You need

• 1 large ciabatta or soft Italian loaf, split lengthwise
• 12 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 8 oz low-moisture vegetarian mozzarella (microbial rennet), grated
• 2 oz vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese (microbial rennet), grated
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• Flaky salt, to finish

Method

1. Simmer the garlic in the olive oil in a small pan over low heat for 20 minutes until soft and pale gold. Do not let it brown or the whole thing turns bitter.
2. Mash 8 of the confit cloves with the butter, salt, pepper flakes and 2 tbsp of the garlic oil into a paste. Slice the remaining 4 cloves thin.
3. Heat the oven to 425F. Spread the paste right out to the edges of both cut faces. The edges are the part people fight over.
4. Cover with the mozzarella and hard cheese, then scatter the sliced garlic on top.
5. Bake on a sheet pan for 12 to 14 minutes until the cheese is molten and bubbling at the rim.
6. Broil 60 to 90 seconds for the brown spots. Stand there and watch it. It goes from bronze to charcoal in about fifteen seconds.
7. Out of the oven, finish with parsley, lemon zest and flaky salt. Cut into fingers with a serrated knife so the cheese stays where you put it.

From behind the bar: Keep the leftover garlic oil. It holds two weeks in the fridge and turns the next batch into a ten-minute job.

You need

• 12 large eggs
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp dill pickle brine
• 1 tsp hot sauce (check the label, a few brands carry anchovy)
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 2 medium shallots, sliced paper-thin
• 1 cup neutral oil, for frying the shallots
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• Flaky salt, to finish

Method

1. Set the eggs in one layer in a wide pot with 1 inch of water. Cover, bring to a hard boil, then steam 11 minutes.
2. Move them straight to an ice bath for 5 minutes. Peel under a thin stream of cold water, halve lengthwise, drop the yolks into a bowl.
3. Start the shallots in cold oil in a small pan over medium. They will sizzle, then quiet down. Fry 10 to 12 minutes, holding around 300F, until pale gold. Pull them early, they darken off heat. Drain on paper, salt.
4. Mash the yolks with the mayo, Dijon, pickle brine, hot sauce and fine salt. Push the mix through a fine sieve with a spatula. This is the step people skip and it is the step that matters.
5. Scrape the filling into a zip bag, cut a half-inch off one corner, pipe it into the whites in one confident spiral each.
6. Chill 20 minutes. Dust with smoked paprika, then pile on the shallots and chives right before they leave the kitchen.

From behind the bar: Steam the eggs instead of boiling them. Eleven minutes in a covered pot with an inch of water peels clean even on fresh eggs, and the yolks stay yellow.

You need

• 4 large russet potatoes
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 2 tsp smoked paprika, plus more to finish
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 2 cups grated sharp cheddar made with microbial rennet
• 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream (no gelatin, check thickened low-fat brands)
• 3 scallions, sliced thin
• 2 tbsp pickled jalapenos, chopped

Method

1. Rub the potatoes with oil and coarse salt. Bake directly on the oven rack at 400F for 55 to 65 minutes, until a knife goes through with no drag.
2. Cool 15 minutes so you can handle them. Halve lengthwise and scoop out the flesh, leaving a solid 1/4 inch on the skin. Save the flesh for something else.
3. Mix the melted butter with smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne and fine salt. Brush it over the insides and the outsides.
4. Raise the oven to 450F. Bake the shells cut side down on a wire rack for 12 minutes, flip, and go another 8 minutes until the edges crackle when tapped.
5. Fill each shell with cheddar and return for 4 to 5 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling at the rim.
6. Finish with sour cream, scallions, pickled jalapenos and one more dust of smoked paprika. Serve while the skins are still loud.

From behind the bar: Leave a quarter inch of potato on the skin when you scoop. Any thinner and the shell folds under the cheese instead of holding it.

