mike thom: wanna see chick fil a breading code broken. its the best. they call their breading gold. i used to work for them. i know they take the chicken breast, break the tenden. dip in egg and milk. then bread in their secret flour while pressing to make bigger. then cook in peanut oil in a pressure cooker. i want that breading recipe.
Jo: One of the best chocolate cakes I have ever eaten was Fazoli's Chocolate Layer Cake. I have looked through many recipe clone sites and have never found the recipe. I would love to find out how to make it.
Also, there used to be a product on the market called IMO, which was almost identical to sour cream in taste. It was a low calorie sour cream substitute. It is no longer on the shelves. Do you know if there is any product that compares to it?
Thanks
Karen: HI I'm Karen ,,And I'm sure you have someone reading your emails ,,,but Who knows,,,,,,,,, I'm looking for a recipe that comes close to the Spice Island Bouquet Garni, Something I can make fresh,,They discontinued this seasoning.I've tried a couple others.Not impressed..,,,,Hope you can help.Thank You ,Karen Wadsworth
Kris: Show looks awesome. Very excited to see it. When you are looking for new ideas, please do the fried chicken tenders from The Puritan in Manchester, NH. They are amazing and I have never even gotten close to figuring them out!
Bob Divis: PLEASE CLONE THE PORTILLOS ITALIAN BEEF RECIPE FROM CHICAGO
Johnny whalen: Hi. There is this place called aces chicago pizza, and Iv been tryin for years to find or figure out the recipe, as you can see no luck. So Im hoping maybe that can be something for you to do.. They have great food, and the best pizza I have ever tasted..
Brenda: I would love to know Serrano's tortilla soup recipe.
Paula: Please Please get the recipe for Charleston's Restaurant's Bread Pudding. It's not on their menu...it doesn't have to be listed. It's the most devive bread pudding I have ever had.
The first time I tried it I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Italian Restaurant: Really? coool, we love Oreos we gotta try to make this recipe:)
cHello: The sanwhich probably wasn't sitting in it's juices, They actually dip the sandwich in the juices
toekneemac: I KNOW that Joe is wrong. Just had a Portillos a few hours ago, and definatley NOT plain.
Bob Divis: Please..Oh Please, clone the Portillos Italian Beef Recipe...I am a transplanted Chicagoan and I have been craving a Portillos Beef Sandwich for a long, long time....I am desperate for that juicy, mouth watering taste. I have eaten Marges, Als, Mr Beef, The Beef Joint, Frankies and others but I love Portillos Beef Sandwich the best !
philocrates: Ok I know it isn't a recipe, but what do you use to make fries like the ones at Kuma’s Corner which you can also get a Friendly's. The other half had them and is demanding I make them so short of making her cut the lattice work herself is there anything out there for that? So far I've only found the mandolin cutters.
You know a section on 'tools to get that polished look" wouldn't hurt...
DeAnna Carpenter: With chocolate magaritas so popular right now many of my friends are looking for a recipe for Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur. If you could crack this recipe I would buy many copies of your books for my family and friends.
KAREN BLINKY: I would love to see a clone of CHEDDAR'S RESTAURANT~~BROCCOLI & RICE CASSEROLE. I love your recipes. Thanks
omar: I really admire you and your work.Could you please teach us how to make the cheesecake factory's brown bread. It is absolutely delicios.
Todd Wilbur: There is no overlap in the 10 trade paperbacks.
sweet beth ann: Hey Todd, Love your recipes, your videos and you! YOu're a genius! Have made Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip clone too many times, Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad many times, and other recipes (Applebee's Grilled Shrimp with spinach (forget the correct name), Orange Julius, a few times ...and more. Thank you!!!! Here are some requests: All five of Applebee's 550 Calorie dishes (forgive me if you've already done them; I don't know their names, but am going to A's tonight just for a 550 calorie meal that's delicious) and, in the opposite direction, Macaroni Grill's Macaroni Ravioli or whatever it'...
Andrea: I can't even count how many times I have made this recipe. It always comes out fantastic. Thanks for all of your hard work in the test kitchen that helps everything so easy in my kitchen.
deelynn: Since you're in Vegas, could you figure out what is in Cafe Rio's famous house dressing (Creamy Tomatillo) for their amazing salads? Out here in the East coast, we don't have Cafe Rio and all the "copycat" recipes I've found are missing something! Help!
