What is your own personal "signature dish"?

[Gifted Gourmet]

The scenario:

I am coming to your home for the very first time and have an interest in gourmet cooking and dining.

What is your own personal signature dish that you would offer to me?

The ultimate and very best of your repertoire!

Pick just one, please, although I know that there are many!

[GG Mora]

Kind of a silly question, as it would depend very much on the time of year and what was available in the markets (or in my garden). For example, were you to come to my house on a summer evening, dinner would most likely be some kind of animal flesh, expertly grilled, and an overflowing salad. And dessert would be some sort of tart.

In winter, it might be a braise or a roast, and had I the time, a deadly multilayered chocolate something something.

There is no simple answer.

[Puck Confit]

Kind of a silly question....

That's a matter of opinion. Personally, I think it's a great question, and one that will likely spark a lot of interesting posts/ideas/inspiration.

My signature dish would have to be a foie preparation I did for our anniversary about two years ago. It was a seared foie dish mounted on savory banana brioche with a kiwi gastrique.

I thought it was pretty good, but I'm sure the experts here will absolutely blow my feeble attempt at creating a signature dish out of the water.

Fun question, though! Thanks GG.

[suzilightning]

for which course gg?

if dessert it would be the lemon charlotte - lemon cream with lemon flavored lady fingers done like a tiramisu that i first did almost 30 years ago.

course it might be the black forest mousse pie i developed so my husband could have a "birthday cake" about 20 years ago when we realized he was severly lactose intolerant and the mil insisted you HAD to have a dessert for your birthday(give me a cheese course or an extra small plate any day rather than something sweet).

or even the fudgy bourbon brownies that we have all the time at the hawkwatch but gussied up with a bourbon whipped cream

for a main course it would have to be duck breast with a sauce of dried cherries, port and kumquats( course wait till tomorrow when i try a new sauce of cranberries and zinfandel) served with a side of wild and brown rice. some green and yellow beans sauted with garlic and nuts should accompany the whole package.

first course would be bruschetta of an olive tapenade and thin sliced perona farms smoked salmon( just walk up to the back door and say - psst can i get something?)

course if you didn't want "gourmet" it would be a different story - more home cooking though some things would stay the same

[Mnehrling]

While I wish I could be known for my gourmet cooking, everyone wants me to keep making my very creole White Chocolate Bread Pudding.

I read somewhere that Texas was the most overweight state. Now I know why.

[Jensen]

I'm quite sure I'm not a good enough cook to have a signature dish. The Spouse has one though...he roasts a rib roast on the Weber and smokes it with trimmings from our fruit and/or nut trees. Between the seasonings he puts on the roast and the pecan smoke, it is truly wonderful!

[jschyun]

whole shrimp har gaw with no binders, just the shrimp and seasonings (alas, haven't done this one in years)

dongchimi (water kimchi). It is beautiful.

[Dani Mc]

Ginger Cake with Lemon Icing. I've made it so many times, I can do it in my sleep. Not a recipe of my own creation, but I've added my own touches and my friends LOVE it.

[Gifted Gourmet]

That's a matter of opinion.  Personally, I think it's a great question, and one that will likely spark a lot of interesting posts/ideas/inspiration.

Fun question, though!  Thanks GG.

←

Thanks for the 'vote of confidence' here! I like the question because it is open-ended and invites you to do a bit of personal introspection and 'brainstorming' to evaluate which dish works best for you ...

and when you break down your answer by season or by which course, you can really see quite clearly how you plan your meals .. is one signature item per course what makes a meal complete and inspiring? maybe each course requires a signature item?

up to anyone who wishes to share their answers ... anxiously anticipating some highly interesting answers on this!

[snowangel]

Smoked Butt. They expect it now.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Smoked Butt.  They expect it now.

←

Ah! precisely what a signature dish implies: your indelible personal 'imprint' upon the dish!

Thanks, snowangel!

[pam claughton]

Lobster Stew, or filet mignon with blue cheese crust and red wine/shallot reduction sauce.

Passion Fruit and dark chocolate creme brulee, swirled together

Pam

[fifi]

If friends and family know I am smoking pork butt or brisket, they seem to show up like fruit flies to an over ripe banana.

