Make my cake
It is the only culinary frill the "Top Secret" recipe cloning guru has allowed himself in his otherwise normal home kitchen. He made the extravagant purchase when his failed attempts to replicate Kozy Shack Original Rice Pudding repeatedly choked his regular disposal.
Wilbur's cloning odyssey started in the late 1980s when he received a copy of the now infamous Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie recipe that was making the rounds across the nation. Following the formula only led to disappointment and anger.
"Fake! Phony! It was bad," Wilbur said.
But he also saw how much buzz the knockoff recipe generated. Chain restaurants and food manufacturers typically consider their recipes proprietary and won't share, but people wanted to be able to make famous foods in their own kitchens.
Wilbur was off and baking. It took him two weeks, at two batches a day, to hit on a good clone of the Mrs. Fields cookie. Then he thought, "What else is clonable?"
He began dissecting Big Macs. Then Hostess Twinkies, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Sara Lee Cheesecake and Orange Julius became his prey. He would blindfold a friend to see if he could discern the difference between the real deals and the clones. Even Wilbur's dog played guinea pig to some formulas.
"You eyeball, you feel for the fat by rubbing it, you touch it, you squeeze it. I squeeze a doughnut sometimes to see the grease come out," he said.
His favorite tool is a fine-mesh strainer for sauces. When he rinses restaurant fare with water, he can see how big the chunks of onion are or how much garlic and spices are left behind.
Within five years, Wilbur turned cloning recipes into a full-time gig. He quit his day job as a TV reporter to devote himself to writing a cookbook. With no culinary experience and no agent, he blindly sent copies of his manuscript to 30 publishers.
In the summer of 1993, "Top Secret Recipes" (Plume, $14) hit the bookshelves and was an immediate best-seller. The fan mail poured in, stacks of it with more recipes to clone. A year and a half later, Wilbur came out with "More Top Secret Recipes."
"People like to make things that are familiar," Wilbur said of the popularity of his recipes. "You are taking a leap of faith when you cook from a cookbook. You don't know what you are going to get. Mine are the only cookbooks out there where you know what you are getting."
Not to mention, making your own food is cheaper than going out to eat. And some chain restaurants are regional, so you just can't get that lovely cheesy garlic bread you had on while on vacation. Or, worse still, your favorite dish gets pulled from the menu.
Today, Wilbur has a string of "Top Secret" best-sellers to his credit and a Web site that gets 3 million to 4 million hits a week. Each week, he posts a new cloned recipe for his adoring flock.
The No. 1 most requested recipe? Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Wilbur thinks his version is the best.
"There are lots of bad clones," he said. "Even Bisquick has a recipe on their box, but it isn't that good because the shortening in the mix is at room temperature. You have to have cold butter cut into it. That is the secret."
For Wilbur, it is a badge of honor never to ask a restaurant outright for its formula. "I don't want it," he said. "I want to come up with my own recipe that I can copyright, reprint and sell."
That's not to say he's above a little detective work. He has been known to get friendly with servers to find the secrets to their sauces. He also takes advantage of that fact that, in this day of lactose intolerance and food allergies, restaurants have taken to printing up brochures spelling out the ingredients, if not the precise quantities, in their dishes.
He knocked himself loop-legged for weeks trying to figure out how to duplicate one of his own faves, the spicy Kookaburra Wings from Outback Steakhouse. After many tries, a chance taste of some frozen wings at Costco led him to the trick ingredient: the neon-orange cheesy powder that comes in the blue box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.
The hardest products to replicate are the ones mass-produced by machines, Wilbur said. The perfect Butterfinger candy bar and Fig Newton still elude him.
Currently, he is working on his version of an Original Pancake House pancake. He has eaten pancakes every day for weeks.
"I won't be able to eat pancakes for two months after I work on these," he said. "I have a hard time just tasting and spitting it out. I eat it. If I was a winemaker, I'd be a drunk."
TOP SECRET P.F. CHANG'S CHICKEN IN SOOTHING LETTUCE WRAPS
Special sauce:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon Chinese hot mustard powder
2 teaspoons water
1 to 3 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
Stir-fry sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
Filling:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided use)
2 skinless chicken breast filets
1 cup diced water chestnuts
2/3 cup diced straw mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup fried maifun rice sticks (see note)
4 to 5 iceberg lettuce cups
Yields 2 to 3 appetizer servings.
To make special sauce: In bowl, dissolve sugar in water. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve lettuce wraps.
Combine 2 teaspoons water with Chinese hot mustard powder and set this aside as well. Eventually you will add your desired measurement of Chinese mustard and garlic chili sauce to special sauce mixture to pour over your lettuce wraps.
In the restaurant chain, waiters prepare the sauce at your table the same way, depending on your desired heat level.
To make stir-fry sauce: In small bowl, mix together soy sauce, brown sugar and rice vinegar.
To make filling: Bring 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to high heat in wok or large frying pan. Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done. Remove chicken from pan to cool. Keep oil in pan.
As chicken cools, be sure your water chestnuts and mushrooms have been diced to about the size of small peas.
When you can handle chicken, chop it up with sharp knife so that no piece is bigger than a dime.
