What's your signature dish? April 2024

Plus ruminations on this Age of Magical Overthinking.

Dear Reader,

I’m probably sounding like a broken record at this point, but with the advent of cooler weather in Australia, I really am excited about cooking again.

Yep, we are going to talk about food a lot for once, in this week’s edition of this ostensibly food-related newsletter!

Over the weekend, I settled down, pen in hand, stack of cookbooks by my side, to plan out my meals for the week. With the changing of seasons, I figured it was time to welcome back old, heartier favourites, such as this lasagna recipe. Yet, as I was writing out my grocery list, a thought rose unbidden, into my mind.

What’s your signature recipe?

I don’t actually know.

Cue my weekly crisis of identity.

What makes a signature dish? It is a dish you turn to, time and time again? When you CBF’d planning properly, or you simply find yourself craving it? A recipe you’ve cooked it so many times, you can do it with your eyes closed?

Is it the dish you wow people with at potlucks, or dinner parties? “You simply must dine at Celine’s one day, her insert-delicious-sounding-meal-here is to die for!”

Are signature dishes simply reserved for restaurants? Can you even truly have one as an individual? Can you take the recipe of another chef and make it your own?

When I think about my ‘old faithfuls’, a bunch of recipes spring to mind. Some I haven’t cooked for donkeys years. So, can they truly be considered signature?

I’m curious… what do you consider your signature dish?

Review: The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell

Books that examine the way we think with humour and grace are high upon my must-read list. And so was the case for author, linguist and podcaster Amanda Montell’s newly published The Age Of Magical Overthinking: Notes On Modern Irrationality. Her third book sets out to examine the effect of cognitive biases that exist in the world today. No mean feat.

She assigns herself a myriad of topics to tackle, from the god-like worship of public figures such as Taylor Swift, to the application of the sunk cost fallacy to toxic relationships.