Michael: Great recipe duplications. You have a gift for gab...I mean taste. I have four of your books and still haven't tried everything. My main question is the recipies in your other books. Do you overlap recipes in your other books?
Robin Feltner: The Outback Bleu Cheese Chopped Salad is an exact clone! I've made it twice...today. So good! I love you Todd :)
joycee: Super Easy! and super cute too! If she can do it, surely I can...loved the little mixer and poof, instant smooth cheesecake batter.
Lynn Northwood: You are a funny guy! Love this post.:)
Any chance you could figure out rock and rye pop by faygo? Could be a big seller for you as it's a very popular soda that us displaced midwesterners can't get. ;).
Tammy Herman: I am looking for a recipes for Earl's Restaurant green chili. Any chance you know that one?
sharon: can you close roscoe's chicken and waffles
T Spencer: YES please please PLEEEEEEEEEASE try to figure out the Chili's Sweet Corn soup recipe!!!! I had it today for the first time on the all you can eat soup and salad and I swear I could have sat there ALL DAY eating soup.. Salad? What salad....
Todd Wilbur: I haven't cloned that one yet...but would love to. Need to get some of those sandwiches back to my lab.
ellen scudiero: If you have a clone recipe for portillos italian beef sandwiches, what top secret recipe book is it it.
Sharon: I think you should try and clone that Chocolate Cake! It's soooo good!
sara: hey todd your amazing and i mean it , i knew you before one week and i was furious which book should i choose to buy from amazon and at last i chose top secret restaurant recipes 3 , its amazing i love your work, you have so much energy that makes me excited.
Dave Doyle: My wife and I made Serendipity 3's Frrrozen Hot Chocolate and the Cheesecake Factory's Banana Cream Cheesecake. Both were absolutely wonderful! We are two for two.
Todd creates these cloned recipes with regular items you can find at your local grocery store and they are all to die for.
The instructions in his books are very easy to follow along. Todd even has a video where he's making a Snickers bar blindfolded! Check out the youtube yourself. His instructions are that easy.
I was not paid to say any of this...I'm just a true fan of his work.
Keep up the great work Todd.
Enjoy!
Melissa Gallagher: Another thing I would like to see and this one would be quite difficult is Chi-Chi's Tortilla Crusted Chicken Fajitas and the Cotija Ranch dressing that was served with it. Chi-Chi's has been closed for over 6 years now and I still miss that stuff so much. I used to eat there almost every week.
Melissa Gallagher: I was so excited to see the Tortilla soup for Max & Erma's was finally cloned. There are some other favorites I found in this new book as well.
I just tried at the Cheesecake Factory the new Wasabi Crusted Ahi Tuna that I would love to see cloned. I keep wanting to go back for more. Also the Ginger dressing at Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse is spectacular. The best at any of the hibachi steakhouses. These are just a couple of the things I would love to see cloned.
joy: Why did it take me this long to look for you on Facebook? Love your books and now I can keep up with your blog! I had posted your recipe for the PF Chang Lettuce Wraps on my blog a while back with so many comments. One of my favorites! Love your energy, you have the perfect job...
Todd Wilbur: That clone recipe is in the first book, Top Secret Recipes.
Toni: Hi Todd! :)
I couldn't restrain myself from leaving you a message. I first encountered your book a few years ago when I was in the Philippines. My older sister purchased your book and has been cooking ever since! Now I can finally put a face to the author's name. I watched a handful of your videos today as I was looking for the Chili's molten cake recipe and boooy... You make it seem so easy! I love your humor and thank you for the budget saving restaurant rip off recipes!
More power to you!
Michael Jenkins: Todd...does the "Kahlua" recipe appear in one of your books? If so, which one?
ajj: hi,
can you PLEASE PLEASE CLONE SPRINKLES cupcakes, the red velvet one?
thanks so much
Sewunicorn: Next time you're in Chicago, you MUST get access to a car and swing out to Westchester. Make a stop at Paul's, corner of 31st and Wolf Roads. And get yourself a beef on garlic bread with red sauce and mozzarella. Divine. Of course, I also greatly enjoy a "normal" beef at Paul's as well, but the cheese and marinara give it an awesome edge.
Theresa Vail: I really like starbucks gingerbread loaf, it's sliced & iced. It comes out around the holidays.Do you have any recipes from the restuarant chain Elephant Bar? They have lots of variety on their menu. I picked up your Top recipes unlocked book and like what I see. Keep up the good work. Ok please let me know. Thank you
Franklin Marville: Looks like your RSS feed might be down, I couldnt access it... Anyways thanks for the tip on the restaurant recipes, made a Applebees recipe last night and it was awesome.
