Table of Contents
ACCLAIM FOR TODD WILBURSTOP SECRET RECIPESSERIES
Theres something almost magically compelling about the idea of making such foods at home...The allure is undeniable, and [the books are] stuffed with tidbits and lore youre unlikely to find anywhere else.
Boston Herald
The mission: Decode the secret recipes for Americas favorite junk foods. Equipment: Standard kitchen appliances. Goal: Leak the results to a ravenous public.
USA Today
This is the cookbook to satisfy all your cravings.
Juli Huss, author of The Faux Gourmet
TODD WILBUR is the author of Top Secret Recipes, More Top Secret Recipes, Top Secret Restaurant Recipes, Top Secret Recipes Lite!, Low-Fat Top Secret Recipes, and Top Secret Recipes: Sodas, Smoothies, Spirits, & Shakes (all available from Plume). When not taste-testing recipes on himself, his friends, or TV talk-show hosts, Todd lives in Las Vegas.
To Howard Stern and his radio show for hanging out with me in the kitchen every morning.
INTRODUCTION
When a popular, ex-NBA basketball player was recently in Las Vegas, he was having a wild night at the roulette table. Tens of thousands of dollars had changed hands and he was getting mighty hungry. Recognizing this, the pit boss insisted on setting up a complimentary spread of food for the athlete and his entourage. The casino was braced to serve anything and everything the wealthy players desired. A dining room was set up; waiters and chefs stood by anxiously awaiting the order. Would the fancy feast include piles of imported Russian beluga caviar? Broiled fresh Maine lobster? Roquefort-encrusted corn-fed filet mignon? What does a large hungry man and his large hungry friends order when money isnt an issue? To the casinos delight the request was a simple one: It required only one person to make a quick trip to a drive-thru window just off the strip. Within twenty minutes the private dining room featured a fabulous spread of hot, juicy Fatburgers with cheese, thick milkshakes, and french fries.The hungry gamblers were in hamburger hog heaven.
I know that feeling well. Although Ive never been comped for more than the $5.99 buffet while gambling in Las Vegas, I do know what its like to crave that special sinful something, when nothing else matters. You lock on hard to the thought of a particular favorite foodone of your edible guilty pleasuresknowing for certain that you just wont be as deeply satisfied by anything else. When craving a drippy Taco Bell Burrito Supreme, a plateful of Peking duckas good as Peking duck is at the right momentisnt going to do the job. Sure, when its all over your stomachs full just the same, but the road you mowed getting there wasnt the most delicious route.
When it comes to winning over a persistent palate, second-string selections score a hollow victory. A cheesy hamburger, a gooey caramel-and-peanut-coated candy bar, a soft chocolate chip cookie flanked by a tall, cold glass of milk; these are lifes simple pleasures, simply fulfilled. These drool-inducing delights call out to us in the middle of a tedious project at work, or in the sixth hour of a long holiday road trip, or while stranded on an island for six weeks with fifteen strangers and a bag full of rice. These are the foods that are notoriously ready when you are, when nothing else will do; they are dependably made and consistently good.These are the foods that this book is all about.
For ten years now Ive been sharing my secret recipes for clone cuisine, both here in these Top Secret Recipes books and on the Web site at TopSecretRecipes.com. Ive cloned recipes for drinks and for appetizers and entrees from well-known restaurant chains across the country, such as Chilis, T.G.I. Fridays, and Apple-bees. Ive even created lite clone recipes for favorite sweet-tooth munchables such as Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls and Olive Garden Tiramisu. But the books that started it all, Top Secret Recipes and More Top Secret Recipes, are the books that this one follows up. Those books feature clone recipes for the delicious delicacies from fast food chains, and for candy bars, and cookies and snack cakes. Im talking about clones for the Big Mac, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Snickers, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Twinkies, and Oreo Cookies. Some call it convenience food. Some call it junk food. Its the food that spontaneous cravings are made of. I call it all delicious.
Whatever you call it, these are the most popular brand-name foods in the world. And its now time to journey back to the roots of Top Secret Recipes for even more clones of the famous convenience food we all hate to love and love to eat.
Even more than clones of drinks or duplicates of food from full-service restaurant chains, the stuff in this book amazes your diners when they know you made it in your kitchen. Its this food, thats manufactured by machines or finished by fast-food assembly lines, that can be the hardest for me to reproduce as homemade recipes. Yet, when the formula has finally been cracked, these products yield the most rewarding results. Perhaps its the sense that these foods arent supposed to be made at home that makes the experience so enjoyableafter all, these are the foods that manufacturers most often claim as secret formulas.
Youll find a clone recipe in this book for KFC Extra Tasty Crispy Chicken, plus a recipe for re-creating McDonalds French Fries.And Ive included a long-overdue technique for making your own version of Auntie Annes Pretzels at home. Youll also learn how to make your own Baby Ruth candy bars, and Taco Bell tacos from the ground up. Heinz Ketchup has finally been tackled, along with clones for Boston Market Meatloaf, KFC Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, and even those Fatburgers enjoyed at the gamblers banquet in Las Vegas. This book holds more than 85 new clone recipes for all types of convenience food, presented with easy instructions, simple ingredients, and a chunk or two of food lore. Its the biggest collection of convenience food recipes yet, and this cookbook should hold several favorites for everyone. Whether youre a beginning cook or a seasoned chef, be prepared to amaze your diners with these kitchen copies.
Much has changed in the food industry since the first Top Secret Recipes book came out in 1993. In the Introduction of that book I included a list of the top-grossing fast food chains in America based on 1991 sales. Now, ten years later, its interesting to glance back at how much has changed in this volatile industry in just a decade (and then again, how much hasnt).
Source: Nations Restaurant News
Since 1991, the planets largest restaurant chain has focused almost all of its growth on McDonalds hamburger outlets overseas, with restaurants now located in 120 countries. Over 4000 of those stores are in Asia, including five of the worlds busiest McDonalds. Even though the chain hasnt flexed its domestic hamburger muscle much, Ronald has been busy dotting the globe.
