The table

United States · Thanksgiving

Herb turkey breast

Oven · 90 min · 6 · Fridge 3d · Freezes

The holiday bird, without a whole turkey or an all-day oven.

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in turkey breast, about 2 kg
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp chopped thyme or sage
• 1 lemon

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 190°C / 375°F. Pat the breast dry.
2. Rub with oil, salt, pepper, and herbs. Halve the lemon and tuck it beside the meat.
3. Roast on a rack until the thickest part reads 74°C / 165°F, about 70 to 90 minutes.
4. Rest 20 minutes before you slice. The rest is the difference between juicy and chalky.

Mexico · Nochebuena

Bacalao a la vizcaína

Stovetop · 50 min · 6 · Fridge 3d · Don't freeze

Salt cod, tomato, potato, and olive. The Christmas Eve pot in a lot of Mexican houses.

If you cannot soak the cod overnight, buy a fresh white fish and salt the pot yourself.

Ingredients

• 400 g salt cod, soaked overnight and changed twice
• 2 potatoes, cubed
• 1 onion
• 3 tomatoes, grated
• a handful of green olives
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Steps

1. The soak is the recipe. Unsoaked salt cod is inedible.
2. Simmer the fish in fresh water 8 minutes. Drain and flake, discarding bones.
3. Fry the onion in oil, add tomato, then potato and a splash of water. Cook until the potato is tender.
4. Fold in the fish and olives. Heat through. Salt only if it still needs it.

Italy · New Year

Lentils with sausage

Soup pot · 45 min · 6 · Fridge 4d · Freezes

Cotechino is the classic. A good pork sausage still carries the luck-and-lentils dinner.

Ingredients

• 300 g brown lentils, rinsed
• 4 pork sausages
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• bay leaf

Steps

1. Brown the sausages in oil. Set them aside and soften the chopped onion, carrot, and celery in the same pot.
2. Add lentils, bay, and water to cover by 3 cm. Simmer 25 minutes.
3. Return the sausages, cover, and cook until the lentils are soft and the sausages are cooked through.
4. Season at the end. Lentils drink salt and then taste bland if you salt them too early... or too late.

Poland · Wigilia

Clear beet barszcz

Soup pot · 40 min · 6 · Fridge 4d · Freezes

The Christmas Eve beet soup. Clear, sour, and better with a mushroom dumpling if you have one.

Ingredients

• 4 beets, peeled and grated
• 1 liter vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp vinegar or beet kvass
• 1 garlic clove
• bay leaf
• salt and pepper

Steps

1. Simmer beets in broth with the bay leaf for 25 minutes. Don't boil it hard or the color turns muddy.
2. Strain. You want a clear red broth, not a puree.
3. Add garlic, vinegar, salt, and pepper. The soup should taste bright, not sweet.
4. Serve hot. A spoon of mushrooms or a small dumpling on the side is the traditional company.

Japan · New Year

Ozoni

Soup pot · 25 min · 4 · Fridge 2d · Don't freeze

New Year mochi soup. Kanto style is clear and soy; the mochi is the point.

Cut mochi for small children. Whole toasted mochi is a choking hazard.

Ingredients

• 4 pieces of mochi
• 800 ml dashi or light chicken broth
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp mirin
• a handful of spinach
• chicken or fish cake, optional

Steps

1. Simmer broth, soy, and mirin. Taste. It should be light.
2. Add chicken or fish cake if you are using it. Wilt the spinach and lift it out.
3. Grill or broil the mochi until it puffs and spots. Watch it. Mochi goes from pale to charcoal quickly.
4. Put a piece of mochi in each bowl, add soup, and the greens. Eat it while the mochi is stretchy.

China · Lunar New Year

Pork and cabbage dumplings

Stovetop · 70 min · 4 · Fridge 2d · Freezes

Jiaozi. The New Year dumpling. Make extra and freeze them raw on a tray.

Ingredients

• 250 g ground pork
• 2 cups finely chopped cabbage, salted and squeezed dry
• 2 green onions
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 40 round dumpling wrappers

Steps

1. Mix pork, cabbage, onion, soy, and sesame oil. The filling should be moist, not soupy.
2. Put a teaspoon of filling in a wrapper. Wet the edge, fold, and press out the air.
3. Boil in plenty of water. When they float, add a cup of cold water, and do that twice more. Then they are cooked.
4. Freeze uncooked extras in one layer. Boil them from frozen and add a few minutes.

Korea · Seollal

Tteokguk

Soup pot · 30 min · 4 · Fridge 2d · Don't freeze

Rice-cake soup for the lunar new year. A bowl is said to mark another year.

Ingredients

• 200 g sliced rice cakes, soaked if they are dry
• 800 ml beef or anchovy broth
• 1 egg
• 2 green onions
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• sesame oil

Steps

1. Simmer broth and soy. Add the rice cakes and cook until they are soft, about 8 minutes. Don't walk off. They turn to paste.
2. Beat the egg and drizzle it in. Stir once so it ribbons.
3. Finish with green onion and a few drops of sesame oil.