With wok or pan on high heat, add remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add chicken, garlic, water chestnuts and mushrooms to pan. Add stir-fry sauce and saute mixture for couple of minutes, then spoon it into a dish lined with bed of fried rice noodles (maifun).
Serve chicken with side of lettuce cups. Make lettuce cups by slicing top off of head of iceberg lettuce right through middle of head. Pull your lettuce cups off outside of this slice.
Make special sauce at table by adding your desired measurement of mustard and chili sauce to special sauce blend: 1 teaspoon each of mustard and chili sauce for mild, 2 teaspoons each for medium and 3 teaspoons of each for hot. Stir well.
Assemble lettuce wraps by spooning filling into lettuce cup, adding special sauce over top and folding up like taco.
Note: Follow directions on the package for frying maifun (rice sticks) - usually by pouring 2 inches of vegetable oil into pan and heating to around 400 F. Add maifun, a little at a time, and when it floats to top, remove it to a paper towel. The rapid noodle expansion is actually quite exciting.
TOP SECRET RED LOBSTER CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS
2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold butter
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cup cold whole milk
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Topping:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
Pinch salt
Yields 1 dozen biscuits.
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Combine Bisquick with cold butter in medium bowl, mixing with pastry cutter or fork until remaining chunks of butter are size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.
Drop 1/4-cup portions of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until tops begin to turn light brown.
When you remove biscuits from oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter in small bowl in microwave. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and dried parsley flakes. Use brush to spread garlic butter over tops of all biscuits.
TOP SECRET ROMANO'S MACARONI GRILL PENNE RUSTICA
1 pound penne rigate pasta
12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) thick-sliced smoked prosciutto (Italian ham), chopped
Gratinata sauce:
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons marsala wine
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
12 slices pimientos
4 sprigs rosemary
Yields 4 servings.
Preheat grill to high.
To make gratinata sauce: In saute pan over medium-low heat, melt butter. Add garlic and cook for 5 minutes without browning. Add marsala and cook for 5 minutes. Add cream, parmesan, milk, chicken broth, cornstarch, mustard, rosemary, salt, thyme, cayenne pepper and whisk until smooth. Bring mixture to a simmer and keep it there for 10 minutes, or until thick. Cover sauce and remove it from heat.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and set aside.
Pound thick end of chicken breasts a bit with kitchen mallet to make them a uniform thickness. Rub chicken with olive oil, then sprinkle on a bit of salt and pepper, to taste. Spear the shrimp on skewers, then rub them with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill chicken for 5 to 6 minutes per side. Grill shrimp for 2 minutes per side. When chicken is done, slice each breast into strips.
Preheat oven to 500 F. Build each serving in a wide, shallow baking dish or ceramic pie plate. Load 3 cups of pasta into each baking dish. Add a 1/4 of chicken strips, 3 shrimp and 2 tablespoons prosciutto to each serving. Spoon 3/4 cup of sauce on each serving and toss to coat. Combine 3 tablespoons parmesan with 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika, then sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of this mixture over each serving. Bake dishes for 10 to 12 minutes, or until tops begin to brown. Arrange 3 pimiento slices on each serving, jab a sprig of rosemary into the center and serve.
TOP SECRET THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY WHITE CHOCOLATE-RASPBERRY TRUFFLE CHEESECAKE
Topping:
1/2 cup raspberry preserves
1/4 cup water
Crust:
1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs or 20 Oreo cookies (filling removed), crumbled
1/3 cup margarine, melted
Filling:
4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 eggs
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped into chunks
Optional garnish:
2 ounces shaved white chocolate
Canned whipped cream
Yields 12 servings
Preheat oven to 475 F. Place a large pan filled with 1/2 inch water into the oven while it preheats.
To make filling: Combine raspberry preserves with 1/4 cup water in a microwavable bowl. Heat for 1 1/2 minutes in microwave set on high. Stir until smooth. Strain to remove raspberry seeds, let strained preserves cool, then put bowl in refrigerator.
To make crust: Measure cookie crumbs in medium bowl. Mix in melted margarine. Press crumbs into a 9-inch springform pan that has been lined on bottom and sides with parchment paper. Use bottom of drinking glass to press crumb mixture flat into bottom of the pan and about 2/3 up side. Wrap large piece of foil around bottom of pan to keep cheesecake dry when placed in water bath. Put crust in freezer until filling is prepared.
To make filling: Use electric mixer to combine cream cheese with sugar, sour cream and vanilla. Mix on medium speed for couple minutes, or until ingredients are smooth and creamy, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. In medium bowl, whisk eggs and add them to cream cheese mixture. Blend just enough to integrate eggs into mixture.
Remove crust from freezer and sprinkle white chocolate chunks onto crust. Pour 1/2 of cream cheese filling into crust. Drizzle raspberry preserves over entire surface of filling. Using butter knife, swirl raspberry into cream cheese. Pour other 1/2 of filling into crust.
Carefully place cheesecake into water bath in oven. Bake for 12 minutes at 475 F, then reduce heat to 350 F and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until top turns light brown color.
Remove cheesecake from oven to cool. When cheesecake is cool, cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Before serving, if desired, sprinkle top of cheesecake with shaved white chocolate. To serve, slice into 12 portions. Garnish with canned whipped cream.
- "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2" by Todd Wilbur (Plume, $15).
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