The gastronomic equivalent of an author finding their voice, a signature dish can often be, according to writer Mr Mitchell Davis, shorthand for a chef’s particular style. Some of the most famous showcase new ingredients, technologies or trends, while others – as in the case of the tarte Tatin or Caesar salad – are the result of a happy accident.

Yet all carry stories that transcend the dining table. “Signature dishes afford more than just a taste of something new. They are the flavour of history; an encyclopedia of cuisine; a window into our collective culinary unconscious,” adds Mr Davis, one of eight food writers who have contributed to Signature Dishes That Matter, a new book that explores history’s most memorable creations.

Spanning different eras, geographies and genres, it paints an effective portrait of food culture through the ages. Here, we pick out five statement plates that have stood the test of time.

The origins of pizza date back to Italy in 997 AD, when doughy parcels were cooked on the heat-retaining lava stones of Mount Vesuvius. Yet, according to writer Mr Pat Nourse, the birth of perhaps its purest expression – the margherita – came later. In anticipation of a visit from Italy’s Queen Margherita of Savoy in 1889, Mr Raffaele Esposito at the Pizzeria di Pietro d Basta Cosi in Naples created a pizza comprising local ingredients chosen to represent the colours of Italy’s flag: crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil. Later disseminated by Italian emigrants arriving in the US, this show of patriotism become a worldwide phenomenon – albeit with varying degrees of authenticity.

Almost 30 years after McDonald’s had first revolutionised the burger business, writer Mr Diego Salazar notes that franchise owner Mr Jim Delligatti took matters into his own hands after McDonald’s repeatedly turned down his requests to sell a double-patty burger. By sandwiching two beef patties between three buns with cheese, lettuce, pickles, onions and a secret sauce, he created what was initially dubbed “The Aristocrat”, tapping into Americans’ desire for bigger, more loaded burgers. Its success at the till saw McDonald’s add it to the national menu a year later, where – despite more recent health concerns – it endures as one of the world’s most famous food creations.

According to writers Ms Christine Muhlke and Mr Diego Salazar, Mr Nobu Matsuhisa’s black cod with miso recipe was pivotal in popularising Japanese food overseas. Although this dish had been served in Japan for centuries, Mr Matsuhisa made it sweeter, effectively “skewing an Asian recipe for Western palates”, while his introduction of miso as a starring ingredient was novel in the US at that time. The dish’s simplicity – served on a banana leaf with miso dots and ginger – also meant that, as Mr Matsuhisa’s restaurant empire expanded, it was easily replicated.

According to the five authors who nominated this dish, El Bulli’s spherical olives announced molecular gastronomy to the world. Served as the fourth course on El Bulli’s ground-breaking tasting menu, diners were presented with what looked like an olive, which then burst on contact with the tongue, filling the mouth with intensely flavoured olive juice. Its synthesis took two years of development following the brothers’ discovery of sodium alginate on a visit to a laboratory. The reverse-spherification technique that allowed for its creation was later adopted by many restaurants around the world.

Perhaps one of London’s most photographed dishes over the past year, the whole grilled turbot at Mr Tomos Parry’s east London restaurant Brat is, according to writer Mr Richard Vines, “a signature dish born of a signature dish”. Mr Parry was so inspired by the grilled turbot served at Elkano in Spain’s Basque Country that he made it the centerpiece of Brat’s menu, sourcing his fish from Cornwall and Devon before grilling over charcoal and serving it basted in a pil-pil vinaigrette emulsion. “The fish that is presented is a marvel,” adds Mr Vines. “The fins crisp enough to eat; the flesh meaty and seductively sticky from the slowly rendered gelatin.”

Signature Dishes That Matter (Phaidon Press) by Ms Christine Muhlke, Ms Susan Jung, Ms Andrea Petrini, Mr Howie Kahn, Mr Pat Nourse, Mr Diego Salazar, Mr Richard Vines and Mr Mitchell Davis is out now