Ceviche can take on many forms, not just the Peruvian style. Every Latin country has some variation and a growing number of fusion restaurants are incorporating Asian flavors. This simple Asian influenced salmon ceviche recipe takes only minutes to prepare and taste great.

Yucca sticks, Yucca fries, yuquitas, or whatever you want to call them, are a great bar snack and found often in Peru and throughout Latin America. It’s often an alternative to French fries.

Few realize that Cochinita Pibil is actually a Mayan dish. It’s quite common now all over Mexico, especially in the Yucatan where it originated, and I see it often at Mexican restaurants and Taquerias in New York and around the States. Traditionally, cochinita refers to a slow roasted baby pig, though pork shoulder (which is actually pork butt) is more common now. The signature spice in the seasoning is achiote, the orangish-red seeds that give off a deep, earthy flavor and are used habitually in Mayan cooking. Cochinita Pibil is the dish that Rick Bayless won Top Chef Masters with (and his recipe from Mexico One Plate At A Time was very influential in this one).

Playa del Carmen, Mexico is a city that didn’t really even exist 15 years ago. It’s surrounded by jungle, now the city has been infiltrated by hundreds of hotels and even more restaurants, many of which serve stylish, contemporry food. Being that there was nothing here before and Cancun was never exactly a gastronomic hotspot, where do the chefs come from?

In Barrio Chino (Lima, Peru) restaurants such as Wa Lok and Salon Capon Lomo Saltado simply means stir-fried beef. It is a direct translation from Spanish and the dish is the same as the stir-fried beef that’s on any Chinese menu in New York or Jamaica. Thin slices of stir-fried beef and onions (usually red onions in Peru, though) are served family style on a big plate. Scoop a pile of rice on your dish from a bowl served on the side and spoon the beef and juices on top of it.

A tweetpic from Chicago chef & Top Chef Master Rick Bayless roasting a tray of tomatillos gave me this salsa idea for the leftover tomatillos I had in my fridge. I’m not a fan of canned tomoatillos, so try to get fresh if you can.

Calabaza is the West Indian pumpkin and its often used in Caribbean cooking. It’s an old Spanish term that can be applied to a variety of squashes and melons. In North America, calabaza generally refers to any species of tropical gourds of the genus Cucurbita such as C. moschata and C. maxima. In Latin America calabaza goes by several names such as auyama (Venezuela), ayote (Central America), abóbora (Brazil), and zapallo (most of South America).

A Papa Rellena is essentially a stuffed potato. It is a common criollo snack or appetizer that utilizes that famous Andean ingredient, the potato, and is served all around Peru and quote common in other parts of South America and the Caribbean as well.

For some reason everyone is afraid to grill octopus. Yet, it’s not overly difficult. There is a fine line between cooking and overcooking, but with the tiniest bit of care your pulpo won’t become a rubbery mess. It’s an ideal addition to a seafood barbecue and can be skewered alongside shrimp and tuna. The addition of the Nikkei marinade included below, though not essential, adds a unique, slightly sweet Peruvian accent to the octopus.

Though rarely are frites, or fries, attributed to Belgium – examples: french fries, chips, freedom fries – they are indeed a creation of that northern European nation and nowhere on earth will a cone of frites taste so good. All across Belgium there are small stands called frietkots.