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The part that makes the plate make sense. Everything from a chimichurri you'll remember to a hollandaise you'll stop fearing.

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Chimichurri Rojo (Argentine Red Chimichurri) with roasted red bell pepper, fresh flat leaf parsley and red wine vinegar — Argentina recipe

🇦🇷ArgentinaMedium

Sauces and Dips

Chimichurri Rojo (Argentine Red Chimichurri)

Chimichurri rojo is the red version of Argentina's chimichurri, the uncooked sauce of parsley, garlic, oregano, wine vinegar and oil that goes on grilled meat. The red comes from pimentón dulce (sweet paprika) and ají molido, the crushed dried chili of the Argentine pantry; some cooks there also add chopped red bell pepper (morrón), and this recipe takes that route, charring the pepper over a flame first. Everything is chopped by hand, stirred with the vinegar, then covered with oil. Hands-on time is about 30 minutes; the pepper steams under a plate for 10 minutes while you chop the rest, and the finished sauce needs 30 minutes on the counter before it tastes right. Makes about 350 ml (1½ cups); a serving is about 3 tablespoons.

30 min110 kcal8 serves

🌱Vegan🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

Classic Ajvar with bell pepper, eggplant and garlic — Macedonia recipe

🇲🇰MacedoniaAdvanced

Sauces and Dips

Classic Ajvar

Ajvar is a sauce popular in the Balkans. It is a paste of roasted red peppers, often with eggplant, garlic, oil and vinegar; this version also has a spoonful of tomato paste.

90 min120 kcal12 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free🌱Vegan

Classic French Vinaigrette with olive oil, red wine vinegar and dijon mustard — France recipe

🇫🇷FranceEasy

Sauces and Dips

Classic French Vinaigrette

A classic French vinaigrette made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and a hint of garlic. The 3-to-1 oil-to-acid ratio and a spoonful of mustard create a silky emulsified dressing that clings to every leaf and holds together through the meal. Makes about 120 ml (½ cup) — 2 tablespoons a serving, enough for four side salads.

5 min190 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick🌱Vegan

Cranberry Sauce (Homemade, from Fresh Cranberries) with cranberries and orange — USA recipe

🇺🇸USAEasy

Sauces and Dips

Cranberry Sauce (Homemade, from Fresh Cranberries)

Cranberry sauce, here the whole-berry kind made from fresh cranberries, is a sweet-tart American sauce of cranberries, sugar and orange juice that sits next to roast turkey on the Thanksgiving table; the jellied version from a can is its supermarket cousin. You simmer the berries for about 8 minutes until two thirds of them have burst, stir in the orange zest off the heat, and let the sauce cool, when the pectin in the berries sets it to a soft jam. It makes about 500 ml, 8 servings. The 15 minutes are active time; cooling takes about an hour, and the sauce keeps in the fridge for up to 10 days, so you can make it 3 days before the dinner.

15 min130 kcal8 serves

🌱Vegan🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free

Gochujang Mayo (Korean Spicy Mayonnaise Sauce) with Kewpie mayonnaise, gochujang paste and toasted sesame oil — Korea recipe

🇰🇷KoreaEasy

Sauces and Dips

Gochujang Mayo (Korean Spicy Mayonnaise Sauce)

Gochujang mayo is a Korean-inspired spicy condiment built on Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, fermented gochujang chili paste, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, and garlic. The mayo cools and rounds out the heat, the gochujang brings deep fermented umami, sesame oil signs the sauce as Korean. Whisks together in five minutes, lives in the fridge for a week, and works on Korean fried chicken, sweet potato fries, poke bowls, burgers, sushi, and as a sandwich spread. Serves about eight as a dipping sauce. The 30 minute rest in the fridge before serving is what separates a punchy mix from a balanced sauce.

5 min110 kcal8 serves

🌶️Spicy⚡Quick

Green Goddess Dressing with fresh flat leaf parsley leaves, fresh tarragon leaves and full fat mayonnaise — USA recipe

🇺🇸USAMedium

Sauces and Dips

Green Goddess Dressing

Green Goddess was invented at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in 1923. The formula: mayonnaise, a serious amount of fresh herbs, tarragon, garlic, anchovy for depth, and lemon to hold it all together. The result is vivid green, herb-forward, and complex in a way no bottled version gets close to. Doubles as a dip, a sandwich spread, and a sauce for grilled fish or chicken. Makes in 10 minutes.

10 min120 kcal8 serves

🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

Hollandaise Sauce with egg yolks, butter and lemon juice — France recipe

🇫🇷FranceEasy

Sauces and Dips

Hollandaise Sauce

A warm, buttery emulsion of egg yolks, clarified butter, and lemon juice whisked over gentle heat until it holds its own weight on a spoon. Hollandaise is one of the five French mother sauces, and its reputation for being difficult is vastly overblown — the only real rule is keep the heat low. I make this every weekend for eggs Benedict and it takes me about twelve minutes from cold butter to finished sauce.

