You need

• 1 1/2 cups raw cashews, boiled 15 minutes and drained
• 1 cup unsweetened plain oat milk, plus more to thin
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp white miso paste
• 2 poblano peppers
• 2 jalapenos, stemmed
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles, drained
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric (for color only)
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• Pickled jalapeno slices and cilantro, to finish
• Thick tortilla chips, for dipping

Method

1. Broil the poblanos and jalapenos 4 inches under a 500F broiler for 10 to 12 minutes, turning twice, until blackened in patches. Seal in a bowl with a plate on top for 10 minutes, then rub off the skins and chop.
2. Blend the drained cashews with the oat milk, nutritional yeast, miso, lime juice, smoked paprika, cumin, turmeric and salt on high for 2 to 3 minutes, until there is no grit left at all.
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium and cook the onion 8 minutes, until the edges go brown. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
4. Pour in the cashew base and simmer gently 6 to 8 minutes, stirring constantly, until it thickens and coats the spoon.
5. Fold in the chopped roasted chiles and the canned green chiles. Taste for salt and lime.
6. Serve in a warm cast iron skillet, topped with pickled jalapeno and cilantro, chips on the side.

From behind the bar: Keep a mug of hot water next to the pan. Queso tightens as it cools, and a splash at a time brings it back without watering down the flavor.

You need

• 3 large globe eggplants (about 3 lb total)
• 1/3 cup tahini, well stirred
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, grated fine
• 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp Aleppo pepper
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the top
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses (read the label, some brands sweeten with honey)
• Warm pita or flatbread (read the dough label too, milk and honey both turn up)

Method

1. Set the eggplants directly on a high gas burner and char 12 to 15 minutes, turning every 3 or 4 minutes, until the skin is black all over and the eggplant collapses on itself. No gas burner: broil at 500F for 25 minutes, turning twice.
2. Move them to a colander and let them drain 20 minutes. The liquid that runs out is the bitter stuff, and you want it gone.
3. Scrape the flesh off the skins and discard every scrap of skin. Chop the flesh with a knife on a board. Do not use a food processor.
4. Whisk the tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt in a bowl. It will seize into a paste and then loosen pale and creamy. That is the point where it is ready.
5. Fold the tahini mixture into the chopped eggplant with the cumin and olive oil. Let it sit 30 minutes for the garlic to settle down.
6. Spread in a shallow bowl, drag a spoon through it, and flood the groove with olive oil. Aleppo, parsley, a thread of pomegranate molasses. Warm bread.

From behind the bar: The 20 minutes in the colander is not optional. It is the whole difference between baba ganoush and a bowl of eggplant water.

You need

• 1 cup raw cashews, boiled 15 minutes and drained
• 3/4 cup unsweetened oat milk
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp white miso paste
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 cans (14 oz each) artichoke hearts in water, drained, squeezed dry and roughly chopped
• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 shallot, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp vegan butter
• 1/4 cup vegan mozzarella shreds
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (some brands contain milk, check)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Toasted sourdough or thick tortilla chips, for dipping

Method

1. Blend the drained cashews with the oat milk, nutritional yeast, miso, lemon juice, Dijon, onion powder, white pepper and salt for 2 minutes on high, until completely smooth.
2. Wring the thawed spinach out in a clean kitchen towel over the sink. Twist until nothing more comes out, then pull the compressed puck apart with your fingers.
3. Melt the vegan butter in a skillet over medium and sweat the shallot 3 minutes, then the garlic 1 minute more, without letting either color.
4. Combine the cashew base, spinach, artichokes and the shallot mixture in a bowl. Taste and salt hard, artichokes soak it up.
5. Spread into an 8-inch cast iron pan or baking dish. Scatter the vegan mozzarella over the top, then the panko tossed with the olive oil.
6. Bake at 400F for 22 to 25 minutes, until the edges bubble and the top is golden. Broil 90 seconds if you want more color. Rest 5 minutes before anyone gets a spoon in it.

