Meat Dish

Nepal

Chunla is a traditional meat dish originating from the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The meat (usually water buffalo's meat) is finely chopped with a meat grinder or a knife. The spices are kneaded into the meat, and it's then fried in oil and simmered in water. Once done, the meat is topped with a combination of fenugreek seeds and oil. Chunla can also be shaped into meatballs or meat patties for certain ceremonies. The meat is also often used as a filling for momos or a topping for rice flour pancakes known as chatanmari.

Chunla

Vietnam

Chuột đồng quay lu is a traditional dish originating from the Dong Thap province. The base of the dish is a rice field rat (or rice field mouse) that feeds on rice and fresh water. Once caught, during the flood season, the rats are smoked with rice straws, butchered, and the feet and intestines are discarded. The meat is soaked in a barbecue marinade, and it&rsquo;s then roasted in vases. While the rats are roasting, they are often drizzled with fat and sauce. The rats are also periodically spun or mixed while roasting. Once done, the skin should be shiny and fully caramelized with an intense aroma emanating from the vase. The dish is served with a dipping sauce consisting of lime juice, salt, and pepper on the side, along with tomato, banana, and cucumber slices.

Chuột đồng quay lu

Italy

Cif e ciaf is a traditional dish hailing from Abruzzo. In order to prepare it, pork (usually cheeks and rib meat) is cut into pieces and it's browned with saut&eacute;ed onions. When the meat has browned, white wine and the herbs and spices are added and the combination is simmered over low heat. Once done, the dish is served hot in the same pan it was cooked in, so that the diners can easily dip the meat (or crusty grilled bread) in the sauce. Cif e ciaf is traditionally prepared and served on the day of the pig slaughter.

Cif e ciaf

A traditional Genovese dish known as cima alla Genovese is actually a meat loaf consisting of a veal breast stuffed with a huge number of ingredients. Here are just some of them: onions, pork fat, ground veal, pistachios, various offal, peas, hard-boiled eggs, carrots, garlic, and crustless white bread. The whole concoction is flavored with spices such as bay leaves, parsley, and black pepper. The dish is a typical representation of the cucina povera, and in the past it was prepared as a frugal way to use leftovers. Today, it is a rare, but very sought after dish that is traditionally served sliced and accompanied by steamed vegetables or salads on the side.

Cima alla Genovese

United States

Coming from the most chili-mad city in the United States after Texas, Cincinnati chili is a popular dish made with ground meat, stock, and unusual spices such as cinnamon, allspice, Worcestershire sauce, and chocolate or cocoa. The chili is usually served over pasta such as spaghetti, then topped with a flavorful combination of shredded Cheddar, fried beans, onions, and crushed oyster crackers. With more than 180 chili joints in the city, Cincinnati takes great pride in being a chili capital. The dish was invented in 1922 by a Macedonian immigrant called Tom Kiradjieff. He opened a Greek restaurant called The Empress, which was a total failure until Tom started to serve chili prepared with Middle Eastern spices. The locals went with it, and the results can be seen even today. Chili joints started opening all over the city, with Skyline and Gold Star each creating their own mini-empire after the Empress started the chili-craze.

Cincinnati Chili

Cinghiale in dolceforte is a traditional dish hailing from Tuscany, where it's been prepared since the 16th century. It's made with wild boar meat that's cut into pieces, marinated, then cooked with carrots, onions, celery, red wine, and pepper. The accompanying dolceforte sauce is made with a combination of meat juices, pine nuts, raisins, flour, and chocolate. It's poured over the meat and then left to cool before the dish is served. Cinghiale in dolceforte is praised for its intense and contrasting flavors. It's recommended to serve this stew with oven-roasted radicchio rosso di Treviso and a glass of Barolo wine.

