Top Secret Recipes Unleashed

Top Secret Recipes Unleashed
TODD WILBUR is the bestselling QVC cookbook author and has sold
over 6 million Top Secret Recipes cookbooks. He has appeared on
The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today, The Rachael Ray Show, and Good
Morning America, among others. He lives with his wife and daughter in
Las Vegas, Nevada where he never runs out of good food to clone.
As close as you can get to the original recipes.

—BOSTON HERALD
The recipes are easy to follow and…by preparing

your own versions of restaurant meals you will
almost always save money.
—ARIZONA DAILY STAR
[Wilbur’s] recipes use everyday supermarket

ingredients to bring brand-name foods to the
home kitchen. Perhaps not surprisingly, his
recipes are not complex. If anything they reflect
how easy home cooking can be.
—STAR TRIBUNE (MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL)
Having this dude on her show must have really

tested Oprah’s dietary meddle.
—ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Many of [Wilbur’s] dishy imitations come, like a

box of Cracker Jacks, with a surprise inside.
—MADEMOISELLE
TOP SECRET
RECIPES
Unleashed
MIND-BLOWING SECRET FORMULAS FOR CLONING
YOUR FAVORITE FAMOUS FOODS AT HOME
by TODD WILBUR
With photographs by the author
DIZZY BIRD PRESS
9811 W. Charleston Ave., Ste. 2436
Las Vegas, NV 89117
Copyright © 2021 by Todd Wilbur

Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with
copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any
form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Dizzy Bird
Press to continue to publish exciting books for all readers.
Photographs © 2021 by Todd Wilbur
ISBN: 978-1-7348384-1-1 (ebook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Has been applied for.
Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed by Jen Montgomery

Cover and introduction author photos by Anthony Mair
Edited by Christine McKnight
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate information, neither
the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for chang-
es that occur after publication.
The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The
publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may
require medical supervision. The publisher and author are not responsible for
any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.
Pages 281-282 constitute an extension of this copyright page.
This book was not prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by any of the own-
ers of the trademark or brand names referred to in this book. Terms mentioned
that are known or believed to be trademarks or service marks have been indicat-
ed as such. See section on “Trademarks.”
Top Secret Recipes is a registered trademark of Todd Wilbur.
Website: TopSecretRecipes.com
For Mom—
an always willing taste-tester,
and my first kitchen coach.
CONTENTS
Cheddar’s ®
Table of
Painkiller 050
Santa Fe Spinach Dip 052
Monte Cristo 054
INTRODUCTION 011 Monkey Bread

Pizookie ® 031 Cheesecake Factory ®
Cinnamon Roll
Aa Bojangles’ ® Pancakes 056
Cheeseburger Spring
American Coney Island ® Buttermilk Biscuits 034
Rolls 058
Chili Dogs 018 Bo-Berry® Biscuits 037
Pork Belly Sliders 060
Dirty Rice 040
Oreo ® Dream Extreme
Bb Bo’s Special Sauce 042 Cheesecake 062
Pumpkin Pecan
Bahama Breeze ® Bush’s ® Cheesecake 066
Coconut Shrimp 020 Country Style Baked
Banana Nut Bread Beans 044 Chick-fil-A ®
Supreme 022 Chicken Noodle Soup 070
Rum Cake 024 Cc Mac & Cheese 072
Sweet & Spicy Sriracha
Barney’s Beanery ® California Pizza Sauce 074
Classic Chili 027 Kitchen ®
Spicy Buffalo Chili’s ®
Cauliflower 046
BJ’s Restaurant and Original Chili 076
Brewhouse ®
Carl’s Jr.® Chipotle ®
Honey Sriracha Brussels
Sprouts 029 Fried Zucchini 048 Carnitas 078
Wingstop
Lemon Pe
pper Win
gs
els
& Pretz
Peanuts
’s Gold
Hershey
y Cake
Raspberr
hocolate
ke s White C
Bundt Ca
Nothing
006 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

Costco ® (Kirkland ®) Hershey’s ® Kk
Blueberry Muffins 080 Gold Peanuts &
Pretzels ® 093 KFC ®
Potato Wedges 110
Dd Hooters ®
Chicken Pot Pie
(Improved) 112
Denny’s ® Daytona Beach ® Style
Wings 095 Extra Crispy ™ Tenders 114
Buttermilk Pancakes 082
Original Style Wings Georgia Gold ® Honey
Hearty 9-Grain (Improved) 097 Mustard BBQ Chicken 116
Pancakes 084
Nashville Hot Chicken 118
Hostess ®
Ee Powdered Donettes 099 Kind ®
Einstein Bros.® Bagels Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea
Salt Bar 120
Twice-Baked Hash Ii
Brown 086
IHOP ® King’s Hawaiian ®
Hh Mexican Churro
Pancakes 101
Original Hawaiian Sweet
Rolls 122
Hattie B’s ® Mexican Tres Leches

Nashville Hot
Pancakes 103 Knott’s Berry Farm ®
Chicken 089 Red Velvet Pancakes 105 Shortbread Cookies 124
Heinz ® Jj Kozy Shack ®

Mayochup ® 092 Rice Pudding
Jolly Rancher ® (Improved) 126
Hard Candy 107 Tapioca Pudding 128
za
Dish Piz
o Chicago Deep
Piz zeria Un
Olive Ga Panera
rden Br Bread C
aised B innamo
eef Bolo n Crunc
gnese h Scone

Kraft ® Green Goddess Sauce 145 Outback Steakhouse ®
Jet-Puffed ® Teriyaki Sauce 146 Baked Potato Soup 172
Marshmallows 130
Chili Lime Corn 174
Nn Bacon Bourbon
Ll Salmon 175
Nabisco ® Toowoomba Steak 177
Leonard’s Bakery ®
Fig Newtons ® 147
Malasadas 132
Pp
Nothing Bundt Cakes ®
Mm White Chocolate P.F. Chang’s ®
Raspberry Cake 150 Banana Spring Rolls 179
Maggiano’s ®
Beef Tenderloin
Medallions 135
Oo Panda Express ®
Beijing Beef 182
Vera’s Lemon Cookies 137 Olive Garden ®
Honey Sesame Chicken
Braised Beef Breast 184
Melting Pot ® Bolognese 154
Honey Walnut Shrimp 186
Coq Au Vin Fondue 139 Chicken Margherita 157
Fortune Cookies 188
Cocktail Sauce 141 Chicken Parmigiana 159
Chicken Piccata 161
Curry Sauce 142 Panera Bread ®
Ginger Plum Sauce 143 Stuffed Chicken
Marsala 163 Autumn Squash Soup 191
Gorgonzola Port Baked Potato Soup 193
Sauce 144 Garlic Mashed
Potatoes 165 Cream of Chicken and Wild
Warm Apple Crostata 166 Rice Soup 195
Turkey Chili 197
Orville Redenbacher’s ® Vegetarian Summer Corn
Chowder 199
Movie Theater Butter
Popcorn 169 Cinnamon Crunch
Bagel 201
Cinnamon Crunch
Roscoe’s Chicken Scone 204
and Waffles
Blueberry Scone 206
Pei Wei ®
Wei Better Orange
Chicken ™ 208
Wedges
otato
KFC P
Pizzeria Uno ®
Chicago Deep Dish
Pizza 210

Popcornopolis ® Swiss Chalet ®
Caramel Popcorn 213 Dipping Sauce 244
Popeyes ® Tt
Chicken Sandwich 215
Spicy Mayonnaise 218 Taco Bell ®
Breakfast
Crunchwrap ® 246
Qq Chalupa Supreme 248
Qdoba ® Nacho Fries 250

