer of fat. Chef's tip: grill it membrane side down first for most of the time and do not trim that membrane off; it protects the meat and turns crisp.

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Bajan rum punch

Every Barbadian knows the rhyme: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak. It is how rum punch is mixed for Sunday lunch, at beach limes, at the Friday night fish fry in Oistins and through the Crop Over festival in July and August. The punch is for adults only and it is strong, so pour it over plenty of ice and drink responsibly. Made right, it tastes bright and tangy from lime, rounded by brown-sugar syrup, warm with golden Barbados rum and finished by aromatic bitters and the woody smell of fresh nutmeg on top. The usual mistake is reading 'weak' as fruit juice or adding extra rum: the four of weak is water (and melting ice), and swapping in sweet juices makes the punch cloying. Make the syrup properly, measure by volume and taste before you add the last of the water. It is ready when the sweet and sour are in balance, nothing catches your throat and the jug is beaded with cold. It also keeps 2 days in the fridge, so it can be made ahead. Chef's tip: grate the nutmeg over each glass at the table; ready-ground nutmeg has lost the smell that makes Bajan punch what it is.

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Jok mooRice porridge with pork balls

In Bangkok, jok is breakfast at a roadside stall or the market at 6 am: broken jasmine rice cooked until almost smooth, with tender pork balls, an egg cracked in at the last moment, and heaps of ginger, spring onion and crisp patongko or fried dough. Seasoning sits on the table, so everyone adds soy, white pepper and chilli vinegar to taste. For a meat-free bowl, swap the pork balls for shiitake mushrooms and cubes of silken tofu, and use soy instead of fish sauce. The common mistake is a thin, watery jok; keep simmering until it holds a soft ribbon. Chef's tip: whisk the cooked rice hard for a minute at the end; it breaks the last grains and makes the porridge creamy.

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Khai kataPan eggs with pork and sausage

Khai kata, "pan eggs", came to Thailand through the Vietnamese communities of Isan, and in Udon Thani and Nong Khai, and now in Bangkok cafés too, it arrives sizzling in its own little metal pan with toppings of pork mince and sweet Chinese sausage, plus a crusty roll and a strong coffee. The eggs are cooked just until the whites set. The common mistake is cracking the eggs onto raw mince; cook the pork through first, then add the eggs. Chef's tip: heat the pan before the eggs go in, so the whites set at the edges with lacy, crisp frills.

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Khao kai jiaoThai omelette over rice

When there is no time for anything else, Bangkok office workers, students and taxi drivers eat khao khai jiao: eggs beaten with fish sauce and poured into very hot oil so they puff into a lacy, golden, crisp-edged omelette, slid onto a mound of jasmine rice with a squirt of chilli sauce. It is also the omelette mothers put in school lunch boxes. The common mistake is oil that is not hot enough, so the egg sits flat and greasy instead of ballooning up. For a vegetarian version, season with light soy sauce instead of fish sauce. Chef's tip: beat in a squeeze of lime and a spoon of water until very frothy; the air and steam make it puff dramatically.

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Kafae boran (old-style Thai coffee)

Before espresso bars reached Bangkok, coffee in Thailand meant kafae boran from Hainanese-Chinese shophouses and market carts: a dark robusta roast mixed with toasted grains, poured through a long cotton sock called a tung tom and stirred into thick sweetened condensed milk. Uncles still order it hot at 6 am with patongko dough sticks, and in the afternoon heat the same brew is poured over crushed ice and topped with evaporated milk as oliang or kafae yen. The taste is strong, roasty and slightly smoky, sweet and creamy, with a faint caramel-cereal edge from the grains; the iced version is silky and cold. The common mistake is brewing it like filter coffee with too little grounds: once milk and ice go in, it tastes thin. Use plenty, steep it in the sock and pour it through twice. The brew is ready when it is opaque, nearly black and leaves a brown film on a white spoon. It is high in caffeine, so not one for children or late evenings. Chef's tip: rinse the cloth sock in hot water only, never soap, and keep it in a jar of clean water in the fridge between uses so the coffee oils season it.