Cinghiale in dolceforte

Cinghiale in umido is a Tuscan stew prepared with wild boar meat as the main ingredient. Apart from the wild boar meat cut into pieces, the stew also contains vinegar, red wine, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, olive oil, and tomato sauce. It is flavored with bay leaves, red chili flakes, and juniper berries. This dish is especially popular during the hunting season in fall and winter, and it is recommended to serve it with white beans, roasted potatoes, and sliced Tuscan bread on the side.

Cinghiale in umido

Despite its name, city chicken is a misnomer that doesn't actually contain any chicken. The dish typically consists of cubes of pork, veal, or beef that are skewered (and sometimes breaded), then fried or baked. There are many variations of the dish throughout the United States, and city chicken is often served with brown gravy as an accompaniment. Originally, the dish was invented in the Great Depression era, when chicken was very expensive and scarce, so meat cubes were skewered and breaded in order to resemble a drumstick.

City Chicken

Civet de canard is a traditional duck stew. It's made with a combination of duck legs and breasts, bacon, flour, shallots, garlic, red wine, balsamic vinegar, stock, carrots, bay leaves, and thyme. The duck meat is coated in flour and browned, then combined with other ingredients, often in a casserole dish. Once the sauce has formed, carrots are added to the dish and the combination is cooked for a few hours until the meat becomes tender. It's recommended to serve civet de canard with broad beans, mashed potatoes, or roasted parsnips on the side.

Civet de canard

One of the most unusual and unique Seychellois specialties, civet de chauve souris consists of curried fruit bat. This bat curry is usually prepared with chunks of skinned fruit bat that are marinated in vinegar and red wine, and then cooked with a variety of herbs and spices. Steamed rice or potatoes typically accompany the dish. Nowadays prized as a culinary delight, the fruit bat used to be a daily staple in the past. The dish is an acquired taste, and many people resist the temptation to try this delicacy due to the somewhat human-like appearance of the creature once it has been skinned. Bat curry is typically served in restaurants which offer authentic Creole dishes.

Civet de chauve souris

Civet de lapin is a traditional winter dish in France. It is prepared with rabbit meat, red wine, bacon, mushrooms, butter, flour, carrots and other vegetables, onions, and garlic. Once the stew has been fully cooked and the meat is tender, it is usually served with boiled potatoes and a glass of rich red wine on the side.

Civet de lapin

Australia

Civet de rousette is a traditional dish, considered by many to be a great delicacy. The preparation consists of marinating carrots, leeks, bouquet garni, salt, and pepper, in red wine and then adding pieces of fruit bats. More traditional, bougna style option, is to cook and serve bats in banana leaves. This is one of the unique dishes served during important festivals such as the Festival of Yam although sadly, due to high demand, fruit bat species has been in decline.

Civet de rousette

Civet de sanglier is a traditional dish made from wild boar (sanglier), prepared as a rich, hearty stew. The meat is typically marinated in red wine with herbs and spices to tenderize and infuse it with flavor. The dish is slow-cooked with ingredients like onions, garlic, mushrooms, and bacon, creating a deep, savory sauce. The term "civet" refers to a method of stewing game meat, often with the animal's blood added to thicken the sauce, though modern versions may omit this.

Civet de sanglier

France

Clapassade is a traditional dish that originated in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France. This hearty dish can be prepared in many different ways, but all of them contain the same key ingredients: slowly simmered lamb, honey, olives, and star anise. After the roux is made, white wine is usually added as a deglazer. It is recommended to use wines from the region, since all of the other key ingredients are also native to Languedoc-Roussillon. When cooked, clapassade has a licorice undertone with a slight sweetness coming from the honey. In the end, the whole dish is commonly garnished with grated lime.

Clapassade

Croatia

Čobanac is a traditional meat stew originating from Slavonia and Baranja, located in the eastern part of Croatia. The dish is traditionally prepared by slowly cooking all of the ingredients for several hours in a large copper pot that is strung over an open fire. Typically, it consists of a few different types of meat, from veal and pork to wild game meat, along with large quantities of onions, and a special blend of sweet and hot ground paprika which gives the stew its characteristical rich and vivid color. It is recommended to serve čobanac with a few slices of fresh, homemade bread.

