culinary calling card

7.4

A dish that shows a chef's personal cooking style

noun
/ˈkʌlɪnɛri ˈkɔlɪŋ kɑrd/

: plato distintivo

Her homemade pasta quickly became her culinary calling card at the new restaurant.

Examples

That spicy seafood stew is widely considered the chef's culinary calling card by local food critics.
The chef's culinary calling card is his inventive take on classic French cuisine.
This is my culinary calling card!
What is your culinary calling card as a chef?
Her homemade pasta quickly became her culinary calling card at the new restaurant.
That spicy seafood stew is widely considered the chef's culinary calling card by local food critics.
The chef's culinary calling card is his inventive take on classic French cuisine.

Synonyms

signature dish

vsculinary calling card

6 4.1

A dish a chef or restaurant is best known for

is focused on representing a personal cooking approach rather than general popularity

chef's specialty

vsculinary calling card

3.7

A dish a chef cooks very well and that people often order

is a distinctive representation of personal style rather than mere individual skill

Surface Forms

culinary calling card singular

culinary calling cards plural

Morphology

culinary + calling + card

While 'culinary' is transparent, the central unit here is the idiomatic phrase 'calling card' meaning a distinctive mark or representation; that figurative sense is not directly inferable from literal 'calling' (profession) + 'card' for a B1 learner. Because the overall meaning relies on the metaphorical 'calling card' sense but is still somewhat recoverable as 'a chef's signature' when combined with 'culinary', this is best classified as semi-transparent.

Etymology

The noun culinary calling card compares a chef's special dish to a calling card, a small paper people once left to introduce themselves, and culinary means food. So the dish acts like that introduction and shows the chef's 'personal style'.