Cheddar’s Painkiller
Tortilla Soup 219 Diablo Sauce 252
Grilled Adobo Green Tomatillo Sauce 254

Chicken 221
Texas Roadhouse ®
Rr Rolls 256
Rao’s Homemade ® Thomas’ ®

Marinara Sauce 223 English Muffins 258
Roscoe’s ®
Ww ry
acto Roll
s
Chicken and Waffles 225
e c a ke Fr Spring
s e
Warheads ® Cheeeseburg
Che
Ss Super Sour Spray
Candy 261 Zz
Shake Shack ®
Zaxby’s ®
ShackBurger ®
228 Wendy’s ®
Chicken Fingerz ™ 278
Frozen Vanilla Hot Chili Seasoning 263
Zax Sauce ® 280
Custard 230 Maple Bacon Chicken
Vanilla Milkshake 232 Sandwich 265
Chocolate Frosty ® TRADEMARKS 281
Starbucks ® (Improved) 267 INDEX 283
Vanilla Frosty® 268 ar
Pumpkin Spice Latte 233 Salt B
Nuts & Sea
Bacon & Gruyere Sous Vide ocolate
ark Ch
Egg Bites 235 Werther’s ® Kind D
Egg White & Roasted Red Original Hard Candies 270
Pepper Sous Vide Egg
Bites 237
Wingstop ®
Iced Lemon Loaf Cake
(Improved) 240 Garlic Parmesan
Wings 272
Petite Vanilla Bean
Scones 242 Lemon Pepper Wings 274
Original Hot Wings 276

INTRODUCTION
After waiting for over an hour in a long drive-thru line filled with angry, hungry, honking
people, I start to wonder how it’s possible any chicken sandwich could be this good.
Long waits were the norm at every Popeyes outlet er, or chef, they still won’t give up their cherished
in the country in August of 2019, when the chain secret recipe.
debuted its new breaded chicken breast sandwich For years, major food brands have claimed their
and salivating Americans lost their minds. A social classified recipes and “secret formulas” can never
media frenzy declaring Popeyes’ chicken sandwich be cracked. They make a big deal about the se-
better than Chick-fil-A’s chicken sandwich got the curity measures taken to prevent a possible leak.
masses worked up, leading to hangry, impatient Rumor has it that only two Coca-Cola executives
customers crowding into Popeyes restaurants have access to the secret soda formula, and they are
across the country, forming long lines and getting never allowed to fly on the same plane just in case
into YouTube-documented fistfights. Within two it should crash. Colonel Sanders’ original chicken
weeks of its debut, Popeyes’ new sandwich was sold recipe formula, written by hand on a piece of yellow
out everywhere—a whole month ahead of schedule. paper, is at KFC headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky,
Good thing I got here when I did. tucked away in a safe that only two people can open.
I finally pull up to the window and receive my two The safe is real. I know this because I was standing
breaded chicken breast sandwiches, and I can’t be- in front of it in 2011. They even opened it for me,
lieve how excited I am over a bag of fast food. I pull and inside was…another safe! But that one, they re-
directly into an empty parking space, and without fused to open. They claim the original handwritten
turning off the car, I unwrap a sandwich and open recipe is definitely in there, but I wasn’t able to con-
wide. The soft brioche bun collapses under my firm that. Looks like we’ll just have to take their word
death grip as I take a big, messy bite and let out an for it.
audible moan. Rarely do we ever get to see the actual secret rec-
Is it good? Oh yeah, it’s good. It’s damn good. ipes for the iconic foods from America’s successful
The breading is thick and craggy, but with a brands; they usually don’t like sharing. But not
tender crunch, and the chicken is juicy and burst- having access to the original recipes does not pre-
ing with flavor all the way through. After just one
bite two things become perfectly clear: Popeyes is
the undisputed champ in this round of the chicken
sandwich wars, and I need a Top Secret Recipe for
this sandwich, pronto.
You’ve probably had a similar experience. A sig-

nature dish at a popular chain restaurant is one
of the best things you’ve ever eaten, and you des-
perately want the recipe so you can make the
same delicious thing at home. But no matter how
hard you beg, plea, or cry to the server, manag-

the recipes by working backward from the finished
products, deconstructing them and then rebuild-
ing them over and over again until I have re-created
each iconic American food in taste and appearance.
And when the recipe is finally right, I get to share
all the delicious secrets with you.
After several days in the lab frying multiple chicken

breasts, I finally created a matching home version
of Popeyes’ popular sandwich, thanks to a magical
buttermilk brine that helped make the chicken per-
fectly tender and juicy. The breading was thick and
clude cloning them. Just as forensic technicians use bumpy, but by using self-rising flour, which con-
random bits of evidence to piece together a crime, tains a chemical leavener that creates small bubbles,
we can unravel much of a food’s story through I was able to give the chicken a light and tender
thorough investigation, starting with the food itself. crunch, just like the original.
The finished product is packed with information Just how close does my Top Secret Recipes
about where it came from and how it was put to- chicken sandwich come to duplicating the
gether—the cooking process leaves its mark. Baking, Popeyes original? The only way you’ll know that
broiling, grilling, and sautéing affect the surface of is to try it out for yourself. That recipe is in this
food in different ways. Colors and textures provide book on page 215, along with 124 other new clone
useful information about cooking times and tem- recipes for top-selling famous foods from 59 pop-
peratures. Heat triggers aromas that a trained nose ular brands.
can identify. And a hands-on practice of poking, This book took several years to complete be-
squeezing, tearing, and breaking can reveal all sorts cause the process of assembling each of these Top
of information about what’s in a food and where it’s Secret Recipes is a lengthy one that requires cook-
been. That’s right: I’m a grown-up now, but I still ing multiple versions of each item, with small
love playing with my food. adjustments made each time. The repetition is often
A good investigator will need to back up his fo- frustrating and tedious, but as long as each batch
rensic data with information gathered in the field I make gets me closer to duplicating the original—
through interviews, peeking into kitchens, and either by providing evidence for what works or for
perhaps getting dirty with some old-school dig- what doesn’t—I can stay hopeful and motivated and
ging around. Just like a crime detective, one may press on.
find oneself suiting up in protective gear and prob- Creating each of my recipes begins by ex-
ing through a stinky dumpster behind a KFC in the periencing the original dish in its natural habitat.
middle of the night, possibly discovering label- This means—if it’s a restaurant dish—that I will go
ing on a chicken box that provides useful clues for to the restaurant and order the food just as it was
hacking KFC’s original recipe chicken. I’m not con- meant to be served. After taking photos of it, I’ll start
firming or denying that this particular thing ever eating, and I’ll try to come up with a few questions
happened, but it is possible. for the server or chef that may help me later in the
Every entree, every sandwich, every candy bar kitchen. When I’m done eating I’ll order the same
and snack cake out there can be reverse-engineered thing again, but this time it’s to go, and in a decon-
and re-created. My job over the last 33 years has structed state with sauces and garnishes on the side.
been to crack these “uncrackable” food secrets—and Separating components of the dish like this makes
to do it without seeing what’s in those safes. I hack it easier to analyze each part later. A portion cup of

