One variable governs nearly every dish below: whether the potato is waxy or floury. Waxy holds its shape and suits salads and gratins; floury collapses and suits mash, baking and…
The engineering problem is always the same: cook the outside without drying the inside, on pieces small enough to be portable. Every tradition below solves it slightly differently. Here are…
What distinguishes these from a street of shops is that somebody built a roof over the whole thing on purpose, and then trade organised itself underneath. Here are seventeen.
1.…
Two variables define everything below: temperature, which determines whether the food is cooked or merely flavoured, and time, which determines how deep the effect goes. Here are fifteen.
1. Smoked…
Food naming is a poor historical record. Restaurants name dishes for regulars, stories improve with retelling, and the version that survives is usually the most quotable rather than the most…
Card games spread along the same routes as trade and armies, mutating at every border. Here are seventeen, and what is known about where each came from.
1. Whist -…