Cooking through the alphabet is a great challenge if you’re looking for a way to boost your kitchen confidence, and introduce yourself to some new ingredients.
After cooking a dish from every country in the world for my 2021 New Year’s Resolution, I was keen to keep trying new recipes, and so set myself the challenge of cooking with an A-Z of ingredients that I had never cooked with before.
This post is a round up of everything that I cooked, including links to the recipes.
I hope it doesn’t make you feel too hungry, and that it inspires you to try the challenge and cook with ingredients you’ve never cooked with before too.
The Dishes - Cooking Through The Alphabet
A - Artichoke
Dish : Spinach & artichoke one pan pasta
Notes : A deliciously quick, easy, light yet filling vegetarian dish.
Recipe : Delicious Magazine
B - Barberry
Dish : Persian Chicken with barberry rice
Notes : The little dried berries packed a delicious zingy punch. Used in the accompanying rice, it perfectly paired with the warming Persian chicken.
Recipe : Happy Foodie
C - Celeriac - Cooking Through The Alphabet
Dish : Smoked salmon and celeriac dauphinoise
Notes : Celeriac is not the most attractive vegetable. Firm when raw, but soft when cooked. This dish was hearty, rich, and full of flavour.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
D - Dragonfruit
Dish : Dragonfruit Cheesecake
Notes : The vibrant colour of the dragonfruit made it feel incredibly exotic! It was really easy to make the cheesecake, although my finished dessert doesn’t look quite as beautiful as the one in the recipe. A nice light, and subtle flavour.
Recipe : SideChef
E - Elderflower
Dish : Elderflower Panna Cotta
Notes : A sublimely light and creamy pudding with a slight floral and lemon flavour.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
F - Freekeh - Cooking Through The Alphabet
Dish : Freekeh salad
Notes : I’d not heard of freekeh before this challenge, and it’s a grain often used in North Africa and Levantine dishes. As the key ingredient in this salad, it was more than an accompaniment. Full of flavour and colour.
Recipe : Happy Foodie
G - Galangal
Dish : Massaman curry
Notes : Galangal is a root related to the ginger family, and is used in many SouthEast Asian dishes. I used it to make a massaman curry from scratch. The flavours were phenomenal, not too spicy but with lots going on.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
H - Hibiscus - Cooking Through The Alphabet
Dish : Hibiscus lamb with couscous
Notes : Hibiscus is often used in drinks, but I’d never used it in cooking. The lamb looked extremely pink after it had marinated in the hibiscus dressing, and cooked easily. With a slightly tart flavour, it worked perfectly with the lamb.
Recipe : Sous Chef
I - Ice Cream
Dish : Ice cream bread
Notes : I struggled to find an ingredient for this letter that I hadn’t cooked with before. Turns out that there aren’t that many ingredients that begin with ‘I’. This was certainly different. It tasted like bread, but a little sweeter.
Recipe : The Spruce Eats
J - Jalapeños
Dish : Jalapeños Poppers
Notes : Being careful not to rub my eyes after touching them, I made these delicious Jalapeño poppers. The cooling cream cheese filling, crunch breadcrumb crust, and gentle warmth from the Jalapeños made a scrumptious little snack.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
K - Kalamansi - Cooking Through The Alphabet
Dish : Fish in kalamansi sauce
Notes : The bottle definitely spelt kalamansi with a ‘K’, but it seems it’s more commonly spelt with a ‘C’. However, I used it for the letter K of my cooking through the alphabet challenge. It’s a citrus fruit that tastes a bit like a mandarin mixed with a lime.
I used the juice in a light and refreshing fish dish. It may not have looked too appetising as the red onion turned the sauce a shade of pink, but it tasted sublime.
Recipe : Yummy
L - Lychees
Dish : Lychee and lime sorbet
Notes : Fruity and refreshing without being too sharp. This was easy to make, although preparing the fruit was a little fiddly. Well worth it for the delicious results.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
M - Miso
Dish : Miso salmon
Notes : The fermented paste is typical of Japanese dishes, and has a rich and salty flavour, often associated with the umami taste sensation. Although my finished dish looks a bit like a chocolate eclair, it tasted beautiful.
Recipe :BBC Good Food
N - Nori
Dish : Vegan fish tacos
Notes : I used nori flakes for the first time in this dish. This dried edible seaweed added a nice light saltiness to the meal. This felt like it involved quite a lot of prep as it needed several different components, but it was well worth it. The flavours were so fresh and delicious.
Recipe : No Sweat Vegan
O - Okra - Cooking Through The Alphabet
Dish : Okra stew (Bamya)
Notes : Also known as lady’s fingers, I used the vegetable in a warmingly tasty okra stew. There is a tendency for the cooked okra to be quite slimy, but this vegetarian dish worked really well.
Recipe : The Mediterannean Dish
P - Physalis
Dish : Physalis berry crumble
Notes : This little fruit is sometimes known as a Cape Gooseberry in the UK. Unlike traditional crumbles with apples, rhubarb, berries or pears, this felt exotic as it used physalis and mango. It wasn’t too zingy, and made for a tasty and comforting pudding.
Recipe : Eat me
Q - Quark - Cooking Through The Alphabet
Dish : Pork and rosemary lasagne
Notes : A bit like a cross between yoghurt and cream cheese, and tasting a bit like sour cream. I used quark for the first time in a lasagne. It was a little less time consuming than making cheese sauce from scratch and made a nice creamy topping.
I was amused to see it was classed as an ‘essential’ item in Waitrose – I’d never heard of it before!