From behind the bar: Wring the spinach until the towel comes away nearly dry. Wet spinach is the single reason most versions of this end up as a puddle with a crust on it.

You need

• 1 1/2 cups neutral oil (grapeseed or avocado)
• 4 guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded and torn into pieces
• 3 ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded and torn
• 6 to 8 chiles de arbol, stemmed (this is the heat dial)
• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1/4 cup raw pepitas
• 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds
• 8 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp maple syrup (not honey)
• Warm tortilla chips, for dipping

Method

1. Heat the oil in a small saucepan to 275F on a thermometer. Guessing here is how people ruin this.
2. Fry the sliced garlic 2 to 3 minutes until pale gold, then lift it out with a slotted spoon onto paper towel. Fry the peanuts and pepitas 1 to 2 minutes and pull them out the same way.
3. Kill the heat and let the oil drop to about 250F. Add all the torn chiles and stir for 30 to 45 seconds only, then get them out. They go from fragrant to burnt with no warning in between.
4. Toast the sesame seeds dry in a skillet over medium for 2 minutes, shaking constantly, until they smell nutty.
5. Pulse the chiles, peanuts, pepitas, garlic, sesame and salt in a food processor to a coarse rubble. Stop well before it becomes a paste.
6. Stir the rubble back into the oil with the vinegar and maple syrup. Cool completely, uncovered.
7. Give it 24 hours in the fridge before serving. It keeps a month as long as the solids stay under the oil.

From behind the bar: Count the 30 seconds on the chiles out loud. Burnt salsa macha cannot be rescued or diluted, and you will taste it in every spoonful for a month.

You need

• 1.5 lb Roma tomatoes (about 6)
• 1/2 white onion, cut into thick slabs
• 2 jalapenos (or 3 serranos for more heat)
• 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 2 chipotles in adobo, plus 1 tsp of the adobo sauce
• 2 dried chiles de arbol
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• Small handful cilantro
• Tortilla chips, to serve

Method

1. Open a window and run the hood fan before you start. Charring chiles on a dry pan puts capsaicin into the air and it will find your throat.
2. Set a dry cast-iron skillet or comal over medium-high heat. No oil.
3. Char the tomatoes, onion slabs, jalapenos, and unpeeled garlic, turning every few minutes, until blistered black in patches and collapsing soft — 12-15 minutes for the tomatoes, about 8 for the garlic. Pull each item as it is done.
4. Toast the arbol chiles in the same pan 20-30 seconds per side, until they smell nutty. Pull them the moment the smoke turns sharp; burnt chile is bitter and unfixable. Stem them, and seed them if you want less heat.
5. Peel the garlic. Stem the jalapenos. Let everything cool 10 minutes — hot liquid in a sealed blender builds pressure and blows the lid off.
6. Blend everything with the chipotles, adobo, lime juice, salt, and cilantro. Pulse in short bursts to a coarse, spoonable texture. Do not run it into a smoothie.
7. Taste, adjust salt, and loosen with 1-2 tbsp water if it is too thick.
8. Rest 30 minutes at room temperature so the flavors settle, then serve. Keeps 5 days covered in the refrigerator.

From behind the bar: The black bits are the flavor — do not rinse or trim them off. Under-charred vegetables give you salsa that tastes like canned soup.

You need

• 300 g / 1.5 cups dried split broad beans (fava, skinless)
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp sugar
• 100 ml / 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more to finish
• 900 ml / 4 cups water
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Large bunch dill, chopped
• 1 red onion, sliced thin, to serve
• Salt

Method

1. Rinse the beans and soak in cold water 4 hours, then drain. Skip the soak and you add half an hour of simmering.
2. Put beans, chopped onion, sugar, half the olive oil and the water in a pot. Bring to a boil, skim the grey foam, drop to a low simmer.
3. Cook uncovered 45-60 minutes, stirring now and then, until the beans have completely collapsed and the mixture is thick like porridge. Add hot water if it catches.
4. Salt to taste, then blend until absolutely smooth. Push it through a sieve if you want the meyhane texture — worth the ten minutes.
5. Beat in the lemon juice and the rest of the olive oil while it is still warm.
6. Pour into a shallow dish or a cling-film-lined loaf tin, about 3 cm deep. Smooth the top. Chill at least 4 hours until firm enough to cut cleanly.
7. Turn out or cut into squares in the dish. Cover with chopped dill, sliced red onion, a heavy pour of olive oil and lemon.