You need

• 2 lb russet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch batons
• Neutral oil for deep frying, about 8 cups
• 3 tbsp butter
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, chopped fine
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp anchovy-free Worcestershire sauce (the standard bottle is made with anchovy, buy the vegan one)
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 8 oz fresh cheese curds made with microbial rennet, at room temperature
• Salt

Method

1. Soak the cut potatoes in cold water 30 minutes, then dry them completely. Water in the fryer is how people lose eyebrows.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high. Add mushrooms and onion and cook 12 minutes without stirring much, until the pan is browned and the mushrooms have given up their water.
3. Stir in the flour and cook 2 minutes, then the tomato paste for 1 minute more. Whisk in the vegetable stock, soy sauce, anchovy-free Worcestershire and pepper.
4. Simmer 20 minutes until it coats a spoon and holds a line when you drag a finger through it. Finish with the cider vinegar and salt to taste. Keep it hot.
5. Fry the potatoes at 325F for 5 to 6 minutes, until pale and floppy. Lift out and rest 10 minutes on a rack.
6. Bring the oil to 375F and fry again 2 to 3 minutes until deep gold. Salt them the second they come out.
7. Pile the fries in a warm bowl, scatter the room-temperature curds through them, then ladle the hot gravy over the top. Serve inside ten minutes, no exceptions.

From behind the bar: Curds go on before the gravy and must be at room temperature. Cold curds sulk and never melt, and gravy poured under them just makes soup.

You need

• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 4-6 bird's eye chilies, sliced
• 1 small red onion, sliced thin
• 2 stalks Chinese celery, cut in 1-inch lengths
• 1 tomato, wedged
• Cilantro, chopped
• Scallion, chopped

Method

1. Heat the oil in a small pan over medium-high until it shimmers, about 350F/175C.
2. Crack in one egg at a time. The white should bubble up and frill brown at the edges within 30 seconds. Cook 2 minutes, spooning oil over the yolk, until the white is fully set and the underside is lacy and brown.
3. Drain the eggs on paper and let them cool slightly. Cut each into six pieces with scissors.
4. Whisk lime juice, soy sauce, sugar and chilies until the sugar dissolves. Taste: sour first, salty second.
5. Toss onion, celery and tomato in the dressing.
6. Fold the egg in last, gently, so it does not shred. Finish with cilantro and scallion and serve straight away.

Where you'd actually eat it: Neighborhood bars with one wok and a fridge full of beer, all over Din Daeng and Ekkamai. Ordered when the kitchen is closing and the bottle is not empty.

From behind the bar: The dressing normally uses fish sauce; light soy plus a pinch of salt covers it for a vegetarian table. Dress at the last second or the egg goes soggy.

You need

• 8 oz (225 g) mature cheddar made with microbial rennet, grated
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup stout or brown ale, not fined with isinglass
• 1 tbsp English mustard
• 1 tsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• Black pepper
• 4 thick slices sourdough

Method

1. Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook 2 minutes to a blond roux. No color on it.
2. Add the stout slowly, whisking, until you have a smooth thick paste.
3. Off the heat, stir in the cheddar a handful at a time until melted. Do not boil it after the cheese goes in — it splits and turns oily.
4. Beat in the mustard, vegetarian Worcestershire, cayenne and pepper. Spread on a plate and cool until firm; it spreads far better cold.
5. Toast the bread on both sides. Spread the mixture thick and right to the edges, or the exposed crust burns.
6. Broil 3-4 inches from the element for 2-3 minutes until blistered brown and bubbling.

Where you'd actually eat it: St John serves a proper one and the flat version is on half the bar menus in town. Eaten with a glass of claret or a dark ale, always about forty degrees too hot.

From behind the bar: Worcestershire hides anchovy and some cask stout is fined with isinglass, which is fish. Check both bottles, and use microbial-rennet cheddar.

