South American

This iconic regional dish incorporates soy sauce, evidence of the strong influence of the Japanese and Chinese communities in Peru. The intensely flavored marinade, bright with lime juice and zesty with garlic, deeply seasons the meat, and the grill gives it a beautiful sear. We've provided a range for the portion size, because while some home cooks may be content with a quarter chicken per person, many Peruvian restaurants and takeout places serve each customer a half chicken (even here in the States, where chickens tend to be on the large side).

This Peruvian ceviche offers a plethora of interesting textures: the meaty chew of octopus, the refreshing bite of shrimp, and the marshmallowy smoothness of bay scallops. It's all bathed in the electric yellow glow of a sauce made with Peru's most common chile pepper, the aji amarillo. You can find jarred aji amarillo paste at South American markets. The pepper imparts a distinct fruity quality to this dish, and the addition of turmeric and ginger enhances this fruitiness while toning down the pepper's heat. The variety of seafood in the following preparation, along with its exciting color, is certain to be a favorite on your table.

This recipe epitomizes what a great ceviche should be—crunchy, sweet, savory, tart, and rich all in one bite. Corvina, a type of sea bass, is the most widely used fish in South America for ceviche, and is very forgiving for the novice. Its firm, lean flesh holds up better to acid and is easy to either thinly slice or dice. The combination of sweet potato and raw marinated fish is common in Peru, although there the potato might be roasted whole, sliced, and served fanned at the edge of a plate of ceviche similar to this crunchy, tart version. As you eat the marinated fish, pull away bites of sweet potato from the edge of the dish and enjoy both components at once. Don't be swayed to leave out the sweet potato garnish—you must try both the tart, firm fish and the potato in the same bite to really understand and savor how they work together. Leftover sweet potatoes make a great side dish for spicy foods.

One of my favorite dishes at Brazil a Gosto, chef Luiza Trajano's elegant restaurant in São Paulo, is a baked cocada (a coconut candy made of coconut and sugar cut into squares) with lemon sorbet. It is so delicious that I had to experiment with it back in my American kitchen. I have to admit I am very happy with the final result and I think you will be, too. This is an unpretentious and easy dessert to assemble. You can prepare everything in advance and just bake it on the day of serving.

Farofa is the term for a side dish using toasted farinha de mandioca—in English, manioc flour, which is a dried flour similar in looks and texture to breadcrumbs, made from yucca. The making of farofa as a dish couldn't be easier. It is plain manioc flour toasted in butter. A few of the classic farofa dishes include eggs and scallions, eggs and bacon, banana, bell peppers, and dendê oil, green beans and carrots, peas and corn, and so on and so forth. Farofa can be extremely dry, since the manioc flour immediately sucks up all the juices from anything it encounters, especially when it's served plain. The trick to making a moist farofa is to use a small amount of manioc flour in proportion to the other components, turning a side dish into a savory accompaniment that is so tempting, you may even forget there is a main course.

Chewy, fudgy, addictive. These little chocolate fudge balls are as common and as loved in Brazil as cookies and brownies are in the United States. Traditionally, brigadeiros are a simple mixture of condensed milk, sweetened cocoa powder, and butter, cooked to a fudge state, then formed into little balls and rolled in chocolate sprinkles. I find this to be much too sweet, so I made a few changes to the original recipe, adding real chocolate, real cocoa powder, heavy cream, and corn syrup. Chocolate sprinkles are usually made with vegetable fat, so unless I know the sprinkle is made with real chocolate like the ones from Guittard or Cocoa Barry, I prefer to use cocoa powder, or grated chocolate, for rolling and the result is amazing. This is a perfect dessert to give as a gift for any occasion. Children will love it and so will adults.

A soft chewy bread roll about the size of a golf ball infused with cheesy flavor, pão de queijo is Brazil's favorite savory snack and an excellent recipe to add to your repertoire.

