Do you have a signature dish?

[Jenise]

Cynthia recently posted a drool-worthy picture of a celery root gratin made by Stuart which she referred to as a "signature dish". And I used the same term for my beloved Stella's blueberry pancakes.

It got me to looking at my own repertoire and wondering if any of the foods I make qualify as a "signature dish". And to be honest, my mind came up blank. So I called a friend who dines here often and asked her if she thinks of anything I make as a signature dish. Her answer was no because she's never had the same food here twice. No help there.

So I called my husband at work and pulled him out of a meeting, and demanded to know what dishes I make that he would designate as "signature". I've had to pull him out of many meetings in the past few weeks, usually with a plumber or an electrician standing at my elbow, with questions about hose bibs and outlets on the TV wall, so I thought he might enjoy a fun question like this for a change. About ten seconds of dead silence followed before he chose the "no of course your butt doesn't look too big in that skirt" route and gallantly weasled, "Honey, everything you do is a signature dish!" and hung up. Another dead end.

I'm not sure he even remembers the food we ate before we started living on frozen tamales. Yes, that must be it.

So what about everybody else? If you have a signature dish, tell us about it.

As I thought about your question, Jenise, it occurred to me that, when we have folks over for dinner we go out of our way to make sure we cook something they've never at our home before, except maybe steak or burgers on the grill. So friends might not be able to ID a dish as 'signature'.
So I turned to my three kids, all 15 and older, and asked them your question. Without question, they each said Mom's fake cheese soufflé. It's a really fun casserole-style dish (esp. for young kids) that's simple to make and you don't have to do all that egg white whipping and folding in stuff yet it tastes like 'real' cheese soufflé.
(btw - I love to make and eat a real cheese soufflé, but the kids, who also don't mind it, would rather have Mom's.)

In answer to your question, I've been sitting here pondering what exactly defines a signature dish. Does it have to be your own creation or a just great recipe now associated with you, regardless of where it originated? It would most likely be a dish that is always made exactly the same way.

Having considered this, the only thing that comes to mind is my pecan pie. It is a recipe that my Mom cut from a newspaper over 50 years ago. I've read many recipes and tried a lot of different pies, but nowhere I have seen or tasted one like Mom's. I have been making that same recipe for over 20 years myself. I guess that would be my signature dish.

[David M. Bueker]

I think the "deconstructed pesto pizza" is mine.

[Jenise]

In answer to your question, I've been sitting here pondering what exactly defines a signature dish. Does it have to be your own creation or a just great recipe now associated with you, regardless of where it originated? It would most likely be a dish that is always made exactly the same way.

I think yes, it just needs to be a recipe now associated with you though I would guess that usually, 'signature' dishes are more apt to take on that title when they've been personalized.

My signature dishes are all going to be based on holiday fare. Everybody knows that on New Years day I'm going to cook (on the grill over hard wood) a prime rib (all 7 ribs), no matter what else is on the menu. For my birthday, I am always going to barbeque a slab of ribs. For my husband's brithday, I'm going to make a banana pudding; for my daughter's birthday, I'm going to smother pork chops, fry cabbage, make candied yams (lots of these) and cornbread. On the first bright, sunny, weenend day of the end of spring or the beginning of summer (whichever comes first), I'm going to barbeque a slab of ribs and smoke a salmon. (People just drop by because they know, if the sun is shining, it's above 65 degrees, and its Saturday, Jo is going to be grilling). and so on....

The Egg Dish. Which Cynthia won't eat.

I've got three -- Jenise's Batali inspired meatloaf, Robin and Stuart's inspired thin pizza, and one I almost always get lucky with, fresh trout on green beans and slivered almonds.

Depending on who you talk to, mine would be either cassoulet, paella, Jamaican jerk chicken, chorizo-stuffed quails or barbecue ribs. From my own perspective, my signature dish would be bean burritos

Chacun à son goût,
Mark Lipton

Without a doubt, omelets, especially one-eggers. We entertain at all hours, but brunch is probably the most frequent meal we share with others. It doesn't hurt that we serve decent Champagne!

Without a doubt, omelets, especially one-eggers.

One egg? I'd have thought it impossible to achieve a state of OM using that little material (we always use 2-3). Tell us about these miniature jewels!

The Egg Dish. Which Cynthia won't eat.

Recipe please, Stuart. Thanks, Bob

Mine would HAVE to be Sausage, Wild Mushroom and Red Pepper Lasagne because I was featured in our local paper along with that recipe (which was not even mine! Just a Bon Appetit recipe I love to make.) That was about six years ago, and people still talk about it and ask when I'm going to make it for them. (It really is a good recipe. It's the one with the porcini bechemel that I could eat as soup.)

Like Jo Ann, I do several traditional meals throughout the year, that no one wants me to change. So I asked Gene if I had a signature dish and his reply was, "Sure, lots of them". Like what? He said, flank steak, chicken, and I can't remember the names of all the dishes you cook, but there are lots of them!" So I guess I really don't have a signature dish. If I were to answer from my heart, it would have to be tacos. Our family loves tacos! They were are family dinner every Sunday for years. Our youngest son, still makes a batch of tacos every week so he has a few to take for lunch. He asked me last year if I still made tacos. "Of course. I do", I replied. He said, I think the way we make tacos is a art! What more could a proud mom ask for!