seasoning blend on the side will be a much easier ed everyone who received the recipe to copy it and
puzzle to solve than trying to figure out what’s send it to all their friends.
in the blend after it’s been sprinkled on the food When I got the letter I thought, “Wow, that’s
and cooked. pretty cool. I just got the Mrs. Fields cookie recipe.”
Back in the kitchen, before I start cooking, I’ll And I tucked the recipe away in my small collec-
sketch out the first draft of an approximate workable tion of cookbooks, and didn’t think much about it.
recipe in my notebook. I list all possible ingredi- Until a few days later when I was at the counter at
ents in a column on the left side of the page, then a Mrs. Fields Cookies store in a big mall in Orange
I draw a line down the page next to those ingredi- County, California, and I saw a sign referencing that
ents and add probable measurements. Once I make very recipe.
a test batch and taste it, I’ll draw another line down The sign was a message from Debbi Fields, the
the page, add another column of adjusted measure- creator of the real cookie recipe and owner of the
ments, then cook that batch. This process will go on company. It said, “Mrs. Fields’ recipe has never been
for as long as it takes, often for days, until I eventual- sold. There is a rumor circulating that the Mrs. Fields
ly come up with a knockoff that I’m sure will please Cookie recipe was sold to a woman at a cost of $250.
fans of the original dish. A chocolate-chip cookie recipe was attached to the
This is not how it always was, however. When I story. I would like to tell all my customers that this
wrote my first cookbook, I was starting from scratch. story is not true, this is not my recipe and I have not
I had a good idea, but I was a novice in the kitchen. sold the recipe to anyone. Mrs. Fields’ recipe is a de-
I didn’t know how to write a cookbook, and I didn’t licious trade secret.”
have a clue how to get it published. At first, I was disappointed that I didn’t have
Somehow it worked out. Here I am, decades the real recipe, and then I considered the impact
later, still hacking famous foods for a living—And this recipe must have made on the general public.
wondering what the heck I’d be doing today if I Despite the fact that the recipe included with the
hadn’t received that strange chain letter with the letter made a bad clone of a Mrs. Fields cookie, the
famous recipe on it. un-delicious recipe had apparently became so pop-
ular that the company was forced to post signs in all
its cookie stores disclaiming the chain letter and the
In 1987, I received a letter in the mail with lines of recipe attached to it.
text that were crooked on the page in type that was Debbi Fields referred to the chain letter as “the
smudged and dirty. It looked like an eighth-gener- recipe problem” at the end of her book, One Smart
ation photocopy, and I could barely make out the Cookie, which came out later that year. Fields as-
story it told. serted that the chain letter damaged her company’s
The letter claimed that a woman at a Mrs. Fields
Cookies store had asked for Mrs. Fields’ famous
chocolate chip cookie recipe. The manager refused
to give her the recipe, but he was in a good mood, so
he offered to sell it to her for “two-fifty.” She thought
$2.50 sounded like a good deal, so she agreed and
handed over her credit card.
Several weeks later, as the story goes, the woman
received her credit card bill and noticed she had
been charged $250 for the recipe, not the $2.50
she thought she had agreed to, and she was furi-
ous. Vowing to get even, the woman made copies of
the recipe with her story attached to it and instruct-

reputation with a recipe that was inferior to the real brown the cookies too much, and that they should
one, and with the claim that the company mistreat- appear undercooked in the middle when you take
ed the mysterious woman who bought the recipe. them out, so that they’ll be chewy when cool.
When I saw these signs in the stores, though, Starting with this information and more, I made
I didn’t see a “recipe problem.” I saw a public fas- cookies over and over for months and months until
cination with a famous copycat recipe—even a one day I finally had a homemade cookie that tasted
bad one—and it gave me an idea for a new type like a Mrs. Fields cookie.
of cookbook. That’s the moment I realized this crazy idea could
I fished the chain-letter recipe out of my small work.
stack of cookbooks and made the cookies, and yes, Over the next five years I made clone recipes for
they were indeed an awful clone of Mrs. Fields’ cook- America’s most famous foods, getting as close to the
ies. They were dry, and bland, and much too thick. I originals as I could regardless of how long it took. I
was no trained cook, but I’d made good chocolate taught myself how to cook as I went along, saving
chip cookies before and it wasn’t that hard. I had a time by learning only what I needed to know for
hunch that with a little effort I could make a much making each type of food I was copying. I added a
better totally fake recipe. hack for McDonald’s Big Mac after I learned every-
In my spare time I started making cookies—lots thing I could about fast food hamburgers. I made
and lots of chocolate chip cookies. I learned every- a KFC Original Recipe Fried Chicken clone recipe
thing I could about baking chocolate chip cookies, after I learned secrets about fried chicken and
and more specifically about Mrs. Fields’ choco- the flavoring magic of MSG. I eventually duped a
late chip cookies. I learned that Debbi Fields was a Snickers bar, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Cracker
young housewife who baked cookies for her hus- Jack, a Taco Bell Enchirito, Hostess Twinkies, and
band’s business meetings before she started her KFC’s Coleslaw—42 recipes in all.
cookie company, and I presumed the recipe was a The process took a long time, and in the end, it
simple variation on a basic formula. I learned that wasn’t a big cookbook. But the recipes were good,
she used a special blend of vanilla in her cookies, and I was happy with it.
and that perfect Mrs. Fields cookies are a half inch Then I got lucky. The stars aligned, Mercury
thick and three inches in diameter. I learned not to went retrograde, the groundhog saw its shadow—or
Getting in! About to tour the

test kitchen at Mrs. Field’s
H.Q. in Salt Lake City, Utah.

some other mysterious force came into play—and seller when it was introduced in 2019, so I have in-
Top Secret Recipes got published and became a cluded that hack on page 072. KFC’s Nashville Hot
bestseller. Chicken (page 118), Starbucks’ Sous Vide Egg Bites
(page 235), and Taco Bell’s Nacho Fries (page 250)
were all immensely popular new products in the last
I’m happy to say this book is much bigger than the few years, so I made sure to include easy clones for
wee 134 pages and 42 recipes in that first cookbook. each of them.
And with full-color layouts and photos for every Through my website at TopSecretRecipes.com
recipe, this book also looks a whole lot better. I get many food hacking requests, and I’m glad
The collection of recipes here in Top Secret to have finally cloned many of the most popu-
Recipes Unleashed is diverse, but they all have lar ones that I’ve received over the years. Some of
something in common: the products they copy are those long-requested copycats include Nothing
big sellers. I’ve been anxious to clone several of the Bundt Cakes White Chocolate Raspberry Cake (page
recipes included here for decades but either hadn’t 150), Shake Shack ShackBurger (page 228), Texas
had the chance to obtain the original products or Roadhouse Rolls (page 256), Wingstop Lemon
hadn’t yet acquired the skills and/or knowledge I Pepper Wings (page 274), American Coney Island
needed to whip up a satisfying copy. Chili Dogs (page 018), Costco Blueberry Muffins
Bush’s Beans (page 044) is one of those recipes (page 080), Kind Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt
that I’ve been questing after for years and have fi- Bars (page 120), and Olive Garden Braised Beef
nally hacked here in this book. If you’re into baking, Bolognese (page 154). Fan requests are important to
I’ve got a real nice clone—with great crust—for the me, and they help a lot when deciding which reci-
original Chicago deep dish pizza from Pizzeria Uno pes to hack, so keep ‘em coming.
(page 210), and a great recipe that shows you how Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts have been
to re-create the famous “nooks and crannies” of trending lately, and that’s why I made sure to in-
Thomas’ English Muffins (page 258). And I final- clude a couple tasty appetizer hacks featuring these
ly got out to Roscoe’s in Los Angeles to hack their two ingredients. Find out how to make buffalo-style
legendary Chicken and Waffles (page 225) and con- cauliflower with my new recipe for the Spicy Buffalo
firmed some important secret ingredients in the Cauliflower from California Pizza Kitchen (page 046).
waffles. I also took a trip to Alabama and came home It’s meatless and gluten-free. And if you’d like to
with Bojangles’ famous Buttermilk Biscuits for an ir- know the best way to make Brussels sprouts at home,
resistible, flakey hack that you’ll find on page 034. do it the BJ’s Brewhouse way with my knockoff of
Lots of the sweet stuff is here too. Families BJ’s Honey Sriracha Brussels Sprouts on page 029.
with kids will have a jolly good time cloning Jolly
Rancher Hard Candy (page 107), Kraft Jet-Puffed
Marshmallows (page 130), Knott’s Berry Farm
Shortbread Cookies (page 124), Werther’s Original
Hard Candies (page 270), and Warheads Super A hands-on practice of
Sour Spray Candy (page 261). Hershey’s new Gold
poking, squeezing, tearing,
bar with peanuts and pretzels is also fun to make
by slowly caramelizing white chocolate chips and breaking can reveal all
in your oven with the easy method described on sorts of information about
page 093.
Like Popeyes’ Chicken Sandwich, several other
what’s in a food and where
new food products made a splash and racked up it’s been.
big sales over the last few years. Chick-fil-A’s Mac
& Cheese, made with a five-cheese blend, was a big

