Draniki: Belarusian Sausage Stuffed Potato Pancakes

Draniki: Belarusian Sausage Stuffed Potato Pancakes

Alas, not all culinary tales can be a happy one, as is the case in the trajectory of Belarusian cuisine. For a cuisine seemingly so magnificent until as recently as last century, it can only leave you wondering what could have (and should have) been. Thankfully for dishes like draniki, we have windows into the cuisine’s … Read more

Anticuchos: Peruvian Beef Kabobs

Peruvian Anticuchos Kabobs with Aji Amarillo Sauce

Thanks to some of our previous deep culinary explorations here on Arousing Appetites, we’ve encountered some prevailing trends in the world’s history. Introducing the Spanish conquistadors into the picture, for example, generally spelled bad news for the land’s indigenous populations. We’ve seen it certainly be the case both in Jamaica and in Haiti. Sometimes, amid all the historical … Read more

Poffertjes: Dutch Silver Dollar Pancakes

Poffertjes topped with powdered sugar and butter

Some recipes we choose to do for less logical, more emotional reasons. Even in the early stages of recipe planning, we were determined to focus on poffertjes for our deep dive into Dutch dining. Nevermind their ubiquity in Dutch snacking culture. Poffertjes hold a bit of sentimental value for the both of us. We can both hearken … Read more

Laap Muu: Lao Shredded Pork Salad

Laap Muu minced pork with charred eggplant, shallot and garlic

On this pursuit to “cook around the world,” we’ve come into our fair share of fairly confounding ingredients. With a mysterious ingredient called padek, the recipe for a true Laotian laap muu proved to be no exception. Padek? What could padek possibly be?? We eventually found the answer (as you’ll see here), but along the way we … Read more

Som Tam: Thai Papaya Salad

Som Tam: Thai Papaya Salad

We always enjoy exploring the dishes and recipes of Southeast Asian cuisines. From Laos to Thailand to Vietnam (and beyond), each cuisine offers an incredible diversity of taste brought into harmonious balance with one another. Som tam, however, might actually take this “balancing” characteristic one step further, and it all starts in the region from … Read more

Griot: Haitian Broiled Pork Loin

Griot: Haitian Broiled Pork Loin

Griot Haitian food was an exploration that we were really, really looking forward to. We’d had some background into Haitian foods (and how distinctly different it is from other Caribbean cuisines), so we already had a pretty strong inkling that this griot would end up a pretty magical recipe. Even then, we still completely underestimated … Read more