What Makes A 'Million Dollar' Recipe? Hint: It's Not The Price

Have you ever gotten dolled up for a night out, or showed up to a candlelight dinner with your partner, rose petals on the floor, and said you felt "like a million bucks?" Feeling like a million bucks doesn't necessarily mean you're wearing Christian Louboutin red bottoms or a shiny Rolex watch, it just means you look and feel like you stepped off the pages of a magazine. You feel steeped in luxury, decadence dripping from every inch of you. Meals can taste like a million bucks too (some recipes even have "million dollar" in the name), but price has nothing to do with it.

"Million dollar" foods earn the name because of how rich and decadent the recipes taste, not necessarily how much money goes into ingredients (unlike the world's most expensive burger). People often say they'd "pay a million dollars for the meal," relishing in the luxury of the recipe, regardless of whether the meal actually cost less than $10. A step above "million dollar" meals are "billion dollar" recipes, but those also have no relation to the actual price. Despite the intimidating titles, these dishes are revered for artistry and flavor, not an extravagant price tag.

One of the earliest recorded "million dollar" recipes is the Million Dollar Cocktail, made popular in 1930 thanks to Harry Craddock's "The Savoy Cocktail Book" (though he was not himself the inventor of the drink). In the 1950s, Helen Corbitt invented the Million Dollar Dip for Neiman Marcus' restaurant, the Zodiac Room. In the decades since, other "million dollar" recipes have popped up in cookbooks and kitchens across the globe. Take Millionaire Mashed Potatoes for example, simple Yukon Gold potatoes mashed with butter, cream, and seasonings to create a dish that tastes like it belongs at a Michelin star restaurant. Or Million-Dollar Chicken Casserole, a recipe that only requires shredded chicken, cream of chicken soup, cream cheese, sour cream, and cottage cheese, but will make you believe it was cooked by Anthony Bourdain himself.

The modifier "million dollar" attached to a recipe name can also bring forth intangible factors that have nothing to do with ingredients. Maybe the "million dollar" pot roast that your grandmother taught you earned its name as it was passed down through generations and across continents. Or maybe the "millionaire's strawberry pie" from your new neighbor is worth a million bucks because it was created with love (not because the recipe came from a millionaire's private chef). Any dish can be a "million dollar" dish in the right hands, especially when the recipe's creation goes beyond cost and focuses on care and craftsmanship.