As you go through the book picking recipes to pre- average, about half of what the original product will
pare, here are a few helpful general cooking tips to cost you. Cloning famous foods at home is a great
keep in mind: way to save some coin.
CUSTOMIZATION: With these recipes you have

• Read all the way through a recipe before you
the freedom to customize brand-name dishes to
make it so that there aren’t any surprises. You
suit your taste preferences and nutritional needs.
may need to plan ahead, like when you need to
You may wish to substitute reduced-fat ingredients
marinate chicken for several hours or to cold-
for those with full fat, such as mayonnaise or sour
proof some dough. Or the recipe may require
cream. You may prefer to use organic ingredients or
a special piece of equipment you’ll want to be
use gluten-free buns when regular hamburger buns
sure you have before starting, such as an ice
are called for. You may want to use a plant-based
cream maker.
meat substitute for the ground beef. You now have
• Measure ingredients by weight whenever you the freedom to make these dishes the way you like
have that option. You’ll need a kitchen scale. If you them and treat yourself to a special version that is
don’t have one, you may want to get one. Weight not available where the original item is sold.
is a more accurate way to measure some ingredi-
DISCONTINUATION: Someone once said to me,
ents, especially when it comes to baking, and you
“Why would I ever want to make a Twinkie at home
want consistent results.
when I can just go out and buy a Twinkie? It’s not
• Measure everything carefully. When I measure like they’re ever gonna stop selling Twinkies!” But
with spoons or cups, I always scrape the top with in November 2012, that’s exactly what happened.
the flat edge of a knife or the handle of another Due to a labor dispute, Hostess closed the doors
measuring spoon so that the ingredients are level. to its baking facilities, and we became a Twinkie-
And don’t compress the ingredients unless speci- less country until the company reopened with new
fied, as with packed brown sugar. owners in July of the following year. There are gobs
of other famous foods that have been discontinued
• Many recipes can’t be doubled. Unless stated oth-
over the years, many of them indefinitely. Having
erwise, most of these recipes shouldn’t be doubled
these secret recipes is the only way to enjoy the
or tripled to increase yield, or it might throw off
taste of our favorites long after they are gone.
your results. And if that happens, you’ll be mad at
me, and I don’t want you mad at me. As a gener- SCARCITY: In the holiday months of 2008 a memo
al rule, if you need to make twice as much, you’ll was sent to all Starbucks stores announcing a
have to make the recipe twice. shortage of the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins.
Demand was so high that year that supplies dwin-
dled, and the chain ran out before the holidays
These days we find that an increasing number of arrived! In November 2009, historic amounts of rain
people are cloning their favorite famous foods at closed the plant in Atlanta that makes Eggo Waffles,
home as they are choosing to eat more meals in a and another Kellogg’s plant in Rossville, Tennessee
controlled environment. In addition to health and was closed indefinitely for repairs. These two clo-
safety, here are some of the many other virtues of sures reduced Eggo production by 50 percent, and
food hacking for you to ponder: the country was faced with a nationwide short-
age of Eggos that left grocery store freezer shelves
COST: It is almost always cheaper to clone these
empty for weeks. With clone recipes at the ready
famous foods at home than it is to purchase the
for popular items like these (both of which you can
original items at restaurants or in stores. Through
find hacks for on TopSecretRecipes.com), scarcity
some careful cost analysis, I have found that re-cre-
of your favorite food products is no longer an issue.
ating these dishes in your own kitchen costs, on

LOCATION: You had some amazing malasadas iconic foods from great American food companies.
from Leonard’s Bakery when you were in Honolulu, I want a cookbook that’s easy to use, with recipes
Hawaii, but now you’re back home on the mainland that actually work, that makes cooking as fun as
with a huge craving for some fresh malasadas just playing a game.
like Leonard makes. Good thing you have a handy
This is not pretentious cooking, and this is not
clone recipe on page 132 to satisfy your desire.
gourmet food. It’s simple, good food that people
And it’s nice to have a recipe for cloning Bojangles’
want to eat. If you want to cook something your
famous Biscuits (page 034) when you want to serve
crew will devour with joy, copy the culinary cre-
them with dinner tonight, but the nearest Bojangles’
ations that have been tested over time—the famous
is three states over.
food, the signature items, the namesake dishes that
MIXED-UP MENUS: You’d like to eat a meal make big food companies bigger and that set social
with an appetizer that tastes like Carl’s Jr. Fried media on fire.
Zucchini (page 048), an entrée that pairs a clone of And when you’re done with these recipes and
Maggiano’s Beef Tenderloin Medallions (page 135) you feel like checking out some fresh hacks, stop
with a side inspired by Olive Garden Garlic Mashed on by my website at TopSecretRecipes.com for
Potatoes (page 165), and to finish, a perfect repli- over 1,100 more secret formulas that go all the
ca of Cheesecake Factory Oreo Dream Extreme way back to where it started, with my clone recipe
Cheesecake (page 062) for dessert. This would be for Mrs. Fields’ Chocolate Chip Cookies. That
an impossible meal to get at any one restaurant, should keep you busy for a while, but if you need
and driving around town to pick everything up even more recipes, check back often to try some
is out of the question. By using the recipes from of my latest knockoffs, which premiere on the
this book, you have the unique ability to assemble website first.
amazing feasts that feature a combination of your Until then, here’s to good food for you and yours.
favorite signature dishes from a variety of different
restaurants.
FUN/CURIOSITY/ADULATION: Cloning famous

foods is a fun culinary adventure. When you decide Happy Cloning!
to make something to eat at home to serve to your
friends and family, why not make a dish you love
from your favorite restaurant chain? It’s an en-
tertaining cooking challenge and an engaging
experience for everyone to find out if you’re suc-
cessful. And when you are, it’s nice to hear the
“wows”. Making something you shouldn’t be able to
make at home is exciting, and there’s no other niche
of cooking that offers the same kitchen experience.
You are in for a treat!
From the very beginning, my goal has always been

to write the kind of cookbook I’d want to own; a
cookbook full of recipes and food secrets that we’re
not supposed to know. I want a cookbook with reci-
pes that trigger memories of popular tastes from my
past; a cookbook that recognizes and honors the

