Welcome to Make That Dish!
My name is Will. In a former life I was a food buyer for a large UK supermarket and nearly-chef, and now I’m in tech. I’ve always been passionate about home cooking and learning about food from anyone and everyone!
I created Make That Dish to write recipes specifically for people like me, people I like to call ‘amateur food enthusiasts’.
Me (right) and my only fan (left)
Are you an Amateur Food Enthusiast?
‘Amateur food enthusiast’ is a term I settled on when creating Make That Dish.
It came from me thinking very hard about my relationship with food, and particularly why so few websites seemed to consistently publish recipes that I found satisfying.
My conclusion? Most sites aren’t aimed at amateur food enthusiasts!
Being an amateur food enthusiast boils down to two things:
- 1 – You cook for the sake of cooking – cooking is not always a means to an end, it is a hobby. You’re not always looking for the simplest solution. Instead you want a recipe to enjoy, learn from, and of course savour the result!
- 2 – You always want to learn – when you eat something delicious anywhere in the world, you’re the sort of person whose first question is ‘how can I make this?’. You’re always looking to try out new ingredients, techniques and flavour combinations with the lifelong goal of improving your knowledge of food, and in doing so the food you cook for yourself and others.
An incredible bowl of Taiwanese Beef Noodles I ate in Taipei. I liked the cucmber side dish they came with so much, I even made a recipe recreating them.
A few signs that you might be an amateur food enthusiast
If you have one or two of these tendencies, then you might be one of us and not even know it yet…
- When you eat something delicious anywhere in the world, you’re the sort of person whose first question is ‘how can I make this?’.
- You tend to plan your spare time around eating.
- You come back from walking the dog with a pocketful of blackberries, or wild garlic, or anything else remotely edible.
- You grow your own herbs (and possibly more)
- You go on holiday to eat. Sights and activities are secretly ways to fill time between meals.
- The size of your recipe book collection is becoming a cause for concern.
Make That Dish: recipes for amateur food enthusiasts
Think you’re already in the amateur food enthusiast club? Then here’s why the recipes on Make That Dish are written for you!
We have already established that you cook as a hobby and you want to learn when you cook, Make That Dish recipes have the detail that allow you to do this.
By ‘detail’, I mean that Make That Dish recipes have one or more of the following:
- Reason – ever looked at two recipes for the same thing and wondered why one has chosen a completely different method to the other? Ever find yourself piecing together the ‘best bits’ from multiple recipes based on what you guess will taste best? I try to help with this by giving reasons for my choices as much as possible.
- Context – dishes often have a rich history. Understanding this is not only interesting but also leads to better cooking.Where is the dish from? Does it have a history? How does it fit into the cuisine it belongs to (or not for that matter)? Has it changed over the years, or as it has been adopted by other countries?
- Authenticity – my Guest Recipes come from local chefs and I feel are an interesting window into authentic dishes from other cuisines. My Recreation Recipes are my own best attempt at making delicious dishes from around the world that I have tried for myself. In these cases, I do my absolute best to achieve authenticity or otherwise, in cases where I have made changes, acknowledge this and give reasons for my choices.
- Descriptions that mean something – I also endeavour to describe in terms of flavour, taste, texture etc. Whenever you make a cooking decision, you do it to improve one of these things. Describing food in these terms helps everyone to understand what is going on and to make their own decision about whether they agree or not. Adding something because it’s ‘nice’ (or worse, ‘flavourful’) leaves everyone none-the-wiser.
A man grilling sambal seafood parcels at Ikan Panggang, Kuala Lumpur. I love to try dishes from around the world, and from chefs who know a lot more than me (I even write about these in my reviews). I find them to be a great inspiration and learning resource for my own recipes.
Enough talk, enjoy the recipes!
There’s only so much you can talk about food.
My main goal for Make That Dish is to share my favourite eating experiences with as many people as possible. So if you have made it this far, go and try the recipes for yourself!
I hope you enjoy them, and perhaps learn a thing or two along the way. If something piques your interest and you want to learn more, then I hope ‘detail’ gives you a starting point to explore that interest, and become a more knowledgeable and happier cook in the process!