It's not only nostalgia that makes me love arepas; it's also their versatility! These corncakes are hugely popular in many forms in my native Colombia and neighboring Venezuela (among other places) and have now actually caught on in many parts of the United States. What makes them especially wonderful is that they offer cooks fabulous flexibility as far as preparation. So here I'm giving you my basic recipe—and a serving suggestion—but please know you can add whatever you'd like (grilled corn, diced peppers, different cheeses, just to name a few possibilities). Here I'm suggesting that you smear a bit of farmer's cheese—or Mexican queso blanco—on top. Great as an appetizer, these arepas are perfect with any cocktail!

When I developed this recipe, there were many arguments among the tasters, otherwise known as my friends, about whether or not it was too spicy. Some people liked the kick and others did not. I like it spicy, but if you want less heat, lay off the chiles: use one chile instead of two. Serve the ceviche with tortilla chips for a play on texture. I recommend using aquacultured bay scallops for this dish as they are grown and harvested sustainably. Bay scallops are in season from October to January. It's also perfectly acceptable to buy frozen scallops and defrost them; the dish will be just as successful.

Brazilians typically enjoy this hearty meal at midday, accompanied by a caipirinha and followed by a nap. Plan on spending two or three days putting this magnificent dish together. Serve feijoada with steamed rice, braised greens, and sliced oranges for a traditional presentation.

While visiting Lima, Peru, food editor and stylist Paul Grimes, who developed this recipe, ate a dish called "hot ceviche."Inspired by the playful concept, he tried something similar in the test kitchen.

Here, the sunny warmth of mint escapes the sweet-jelly cliché to find new expression in the thick Argentinean herb sauce called chimichurri. Its bright acidity cuts the lush richness of lamb shoulder chops.

Crisp chayote goes by a raft of different names, but its Brazilian one, xuxu, was the inspiration for this quick stir-fry. The dish's vivid good looks echo its primal shout of flavor. After the shrimp, xuxu, and hearts of palm are cooked, they're tossed with a raw sauce of garlic, onion, jalapeño, and lots of lemon juice, which keeps everything sparkling and very fresh-tasting.

According to legend, a great chef in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Antonio Carbonada, had an Argentine lady as a regular customer. One day she asked for her favorite sandwich made with goat (chivito in Spanish). There was no goat to be had, so the chef threw together what was on hand—steak, ham, cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise—and the chivito was born. It is now found everywhere in Uruguay. As with most traditional comfort food, everybody makes their chivito just a little differently. Here's mine.

This fresh salsa was dreamed up when we were testing our Salt-Crust Chicken . It's also wonderful with fresh cod, corvina, branzino, and striped bass. It was invented by Lucía Soria, who, while still in her twenties, went from being a cook in my restaurant in Buenos Aires to the manager of Hotel Restaurant Garzon in Uruguay and my second-in-command at important events such as the inaugural dinner for Argentina's president.

Food critics often say that the measure of a great restaurant is its roast chicken. This technique is much more forgiving than regular oven-roasting chicken, although it doesn't have a crunchy crust. I believe that achieving moist white meat is even more important than the crust.

Inspired by Brazil's national drink, these boozy popsicles are made with cachaça, lime juice, and mint.

This recipe originally accompanied <ep1:recipelink id="353782">Beer-Marinated Flank Steak with Aji and Guacamole.</ep1:recipelink>

Colombia may be the best kept barbecue secret in South America. Sure, Argentina gets the attention for its cowboy-style asado. And Brazil has enjoyed spectacular success exporting its rodizio-style restaurants—the kind where the waiters parade spits of grilled meats through the dining room. But Colombia? I doubt that most North Americans could name a single Colombian grilled dish. Well, it's time to shine the spotlight on the only country in South America to have coasts on both the Atlantic and the Pacific, whose cool-weather ranching district produces well-marbled, full-flavored beef, whose grill masters make extensive use of marinades (unlike the simplicity prized by their Argentine counterparts), and whose mastery of the art of grilling on charcoal extends to some unique techniques. Here's a not-so simple flank steak redolent of cumin, green onions, and beer.

his Colombian version of guacamole is smoother than most Mexican guacamoles, and it's used as a sauce for grilled meats, not just as a dip for tortilla chips.
This recipe originally accompanied Beer-Marinated Flank Steak with Aji and Guacamole .