American Coney Island CHILI DOGS
Chili
Over a century ago, Detroit, Michigan became the Coney
Island chili dog capital of the world, even though Coney HACK
Island is nowhere near there. Greek immigrants who entered ACTIVE PREP:
the U.S. through Ellis Island adapted a recipe for the hot 15 MIN.
dogs they ate while visiting Coney Island, New York, on
INACTIVE PREP:
their way to the Midwest. When they settled in southern 4 HRS. 15 MIN.
Michigan, many opened restaurants to sell their clones of
DIFFICULTY:
the food they ate when they first got to America, turning EASY
New York-style Coney Dogs into a Midwest phenomenon.
YIELD:
8 CHILI DOGS
Two of the most famous Coney Island restaurants in Detroit are
Lafayette Coney Island and its next-door neighbor, American
Coney Island. The two buildings were originally one building
with a single restaurant inside, built by brothers Gus and Bill Keros
in 1915. But somewhere along the way the brothers had a falling
out and split the restaurant in half, right down the middle, and
it stayed that way. Today, the two Coney Island restaurants are un-
der different ownership, but they still remain next-door rivals.
I decided the best Coney dog to hack is from American Coney
Island, not only because of the restaurant’s deep history, but also
because I was able to order the chili dogs shipped to my house
in a kit. That’s always good news, since shipped foods must list
ingredients, and I get to see exactly what’s in the chili. Built the

traditional way, a typical Detroit Coney Island chili dog features
a natural-casing hot dog in a soft white bun, smothered in chili Aa
sauce, drizzled with mustard, and topped with a pile of diced
sweet onion. The kit came with everything I needed, including
the tub of chili with clearly-labeled ingredients that I was count-
ing on.
With the help of that information, I was able to create a thick,
flavorful chili sauce that you can use on your favorite hot dogs to
make a delicious clone. Crushed soda crackers thicken the chili,
and extra beef fat adds a smooth quality that mimics the famous
100-year-old recipe.
The chili must simmer for four hours to properly tenderize the
meat, so plan your Coney dog cloning adventure accordingly.
CHILI
1 pound 80/20 ground beef
1 Cook the ground beef in a large sauté pan over medium heat
until no pink is showing. There’s no need to crumble the beef
too much as it cooks because you’ll mince it later. When the beef
(20% fat)
3 tablespoons beef tallow has browned and no more pink is visible, strain the fat out of
(rendered beef the beef, but don’t throw it away! Use a large knife to mince the
fat—see Tidbits) ground beef or use a food processor to pulse the beef for just a
¼ cup all-purpose flour second or two until it’s minced. Be careful not to chop it too fine.
3 cups water Set aside.
1 cup beef bouillon (from 1
Knorr extra-large cube
dissolved in water—see Tidbits)
¼ cup cracker meal (crushed
2 Combine the fat that just came from the ground beef and the
beef tallow in a large saucepan over medium/low heat. Stir in
the flour and cook for 5 minutes or until the flour begins to turn a
unsalted soda
crackers—see Tidbits) tan color.
3
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon
chili powder Whisk in the water and beef bouillon. Stir until there are no
visible lumps, then whisk in the cracker meal.
1 teaspoon paprika
4
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Add the remaining chili ingredients, including the ground beef.
½ teaspoon onion powder Raise the heat to medium and cook until the chili begins to
½ teaspoon granulated sugar bubble, then reduce the heat and simmer the chili slowly, uncov-
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper ered, for 4 hours or until thick.
8 natural-casing beef hot dogs

8 soft white hot dog buns
5 Make each chili dog by placing a hot dog in a warmed bun and
pouring chili over the top. Squirt on some mustard and top it
off with lots of chopped sweet onion.
Yellow mustard
TIDBITS
Chopped sweet Vidalia onion

TIDBITS:
> To make beef tallow, chop 2 ounces of fat (suet) cut from > If you can’t find cracker meal, you can easily make your
roasts or steaks and cook in a sauté pan over medium heat own with 9 unsalted saltine soda crackers. Pulverize the
until most of the fat is rendered out. crackers with a food processor, or place them in a reseal-
able plastic bag and whack on them with a kitchen mallet or
> Turn the heat to low and continue cooking for 20 minutes, rolling pin until finely crushed.
then strain out the solid bits and keep the fat. I used Knorr
beef bouillon cubes, which are jumbo cubes that need to be
dissolved in 2 cups of hot water. You’ll use only 1 cup of the
bouillon in the chili.
Bahama Breeze
COCONUT SHRIMP
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Our famous large, crispy
shrimp with citrus-mustard sauce.” HACK
ACTIVE PREP:
Once you have the basics down, most coconut shrimp comes 1 HR.
out tasting the same. But Bahama Breeze uses a special secret
Coconut
INACTIVE PREP:
ingredient that makes its signature appetizer stand out above all
10 MIN.
the rest.
Adding Coco Lopez cream of coconut—a mixer often used to DIFFICULTY:
make piña colada cocktails—to the batter gives the shrimp a burst MEDIUM
of coconut flavor that it won’t get from coconut flakes alone, plus
YIELD:
a perfect sweetness. After the shrimp are dipped in the batter, they
SERVES 4 TO 6

are coated in a blend of breadcrumbs and shredded coconut and
fried for just 3 minutes.
I’ve also included my hack for the delicious citrus-mustard
Bb
sauce served on the side for dipping, but the shrimp are so good
on their own you could eat them straight up.
CITRUS-MUSTARD
SAUCE 1 Make the citrus-mustard sauce by whisking all the ingredients
together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon orange
marmalade
2 tablespoons mayonnaise 2 Butterfly the shrimp so that they lay flat: Use a paring knife to
slice almost all the way through lengthwise on the front of each
shrimp, then spread the shrimp open on a cutting board with the
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
tail up. Press down on the shrimp using the side of a chef’s knife
½ teaspoon yellow prepared
mustard to help flatten it, then arrange the shrimp on a plate or sheet pan
½ teaspoon lemon juice for the breading step.
3
¼ teaspoon prepared
horseradish Fill a large saucepan, Dutch oven, or deep fryer with enough oil
to cover the shrimp, and preheat the oil to 325 degrees F.
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1
4
⁄8 teaspoon ground
1
Whisk together the beaten egg yolk, water, and cream of co-
black pepper
conut in a medium bowl. Add 5 ounces (1 cup) of flour and the
⁄8 teaspoon dried oregano
1
salt and whisk until smooth.
1
⁄8 teaspoon crushed
red pepper
1
cayenne pepper 5 Pour the remaining flour into another medium bowl.
1 pound jumbo shrimp (21–25),

peeled with tails on
6 Combine the panko breadcrumbs and coconut in a third medi-
um bowl.
7
Canola oil for frying
Bread the shrimp, a couple at a time, by first coating them with
1 large egg yolk, beaten the dry flour. Then, holding the shrimp by the tail, dip each one
½ cup water into the wet batter just up to the tail, let some excess batter drip
½ cup Coco Lopez cream of off, then spread them open, drop them into the panko/coconut
coconut mixture, and press the coating onto the shrimp so that it sticks.
7½ ounces (1½ cups) Let the shrimp sit in the panko/coconut for about 1 minute, then
all-purpose flour, divided
place the coated shrimp on plates or a sheet pan and repeat until
¾ teaspoon kosher salt they are all breaded.
1½ cups panko breadcrumbs
1½ cups shredded coconut
(not sweetened) 8 Working in batches, fry the shrimp in the oil for 3 minutes
or until golden brown, then drain on a rack or a paper
towel–lined plate.
9 Serve the shrimp with the citrus-mustard sauce on the side

for dipping.

Bahama Breeze
BANANA NUT BREAD SUPREME
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Sliced bananas, vanilla ice
cream, on warm banana nut bread, with hot butterscotch HACK
brandy sauce.” ACTIVE PREP:
20 MIN.
This dish is a perfect example of why we must leave room for
INACTIVE PREP:
dessert. Warm banana nut bread is doused with homemade but- 2 HRS. 20 MIN.
terscotch brandy sauce, and topped with sliced bananas, almonds,
whipped cream, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. What’s not DIFFICULTY:
to like? MEDIUM
The easy-to-make banana nut bread recipe is made with brown
YIELD:
sugar and cinnamon for an island taste you’ll love. And the fresh 8 SERVINGS
sauce formula is so good you’ll never again want to get your but-
terscotch topping out of a bottle.