Where you'd actually eat it: On the cold tray at every meyhane from Nevizade to Moda, usually parked next to the piyaz. Raki, and it holds up to a second glass better than most.

From behind the bar: It has to be skinless split fava, not whole dried broad beans — whole ones keep their jackets and never go smooth however long you cook them.

You need

• 4 ripe tomatoes, seeded
• 2 green sivri peppers (or 1 green bell plus 1 jalapeño)
• 1 medium onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• Large handful flat-leaf parsley
• Small handful mint leaves
• 50 g / 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp biber salçası (hot red pepper paste)
• 1-2 tbsp pul biber or isot pepper
• 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Halve and seed the tomatoes and squeeze out the watery pulp. Wet tomato turns this into soup, and soup does not sit on bread.
2. Chop everything — tomato, peppers, onion, garlic, herbs — by hand to about the size of a lentil. A food processor gives you pink slush.
3. Salt the chopped onion, let it sit 5 minutes, then squeeze it in a paper towel to pull the harshness out.
4. Combine all the chopped vegetables with the walnuts in a bowl.
5. Mix pepper paste, pul biber, pomegranate molasses, olive oil and lemon into a dressing, then fold it through.
6. Rest at room temperature 20 minutes. Not optional — the pepper paste needs time to spread through the whole bowl.
7. Taste for salt and heat, spoon into a shallow dish, more oil over the top. Serve at room temperature with hot bread.

Where you'd actually eat it: On every table in Istanbul whether you ordered it or not, especially at the ocakbaşı grills. Raki, beer, ayran — it does not care which.

From behind the bar: Isot (Urfa pepper) brings smoke and a slow burn; pul biber brings brighter heat. Use both if you have them. Cayenne is a poor stand-in — sharp, no fruit.

You need

• 3 large eggplants
• 3 tbsp olive oil, plus more to finish
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Salt, black pepper
• Optional: 1 green sivri pepper, charred and chopped
• Optional: pomegranate seeds, to finish

Method

1. Pierce each eggplant twice with a knife so it does not explode.
2. Set them directly on a gas burner or over hot charcoal at the highest flame you have. Turn every 4-5 minutes with tongs.
3. Char 20-25 minutes until the skins are completely black and collapsed and the eggplants sag when you lift them. Under-charred means a raw center and no smoke. Take it further than feels reasonable.
4. No gas? Broil at maximum, 8 cm from the element, 25-30 minutes, turning. It is a compromise and it tastes like one, but it works.
5. Put the hot eggplants in a bowl, cover, leave 10 minutes. The steam loosens the skins.
6. Peel off every scrap of black skin. Do not rinse them under the tap — you would wash the smoke down the drain. Then drain the flesh in a sieve 15 minutes.
7. Chop the flesh coarsely with a knife, never a blender. Fold in garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature with parsley and more oil.

Where you'd actually eat it: Cold tray at every meyhane in the city, and every home kitchen from August to October when the eggplants are cheap. Raki, first round.

From behind the bar: There is a yogurt version too, which is not vegan. This is the zeytinyağlı one — olive oil only, and it is the one that lands on the cold tray.

