In the cooking dad was all for this culinary classic (7,5)
I believe the answer is:
waldorf salad
'culinary classic' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'in the cooking dad was all for' is the wordplay.
'in the cooking' indicates an anagram (letters must be cooked or processed).
'dad'+'was'+'all'+'for'='dadwasallfor'
'dadwasallfor' with letters rearranged gives 'WALDORF SALAD'.
'this' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for waldorf salad that I've seen before include "Vegetarian dish of celery, apples, walnuts and mayonnaise" , "Apples, celery, walnuts and mayo" , "Mix of apples, walnuts, celery, etc" , "eats" .)