Greece · Easter

Lemon roast lamb

Oven · 150 min · 6 · Fridge 3d · Freezes

Shoulder, lemon, oregano, and potatoes in the fat. The Easter table, scaled to one pan.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg lamb shoulder
• 1 kg potatoes, in wedges
• 2 lemons
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 4 garlic cloves
• salt and pepper

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 160°C / 325°F. Cut slits in the lamb and push in garlic.
2. Rub with oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt, and pepper. Surround with potatoes.
3. Cover and roast 2 hours. Uncover and roast until the meat gives and the potatoes brown, about 30 minutes more.
4. Rest 15 minutes. Spoon the lemon fat over the potatoes.

Morocco · Eid

Lamb with apricot

Soup pot · 100 min · 6 · Fridge 4d · Freezes

A home tagine: lamb, onion, cinnamon, and apricot. A heavy pot works if you don't own the clay one.

Ingredients

• 700 g lamb shoulder, cubed
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger
• a pinch of saffron or turmeric
• 100 g dried apricots
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt

Steps

1. Brown the lamb in oil. Add onion, spices, and salt. Cook until the onion softens.
2. Add water to barely cover. Simmer covered 70 minutes, until the lamb is tender.
3. Add apricots for the last 15 minutes. Reduce the lid so the sauce thickens.
4. Serve with bread or couscous. The sauce should coat a spoon.

Sweden · Christmas

Creamed meatballs

Stovetop · 40 min · 4 · Fridge 3d · Freezes

The Christmas meatball. Lingon is traditional. Cranberry sauce is the honest substitute.

Ingredients

• 400 g ground beef and pork, mixed
• 1 small onion, grated
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp butter
• 200 ml beef broth
• 100 ml heavy cream
• salt and pepper

Steps

1. Mix meat, onion, egg, crumbs, salt, and pepper. Roll small balls.
2. Brown them in butter. Don't crowd the pan.
3. Add broth and simmer 8 minutes. Stir in cream and reduce until the sauce coats the meatballs.
4. Taste for salt. Serve with potatoes and something tart.

Brazil · Natal

Rabanada

Stovetop · 25 min · 4 · Fridge 2d · Don't freeze

Christmas french toast, fried, then rolled in cinnamon sugar. Stale bread is better than fresh.

Ingredients

• 8 slices of day-old bread
• 2 eggs
• 200 ml milk
• 1 tbsp sugar
• oil for frying
• 3 tbsp sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon

Steps

1. Beat eggs, milk, and the first spoon of sugar. Dip the bread. Let it drink, but not fall apart.
2. Fry in a shallow layer of oil until deep gold on both sides.
3. Drain and toss in cinnamon sugar while hot.

Ethiopia · Holidays and fasting days

Misir wot

Soup pot · 45 min · 6 · Fridge 4d · Freezes

Red lentils in a slow onion berbere sauce. Eaten with injera, or with any flatbread you have.

Ingredients

• 300 g red lentils, rinsed
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp oil or spiced niter if you have it
• 2 tbsp berbere
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp ginger
• salt

Steps

1. Cook the onion in oil over medium heat until it is soft and sweet, at least 15 minutes. This is the body of the stew.
2. Stir in garlic, ginger, and berbere for a minute.
3. Add lentils and water to cover. Simmer until the lentils collapse into a thick stew, about 25 minutes.
4. Salt at the end. It should be thick enough to scoop.

Russia · New Year

Olivier salad

No cook · 40 min · 8 · Fridge 2d · Don't freeze

The New Year salad. Potato, carrot, egg, pickles, and a lot of mayonnaise. Make it ahead.

Ingredients

• 3 potatoes, boiled and diced
• 2 carrots, boiled and diced
• 4 eggs, boiled and diced
• 200 g cooked chicken or bologna, diced
• 4 pickles, diced
• 150 g peas
• 150 g mayonnaise
• salt

Steps

1. Everything is cooked and cold before it meets the bowl.
2. Dice it small and even. The salad is about the mix, not chunks.
3. Fold in the peas and mayonnaise. Salt lightly. The pickles are already salty.
4. Chill at least an hour. It is better the next day and tired after two.

India · Diwali

Rice kheer

Stovetop · 50 min · 6 · Fridge 3d · Don't freeze

Slow rice pudding with cardamom. A festival bowl, and a plain weeknight one if you stop stirring.

Ingredients

• 1 liter whole milk
• 1/3 cup basmati rice, rinsed
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 4 cardamom pods, cracked
• a spoon of chopped pistachio, optional

Steps

1. Simmer milk and rice on low, stirring often so the bottom doesn't catch. This takes about 35 minutes.
2. When the rice is soft and the milk has thickened, add sugar and cardamom.
3. Cook 5 minutes more. It thickens as it cools.
4. Serve warm or cold. Nuts go on at the end so they stay crisp.

United Kingdom · Christmas

Pigs in blankets

Oven · 30 min · 6 · Fridge 3d · Freezes

Sausages in bacon. The bit of the Christmas table people actually fight over.

Ingredients

• 12 small pork sausages
• 12 rashers of streaky bacon

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F.
2. Wrap each sausage in a rasher. Set them seam-down on a rack or tray.
3. Roast 25 to 30 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the sausage is cooked through.