Todd Wilbur: That one's in Top Secret Recipes Unlocked. Hope you like it!
Lisa Betancourt: Oh, yes...I'm asking hubby for Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 for Christmas! I've already seen several recipes in it I want to try.
Lisa Betancourt: I went to Chili's for lunch today. My FAVORITE item on Chili's menu is their Sweet Corn Soup. Yum! Sweet, creamy, buttery - tastes like I'm eating buttered corn-on-the-cob. Please, please, PLEASE clone this recipe!!!
Thanks so much!
marylou kennedy: what book is the updated version of popeyes red bean and rice?
joan: I think Joe is wrong about Portillo's Italian beef sandwiches. I think they are one of the best Italian beef sandwiches next to Carm's and Duke's Drive In beefs. I wish you could clone them since I live in Wisconsin. I miss my Italian beef sandwiches and would like to know how to make it a home so I do not miss it as much until I am down there every so often. Thanks.
Spilling a little liquid on a $15 dollar cookbook is a bummer but it will eventually dry, and even if the book gets ruined it only costs you a few bucks to replace it. It’s quite another situation when an accidental splash destroys a $139 Kindle or, even worse, a $900 iPad.
Use plastic wrap to protect your iPad, Kindle, Nook or any other eReader
Cooking from cookbooks on eReaders is becoming increasingly common these days now that sales of eBooks have surpassed print books, but not much has been written about how to use your recipes on these devices in the kitchen without the risk of ruining the sensitive electronics. So here are a few tips that should help.
All functions of eReaders still work when wrapped
There are couple ways to inexpensively protect your device so that sticky fingers and messy splashes won’t be an issue. I have found that a quick and effective solution is to simply wrap a Kindle or iPad tightly with plastic wrap and then tape the plastic to itself on the back. The plastic wrap is so thin that you can still very easily use all of the buttons and touch-sensitive functions, and you can easily read what’s on the screen. If you pull the the plastic tight to eliminate any wrinkles you’ll eventually forget the plastic is there.
Can also use a zip-top bag. Image courtesy Flickr user jimmiehomeschoolmom.
You can also drop your eReader into one of these zip-top bag as shown in this photo on the right. It’s an easy solution, but the plastic on these bags is thicker than plastic wrap so you may find that the functions of your device are not as easy to use. These bags do offer a more air-tight solution, but they also make it a little harder to read the screen than with the plastic wrap technique since the bag is not as snug.
Maybe you want to keep your device out of the kitchen altogether and just print out the recipes you need. This is easy to do with recipes that sit on your computer, but how will you print the recipes out from a Kindle or iPad or iPhone?
One solution, if you have a Kindle eBook, is to use Amazon’s free app to display the cookbook on your PC. Then just use a screen capture tool (such as Windows Snipping Tool) to copy the pages of the recipe you need, and print them out.
Screenshot printout of iPad recipe from Super Duper Totally Authorized Top Secret Recipes eBook
If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can get Amazon’s free Kindle app to read the cookbook on your Apple device (iPhone or iPad), or you may have purchased the book as an ePub through iBooks. In any case, reduce the size of the font to the smallest choice, then display the recipe you want to print out on the screen. Hit the home button and power button at the same time and you will take a screenshot of the page. Repeat for as many pages as you need to get the whole recipe. On an iPhone you may need to save several pages, but on an iPad you will likely need only one or two screenshots per recipe.
Screenshot printout of iPhone recipe from Super Duper Totally Authorized Top Secret Recipes eBook
After you have saved your screenshots, send the pics to your email address on a computer that has a printer attached and then print them out. Now you have an easy print version of the recipe to cook from.
These photos show a couple examples of what the printouts of recipes look like from my new eBook, Super Duper Totally Authorized Top Secret Recipes eBook. Notice that the iPad printout works best as a portrait orientation for the page, but since the iPhone screen is much smaller, your printout may work best when printing two of the screenshots side-by-side in a landscape orientation for the page.
Now, with your precious device protected from harm, you can focus on the cooking and be as messy as you want.
Top Secret Recipes is now jumping onto the small screen!
Check out the premiere of “Top Secret Recipe” this Friday October 7th at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. CST) on CMT.