BANANA BREAD
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted
butter, softened
1 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2
Bb
Cream together the butter, sugars, and oil in a large mixing
½ cup granulated sugar
bowl with an electric mixer on high speed.
½ cup dark brown sugar
3
2 tablespoons vegetable oil Add the eggs and beat well on high speed until smooth.
2 large eggs
3 medium ripe bananas
7½ ounces (1½ cups)
all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 Use a potato masher or large fork to mash the bananas in a me-
dium bowl until no large chunks are visible. Scoop the mashed
banana into the large mixing bowl with the other ingredients and
1¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon beat with the mixer until combined.
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 In a separate medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking
soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add this to the wet mixture in the
large bowl along with the buttermilk and vanilla and beat with the
¼ cup chopped walnuts mixer on medium speed until smooth.
HOT BUTTERSCOTCH
BRANDY SAUCE
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
6 Add the walnuts and mix until combined.
1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup heavy cream
7 Grease the inside of an 8x4-inch loaf pan. Pour the batter into
the pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick
stuck into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool for at least 1
1 tablespoon brandy
hour before removing the banana bread from the pan.
¼ teaspoon salt
ON TOP
8 Make the butterscotch sauce by melting the butter in a medium
saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, cream,
brandy, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often, then
8 bananas, peeled and sliced in reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and
half lengthwise add the vanilla.
½ cup sliced almonds
8 scoops vanilla ice cream
Canned whipped cream 9 To plate the desserts, slice the ends off the banana bread, then
slice the loaf into 12 even slices. Slice each of these slices in half
from top to bottom. Arrange three halves of banana nut bread on
each plate. If the banana bread is no longer warm, zap each plate
GARNISH
in your microwave for 30 seconds to warm the bread. Arrange the
8 sprigs of mint
2 halves of each banana on top of the banana bread, then spoon
about 3 tablespoons of butterscotch sauce over the bananas and
banana bread. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of sliced almonds over
the banana bread and banana halves. Add a scoop of vanilla ice
cream to the plate along with a swirl of whipped cream, and stick
a sprig of mint into the whipped cream just before serving.

RUM CAKE
Rum
Bahama Breeze
MENU DESCRIPTION: “An island favorite made with
Bacardi Oakheart Rum, topped with a handmade raisin but- HACK
terscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.”
Butterscotch
ACTIVE PREP:
30 MIN.
Nothing finishes a meal in the islands better than traditional rum
INACTIVE PREP:
cake. And the 37-unit island-themed Bahama Breeze chain knows 45 MIN.
how to do rum cake right with a mini Bundt-style serving, topped
with ice cream and smothered in three delicious sauces. It’s no DIFFICULTY:
less than pure paradise for your mouth. MEDIUM
At the restaurant, they bake this single-serving cake in a mini
YIELD:
Bundt cake pan, but if you don’t have one of those you can use a SERVES 8
jumbo muffin pan.
What makes this rum cake presentation special are the sauces: a
rum sauce that soaks into the cake, a vanilla sauce that’s spooned
onto the bottom of the plate, and the delicious raisin butterscotch
sauce that oozes over the top and down the sides of the ice cream
and cake. Of course, all these amazing sauces are hacked here for
your food-cloning pleasure, and they’re a breeze to make.
Combine all the flavors in one bite and you’ll experience one of
the best rum cakes you’ve ever tasted.
0 24 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

CAKE
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter,
softened
1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2 Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an

Bb
1 cup granulated sugar
electric mixer on high speed. Add the eggs and mix well.
2 large eggs
3
7½ ounces (1½ cups) In a separate medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking
all-purpose flour
powder, baking soda, and salt.
½ teaspoon baking powder
4
¼ teaspoon baking soda Add the flour blend to the wet mixture in the large bowl,
½ teaspoon salt along with the buttermilk, milk, and oil, and mix well with the
½ cup buttermilk mixer. Mix in the rum and vanilla.
½ cup whole milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon Bacardi Oakheart
5 Lightly grease the inside of the Bundt cake cups with non-
stick spray and spoon the batter into the cups until each is
about three-quarters full. If your mini Bundt cake pan makes
Spiced Rum (or other spiced rum)
6 Bundt cakes at a time, then make 2 batches of 4 cakes. If you
don’t have a mini Bundt cake, you can use a jumbo muffin pan.
Bake for 20 to 24 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into the
RUM SAUCE
center comes out clean and the cakes are golden brown around
the edges. Let the cakes cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the pan, then
¼ cup granulated sugar invert the pan so that they fall out. Cover the cakes to keep them
3 tablespoons water moist until you are ready to make your desserts.
1 tablespoon gold rum
RAISIN
BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE
6 Make the rum sauce by combining the ingredients in a small
saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture begins to
boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter the heat.
1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
7 Make the butterscotch sauce by melting the butter in a
medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar,
cream, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often, then
1 cup raisins reduce the heat and simmer for 7 minutes. Turn off the heat and
1 teaspoon vanilla extract add the raisins and vanilla.
VANILLA SAUCE
3 cups heavy cream 8 Make the vanilla sauce by whisking together the cream,
sugar, and flour in a medium saucepan. Add the butter and
set the pan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the butter is
2
⁄3 cup granulated sugar
melted and the mixture begins to boil. Reduce the heat and sim-
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
mer for 3 minutes, stirring regularly, until the mixture has thick-
⁄3 cup unsalted butter
1
ened. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
SERVE WITH
Hershey’s chocolate syrup

9 When you’re ready to serve the dessert, warm up the rum sauce
if it isn’t still warm: heat it up in the small saucepan, or in a mi-
crowave-safe bowl for 15 seconds at a time until warm. Stir well to
dissolve any sugar that has crystallized. Warm up each rum cake
on a plate that isn’t your serving plate in the microwave on high
for 20 to 30 seconds, or until warm. Drizzle some of the rum sauce
over the top of the cake and let it soak in for a few minutes.
10 While the cake soaks, spoon some of the vanilla sauce onto
the center of a serving plate, making a round puddle of
sauce. Spin the plate around while squirting a line of chocolate
sauce onto the vanilla sauce in a circle that is bigger than the cake
so that it will be seen when the cake is placed onto the center of
the plate. Use the tip of a knife, toothpick, or skewer to draw a
decorative swirl in the shape of an “S” through the chocolate every
½ inch or so around the plate.
11 Place the cake onto the center of the plate and add a scoop of
vanilla ice cream on top of the cake. Drizzle the raisin butter-
scotch sauce over the top and serve.

