182 boot recipes

Easy kimchi for first-timers: salted napa cabbage fermented with green onion, garlic, ginger, and dried chile in a simple brine. No fish sauce, no special paste. Let it bubble on the counter, then chill the funky, sour, crunchy result.

Broiled shrimp teriyaki with a homemade sauce of soy, ginger, garlic, and sugar. Quick appetizer with glossy, caramelized shrimp ready in 20 minutes from scratch.

Old-fashioned sweet pepper pickles brined overnight, then simmered in spiced sugar-vinegar syrup with cloves, cinnamon, mace, and ginger. A canning-jar staple from the heritage pantry.

Pla nung horapa: Thai steamed red snapper rubbed with a fiery paste of galangal, lemongrass, red chiles, and fish sauce, finished with Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves. Aromatic Thai seafood ready in 20 minutes of steaming.

Traditional Thai green curry with chicken, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, green peas, serrano chiles, and loads of fresh basil in a rich separated-coconut-cream sauce.

Citrus shrimp and scallop kabobs marinated in orange juice, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic, grilled with snow peas and orange wedges. A bright, gluten-free seafood skewer for summer.

Marinated trout poached with vegetables in white wine and vinegar, then stored in glass jars. A European-style pickled fish preserve that improves over days in the fridge.

Bhindi curry with okra simmered in a fragrant spice blend of mustard seeds, fenugreek, cumin, and turmeric fried in mustard oil. An authentic Indian okra dish.

A Jellie of Fyshe: a medieval-style aspic of cod, scallops, and shrimp suspended in a clear gelatin set with white wine, ginger, and vinegar. The historic seafood starter for special occasions.

Pimiento sweet pickles made with 24 red bell peppers brined overnight and simmered in a spiced vinegar syrup with cloves, cinnamon, allspice, mace, and mustard seeds.

Cold green vegetable soup with poached fish. Source: Olga Gorechev, St. Petersburg, Russia

This is the hot and exotic spice mixture that give Eritrean and Ethiopian cooking its characteristic flavor.

I used Cornish Game Hens, but you could also use a cut up chicken. If you can't get winter melon, watermelon will work. Winter melon is white, very mild tasting and a tad denser than watermelon. I think you could get away using something like Honeydew too.

Stir-fried warm Asian salad with napa cabbage, fresh mushrooms, spinach, celery, garlic, and ginger tossed in soy sauce. A low-fat vegetable side dish ready in under 10 minutes.

A South African-style spiced mince filling for samoosas: beef or mutton braised dry with jeera, ginger, garlic, turmeric, fresh coriander and mint. The keep-it-dry method that stops samoosas from going soggy.

Hearty oven-baked lentil stew loaded with Brussels sprouts, rutabaga, carrots, and fresh ginger. A cozy, plant-based one-dish meal with serious comfort-food warmth.