This season I’ll do whatever it takes to clone perfect copies of KFC Original Recipe Fried Chicken, Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls, Outback Bloomin’ Onion, Domino’s Pizza, Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream, Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies, and more. After just a few days my clones will be judged by experts in a side-by-side taste test. Can I pull it off? I can’t reveal anything yet, but you can find out for yourself over the next eight Fridays.
I can tell you that you’ve never seen any other food show like this one. Really.
To celebrate the premiere of “Top Secret Recipe” CMT and KFC are giving away free KFC Chicken for one whole year. Click here to find out how you can win: http://tinyurl.com/3qznxv2
In my second cookbook, More Top Secret Recipes, published in 1995 I shared my recipe for a clone of the world’s most popular cookie: Nabisco Oreo.
15 years later I have finally been able to capture the technique to video. Here now, is my latest YouTube vid which shows you how to make your very own cloned Oreo sandwich cookies at home.
And if you really like Oreos you can make yours a little bigger than the real ones.
That’s what I do:
If you want the full recipe, just click here and get it from my website.
So, the New Year was rolling around and I get particularly thirsty around this festive time. That’s when I decided the next demo video should be for a couple recipes that are meant to be sipped.
Although “sip” is something I cannot seem to do here.
Follow along with me my dear friends as I take you to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant and P.F. Chang’s — both on the Las Vegas Strip — for a taste of their signature cocktails.
Then we’ll head on back to the lab where I’ll show you how to make the drinks for yourself. The first one, from Margaritaville, is a powerhouse called Incommunicado. And the second is a sweeter, more dessert-like drink from P.F. Chang’s called the Key Lime Martini. They are both easy to make and even easier to drink. Hope you like ‘em.
Enjoy the recipes, hope you dig the vid, and I’m toasting to an amazing 2011 for you all! Cheers!
In part 1 of The Great Chicago Meat Crawl I spent the first part of the day tracking down the best Italian beef sandwich. Now the sun has set on the Windy City and I am ready to begin my high-calorie hunt for the best baby back ribs in this freakin’ fabulous food town.
When searching for the best ribs in Chicago I decide that a good place to start is at The Fireplace Inn on Wells Street where a sign on the building says “The Best Ribs in Chicago.”
I like Chicago-style ribs. They’re usually lightly smoked and slow-cooked which makes them very tender. The ribs at The Fireplace Inn are exactly that. But when ribs are not heavily smoked they require added flavor from sauce, a mop, or a rub. Unfortunately these babies right here, while very tender, do not deliver a big enough flavor package. So I pour on extra sauce to punch up the taste. The sauce is good, not great, and quite familiar actually, which is weird because I’ve never been to The Fireplace Inn. Soon I realize what I am tasting: These ribs remind me of the baby backs served at the giant rib chain, Tony’s Roma’s. Which is not a bad thing if you like Tony’s Roma’s, but are these really the “best ribs in a Chicago?”
Time to bounce to rib joint #2.
Next, I head south to Carson’s “A Place for Ribs.” Carson’s has a unique method of cooking the ribs using indirect hickory smoke on a barbecue pit smoker. But they don’t use a rub or a mop sauce. Instead they dip the racks into their delicious barbecue sauce before popping them into the smoker. This way the flavor of the sauce permeates the meat as it smokes.
While you’re waiting for your ribs, you get a bowl of the best cole slaw I’ve ever tasted. I know this is a meat crawl post, but if you dig cole slaw and you’re in Chicago you must try this stuff. The dressing is perfectly creamy and not too tart, and the cabbage is chopped to just the right size. It’s similar to KFC cole slaw, but even better. Despite everything I have eaten and am just about to eat on this glutinous day, I still polish off every last bite of this super sick slaw.
When the ribs show up I can tell just by looking at them that they are going to explode with flavor. The sauce is caramelized onto the ribs and the meat is slightly pink. I slice off a bone and take a big bite. The smoky flavor is perfect but the thick sauce is just a bit overwhelming — it’s a little too sweet and too tangy. Maybe too much sauce has been cooked onto my rack. Also the ribs are not as fall-off-the-bone tender as the baby backs at The Fireplace Inn. Overall though, these were excellent ribs. Thumbs up. Much better than my first rack.
I heard they have great ribs at Portillo’s, which is where I began my meat crawl earlier in the day with an Italian beef sandwich. So I close out my meat crawl here with a rack of ribs right where I started.