10 minThaiDrinksGluten free
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Khao kha mooBraised pork leg rice

Khao kha moo is Bangkok's great one-plate lunch, and the shophouses along Charoen Krung Road in Bang Rak have been simmering pork leg in the same dark, star-anise-scented pots for decades. Fresh pork hock is braised in soy, palm sugar and five-spice until the skin turns glossy and gelatinous and the meat falls away in tender strands. It is sliced onto jasmine rice with a soy-stained boiled egg, pickled mustard greens, blanched Chinese kale and a fierce green chilli and garlic vinegar to cut the richness. Chef's tip: keep the braise at a lazy simmer; a hard boil tears the skin and turns the meat stringy.

185 minThaiMeat
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Kratiam dongPickled garlic

Order khao kha moo, the braised pork leg on rice sold from Bangkok shophouses to Chiang Mai night markets, and a few cloves of kratiam dong come on the side; they also sit in a bowl beside nam prik, congee, sai ua sausage and Isan-style sour pork. The garlic is picked young in the cool season, from December to February, when the heads are small, the skins thin and the cloves still tender, and it is cured whole so you nibble the cloves straight from the head. After about a month in brine the harshness is gone: the garlic is crunchy, sweet-sour and only faintly pungent, and the brine itself becomes a seasoning for stir-fries and dipping sauces. Common mistake: skipping the first salt-and-vinegar soak; it draws out the raw sting and some water, so the final brine stays strong. Do not worry if a few cloves turn blue-green; that is a harmless reaction between garlic and acid. They are ready when a clove bites through crisp and sweet with no burn. Chef's tip: look for small young heads at Asian grocers in early spring; large mature garlic works, but separate it into cloves and peel it.

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Pa thong koTwin fried dough sticks

Before the shutters go up along Yaowarat Road in Bangkok's Chinatown, the pa thong ko vendors are already frying: two strips of dough pressed together, stretched and dropped into a wok of oil, where they swell into hollow, crackly sticks shaped a little like a pair of legs. Office workers buy a paper bag on the way to the skytrain and eat them with a cup of hot soy milk, or tear them into pieces and dip them in green pandan custard or condensed milk. This home version is egg-free and dairy-free and is served with sweetened soy milk. Chef's tip: let the dough rest for the full hour; a relaxed dough stretches without tearing and puffs far more in the oil.

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Prik nam somChillies in vinegar

On every noodle-shop table in Thailand, from Bangkok's boat-noodle stalls to small kuay teow shops in Hat Yai, there is a rack of four little jars: sugar, chilli flakes, fish sauce and prik nam som. A few drops of this sharp chilli vinegar wake up kuay teow nam, pad see ew, rad na and khao man gai at lunch or late at night, and the softened chilli slices are spooned on too. It is bright, clean and sour first, then hot, with a grassy chilli aroma; the slices stay crisp for a day or two and turn mellow after that. The Thai version uses long green or red chillies (prik chee fa) for colour and fragrance and just a few bird's-eye chillies for real heat. Common mistake: blending the chillies with the vinegar; it should be thin and clear with floating rings, so slice them by hand. It is ready after 15 minutes, once the vinegar turns faintly green-gold and smells of chilli. Chef's tip: a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar round off harsh supermarket vinegar; leave them out if you have mild Thai coconut or rice vinegar.

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Kaeng khilekCassia leaf curry

Kaeng khilek is an old-fashioned country curry from central Thailand, cooked when the cassia (khilek) trees put out tender shoots after the rains and sold ready-boiled in bags at markets around Ratchaburi and Suphan Buri. The leaves are boiled and drained several times until their bitterness softens, then simmered with pork belly in coconut milk with red curry paste, leaving a dark green, pleasantly bitter, rich curry eaten with jasmine rice and salted egg. This recipe contains pork. The usual mistake is skipping the repeated boiling: cassia leaves must be boiled and drained at least three times, or they are harshly bitter and can upset the stomach. Frozen pre-boiled khilek from Thai shops saves work. Chef's tip: squeeze the boiled leaves firmly in a cloth so they soak up coconut milk instead of water.

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LampreadoCassava starch cheese fritters

Paraguayan grandmothers fry lampreado on Sunday evenings to eat with a mug of cocido, the toasted yerba mate drink: small pan-fried cakes of cassava starch, egg, milk and grated cheese with a little onion, crisp at the edges and stretchy inside. Some families also make it with leftover meat, but this version is all cheese. Queso Paraguay is set with animal rennet; a vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese plus mozzarella works well. The trap is a batter that is too thick, which gives heavy, gluey cakes. Chef's tip: the batter should drop slowly off a spoon like thick pancake batter; add milk a spoonful at a time until it does.

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