Best Rinderroulade Near Me: Germany’s Rolled Beef Classic Ask a German what their mother cooked for Sunday lunch and rinderroulade comes up more than almost anything else. A thin sheet of beef spread with mustard, layered with bacon, onion, and pickle, rolled tight, browned, and braised for hours until it surrenders completely. The result is a neat cylinder that reveals a spiral of filling when you cut into it, sitting in a dark gravy that…

Best Tapas Gambas al Ajillo Near Me: Spain’s Sizzling Garlic Prawns You hear this dish before you see it. A small earthenware dish arrives at the table still audibly bubbling, olive oil spitting around prawns and sliced garlic, and the smell reaches you a second before the plate lands. Gambas al ajillo is one of the great tapas, built from perhaps five ingredients, and it lives or dies on whether the kitchen respects the two…

Best Pabellon Criollo Near Me: Venezuela’s National Dish Venezuela’s national dish arrives as four distinct components arranged on one plate, and the arrangement is the point. Shredded beef, black beans, white rice, and fried sweet plantain each sit in their own section, and you build every forkful yourself from whatever combination you want. There is an argument, widely repeated in Venezuela, that the colors represent the country’s people and history. Whether or not you find…

Best Crema Catalana Near Me: Catalonia’s Classic Custard Order this in Barcelona and you will get something that looks, at a glance, exactly like crème brûlée: a shallow dish of pale custard under a sheet of cracked caramel. Taste it, and the differences arrive immediately. It is lighter, brighter, and carries citrus and cinnamon rather than vanilla. The two desserts are genuinely distinct, and Catalans will tell you theirs came first. If you are searching…

Best Ajo Blanco Near Me: Spain’s Chilled White Almond Soup Most people know gazpacho. Far fewer know that Andalusia has an older chilled soup, one that predates the tomato’s arrival in Europe entirely: ajo blanco, made from almonds, bread, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar, blended into something pale, silky, and startlingly good on a hot day. It is often served with grapes floating on top, a combination that sounds odd and turns out to be…

Best Mazamorra Morada Near Me: Peru’s Purple Corn Dessert The first thing anyone notices about mazamorra morada is the color. It arrives a deep, almost improbable purple, dark enough to look like it must involve food coloring. It does not. The color comes entirely from maíz morado, the purple corn native to the Andes, boiled down into a fragrant liquid that forms the base of one of Peru’s most beloved desserts. Thickened, spiced, and studded…

Best Tapas Boquerones Near Me: Spain’s Vinegar-Cured Anchovies Say the word anchovy to most people and they picture the dark, intensely salty fillets that divide opinion on pizza. Boquerones are almost the opposite: silvery white, mild, bright with vinegar and olive oil, and about as far from that aggressive saltiness as a fish can get. They are one of the great fixtures of the Spanish tapas bar, and they convert anchovy skeptics regularly. If you…

Best Carbonada Criolla Near Me: Argentina’s Stew in a Pumpkin Few dishes arrive at the table with quite the theater of carbonada criolla. In its most traditional form, this Argentine stew is served inside a whole roasted pumpkin, the lid lifted at the table to release a cloud of steam carrying the smell of beef, corn, and sweet fruit. It is a genuine centerpiece dish, and beneath the presentation sits something more interesting still: a…