You need

• 500g jarred or vacuum-packed cooked lupini beans
• 1 litre water
• 30g fine sea salt
• 1 lemon, optional
• (from dried: 500g dried lupini beans, plus a week)

Method

1. From cooked beans: drain and rinse them thoroughly under cold running water, rubbing to wash off the packing brine.
2. Dissolve the salt in the water, submerge the beans, and refrigerate at least 24 hours. Change the brine once. They should taste clean and salty with no bitterness at the back of the throat.
3. Serve very cold in their brine, in a bowl, with a second empty bowl for the skins. A squeeze of lemon is a Lisbon habit, not a rule.
4. From dried, if you insist: soak the beans 24 hours in cold water, then boil 30 minutes.
5. Then soak in fresh cold water in the fridge for 5-7 days, changing the water twice a day, every day. This is not optional and cannot be shortened.
6. From day five, taste one bean each day. Any bitterness at all means the alkaloids are still there and it needs more days. When it tastes neutral like a chickpea, brine as above.

Where you'd actually eat it: Arrives with the first imperial at any tasca or kiosk, alongside the olives. Nobody orders them. The bowl of skins tells the waiter how long you have been there.

From behind the bar: Under-soaked lupini carry quinolizidine alkaloids and will make you genuinely sick. Bitter means not ready. Buy them cooked and skip the argument.

You need

• 4 large red and yellow bell peppers
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 100ml good olive oil
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• black pepper
• chopped flat parsley, optional
• bread

Method

1. Heat the oven to 425F/220C. Set the whole peppers on a sheet pan and roast 30-40 minutes, turning twice, until the skins are blistered and blackened in patches. Charcoal or a gas flame is better if you have one.
2. Put the hot peppers in a bowl and cover it tightly for 15 minutes. The trapped steam lifts the skins.
3. Peel off the skins with your fingers, pull out the stems and seeds, and tear the flesh into wide strips. Do not rinse them under water; you will wash the flavor down the drain.
4. Save every drop of juice from the bowl and pan; it goes into the dressing.
5. Combine the strips with the garlic, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and reserved juices.
6. Marinate 2 hours at cool room temperature, or overnight in the fridge, and serve at room temperature with bread. Keep it refrigerated if it is going to sit longer than that.

Where you'd actually eat it: On the table next to the sardines every June, and standing in a big glass bowl on every tasca counter. Bread for the bottom of the dish, house red.

From behind the bar: Peel with your fingers, never under running water, and keep the juice in the bowl. Pooled juice plus oil and vinegar is the dressing.

You need

• 2 lb (900 g) pickling or silverskin onions
• 1/2 cup salt
• 4 cups malt vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp pickling spice
• 2 dried chilies

Method

1. Pour boiling water over the onions, wait 30 seconds, drain. The skins slip off after that.
2. Peel and trim as little root as you can get away with — cut too deep and they fall apart in the jar.
3. Layer with salt in a bowl, cover, leave 24 hours. This pulls water out and is the reason they stay crunchy.
4. Rinse the salt off thoroughly and dry the onions.
5. Boil the vinegar with sugar, pickling spice and chilies, then cool completely.
6. Pack into sterilized jars, cover with the cold vinegar, seal. Wait 6 weeks somewhere cool and dark. Four if you have no patience, and they will taste like it.

Where you'd actually eat it: In a jar behind the bar or sitting on a ploughman's plate. Malt vinegar is barley-based, so not gluten-free. Eaten whole with cheddar and a pint of bitter.

From behind the bar: Cold vinegar over the onions keeps them crisp. Hot vinegar half-cooks them soft, and a soft pickled onion is six weeks wasted.

You need

• 2 lb / 900 g ripe tomatoes, quartered
• 1 Italian green pepper or 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1 small cucumber, peeled
• 1 garlic clove, small
• 2 oz / 60 g stale white bread, crust off (plain bread only — no milk or butter in it)
• 1/2 cup / 120 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. Soak the bread in cold water 10 minutes, then squeeze it out.
2. Blend the tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, garlic, and bread until completely smooth — a full 2 minutes, longer than feels necessary.
3. With the blender running, pour the olive oil in slowly. The color should lift to a pale orange-pink as it emulsifies. This step is the difference between good and forgettable.
4. Add the vinegar and salt, blend again, then pass through a sieve if you want it bar-smooth.
5. Chill at least 3 hours. Taste again cold — it will need more salt and probably more vinegar.
6. Serve in a small glass, no garnish, no spoon.