Bb
Barney’s Beanery CLASSIC CHILI

Barney’s Beanery, the self-proclaimed “third oldest restau-
HACK rant in Los Angeles,” has a long history of celebrity patrons
ACTIVE PREP: dropping by for a hot bowl of chili and a beer or three. John
15 MIN. “Barney” Anthony opened the first Barney’s Beanery in
Berkley, California in 1920, and seven years later relocated
INACTIVE PREP:
3 HRS. the restaurant to its current location on Santa Monica Bou-
levard in West Hollywood.
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM
Barney’s soon became a popular watering hole for film stars from
YIELD: the 1920s and ’30s, such as Clara Bow, Clark Gable, and John
MAKES 7 CUPS Barrymore. In the ’50s and ’60s Lou Costello was a regular, and so
(6 SERVINGS)
were Donald O’Connor, Charles Bukowski, and Dennis Hopper.
Jim Morrison and his Doors bandmates were frequent customers
since the offices of their record label, Elektra, were nearby. Janis
Joplin was said to have had a drink there the night she died. The
Brat Pack of the ’80s—Charlie Sheen, Rob Lowe, John Cusack,
Emilio Estevez, and Demi Moore—would often come in to play
pinball and video games. And Quentin Tarantino wrote most of

his screenplay for Pulp Fiction while sitting at his favorite booth
at Barney’s.
This original chili was a favorite of Peter Falk’s character on
Columbo, who ate it often at the restaurant on the TV show.
But the show wasn’t filmed at the actual location. The Barney’s
Columbo viewers saw on their TV was a sound-stage replica.
The secret to the flavor of this Barney’s Beanery chili recipe
comes from two chili powders that were popular in the West over
100 years ago, around the time Barney’s first opened: Gebhardt
and Mexene. Chili powders were new at that time, and there were
very few on the market, so it’s highly likely these ingredients
were used in the recipe that made Barney’s Beanery famous. Find
those two chili powders and you’re well on your way to hacking a
classic chili.
1 Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add
the ground beef and cook it until no more pink is visible. As it
cooks, crumble the beef into very small pieces. A potato masher
2 pounds 85/15 ground beef
(15% fat)
works great for this. 1 cup finely minced white onion
2 Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until the
onion begins to turn translucent. Stir in the chili powders,
sugar, pepper, cumin, salt, and crushed red pepper. Cook for
(4 cloves) minced garlic
1
⁄3 cup Mexene chili powder
(or McCormick chili powder)
3 minutes. ¼ cup Gebhardt chili powder
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
3 Heat 2 cups of the water until boiling in the microwave or

on the stovetop, then add the bouillon cube and set aside
to dissolve.
1 teaspoon ground
black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon salt
4 Whisk the flour and cornstarch into another 2 cups of water (at
room temperature) and add the mixture to the chili, along with
the remaining 2 cups of water.
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
6 cups water, divided
1 Knorr extra-large
5
beef bouillon cube
When the beef bouillon cube has dissolved, pour the bouillon
(or 2 regular-size cubes)
into the chili along with the chicken broth, vinegar, and
lime juice.
1 tablespoon cornstarch
6 Bring the chili to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 3 2 cups chicken broth
hours or until thick. 2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice

Bb
BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse

HONEY SRIRACHA BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Honey HACK
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Lightly fried Brussels sprouts
tossed in Big Poppa Smokers Desert Gold seasoning with
ACTIVE PREP: sweet sriracha crema.”

15 MIN.
Brussels sprouts have been exploding on chain restaurant menus
ACTIVE PREP: in recent years, and the best I’ve tasted are served as starters. The
10 MIN.
cruciferous wonders are usually roasted or fried, then dressed
DIFFICULTY: with a sauce meant to override the sprouts’ inherent bitterness.
EASY And when they’re done right, those Brussels sprouts will be the
most memorable dish at the table.
YIELD:
BJ’s preparation technique of choice for Brussels sprouts is
SERVES 2 TO 4
to fry them, then sprinkle them with a lemony seasoning blend
by Big Poppa Smokers just before they get drizzled with sweet
Sriracha
sriracha crema. For the seasoning, there’s no need to buy the real
thing since I’ve come up with an easy hack. And the sriracha cre-
ma copycat couldn’t be simpler, with just four ingredients.
This recipe makes a share plate appetizer-size serving for two to
four people, but you’ll have enough seasoning and sauce here for
a bigger serving (such as a side dish) if you just add more sprouts.

1 Make the seasoning by combining everything in a small bowl. SEASONING
1 teaspoon salt
2
1 teaspoon ground
Make the sweet sriracha crema by combining the ingredients
black pepper
in another small bowl.
1 teaspoon onion powder
3 Fill a deep fryer, large saucepan, or Dutch oven with enough

oil to cover the Brussels sprouts and preheat the oil to 350 ½ teaspoon paprika
degrees F. ½ teaspoon sesame seeds
½ teaspoon lemon pepper
4 Slice the Brussels sprouts in half through the stem. ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
5 Fry the Brussels sprouts in batches for 2 to 3 minutes or until

1
⁄8 teaspoon ground cayenne
pepper
dark brown on the outside leaves. Drain the Brussels sprouts on
a rack or a paper towel–lined plate.
SWEET
SRIRACHA CREMA
6 Serve the brussels sprouts sprinkled with the seasoning blend
and drizzled with the sweet sriracha crema. ¼ cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sriracha sauce
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon milk
Vegetable oil for frying

1 cup Brussels sprouts

Bb

MONKEY BREAD PIZOOKIE
Ice Cream
MENU DESCRIPTION: “This fresh-baked pull-apart
HACK bread is topped with caramelized butter, brown sugar and
ACTIVE PREP: cinnamon, baked to a golden brown finish and then topped
15 MIN. with vanilla bean ice cream.”
ACTIVE PREP:
BJ’s signature dessert, and probably its most famous single menu
1½ HRS.
item, is the Pizookie, which is a cookie baked in a small pizza
Cinnamon
DIFFICULTY: pan, served hot with ice cream on top. But the cookie in the pan
EASY isn’t always a cookie. Sometimes it’s a brownie, or in the case of
this recent variation on the famous dessert, freshly baked
YIELD:
MAKES 2 DESSERTS monkey bread.
(SERVES 2 TO 4) Just as in the restaurant, the monkey bread in this clone isn’t
originally baked in the 6-inch cake pans (or pizza pans) it’s served
in. The monkey bread is baked ahead of time in a larger pan, then
the sections of bread are placed into the smaller serving pans,
with the gooey side up, and they’re warmed up just before serving.
Great monkey bread needs to be made from scratch, and it’s
not hard. Many of the most popular recipes for monkey bread
you’ll see are made with instant biscuits in a tube. This is an easier

solution to be sure, but monkey bread made with quick dough—
dough that’s chemically leavened with baking powder—rather
than with hardier yeast dough just doesn’t match up to what you
get at the restaurant.
Rather than making the monkey bread in a Bundt cake pan as
most traditional recipes call for, we’ll make this one in a single lay-
er in an 8-inch cake pan or deep-dish pizza pan. When the bread
is cool, it’s broken up and transferred to two smaller cake pans,
warmed up, topped with ice cream, and served.
1 Make the dough by combining the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt
in a large bowl. Mix the butter into the flour with a fork until
there are no big chunks remaining, then add the water and mix
DOUGH
8¾ ounces (1¾ cups)
all-purpose flour
with a wooden spoon. When the dough comes together use your 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
hands to form it into a ball, then knead it in your hands for about 3
1¼ teaspoons instant
minutes, or until it becomes a smooth and elastic dough. If it’s too (quick-rise) yeast
sticky to knead, add a little flour until the dough is workable. Set ½ teaspoon salt
the dough in a bowl, cover it, and let it sit in a warm place for an
3 tablespoons unsalted
hour to rise. butter, softened
2
⁄3 cup warm water
2 When the hour is about up, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 Combine the granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon 2 teaspoons plus ½ teaspoon
ground cinnamon, divided
in a medium bowl.
4 ⁄3 cup dark brown sugar

