World Classics: A Cook's Tour Beyond India

Table & Traditions is, first and foremost, a map of Indian cooking — region by region, state by state, home kitchen by home kitchen. But no good cook stays in one country forever, and the world beyond the subcontinent has a standing invitation to this table. What follows is our world classics collection: a deliberately small, deliberately excellent slice of international cooking, each dish chosen because it is the kind of thing a home cook in its own country would be proud to serve.

These dishes don’t share a pantry the way the recipes of, say, South India do. What they share is pedigree. Each is a defining plate of its place, and each teaches a technique worth carrying with you — how to build a dark roux, how to coax a glossy sauce from nothing but cheese and starchy water, how to chase the crisp crust on a pan of rice.

Europe

European cooking, at its best, is about doing a few good things to good ingredients and waiting. France gives us boeuf bourguignon, beef braised in red wine until it falls apart — a lesson in browning and patience. From Spain comes paella valenciana, the original Valencian paella of chicken, rabbit, and beans, where the prize is the toasted crust of rice at the bottom of the pan. Greece contributes moussaka, the grand layered bake of eggplant, spiced lamb, and béchamel. And from Italy, two Roman and Sicilian classics that prove how little you need: cacio e pepe, three ingredients and a technique, and pasta alla Norma, Catania’s great eggplant pasta.

East Asia

East Asian cooking rewards a stocked pantry and a hot pan. China is represented by two regional poles: fiery, numbing mapo tofu from Sichuan, built on fermented bean paste and Sichuan pepper, and lacquered, sweet-savoury char siu from Cantonese Guangdong. Korea brings the colourful, build-your-own bibimbap and the marinated, caramelised beef of bulgogi. And from Japan come two everyday classics: the shatter-crisp breaded cutlet tonkatsu and the comforting chicken-and-egg rice bowl oyakodon.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia gets its own dedicated guide — A Cook’s Map of Southeast Asia — because it’s a region we cover in its own right, as the bridge between the Indian core and the wider world. There you’ll find Thai green curry and pad krapow, Vietnamese phở gà, Indonesian beef rendang, Filipino chicken adobo, and Hainanese chicken rice from the hawker stalls of Singapore and Malaysia.

The Middle East & North Africa

This is the world’s great crossroads of spice, and the cooking shows it. From Morocco comes the chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives, slow-cooked in a single pot. Shakshuka — eggs poached in a spiced tomato-and-pepper sauce — spans the Maghreb and the Levant and may be the world’s best one-pan meal. And from the Levant, humble, soulful mujaddara, lentils and rice under a heap of deeply caramelised onions.

The Americas

The Americas are where the old world’s techniques met new-world ingredients. Mexico gives us tacos al pastor, chili-and-achiote pork crowned with pineapple, and tinga de pollo, smoky chipotle chicken from Puebla. From the American South come two dishes built on patience and place: Louisiana gumbo, the dark-roux stew that is a whole culture in a bowl, and Lowcountry shrimp and grits. And from Peru, the bright, electric ceviche, fish “cooked” in nothing but lime.

Where to begin

If you’re new to a cuisine, start where it’s hardest to go wrong. Shakshuka and bulgogi are weeknight-fast and forgiving; char siu is mostly hands-off; cacio e pepe is quick but teaches a technique worth owning. Then, when you have an afternoon to give, reach for a project — boeuf bourguignon, paella, moussaka, or gumbo — the dishes that turn time at the stove into something memorable.

Hungry for more? Browse the full recipe collection, explore the regional cuisines of India, or read more cultural stories behind the food.