15 min180 kcal4 serves

⚡Quick🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free

Homemade BBQ Sauce (Sweet, Smoky & Tangy) with ketchup, apple cider vinegar and brown sugar — USA recipe

🇺🇸USAMedium

Sauces and Dips

Homemade BBQ Sauce (Sweet, Smoky & Tangy)

Barbecue sauce is the foundation of American pit cooking — a condiment that in its classic Kansas City form balances four fundamental flavors: sweet (brown sugar and molasses), sour (apple cider vinegar), savory (Worcestershire sauce and garlic), and smoky (smoked paprika). Unlike most sauces, which are built by reducing a complex stock, BBQ sauce is assembled from pantry staples and then simmered together for 15 to 20 minutes until the flavors merge and the raw edge of the vinegar rounds out. The result is a thick, glossy, mahogany-coloured sauce that clings to ribs, glazes chicken, and tastes of concentrated American summer. The key adjustable levers: more brown sugar for sweetness, more vinegar for tang, more smoked paprika (or a small amount of liquid smoke) for smokiness, cayenne for heat. This recipe makes approximately 480 ml (2 cups) — enough for one full rack of ribs with extra for dipping.

25 min55 kcal16 serves

⚡Quick🌶️Spicy

Hummus with chickpeas, tahini and lemon — Israel recipe

🇮🇱IsraelEasy

Sauces and Dips

Hummus

Creamy homemade hummus from chickpeas, tahini, lemon, and garlic — blended until impossibly smooth. Ten minutes from can to bowl, and it beats every store-bought tub I have ever tried.

10 min170 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick🌾Gluten-free

Italian Bagna Cauda (Piedmontese Hot Anchovy and Garlic Dip) with garlic and anchovy fillets — Italy recipe

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Sauces and Dips

Italian Bagna Cauda (Piedmontese Hot Anchovy and Garlic Dip)

Bagna cauda — Piedmontese dialect for 'hot bath' — is the ancient warm dip of olive oil, garlic, and anchovies that defines Northern Italian conviviality. Slowly melted into a single silky emulsion, kept warm at the centre of the table in a terracotta fujòt over a candle, surrounded by raw and cooked seasonal vegetables and crusty bread for dipping. Origins trace to medieval Piedmont and the Strada Salis (the salt road) that brought anchovies and salt from Provence and Nice into landlocked Piedmontese valleys, fueling a cuisine built on cured fish far from the sea. In 2005 the Asti Delegation of the Italian Academy of Cuisine officially registered the recipe with a notary in Costigliole d'Asti. Every November-December Asti celebrates Bagna Cauda Day. This domestic balanced version uses milk-poached garlic for elegance, salt-packed anchovies for depth, and a finishing knob of butter for silky texture. Active 25 minutes plus 15 minutes milk-poach. Yields about 300 ml, serves 6 as a centerpiece dip.

40 min350 kcal6 serves

🌾Gluten-free🥑Keto

Italian Salsa Rossa (Piedmontese Bagnet Ross Tomato Sauce) with tomatoes, onion and carrot — Italy recipe

🇮🇹ItalyAdvanced

Sauces and Dips

Italian Salsa Rossa (Piedmontese Bagnet Ross Tomato Sauce)

Salsa rossa — known as bagnet ross in Piedmontese dialect — is a slow-cooked tomato sauce from Piedmont in northern Italy, traditionally spooned alongside bollito misto, the region's winter dish of mixed boiled meats. This version keeps to a plain vegetable base: ripe tomatoes, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic simmered until thick, then balanced with sugar and red wine vinegar. Many Piedmontese households build a richer version with roasted bell pepper and a pinch of cinnamon and clove, closer to what's sold as salsa rubra, but the tomato-and-soffritto core stays the same either way. Let it cool for about an hour before serving. Naturally vegan and gluten-free.

100 min110 kcal10 serves

🌾Gluten-free🌱Vegan

Italian Salsa Tonnata (Piedmontese Tuna Sauce, Pellegrino Artusi 1891) with canned tuna, anchovy fillets and capers — Italy recipe

🇮🇹ItalyEasy

Sauces and Dips

Italian Salsa Tonnata (Piedmontese Tuna Sauce, Pellegrino Artusi 1891)

Salsa tonnata is the Piedmontese emulsion sauce of canned tuna, anchovies, capers, hard-boiled egg yolks, olive oil, and lemon juice — a creamy savory cream that defines the iconic vitello tonnato (cold sliced veal under tuna sauce). Origins go to 18th-19th century Piedmont as a way to use leftover meat; the modern form was codified by Pellegrino Artusi in his 1891 cookbook 'La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene', where he added tuna and capers to an older anchovy-oil base. Before Artusi the dish was known as vitel tonné, sometimes mistakenly attributed to French origins via Savoy linguistic mix. By the 1980s vitello tonnato became a must-have on Italian restaurant menus. This classic Artusi version uses hard-boiled yolks rather than raw — safer and historically authentic. Beyond veal: tomato tonnato, egg tonnato, pasta salad, sandwiches, vegetable dressing. Active 20 minutes plus 1-2 hours rest. Yields about 350 ml, serves 8 as a sauce or dip.

20 min180 kcal8 serves

🌾Gluten-free🥑Keto⚡Quick

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