White-cut chicken is a traditional Chinese preparation that calls for poaching, cutting on the bone, chilling, and serving with a flavorful dipping sauce. Chicken doesn’t have to be fried, crisp, or golden brown to be delicious. When it comes to Chinese dishes, “traditional” usually implies “old as hell” and “bajillions served,” so they must be eating something right. If you’re still not convinced after trying this recipe (highly unlikely), here’s another example of pale but tasty steamed chicken.

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“Traditional” and “simple” rarely belong in the same breath when it comes to Mexican recipes, but if you can find ancho chiles, this braised chicken recipe makes great weeknight fare without being light on flavor. It’s the antithesis to festive Mexican dishes that have several sub-recipes — you only need a few spices, pantry staples, and fresh tortillas.

When selecting ancho chiles, look for pliability and a shiny dark exterior. Holding it up against light will reveal a reddish-brown hue. Since poblano chiles are naturally mild and sweet, its dried version in ancho chiles lend a similar quality to sauces and moles.

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This recipe for sumac-dusted roast chicken is not only easy to prepare, but is also an excellent introduction to the spice called sumac, and by extension, the charming simplicity of Lebanese cookery. The purple-maroon spice is used extensively in this cuisine; canisters of ground sumac take the place of ground pepper in most Lebanese restaurants I’ve visited.

A sour spice ground from dried shrub berries to a gritty consistency, sumac is used much like vinegar, lemon juice, or tamarind. It has a pleasant tanginess similar to tart apples, making it seem less harsh than the other aforementioned souring agents. Sumac is probably best known as an essential component in the savory spice blend Zaatar, where it is mixed with thyme and toasted sesame seeds.

Sprinkled with sumac and olive oil, the chicken is roasted over a bed of slivered onions and pita bread. The outer edges of the pita bread will crisp, contrasting sharply against the moist center soaked with olive oil and juices from the roasting chicken. The pita bread essentially turns into a Lebanese take on stuffing, but with a bit of crunch.

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Ancho chiles, the most commonly used dried capsicum in Mexican cookery, give this thick and earthy dish its characteristic maroon color. The muted red hues of pipián rojo hides its complexity — toasted sesame seeds meld with Mexican herbs and spices to create an intense sauce with a consistency similar to mole.

There are two distinct steps in preparing pollo en pipián rojo. The chicken is first poached in an aromatic broth to season and cook the meat. The red sauce is then created separately. It will be used to poach the chicken a second time.

To make the pipián rojo, the ancho chiles and sesame seeds are toasted and combined with spices and garlic to create a paste. The chicken broth from the first poaching is used to thin the ancho-sesame paste, only to be thickened again to further deepen the flavors of the sauce.

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Growing up in the Philippines, I was a really picky eater. There are foods that I absolutely would not touch and I was, quite frankly, a pain in the ass to cook for. Some things in the fairly long list are atchara (pickled shredded papaya), anything with ampalaya (bitter melon), tutong (the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot), and our embarrassingly hacked up interpretation of spaghetti, cloyingly sweet and studded with neon-red hotdog slices.

We do, indeed, put hotdogs instead of meatballs in our spaghetti.

It’s kind of funny how one ends up longing for foods avoided as a child. I still can’t get over the sugary spaghetti sauce, though. Like any good Filipino brat, I merely picked out the Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdog slices, leaving the clumpy starch behind before running off with friends to play sipa.

Others things I wouldn’t touch fall under the category of “leftovers.” If it was cooked yesterday then I’m not having it. No exceptions. I couldn’t stand it when told that such-and-such is best made a day ahead. It didn’t make sense to me at all.

Now that I know better, it turns out that there was no conspiracy to use me as a means to get rid of leftovers.

View Chicken Adobo in Coconut Milk Recipe »