America’s chefs and cooks have been serving meals to their customers since this country’s early beginnings. Many created their own recipes based on available ingredients, creativity, or at the request of others. Some also took humble home recipes and made them their signature specialties. Many of those culinary treasures have become synonymous with certain hotels and restaurants in America. Many have become household names, but their origin has slipped back into history.

Signature Dishes of America captures nearly 100 of these well-known dishes and their origins. Some, like Eggs Benedict, Prime Rib, and Key Lime pie were created decades ago and are mainstays in our culinary world today. There’s also dishes like Los Angeles’ Brown Derby’s Chiffon Cake whose recipe was created by mistake or how Tucson’s El Charro’s Tia Monica Flin accidentally invented the chimichanga.

How many people have eaten one of these historic foods and wished they knew more about them or be able to make them at home? This collection of recipes and their background is a tasty way to share some amazing American food history and culture.