Recipe : BBC Good Food
R - Rhubarb
Dish : Rhubarb & ricotta bread pudding
Notes : Uplifting the already delicious bread and butter pudding. The rhubarb brought a bit of colour, and a sweet and sour flavour with it too. Absolutely scrumptious.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
S - Sardines
Dish : Sardine pasta with crunchy parsley crumbs
Notes : These small oily fish are related to the herring. This was quick, easy, and surprisingly cheap to make. The sardines weren’t too overpowering in the tomatoey sauce, topped with a savoury breadcrumb crumb.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
T - Trout
Dish : Tandoori trout
Notes : I had no idea trout looked so much like salmon! A slightly lighter flavour than salmon with a melt in the mouth texture. This recipe was really easy, quick, and super tasty.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
U - Udon noodles
Dish : Veggie yaki udon
Notes : I’d hoped to cook with an ugli fruit, but couldn’t find one anywhere, so opted to use udon noodles instead. This was a quick and easy recipe with just the right amount of spice. The thick noodles absorbed all the flavours for a tasty dish.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
V - Venison
Dish : Venison with blackberry sauce
Notes : Apologies to any vegetarians. The meat was easy to cook and came out perfectly. Whilst the venison tasted good, the sauce was something else. It was, rich, tangy, sweet and utterly mouthwatering.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
W - Whiting
Dish : Whiting with melting herb crust
Notes : Whiting reminded me a bit of haddock, and was nice and easy to cook with. Unfortunately my presentation let me down a bit on this one, and the crust looked more like a green mush, but it tasted really good.
Recipe : Great British Chefs
X - Xylitol - Cooking Through The Alphabet
Dish : Mince pie parcels
Notes : I’d never heard of this ingredient before which sounds like it’s from a science lab. Xylitol is a natural sweetener found in fruits, vegetables and even trees! Thankfully it’s also available in the supermarket. It looked exactly like the white sweetener that I’m used to seeing, and it worked brilliantly in these delicious sweet treats.
Recipe : Unfortunately the recipe I followed doesn’t seem to be available anymore, but Add Some Veg has a similar recipe to follow.
Y - Yuzu
Dish : Miso and yuzu aubergine
Notes : I couldn’t find the actual fruit, but tracked down some juice. This was a mighty citrus explosion in a tiny bottle. Using it to marinate the aubergines, this quick dish was citrusy and salty at the same time and it was really really good.
Recipe : BBC Good Food
Z - Za’atar
Dish : Braised eggs with leek and za’atar
Notes : Za’atar is an amazing blend of herbs and spices popular in Middle Eastern cooking. Rich earthy flavours with a lemony undertone really lifted this dish which I whipped up for a lunch that felt a bit special. It was also perfect for dunking some bread into!
Recipe : Happy Foodie
Cooking Through The Alphabet - Give It A Go
Another new year’s resolution complete! That had been a great challenge, and one that the Other Half fully appreciated. He generally enjoys any of my cooking related challenges! I’d learnt more new recipes and skills in the kitchen, and discovered some ingredients I’d never heard of before.
If you want to boost your kitchen confidence, I can highly recommend trying the challenge. Will you give it a go? Good luck, and let me know how you get on!
Want To Try Cooking Through The Alphabet Yourself?
- What you cook will be unique to you as it will depend which ingredients you decide to cook with.
- There are plenty of recipes and suggestions available online for you to follow.
Cost Of Experience
- It’s hard to put a figure on this as it will depend what you cook.
- I don’t think I spent any more than I usually would on my food shopping throughout the year. Whilst there were some more expensive ingredients, there were also some which were much cheaper than I’d anticipated so it all balanced out.
- I had plenty left over of some ingredients to make plenty more delicious dishes too!
Recommendations For Cooking Through The Alphabet
- I made myself a spreadsheet at the start of the year, and found recipes for most of the ingredients I’d never cooked with before.
- Keep your eyes peeled when you’re doing your food shop. I found a couple of ingredients that I hadn’t found during my online research, such as the Yuzu juice and the barberries. I was still able to find recipes for them later.
- Have a look over the recipe before you commit to it. I found some which sounded delicious, but sometimes the method didn’t seem to flow. I’m glad I didn’t find that out whilst I was in the process of cooking.
- Let me know how you get on if you give it a go!
This is a great idea. Sadly, way beyond my skillset, but a great idea! It’s definitely inspired me to be a bit more adventurous!
Thanks Graham, the ice cream bread was very easy to make – you’d be surprised! Yay to being a bit more adventurous! Hope you try something delicious! Sally :o)
This is such a fun challenge! I’ve cooked with some of these ingredients before, but there are a few I’ve never heard of like barberry and freekeh. Also, the dragonfruit cheesecake looks delicious!
I really enjoyed it, and like you, I’d never heard of freekeh before either! You’re very kind, I didn’t think the cheesecake came out very prettily, but it tasted so good, and that’s what really counts isn’t it? Thank you so much for reading and commenting, Sally :o)
I am a fairly confident cook, but a rather predictable one as I tend to do the same old things. I clearly need to branch out a bit and try new ingredients, so cooking through the alphabet would be perfect! I’ve used quite a few things listed here, but there are also quite a few I haven’t even heard of. I feel inspired to try some new flavours and ingredients!
It’s easy to find meals on regular rotation isn’t it? I really enjoyed this challenge, it definitely helped me to feel more confident, and it’s made me feel a lot more creative in what I make. Yay! Hope you try some new things, I’d love to know if you do cook with anything new. Thanks as always for reading and commenting, Sally :o)
Wow!!! I like this method. Cooking using alphabet. This is sooooo cool. And the food you shared look sooooo delicious, especially the Persian Chicken and dragon fruit cheesecake.
Aw, thank you so much Fadima! I’m really pleased with how most things turned out, the Persian chicken was a definite highlight. Thank you so much for reading and commenting, you’ve made my day! Sally :o)