This half rack of baby backs I get at Portillo’s delivers the best of both of my previous stops: Perfect tenderness and absolutely awesome flavor. And just look at this rack – it is by far the meatiest of the three. The sauce is not too sweet and not to sour, and just half of a rack here can fill a dude up (even if he hadn’t wolfed down two racks just before this one). These ribs are fantastic. Is it possible that Portillo’s does everything right?
It’s getting late, and after I finish up these last beatiful, perfectly cooked ribs my crawl has come to an end. Now it’s time to list how I think these Chicago ribs “rack” up:
1. Portillo’s
2. Carson’s
3. The Fireplace Inn
The Fireplace Inn’s ribs could have used more flavor, although they were very tender. Carson’s were the toughest of the bunch, but were big on taste. But Portillo’s ribs were the meatiest, plus the meat fell off the bones and the sauce was the best of the bunch. Once again, Portillo’s takes the cake.
Speaking of cake, since everything I get at Portillo’s seems to rock I thought I’d check out a couple other items for dessert. First up is this huge slice of chocolate cake, and it’s ridiculous! It’s super moist with just the right amount of sweetness so that it’s not too rich. I heard mayonnaise is the secret ingredient in the batter. Not sure if that’s true. Nevertheless, this is some really great chocolate cake.
And finally I had to try one of these. Here at Portillo’s they take that same cake and blend it up into a thick milkshake, and it’s really good. I get one to go, and I’m outta here. It’s time to head on over to WGN on Michigan Avenue for Nick Digilio’s radio show.
Just before I leave Portillo’s – as I’m sucking chocolate cake through a straw – I check out at all the signed photos of local celebs on the walls around the restaurant.
Hey, look who’s over by the pick-up window. It’s Nick Digilio! He signed his photo, “To Portillo’s: Great food…Love the chili dog! Even better drive-thru!” Guess now I have to come back and try a Portillo’s chili dog.
With one free day while in Chicago promoting the release of the 10th Top Secret Recipes cookbook, Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3, I am determined to locate the best Italian beef sandwich and the best Chicago-style baby back ribs in what has become my favorite American food city.
This task, however, will have limits on it. The restaurants I visit must be within walking distance of my hotel, since I don’t exactly have a car.
Also, I will have to complete the carnivorous task within one day, since I don’t really have a lot of time.
And finally, I will force myself to consume everything ordered at each stop. Not only because I want to see if I can do it, but also because I must keep myself occupied and well-fueled throughout the entire day until a scheduled live radio interview with Nick Digilio at 11 p.m. on WGN that night.
These are the self-imposed rules, and I am now ready to eat. But first, let’s back up one day to my very first taste on this trip of Chicago’s notoriously delicious meat…
I really start my meat crawl a day earlier when I grab a giant hamburger here at Kuma’s Corner. A few locals who look like they know good meat said that this is where I will find the “best damn hamburger in Chicago.” Boys, you had me at “best damn hamburger in Chicago.”
Inside the small restaurant heavy metal music is blasting over the speakers and the place is packed! If you’re alone they won’t give you a table here at Kuma’s — you must wait for a seat to open up at this bar. That’s when I get worried. If I eat here, am I going to lose my hair too?
After a short wait I finally get a seat at the other end of the bar next to some regulars with full heads of hair. Relieved, I order a thick Belgian beer and check out the long list of burgers on the menu named after bands including “Metallica” (Buffalo Sauce, Bacon, Bleu Cheese Dressing), “Black Sabbath” (Blackening Spice, Chili, Pepper Jack, Red Onion), and “Iron Maiden” (Avacodo, Cherry Peppers, Pepper Jack, Chipotle Mayo). I pick the namesake signature burger at the top of the menu called “The Kuma Burger” which is built with Cheddar cheese, bacon and a fried egg. And just like all the other classic metal rock hamburger combos the beef patty is a whopping 10 ounces of freshly ground meaty bliss!
What makes this burger really special is the pretzel-style bun. The chewy pretzel bread is delicious on its own, and its firm structure helps hold the giant patty and heavy toppings in place as I shove it gleefully into my gaping chow hole. This might be the best burger I have ever eaten. And I’ve eaten a lot of burgers. Why does Kuma’s Corner have to be so far away from home? Hey Kuma, if you begin franchising, pretty please start in Las Vegas.
