In season

May produce

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Beef Wellington

Beef Wellington

The defining British dinner-party showpiece, somewhere between French haute cuisine and English roast tradition, made famous in the modern era by Gordon Ramsay even if the Iron Duke himself probably never ate it. You sear a centre-cut beef fillet hard for colour, smear it with English mustard, wrap it in a tight blanket of mushroom duxelles and prosciutto, then encase the lot in all-butter puff pastry and roast at high heat. The pastry insulates the beef so it cooks gently to medium-rare while the crust crisps to deep mahogany above. The one technical trick the recipe insists on is drying the duxelles thoroughly so the pastry stays crisp underneath rather than going soggy from leaking mushroom water. Sliced at the table into thick rosy rounds, with a red-wine jus and roasted root vegetables on the side, the kind of plate that makes the evening feel like a special occasion before anyone says it.

British 1 hour 55 minutes Serves6
Philly Cheesesteak

Philly Cheesesteak

Philadelphia's defining sandwich, and one of the few American dishes where the technique matters more than the recipe. You start by sticking a good ribeye in the freezer until it firms up, because the dish's identity is in the slicing: paper-thin shavings against the grain that you simply cannot get from room-temperature beef. On a wide hot griddle you sweat down onion (and bell pepper or mushrooms if your South Philly conscience allows them) until just past gold, push them to one side, and lay the shaved beef in a single layer on the cleared steel. Sixty seconds in, you start chopping the meat with the spatula edge as it cooks, folding the onions back in, hitting it with salt and pepper. Cheese goes over the top off the heat (provolone for the crowd-pleaser, American singles for the nostalgic drip, Cheez Whiz if you're going strictly by South Philly), and you cover for half a minute to melt. Scooped straight into a soft hoagie roll that's been toasted in the rendered fat. Wrap, fold in half, eat at the counter while the cheese is still hot.

American 1 hour 27 minutes Serves2
Sichuan Hot Pot

Sichuan Hot Pot

Two pots if you have them: a spicy red broth and a clear chicken broth. The red broth fries doubanjiang and chilli bean paste in beef tallow, adds Sichuan peppercorns, dried chillies, star anise, cassia, bay, ginger and garlic, then stock; simmers for 30 minutes. Diners cook their own ingredients in the simmering pot and dip in a small bowl of sesame oil + chopped garlic + coriander. The mala (numbing-hot) sensation comes from green Sichuan peppercorns + dried chilli together.

Chinese 1 hour 30 minutes Serves4-6
Steak and Kidney Pie

Steak and Kidney Pie

The defining British pub pie, the dish you order when the weather is foul and you want the gravy to do something to your evening. You brown cubed chuck steak and ox kidney hard for colour, then braise the lot slowly with onions, mushrooms, a bottle of stout and beef stock until the meat is fork-tender and the gravy has reduced down to a glossy mahogany. The filling cools completely (essential; hot gravy in a pastry case is the surest way to a soggy bottom), goes into a pie dish, gets a shortcrust top crimped sharp at the edge, and bakes until the pastry is deep gold and the gravy bubbles up around the edges. Eaten with mashed potato, peas and a pint, the gravy spooned generously over.

British 3 hours Serves4-6
Stir-Fried Beef in Oyster Sauce

Stir-Fried Beef in Oyster Sauce

On Thai menus this is often called ‘pad nam mun hoy’, which means fried with oyster sauce. There are many versions of Thai oyster sauce curries, but this beef version is right up there when it comes to popularity. Stir-fried beef in oyster sauce usually also comes served with mushrooms and my favourite variety for this recipe are straw mushrooms, but you could use any type you can find, wild mushrooms work really well. Serve with a hot bowl of jasmine rice.

Thai 30 minutes Serves4