Learn the stories behind your favourite recipes in Matt Preston's World of Flavour

Sure, the pursuit of flavour - the how - has taken him around the world, from the world's fanciest restaurants to back alleys in villages, but it's the stories behind a dish that captivate him.

In his latest book World of Flavour, Preston takes more than 100 of his favourite dishes and turns mythbuster.

Like rather than being an invention of 1950s dinner parties, the prawn cocktail's origin story begins in the oyster cellars of New York as far back as 1820.

Think real men don't each quiche? Wrong, its origins go back to the knights of Lotharingia, in the French region of Lorraine.

While the classic apricot chicken could well have started with a soup packet in the 1970s, there's a long history of meat served with fruit.

It's a fabulous book that captures the very essence of Preston. He's always a great interview, heading off on tangents with stories about his days with food, from what he's cooking at home, to great dishes he's tasted in his travels.

"The process of writing this book was like following threads back through time," he said.

"Whether in the yellowing pages of old newspapers or by delving into my collection of antiquarian cookbooks; through unravelling digitised ancient texts written in forgotten dialects, or luxuriating in the research of other, high qualified, food historians, be they enthusiastic amateurs or measured academics."

Was there a myth he loved busting?

"Yes, there was, and you Canberrans will love this one," he says.

"The arrogant people of Melbourne think the smashed avocado belongs to them, most people would think it pops up in the brunch places of Melbourne in the early nineties.

"The Washington Post however, crowned a mention of it at Bill Granger's Darlinghurst in 1993 as the world first.

"But I found a mention of it in The Canberra Times in 1986."

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In the book, Preston takes the original idea, say avocado on toast, and mixes it up. Here he serves it on corn fritters with a chilli granola - "Three breakfast greats combined into one.".

He turns spanakopita into a jaffle, taking the spinach and ricotta filling, using filo instead of bread.

One myth he busts is that cookbooks are full of new recipes.

"Originality is a rare thing," he says.

"Show me a cookbook and I can usually point to someone who has written that recipe or something similar earlier.

"It's the nature of the beast that small differences are, however, enough to make something new and exciting."

In many ways, that's how he approaches cooking - and he does cook at home, a lot - he takes a recipe, flavours that he loves, and makes them his own.

"Part of this book is about giving credit where credit is due, acknowledging the precursors to dishes, but then giving people, giving homecooks, ideas and tips on how to make those dishes their own."

My cookbook collection is full of Matt Preston cookbooks. I can't recommend them highly enough. One of my family favourites is his mac n cheese from More. I twist that recipe every time now, from extra vegetables, to a chorizo crumb on the side.

He loves it when he hears that people actually cook from his books.

"There's an awful lot of books out there that never get used, but I want mine on the kitchen bench," he says.

"I want people out there coming up with their own whys and whens with my recipes."

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