Canada

Québec's glorious mess: crisp fries, squeaky cheese curds and hot gravy, melting together into comfort. Ingredients: potatoes, cheese curds, beef or chicken stock, butter, flour, salt, pepper, oil. Recipe: 1) Cut and double-fry potatoes until crisp. 2) Make a savory brown gravy from stock and a butter-flour roux. 3) Pile fries in a bowl, scatter curds generously. 4) Ladle over boiling-hot gravy so the curds just melt. Serve: immediately, while the curds still squeak. History: born in rural Québec in the 1950s (several towns claim it); now Canada's most famous dish, with endless toppings built on the classic.

French-Canadian spiced meat pie in flaky pastry — the centerpiece of the Christmas Eve réveillon. Ingredients: ground pork, onion, garlic, potato, cinnamon, clove, allspice, savory, pie pastry, egg, salt, pepper. Recipe: 1) Simmer pork with onion, garlic and spices; bind with mashed potato. 2) Line a pie dish with pastry; fill. 3) Cap, crimp and vent. 4) Bake until deep golden, about 50 minutes. Serve: warm with fruit ketchup or chutney. History: from Québec's 17th-century settlers, its spiced pork filling a winter tradition that still anchors the holiday table.

Small pastry shells filled with a gooey butter-sugar center, plain or with raisins — Canada's sweetest debate (runny or firm?). Ingredients: pastry, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, egg, vanilla, raisins (optional), salt, vinegar. Recipe: 1) Line tart tins with pastry. 2) Whisk butter, sugar, syrup, egg and vanilla. 3) Add raisins if using; fill shells two-thirds full. 4) Bake until the filling bubbles and just sets. Serve: at room temperature, with tea. History: an Ontario pioneer baking tradition from the early 1900s, now the subject of festivals and fierce filling debates.