When the next day rolls around I kick it off with a small breakfast, leaving plenty of room in the guttocks for the massive amount of meat that is soon to drop in. At around 11 a.m. I hoof it over to Portillo’s – a Chicago fixture since the early 60’s — for my first Italian beef sandwich. An Italian beef is made by piling seasoned sliced roast beef that’s been swimming in meat juices onto a chewy Italian-style roll. I order mine with hot peppers so it comes topped with giardiniera, which is a relish of pickled spicy peppers and various vegetables. After just one bite I am hooked. This sandwich is silly good! The meat is tender and full of flavor, and the giardiniera adds the perfect amount of tang, spicy heat and crunch. If this is what every Italian beef sandwich tastes like I’m about to have a really, really good afternoon. It is all I can do to stop at just one sandwich here at Portillo’s, but I chill knowing I have more stops ahead.
My next meal is here, just down the street at the end of the block. Al’s Italian Beef is a franchised chain that claims to be Chicago’s #1 Italian beef since 1938. I dive in to find out what makes this sandwich so special.
Once again I order the “hot” Italian beef and this is what I get. It looks much different than Portillo’s version doesn’t it? This sandwich is messier and greasier than my first Italian beef. The meat is mushy, as if it has been sitting in the juices too long. And the giardiniera is red from what appears to be chili paste, and it’s not as chunky and crispy. The heat and the flavor is good, but the texture is a complete mess. This sandwich falls apart before I get halfway through it. It’s much too wet, and the quality of the roast beast does not even come close to Portillo’s. This can’t be Chicago’s #1 Italian beef, unless the sandwiches here are judged on degree of mushiness.
I next make my way over to Mr. Beef on N. Orleans Street. It’s a bit of trek from Al’s over to this joint but I need the sole time so the first two sandwiches can settle and free up some stomach real estate for #3. I have to admit I’m real excited about this one. When it comes to Italian beef in Chicago, Mr. Beef gets most of the raves.
Just check this big baby out. The sandwich is packed with roast beef and the giardiniera is piled on high. I take a bite. The roll is fantastic. The roast beef is tender but not mushy, and it’s full of flavor. The giardiniera is not as spicy and delicious as I was hoping it would be. The sandwich is moist and as greasy as you expect, but not so much that it falls apart. I find out that they have to periodically wipe off the handle to the exit door because it gets so coated with grease as customers leave with their bellyful of Italian beef. Overall this is a really good sandwich, and even after eating two others earlier in the day I still manage to polish off the whole thing.
Okay, I am now officially stuffed, so it’s time for a verdict. After tasting three of the most popular Italian beef sandwiches in Chicago, this is my final ranking:
1. Portillo’s
2. Mr. Beef
3. Al’s Italian Beef
Although Portillo’s edged out Mr. Beef with a much better giardiniera, you really can’t go wrong with either one. But I would recommend avoiding the messy and much lower quality Italian beef sandwiches served over at Al’s. Sorry Al. If you’re in Chicago and you want an amazing Italian beef sandwich (or two), get your butt over to Portillo’s or Mr. Beef, and make sure you grab a lot of napkins.
It is a common assumption that delicious and well-written recipes are the most important ingredient in a great cookbook. But these days a super-deluxe, ultra-phoenomenal cookbook needs be so much more than just a simple instruction book for creating scrumptious food.
Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3, which contains 150 brand-new secret formulas for duplicating the dishes you simply can’t live without from the largest restaurant chains in America, was specially designed with versatility in mind. It will not only be one of the best cookbooks on your shelf, but also one of the most useful and essential kitchen tools you’ve ever purchased. Ever.
Below I have posted photos of just a few of the many ways Top Secret Restuarant Recipes 3 will enhance your life, and bring joy to your kitchen. And the best part? Everything you see here is included in the incredibly low price the book! Which is now only around $11 at Amazon.com.
Is that a shameless plug, you ask? Well, if by “shameless” you mean offering a way for Americans to be more efficients cooks, and living a more fulfilling, happier life while successfully entertaining and connecting with friends and family over terrific food, then I suppose I am indeed shameless as charged.
The soft cover of Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 is just sturdy enough to work beautifully as a handy cutting board that will not do any damage to your knives. Plus, when the first side gets dirty, just flip it over and continue chopping! Amazing! (Knives not included with purchase of book.)
