Looking through my mother’s recipe file, I found a few doozies. I don’t remember that she ever cooked this very ’50s dish; I think I would have remembered.

Potatoes are a cornerstone of the Peruvian. Gently spiced cheese sauce is usually poured over the potatoes or served as a dip. We serve them over the sauce, with accompaniments of lime and meaty olives....

Comfort food, Peruvian style. The chile sauce’s brilliant yellow hue comes from a pinch of turmeric, and bottled aji amarillo paste.

A mixture of feta and fresh mint gives these lamb burgers a Mediterranean spin.

It’s the stuff of dumpling dreams: savory (panfried potato, onion, and cheese) surprises.

Rice may be the belle of the ball in Charleston, but corn—that other staple of southern pantries—has a few good moves, too.

Good-quality ingredients brought together with a minimum of fuss: Tender, delicate crab when teamed with homemade semolina, develops a certain swagger.

Tuscans are known bean eaters, and when you simmer cannellini beans and finish them in the oven with a fresh tomato ragù, you’ll understand why.

We’re not dismissing the sweeter side of pain perdu (French toast), but custardy, golden bread just as easily goes savory.

The Colombian and Venezuelan small fried corn cakes called arepas have a distinctive roasty-toasty flavor.