You need

• Kernels from 4 ears of corn (about 600 g)
• 1 sprig epazote
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp butter
• 250 ml water
• Salt
• Mayonnaise
• Crumbled cotija or feta made with vegetarian rennet — both are usually made with animal rennet, so check
• Ground chile piquín
• 2 limes

Method

1. Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat, add the corn and onion, and cook 5 minutes without browning.
2. Add the water, epazote and a good pinch of salt. Cover and simmer 12-15 minutes, until the kernels are tender and most of the liquid has cooked away. Keep a few spoonfuls of the cooking liquid in the pot — the broth is what makes it esquites and not corn salad.
3. Pull the epazote out. Taste for salt.
4. Ladle the hot corn into cups or small bowls with a little of the broth.
5. Top each with a spoon of mayonnaise, crumbled cheese, a hard squeeze of lime and as much chile powder as you can defend.
6. Stir it in with the spoon and eat it standing up, which is how it is designed to be eaten.

Where you'd actually eat it: Drum carts on corners across the city from dusk onward, including directly outside cantinas and pulquerías. Eaten on the walk home, or by the door with a last beer.

From behind the bar: Swap the butter for oil and drop the mayonnaise and cheese and it is genuinely vegan, and still good. Just do not pretend that is the classic version.

You need

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, room temperature (pasteurized if anyone at the table is pregnant, elderly or immunocompromised)
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup / 180 ml neutral oil (grapeseed or sunflower)
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• Fine salt, white pepper
• Optional: pinch of cayenne, chopped chives
• Green salad leaves and bread, to serve

Method

1. Lower the whole eggs into boiling water and cook 9 minutes for a set yolk that is still creamy at the center. The charter version is cooked through but never chalky.
2. Move straight to ice water for 5 minutes, then peel under running water.
3. For the mayonnaise, whisk the yolk with the mustard and a pinch of salt for 30 seconds. Add the oil drop by drop at first, then in a thin stream, whisking hard, until it is thick enough to hold a peak.
4. Slacken with the vinegar and a teaspoon of warm water, season with salt and white pepper. It should coat, not run. Keep it refrigerated and use it the same day; it is raw egg.
5. Halve the eggs lengthwise and set them cut-side down on the plate, so they read as white domes.
6. Spoon the mayonnaise over to cover, dust with cayenne, scatter chives. Serve cool with bread.

Where you'd actually eat it: The house test at any real bistro or bar-tabac, usually the cheapest line on the slate. Order it with a glass of Chinon or a demi.

From behind the bar: If the mayonnaise splits, start a fresh yolk in a clean bowl and whisk the broken batch into it a spoonful at a time.

You need

• 2 bunches breakfast radishes (radis roses), with leaves attached
• 4 oz / 120 g high-fat cultured butter (Isigny, Échiré, or any European-style), soft
• Fleur de sel or coarse sea salt
• Fresh baguette
• Optional: a few tender radish leaves

Method

1. Trim the root tails and cut the tops back to about half an inch of green, which gives you a handle.
2. Wash them hard in cold water, working the grit out of the stem end with your fingers.
3. Soak 20 minutes in ice water. This is the step people skip and it is the one that makes them snap.
4. Drain and dry completely. Wet radishes will not hold butter.
5. Serve in a bowl with the butter in a block, a mound of coarse salt and torn baguette on the side. Everyone butters their own.
6. Eat by dragging the radish through the butter, then the salt, then into your mouth.

Where you'd actually eat it: Market-adjacent cafés and bistro terraces from April on. Chilled Sancerre, a dry Chenin, or a beer if it is warm out.

From behind the bar: Woody hollow radishes are a total loss. Buy the small ones with crisp green tops still attached, in spring if you can.