Čobanac

Spain

Cochinillo is a Spanish dish consisting of a roasted suckling pig with succulent meat, tender and crispy skin, and a very thin layer of fat. The meat is so tender that it practically falls apart when cooked properly. The dish is served throughout Spain, and it is especially popular in the region of Castilla. The pigs should not be heavier than five kilograms nor older than three weeks, and they are traditionally roasted in large, open-faced brick ovens. One suckling pig can easily feed a party of four, and it is usually ordered in restaurants for birthdays and similar festive events.

Cochinillo

Mexico

Cochinita pibil is a Mexican pork dish originating from Yucatan. Pork is marinated in a combination of annatto paste, bitter orange juice, and garlic. It is slowly baked and then shredded and served on tortillas, tacos, or on its own with shallots, pickled onions, salsa, and various roasted vegetables. Cochinita pibil is characterized by the red color of the meat, imparted by the annatto seeds from the marinade. Originally, pork was wrapped in banana leaves prior to baking, but today a foil or any other suitable wrapping can be used instead. Since cochinita means baby pig, and pibil means buried or underground, it acts as a proof that the original recipe used a whole suckling pig that was buried in a pit for roasting. This Mayan-influenced dish is most often served on weekends in many Mexican homes, usually as a Sunday family ritual.

Cochinita pibil

Cochino con millo is a traditional dish originating from the island of Lanzarote. The dish is usually made with a combination of pork (loin or shoulder), onions, corn, carrots, basil, peppercorns, nutmeg, white wine, olive oil, salt, and pepper. The pork is seasoned with salt and pepper, brushed with olive oil, then browned in a skillet, placed into a roasting pan and roasted. The onions are saut&eacute;ed in olive oil, while the corn is boiled in water. The wine, corn cooking liquid, saut&eacute;ed onions, carrots, corn, peppercorns, basil, and nutmeg are added to the roasting pan and the dish is done once everything becomes tender.

Cochino con millo

One of the most emblematic dishes of Madrilenian cuisine known as cocido madrile&ntilde;o is a hearty meat and chickpea stew whose origins can be traced back to the medieval-era Castilla La Mancha. Some food historians claim that this one-pot meal evolved from a peasant dish called olla podrida Manchega, but wasn't named cocido madrile&ntilde;o until the 17th century. However, most sources agree that the famed dish has its roots in the Sephardic stew called adafina&ndash;a Shabbat kosher meal based on chickpeas, vegetables, and either hard-boiled eggs or meat such as lamb, veal, beef, or chicken. With the arrival of the Inquisition, feared of prosecution by the Catholic priests who roamed the streets of Madrid at the time&ndash;in search of both Jewish and Muslim cookery&ndash;the converted Spanish Jews called Marranos started incorporating pork into their adafinas to prove themselves as Christians. Over time, with the addition of lard, bacon, Serrano ham, chorizo (pork sausages) and morcilla (blood sausages), adafina reportedly became the dish that is now known as cocido madrile&ntilde;o. This substantial meal is traditionally served in three separate vuelcos or courses: the first one is a rich, flavorful stock with added noodles; the second vuelco consists of chickpeas and vegetables, while the meat is dished out as the third course. Once commonly consumed during winter, cocido madrile&ntilde;o can nowadays be found prepared throughout the year in many of Madrid's restaurants and taverns.

Cocido madrileño

Coda alla vaccinara is the Italian name for a flavorful, braised oxtail stew. The tail is cut into smaller pieces and slowly simmered with browned prosciutto or lardo, wine, tomato pur&eacute;e, and vegetables such as carrots, celery, and leeks. It is typically flavored with thyme and bay leaves, while some recipes call for nutmeg, cinnamon, raisins, or dark chocolate. The dish is part of the famous Italian cucina povera, or cuisine of the poor.