Where you'd actually eat it: Andalusian by origin, but every Madrid bar pours it in summer, often free with the drink. Served in a glass at the counter with a beer chaser at two in the afternoon.

From behind the bar: Underripe tomatoes make thin, sour gazpacho and no amount of blending fixes it. Out of season, buy good canned whole tomatoes instead.

You need

• 3 ripe Hass avocados
• 1-2 serrano chiles, minced
• 3 tbsp finely chopped white onion
• Small handful cilantro, chopped
• 1 lime
• Coarse salt
• Totopos, to serve

Method

1. Grind the serrano, onion, cilantro and a good pinch of coarse salt in a molcajete into a rough green paste. No molcajete: chop everything as fine as you can and mash with the flat of a knife.
2. Halve the avocados, scoop the flesh in, and mash with the pestle or a fork. Stop while there are still lumps. Smooth guacamole is a hotel breakfast.
3. Squeeze in lime, a little at a time, tasting as you go.
4. Salt again. Avocado absorbs far more salt than seems reasonable, and undersalted guacamole tastes like nothing.
5. Serve immediately with totopos, in the molcajete if you made it there.
6. No garlic, no cumin, no sour cream, no peas. If someone asks, the answer is no.

Where you'd actually eat it: Everywhere, but at its best in mezcalerías as part of a mixed botana with chapulines and totopos. Mezcal neat, or beer with lime.

From behind the bar: The avocado pit does not stop it browning. Lime and eating it fast do.

You need

• 3 large eggplants, about 2.5 lb / 1.2 kg
• 4 tbsp olive oil, plus more to finish
• 2 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley, 1 tbsp chopped mint (optional)
• 1 tsp ground cumin or coriander (optional)
• Fine salt, black pepper
• Grilled country bread, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 425F/220C. Halve the eggplants lengthwise, score the cut faces in a diamond pattern, oil them and set cut-side down on a lined sheet pan.
2. Roast 45-50 minutes, until the skins collapse and the flesh is completely soft with no firmness at the stem end. Undercooked eggplant tastes bitter and spongy.
3. Cool 10 minutes, then scoop the flesh into a colander and let it drain 20 minutes. Press lightly. This is the step that decides whether you get a spread or a puddle.
4. Chop the flesh on a board with a knife until rough-textured. Do not blend it smooth.
5. Beat in the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil, then the spices. Season aggressively with salt.
6. Rest an hour, taste again, and finish with herbs and a slick of olive oil. Serve at room temperature with grilled bread; refrigerate leftovers, raw garlic in oil does not sit out.

Where you'd actually eat it: On apéro tables and in traiteur windows across the city, strongest in the eastern arrondissements. Rosé, or a chilled Gamay.

From behind the bar: For real smoke, char the whole eggplants directly over a gas flame for 10 minutes first, then finish in the oven.

You need

• 2 Japanese or Persian cucumbers
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• 3 tbsp moromi miso (also sold as moromi-jan or kinzanji miso)
• Ice water

Method

1. Rub each cucumber all over with coarse salt on a cutting board, rolling it under your palm for 20 seconds. This is called itazuri — it sets the color and takes the bitterness out of the skin.
2. Rinse briefly and drop the cucumbers in ice water for 10 minutes. They need to be genuinely cold.
3. Cut each in half crosswise, then into quarters lengthwise. Leave them long enough to hold.
4. Stand them in a small glass or lay them on a plate with a heaped spoon of moromi miso beside.
5. Scoop a little miso onto each bite as you eat it. Do not premix. Do not dress the cucumber.
6. Read the moromi label — most is soybean, barley, koji and salt, but a few brands add bonito extract or honey.

Where you'd actually eat it: A standing bar in Kanda or Ueno at 5pm, one cucumber between two people, with cold sake straight from the cooler.

From behind the bar: If you cannot find moromi miso, mix red miso with a splash of mirin and a spoon of sake lees. Close enough, and honestly labeled as a substitute.