However, if I ask my kids and their friends what they want if I am having a "dinner", they invariably ask for my beef burgundy. My particular, and certainly not traditional, version is based on Emeril's "Beef Fricassee" from Louisiana Real and Rustic. Basically, you make a very dark roux, quench it with the beef cubes and go from there with onion, shallots, mushrooms and wine, etc.

For a gathering where we are all bringing something, the hostess will invariably ask for one of my bean salsas. If the mangos are good, it is mango and black bean that is requested.

(GG . . . You really didn't think you would be able to discipline this group into answering with just one, did you now? )

[Gifted Gourmet]

(GG . . . You really didn't think you would be able to discipline this group into answering with just one, did you now? )

←

Of course not, but it was so tempting just to try ...

Let 'er rip!

[babka]

babka with dried cherry and almond filling, from Deborah Madison's opus. I didn't have time to make it for christmas gifts this year and had to field several questions about when, exactly, the babka would show up.

[Marlene]

Baked Brie in puff pastry or phyllo.

Roasted Prime Rib

strawberries in Grand Marnier creme

[bloviatrix]

Gingerbread-apricot hamentaschen.

Two years ago when I was unable to bake for Purim I had to make calls to all my friends giving them a head's up that I wasn't baking and I still had a riot on my hands.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Gingerbread-apricot hamentaschen. 

I still had a riot on my hands.

←

High expectations are the key to everything

--Sam Walton

which is why you had a riot on your hands ...

or the more dramatic: "Nu, so you're sick. Why should we suffer?"

[bloviatrix]

Gingerbread-apricot hamentaschen. 

I still had a riot on my hands.

←

High expectations are the key to everything

--Sam Walton

which is why you had a riot on your hands ...

or the more dramatic: "Nu, so you're sick. Why should we suffer?"

←

Actually, it was "why should we suffer because you had the idiotic idea of chairing the synagogue's annual dinner?"

[Gifted Gourmet]

Actually, it was "why should we suffer because you had the idiotic idea of chairing the synagogue's annual dinner?"

←

Now I remember!!

[andiesenji]

First of all I would invite you for brunch. In preparation I would make some fresh duck sausage which is excellent for breakfast or brunch.

I would have prepared ahead of time one of my special bread puddings in a large, deep loaf pan.

This would be sliced in 3/4 inch thick slices and placed on a griddle on top of browned butter.

Prior to turning it to cook the top side, I would brush it with cream and sprinkle with granulated maple sugar which, after turning it over, would form a carmelized crispy crust on top of the "mock" French toast. This way it needs no syrup to make it soggy. The center is like custard under the carmelized maple sugar crust.

Since this is something I originated I do consider it a "signature" dish.

With fresh fruits in season, this is a simple, yet satisfying morning meal.

[winegeek]

Definately my Mushroom Risotto. I use dried porcini and shiitakes. Add some fresh morels, shiitakes and finish off with shaved reggianno and of coarse, when I have company, shaved truffles. Add a nice bottle of Quails Gate family Reserve Pinot Noir.

Edited because I forgot to add my darn chanterrelles

Edited January 9, 2005 by winegeek (log)

[MarketStEl]

I told you that I wasn't in the same league as the other folks on this board, didn't I, GG (over in the "How did you discover eG?" thread).

I'm now convinced of this after perusing everyone else's signature dishes.

Here are mine:

Chili

Macaroni and cheese (also DIY Cheeseburger Macaroni)

Barbecued spare ribs (which I've been unable to make since moving to my current apartment, which lacks any outdoor space)

My chili is a staple of our annual Christmas Eve celebration, and it always disappears within about 30 minutes of the time I put the Crock-Pot on the serving table. I usually throw in three or four different varieties of pepper (dried ancho, dried habanero, cayenne, chipotle) in addition to the chili powder.

I'm working on expanding my repertoire.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I told you that I wasn't in the same league as the other folks on this board, didn't I, GG (over in the "How did you discover eG?" thread).

I'm working on expanding my repertoire.

←

You did but I am not buying that for one single moment!!

Expand your repertoire all you wish .. but with this caveat: only if you share the details with your fellow eGulletarians ...

[Really Nice!]

Simple green salad mixed with EVO, red onion, and a blend of 10 year-old and 100 year-old balasamic vinegar drizzled on top; pan roasted rack of lamb with Escoffier 4175 (Pommes Anna for garnishing), and veal stock reduction; crème brûlée.

Wine: Penfolds Grange