Need to finish your salad but the lettuce you just washed is still wet? Carefully press the leaves between the pages of Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 and in seconds the lettuce is dry. As an added bonus, while you’re placing your lettuce leaves in the book you’ll find several great secret formulas for clones of amazing salad dressings from your favorite restaurant chains to top your leafy masterpiece. You won’t get that with a Salad Spinner!
You just made a delicious clone of Ruby Tuesday’s Queso Dip from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 on page 351. Now all you have to do is close the book and set the hot pan on top. You’ll rest easy knowing that your countertop is protected as the book is transformed into a convenient potholder! (Not itended for use with really hot pans.)
Tacos tend to tip over — and everyone hates that! Well, now you can keep your taco filled with Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3. Just open the book to any page, insert a taco shell, and viola! Now you can take your sweet time building the perfect taco, and all the fillings will stay right where they belong: In the taco! That is, until it all goes into your mouth! Ha, ha, ha! (Warning: taco sauce may permanently stain the pages of the book. Please apply all mild, medium, hot and extra hot sauces with extreme caution.)
So, you’re entertaining and you don’t have a clean cheese tray? Well, don’t bother washing any of the old dirty ones from last night’s vino fest when you can just use Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3. Not only is it a terrific petite cheese tray, but it also becomes a great conversation piece as you eat the cheese off it with your friends while getting utterly smashed for the second night in a row on box wine.
Pounding on a whole head of garlic with your bare hand is just plain stupid! Avoid potential body-scarring injuries with Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3. The next time you need garlic in a recipe use the book to break the bulb into more manageable cloves. This helps you keep bodily injury out of the kitchen so that you may inflict it upon yourself later at your job or on an extreme sports vacation where it belongs.
Cooking is so confusing sometimes! What goes in next? Were did I put it? Well, let Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 help you get organized in the kitchen by becoming a mise en place platform for the next several ingredients that get tossed into the pan. With a little careful planning this versatile cookbook can be an indispensible “on-deck circle” for all your culinary creations. (If you have a lot of ingredients I recommend you purchase 2 or 3 books.)
Everyone knows that bananas bruise easily. Let Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 help you keep your bananas bruise-free by gently cradling and displaying them! Next time you come home from the market, don’t toss your delicious bananas onto the countertop or into the fruit bowl. Open up the book, turn it over, and show off your yellow beauties all lined-up in a row. They look so good here, you’ll find it hard to eat them!
Dinner is only hours away but you forgot to take the main course out of the freezer. Don’t worry! Place your delicious steak on top of Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 and allow the heat-harnessing power of the book take the chill off your meal. (Defrosting action will work best in the next few weeks since the book is currently hot off the presses.)
It’s hard to refuse a Pop-Tart that’s just popped up out of a toaster, but they’re just so darned hot! Well, now you can use Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 as an efficient Pop-Tart gripper. Just place the hot Pop-Tart between the pages of the book and munch out! Now the painful burns from the hot filling will be isolated to your mouth, lips and tongue, leaving your hands and fingers free of any nasty blisters.
In the third installment of Top Secret Restaurant Recipes I bring you another batch of original secret formulas with step-by-step instructions for making your own home versions of a variety of signature dishes from America’s largest casual full-service chains. All of the big chains are represented here including Applebee’s, T.G.I. Friday’s, Chili’s, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Outback, P.F. Chang’s, IHOP and Cheesecake Factory. But this time around I’m mixing things up a bit by including some great recipes from well-known fine dining restaurant chains.
From Spago, I’ve cloned the chain’s famous butternut Squash Soup that is usually only available in the fall. If you enjoy dishes like this one, but don’t care for the fine dining prices, check out that soup recipe on page 365, as well as the clone recipe for Spago’s incredible pumpkin cheesecake on page 367. There are also great clone recipes for dishes from other fine dining chain’s such as Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse (pages 153-158), Joe’s Stone Crab (pages 198-205) and Mastro’s Steakhouse (pages 229-233).
I’m also really happy to finally bring you some clones for dishes from Roy’s, the high-end Hawaiian-fusion chain out of Honolulu. There are now 32 Roy’s restaurants around the country and the number one dish on the menu, Roy’s Classic Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi, is cloned in this book (on page 343), along with the way-too-good Hawaiian Martini (page 341), and the ridiculously simple-yet-delicious Melting Hot Chocolate Soufflé (page 347). You must give at least one of these recipes a try.