[Jenise]

My signature dishes are all going to be based on holiday fare. Everybody knows that on New Years day I'm going to cook (on the grill over hard wood) a prime rib (all 7 ribs), no matter what else is on the menu. For my birthday, I am always going to barbeque a slab of ribs. For my husband's brithday, I'm going to make a banana pudding; for my daughter's birthday, I'm going to smother pork chops, fry cabbage, make candied yams (lots of these) and cornbread. On the first bright, sunny, weenend day of the end of spring or the beginning of summer (whichever comes first), I'm going to barbeque a slab of ribs and smoke a salmon. (People just drop by because they know, if the sun is shining, it's above 65 degrees, and its Saturday, Jo is going to be grilling). and so on....

Wow (she said, looking out the window), I'm putting you on my calendar!

I like the sound of everything you said, in particular the copious-ness of the way you cook for the people you love. Tell me more about your fried cabbage. I'm on a cabbage kick--or at least, I was until I lost my stove.

I have one. -RP

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/thechicken.htm

Among my family and friends, it would have to be Chinese Lemon Chicken (Ning Mon Gai). I make it from a recipe published in the food section of the Sunday New York Times back in 1976.

-Paul W.

I don't consider any particular dish of mine to be a signature dish, but there are some that SWMBO insists that I write down in case I step out in front of a truck - she wants to be able to repeat them. I suppose that ios as good a measure as any of which ones she most highly values.

They include:

Chanterelles in sage cream
Ribeye in shallot Dijon cream sauce
walnut Roquefort tart (a non-sweet savory dessert)
agnolotti in basic cream sauce
spiced lamb loin in phyllo

That's all that occur to me offhand.

Ours are so boring - pasta soup, butterscotch brownies, caramel cake and Pete's chilli jam. I understand a "signature" to be something which identifies you, which is repeated in basically the same form each time (like your written signature). Those are the dishes which we cook the most regularly, and even though they're pretty basic, they're the ones people ask for.

Jenise, I know you rarely repeat a dish, so I can't see how you could have a signature dish, per se. Having said that, I think you have a very distinct signature style - every time I click on one of your recipes, I know it's going to have carefully chosen, and often unusual, ingredients put together in your own inimitable way. I also know that I'm often impressed with your adventurousness. So ring Bob and pull him out of another meeting and ask him that question and see if you don't get a different answer..

Celia

[Jenise]

Ours are so boring - pasta soup, butterscotch brownies, caramel cake and Pete's chilli jam. I understand a "signature" to be something which identifies you, which is repeated in basically the same form each time (like your written signature). Those are the dishes which we cook the most regularly, and even though they're pretty basic, they're the ones people ask for.

Jenise, I know you rarely repeat a dish, so I can't see how you could have a signature dish, per se. Having said that, I think you have a very distinct signature style - every time I click on one of your recipes, I know it's going to have carefully chosen, and often unusual, ingredients put together in your own inimitable way. I also know that I'm often impressed with your adventurousness. So ring Bob and pull him out of another meeting and ask him that question and see if you don't get a different answer..

Celia

Celia, first of all, there's nothing boring at all about your cooking. But secondly, yeah, the signature dish would be something--basic or otherwise--that people associate with you, and if they're lucky, get to ask for often.

But your second paragraph does cause me to think of a few things that might be signature-esque that I hadn't considered before. The 40 lbs of pork ribs we smoke for the 4th of July every year, for instance, and something we do repeat as often in good weather: five-spice smoked duck. Mine are the only home-smoked meats most of the people in my neighborhood have ever tasted, so even if they've never had my duck more than once, perhaps they've had my whole smoked prime rib, or smoked rare tri-tip, and this would be something they would associate with me as a signature category of food. Salads would be another: unlike probably the majority of people in this world, I serve salad with every meal and my salads are often composed and paired with another item, like a pate or cold seafood. Nothing earth-shattering or unusual in fine dining, mind you, but again rather unusual for home cooking in the eyes of many of the people we have over.

According to my friends, I have more of a signature technique than a signature dish. In particular, everyone refers to my practice of sauteeing onions to a very caramelized point before using them in a dish.

Now obviously I am not the first person to come up with this. But it does take some time and adds an extra dimension of depth for many dishes in comparison to what some of my friends and family might make when in a hurry and then not realize why they didn't get enough flavor.

In answer to your question, I've been sitting here pondering what exactly defines a signature dish. Does it have to be your own creation or a just great recipe now associated with you, regardless of where it originated? It would most likely be a dish that is always made exactly the same way.

I think yes, it just needs to be a recipe now associated with you though I would guess that usually, 'signature' dishes are more apt to take on that title when they've been personalized.

I have to revisit my response. I posed the question to my husband last night after my initial post and he suggested that my honey bun cake was more of a signature since it is a recipe that I took and personalized with my own touch. This gets rave reviews every time I serve it, and is my most-requested recipe.

The Egg Dish. Which Cynthia won't eat.

Recipe please, Stuart. Thanks, Bob

Sure, I'll try to write it up tonight. I think I might have posted it on the old forum, but a little redundancy never hurt anyone when it's done twice.

I remember you mentioning it once Stuart at http://www.wine-lovers-page.com/forum/v ... 30&t=19592

I segment it differently- bianchi for dishes where the truffles are not cooked, but just shaved over the completed dish, and noir for dishes where the truffles undergo some cooking. Shaved white truffles over an omelette, chopped black truffles cooked in a fritatta (just to pull an ethnic switcheroo).

The single greatest dish I have ever eaten is a fonduta Albese (my friends call it "The Egg Dish") with shaved white truffles.

Best, Bob