When I walked into the small bakery in Istanbul, packed with sweet pastries and fruit desserts, I was much more interested in the savory selections. There were platters of carefully stacked slices of börek, which are stuffed pastries with filling sandwiched between layers of phyllo or yufka dough.

It’s chilly in the Atacama desert at night, but one evening I was privileged to cook with the chef of a guesthouse near San Pedro, Chile. The kitchen was warm from the wood-fired oven as we stood at a large wooden table, making empanadas by the dozens.

From tomatoes to onions to heaps of cilantro, it seems every cook has the “secret” to great guacamole. What’s mine? Keep it simple and let the avocados do the talking. With only four ingredients (garlic, lime, salt, and ripe avocados), I trust the freshness of the foursome to carry the flavor. To me, yummy guacamole is less about the flourishes and more about the texture, which I fine-tune in a molcajete (a mortar and pestle made from natural volcanic stone).

In nearly every culture it’s common to use leftovers to incorporate into the next day’s meal or snack. For this popular Spanish tapa, leftover chicken and ham are blended into a thick white sauce. Once the mixture is chilled, it’s formed into little logs that are breaded and fried. When you bite into these little gems you get a crunchy coating with a soft pillowy center. This recipe makes quite a lot, so I freeze them and pull them out to be fried up anytime I need a perfect snack with a cold glass of rosé.

I’ve made salsa verde with several chefs and home cooks in Mexico, and each one uses a few different ingredients and methods. I change it up myself when I’m making it at home, sometimes grilling the tomatillos and onions over fire before blending, and sometimes using raw tomatillos for a tart flavor and brighter color.

My British bestie, Rachael and I took a cooking class when we were traveling in the Loire Valley of France. The class was held in a cave where barrels and bottles of chenin blanc were aging in the cool air. Our instructor was a French woman named Anna who had set up a long table for us to prepare leek tarts made with creamy cheese and bacon. We rolled our pastry on the tabletop and then baked our tarts in a small portable oven Anna had brought with her.

This is a great way to use leftover mashed potatoes. I just add an egg and some garam masala, which is a spice blend available in your supermarket. I fry these little cakes and serve them at parties as a savory appetizer, but they’re also a nice accoutrement to a leafy salad.

Every table in Mexico is laden with bowls of salsa, ready to be spooned onto any dish that is presented. There are many variations of salsas, using both fresh and dried chiles, but my favorites are those whose ingredients have been fire-roasted, giving the salsa a smoky and earthy flavor.

In Athens, near Monastiraki Square, the streets are lined with restaurants serving gyros, kebabs, and platters of grilled meats. I’ve spent several afternoons sitting in wooden chairs at small tables eating platefuls of grilled lamb topped with French fries and tzatziki, the yogurt sauce flavored with garlic and fresh dill.

Focaccia is a bread with ancient origins, and although it is prepared differently all over Italy, it remains a staple on most Italian dinner tables. Historically, it was cooked either over hot stones or on the hearth of a wood-fire oven, similar to flatbreads in other cultures. It is always topped with olive oil, and often with fresh herbs and other ingredients such as olives and onions.