And I am pleased to announce that after nearly 13 years of working the recipe over and over again, I have finally perfected the clone recipe for Pizza Hut’s Pan Pizza. I’ve still got copies of e-mail requests that I received way back in 1997 for this long sought-after clone recipe with a great technique for making deep-dish crust. One of my goals for this book was that I would do whatever it took to nail this recipe once and for all, even if it meant repeated trips to Pizza Hut to interview employees (which I did). The secrets are – at long last — all here for you to try on page 316.
If you’re a fan of lettuce wraps I’ve included a few really good recipes for you. After I published my recipe for the Chicken in Soothing Lettuce Wraps from P.F. Chang’s in Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2, I had tons of requests for the vegetarian version of that dish. I went to the restaurant and tasted the veggie lettuce wraps and I thought they were even better than the chicken version! They’re made using baked tofu with a little mint and lime tossed in there — really good stuff. If you’re a vegetarian, or just love these wraps, check out my clone recipe of that dish on page 300.
As I was working on those vegetarian lettuce wraps I discovered a better stir fry sauce that would help improve my old recipe for the chicken version of the wraps, so I’m including a totally reworked “improved” clone for the Chicken in Soothing Lettuce Wraps from P.F. Chang’s (Page 296). And if you like the Thai Lettuce Wraps at Cheesecake Factory, that one’s here too, including all three of the incredible sauces. The recipe is on page 86, and just look at that sweet photo of the dish on the front cover of the book!
You’ve now got a collection of recipes here for a wide range of dishes from cocktails to appetizers to entrees and desserts, so you should be able to find something that will fit perfectly into just about any occasion. Many of these clones recreate the most requested dishes from the chain, such as the Buca Di Beppo Chicken Limone (page 56) and Carrabba’s Chicken Bryan (page 70). And many are the signature dishes that have helped put the restaurant chain on the map, such as the Volcano Nachos from Margaritaville (page 225), and one of Oprah’s favorite desserts, Serendipity 3 Frrrozen Hot Chocolate (page 358).
Regardless of which dishes you decide to make, I’m hoping you have a great time preparing each one of them and that your diners are blown away by how close your creations are to the real thing. Not only are you going to have a great time amazing your crew with these taste-alike dishes, but you’ll also save some serious bucks by cooking your meals at home.
After dusting off my calculator I worked up this comparison of several random dishes from the book and how they stack up with the cost per serving of the same dishes from the chains:
If my math is right most of the dishes in this book will end up costing you under ten dollars per serving with the average somewhere around 4 bucks per serving. That’s an average savings of approximately 60 percent versus eating out!
Plus, when you cook from this book you’ll be able to recreate the tastes of the food you love with total control over the type of ingredients that are used. If you prefer organic ingredients in your dishes or food that has been grown and raised differently than the food used by chefs at the restaurant chains (who must keep costs down), these formulas give you that ability. And the total cost of your meal, even if you choose to use more expensive organic ingredients, will still be less than what you’d pay when eating out.
Making an impossible menu possible
You can now plan meals with an appetizer from one chain, an entrée from another chain, and a desert from yet another. You can create unique meals that cannot be enjoyed by visiting any one restaurant chain location.
This book gives you the ability to create the type of food that has made the restaurants so successful. But now the food will be coming out of your own kitchen! You will be able to experiment, add your own creative touches, and make these recipes uniquely yours. I hope many of these recipes become a part of your life.
Many years ago, in Top Secret Recipes, I wrote “What was once a world of home-cooked meals is now a world of prescribed and proven secret formulas. This book is an occasion to combine the best of those two worlds.” By writing these books I’m encouraging everyone to spend more time in home kitchens where the process of preparing meals together can be an extremely rewarding event in which all can participate.
Our lives are always changing, that’s for sure. Since my first book of clone recipes, many things have changed in my own life. I now have a wonderful wife, a beautiful daughter, and a perfect house. Life is definitely more complicated with all the things that come along when you have a family to think about. But it can also be more enjoyable. I’m still the same person who wants to share his passion for clone cooking with the world. I’m still the guy who will work as hard as I possibly can to make each of my recipes from scratch, over and over and over again, until they are as good as I can make them. I’m still the guy who vowed from the very beginning to make my work original, to be truthful, and to never cut corners.
I hope this dedication comes through in every recipe you try. Please enjoy this book and all the recipes inside. If you get as much joy out of this book as I put into it, my true destiny has been fulfilled.
Please feel free to comment or to add your review of the new book. Also, this is a great place to tell me what you’d like to see cloned in the next TSR cookbook.
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