You need

• 2 cans (about 600 g) sweet corn, drained very well
• 3 tbsp Japanese-style mayonnaise (egg-based, so vegetarian not vegan)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 onion, diced fine
• 2 tbsp diced red bell pepper
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 150 g mozzarella made with microbial rennet, shredded
• 2 scallions, sliced
• Black pepper

Method

1. Drain the corn thoroughly and press it in a sieve. Wet corn turns the pan into soup and the cheese will not brown.
2. Mix the corn with mayonnaise, sugar, onion, bell pepper and a good grind of black pepper.
3. Melt the butter in a small cast iron skillet over medium heat until it foams.
4. Add the corn mixture, spread flat, and cook 4 minutes without stirring so the base catches and sweetens.
5. Blanket the top with mozzarella, drop the heat to low, and cover for 3 to 4 minutes until fully melted.
6. Finish 2 minutes under a hot broiler until the top blisters brown in patches. Scatter scallion and serve in the pan, still spitting.

Where you'd actually eat it: Standard on pocha and Korean barbecue menus across Seoul, ordered as the sweet counterweight to a table of grilled pork. Beer, always. Soju against this is a mistake you only make once.

From behind the bar: Plenty of supermarket mozzarella is set with animal rennet. Check the pack for microbial or vegetarian rennet, or the dish is not vegetarian.

You need

• 4 eggs
• 4-inch piece kombu
• 2 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp mirin
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Neutral oil
• Grated daikon and soy sauce, to serve

Method

1. Steep the kombu and shiitake in 1.5 cups cold water at least 4 hours. Warm to just below a simmer and pull the kombu out. Classic dashimaki uses bonito dashi and is not vegetarian; this version is, and it holds up. You need 1/3 cup, cooled.
2. Beat the eggs without whipping air into them. Cut through them with chopsticks rather than whisking. Stir in the cooled dashi, soy, mirin and salt, then strain through a sieve.
3. Heat a rectangular tamagoyaki pan or a small nonstick skillet over medium-low. Oil it with a folded paper towel.
4. Pour in a thin layer, about a fifth of the mix. When the surface is just set but still glossy, roll it from the far edge toward you with chopsticks or a spatula.
5. Oil the empty part of the pan, push the roll back to the far side, pour in the next layer and lift the roll so the raw egg runs underneath. Set, roll, repeat.
6. Keep the heat low the whole way. Browning is a fault here, not a feature — the finished roll should be pale yellow, and the last layer must be set through, not liquid.
7. Turn out onto a bamboo mat or paper towel, shape gently, rest 3 minutes, then cut into thick slices.
8. Serve warm with a mound of grated daikon and a few drops of soy.

Where you'd actually eat it: A sake-focused izakaya where the tamago is made to order and takes ten minutes. Order it first, drink while you wait.

From behind the bar: More dashi means a softer, wetter roll and a harder time rolling it. Start at 1/3 cup, go up once your hands know the move.

You need

• 1.5 lb (700g) yellow potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1 Japanese cucumber, sliced paper thin
• 1/2 small onion, sliced paper thin
• 1 small carrot, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp salt, for the vegetables
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 5 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• White pepper
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Boil the potatoes in well-salted water 15 to 18 minutes, until a knife slides through with no resistance. Blanch the carrot slices in the same water for the last 2 minutes.
2. Toss the cucumber and onion with 1 tsp salt, wait 10 minutes, then squeeze them dry in your hands. Squeeze harder than feels reasonable.
3. Drain the potatoes and return them to the dry hot pot for 30 seconds to steam off. Mash roughly — half smooth, half in lumps. Never fully smooth.
4. While still hot, stir in the rice vinegar and a pinch of salt. Hot potato takes seasoning; cold potato does not.
5. Cool to room temperature within an hour, then fold in mayonnaise, sugar, cucumber, onion and carrot. Season with white pepper.
6. Chill at least 1 hour and serve cold, in a mound, with a little more pepper on top. It keeps three days in the fridge and no longer.

Where you'd actually eat it: A counter izakaya where it sits in the glass case all evening, scooped to order, eaten with beer and no urgency.

From behind the bar: Kewpie is egg yolk and rice vinegar — vegetarian, not vegan. Most izakaya versions have ham or bacon in them; this one does not, which is why it is meat-free.