1
Separate the dough into 28 pieces (½ to ¾ of an ounce each)
and roll those pieces into balls in your hands. Toss the dough 1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and arrange them on a bak-
ing sheet. Go back around and toss each of them in the cinnamon ON TOP
sugar again until well-coated, then arrange the dough balls in an 4 scoops vanilla bean
8-inch cake pan. ice cream
5 Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the
brown sugar, salt, and remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon and
cook until the mixture bubbles and congeals, becoming a syrup,

which takes about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and cool the syrup
for 10 minutes. If the sugar and butter separate, whisk the mixture
thoroughly as it cools until it become homogenous. Pour this
Bb
caramel into the cake pan with the dough, but pour it between the
dough balls and not directly on them. Use all of it.
6 Bake the monkey bread for 26 to 30 minutes or until it’s begin-

ning to brown on top. Cool it for 2 minutes—don’t wait much
longer than that or the sugar may harden, and the bread will stick
to the pan—then turn the monkey bread over onto a plate. The
top of the monkey bread should be coated with delicious goo of
brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Let the monkey bread cool,
then cover it. It can sit for several hours before you assemble the
final desserts. You can also freeze it for several days, then thaw it
before assembling.
7 To prepare each dessert, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
8 Remove pieces from the monkey bread and arrange them

with the gooey side up in two 6-inch cake pans or deep-dish
pizza pans.
9 Heat the monkey bread in the hot oven until warm all the way
through, 5 to 7 minutes, then serve each one in the pan topped
with 2 scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.
Foodtoid
It’s called monkey bread because you eat it by pulling it apart with your fingers just
like a monkey would. It also goes by the names Pluck-It Cake, Pull-Apart Bread,
Sticky Bread, Monkey Brains and Monkey Puzzle Bread.

Bojangles’
BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
There’s one copycat recipe for these famous biscuits that’s
posted and shared more than any other, and it’s downright HACK
awful. The dough is formulated with self-rising flour, baking ACTIVE PREP:
powder, powdered sugar, shortening, and buttermilk, and 30 MIN.
many complain that the recipe creates dough that’s much
INACTIVE PREP:
too loose and the resulting biscuits are a complete disaster.
Yet there the recipe remains on blogs and boards all over the
1 HR. 20 MIN.
DIFFICULTY:
Buttermilk
interweb for unsuspecting home cloners such as yourself EASY
to waste time on. But that won’t happen to you anymore,
YIELD:
because I have made a good recipe that works the way it MAKES 1 DOZEN
should, guaranteeing you’ll get amazing golden buttermilk BISCUITS
biscuits that look and taste as if a trained Bojangles’ pro
made them.

In addition to the obvious overuse of buttermilk, the popular
recipe I found online has many problems. The author gets it right
when calling for self-rising flour, which is flour containing salt
Bb
and a leavening agent (aka baking powder), but why would the
Bojangles’ recipe be designed to use self-rising flour and then
add additional leaving? Well, it probably wouldn’t. Biscuits are
job number one for self-rising flour, and the leavening in there
is measured for that use, so there’s no need to add more. If you
were planning to add your own leavening, you’d probably start
with all-purpose flour, which has no leavening in it. And let’s just
be clear: baking powder tastes gross, so we want to add as little as
possible, not more than necessary.
It’s also important to handle the dough the same way that
workers at Bojangles’ do. They make biscuits there every 20
minutes and there are plenty of YouTube videos showing the
preparation technique. In a nutshell, the dough is mixed by hand
(in the restaurant they use their hands because the quantity is so
large, but for this recipe use a mixing spoon), then it’s folded over
a few times on a floured countertop before it’s rolled out. This
gentle handling of the dough prevents the gluten in the flour from
toughening and adds layers, so your biscuits come out of the
oven tender and flakey.
For the best results, find White Lily flour. This self-rising flour
is low in gluten and makes unbelievably fluffy biscuits. If you use
another self-rising brand, you’ll still get great biscuits, but the
gluten level will likely be higher, the biscuits will be tougher, and
you’ll probably need more buttermilk. Head down to the Tidbits
below for details on that.
And I noticed another thing most biscuit recipes get wrong. For
biscuits that are beautifully golden brown on the top and bottom,
you’ll want to bake them on a silicone baking mat (or parchment
paper) at 500 degrees F. Yes, 500 degrees. That may seem hot, but
this high temp works well with self-rising flour, and in 12 to 15
minutes the biscuits will be perfectly browned.
Counterintuitively, it’s the lower temperatures that end up
burning the biscuits, while the higher temperature cooks them
just right. At lower temps the biscuits must stay in the oven longer
to cook through, which exposes the surfaces to more heat, and
they end up too dark on the outside, especially the bottom. For
even better results, if you have a convection setting on your oven,
use that and set the temp to 475 degrees F. Your biscuits will look
like they came straight from the drive-thru.

1 Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the
shortening and margarine, and cut it into the flour with a pastry
blender or fork until there are no chunks of fat larger than a pea.
20 ounces (4 cups) White Lily
self-rising flour (see Tidbits)
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Put the whole bowl into your refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours to make ¾ teaspoon salt
the flour cold. ½ cup cold vegetable
shortening
2 After 1 hour or so, preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. If your

oven has convection bake you should use it to get the best
results. In that case, set the temp to 475 degrees F.
½ cup cold margarine
(or butter)
1¾ cups cold buttermilk (plus 3
to 4 tablespoons more if using
3
other flours; see Tidbits)
Make a shallow well in the middle of the flour and pour in the
¼ cup salted butter, melted
buttermilk. Use a large mixing spoon to gently bring the ingre-
dients together. Begin by bringing the flour up from the bottom
TIDBITS:
of the bowl and folding it over the buttermilk. Spin the bowl and
go all the way around like this. Stir in big, slow strokes until all the > If you can’t find White Lily
flour is wet and the dough looks like cottage cheese. Let it sit for flour and are using another
5 minutes. popular brand such as Gold
Medal, the gluten may be
4
higher and the recipe will
Use a sifter to sprinkle flour on a clean countertop and turn the
require more buttermilk. As
dough out onto the flour. Sprinkle the top of the dough with a rule, I found that adding an
a little more flour and press down with the heels of your hands additional 3 to 4 tablespoons
to form the dough into a rough rectangle shape about 1½ inch- of buttermilk is necessary with
es thick. Fold the short sides of the dough over each other, like these flours, or the biscuits
folding a letter for an envelope. Press down gently a couple times, end up too dense, and we don’t
like that. Your dough should
then fold the dough in half the opposite way, bringing the two
resemble cottage cheese when
short sides together. Sprinkle more flour onto a clean section of mixed properly, so it should be
your countertop, then flip the dough over onto the flour. Sprin- rather loose, but it shouldn’t
kle flour on top of the dough, then use the palm of your hand to be too sticky to handle. If you
press down on the dough to make it around 1 inch thick. Use a go too far with the liquid, sift in
well-floured rolling pin to roll the dough to between ½ inch and
more flour and gently mix it in.
¾ inch thick.
5 Use a 3¼-inch biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits. Press down
with the cutter, but don’t twist it or the biscuits may not rise
properly. Removing the dough around the biscuits first will make
it easier to pick up the rounds you cut out. Press the scraps of
dough together and re-roll the dough to use up as much of it as
possible. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone
baking mat and arrange the biscuit rounds on the baking sheet.
6 Bake the biscuits on an upper oven rack for 12 to 15 minutes or

until the tops are browned. Cool for 1 minute.
7 Brush the tops of the biscuits twice with melted butter and
they’re ready to serve.

Bb
Bojangles’
BO-BERRY BISCUITS
If you like Bojangles’ famous flakey buttermilk biscuits, then
HACK you’ve got to be a fan of the chain’s popular Bo-Berry Bis-
ACTIVE PREP: cuits. Bojangles’ transforms their great top secret buttermilk
35 MIN. biscuit recipe into a popular dessert item by adding blueber-
ry bits and a drizzle of sweet glaze over the top. Really good
INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR. 50 MIN. just got better.
Icing
DIFFICULTY: The basic recipe here for the biscuits is the same as my clone for
EASY
Bojangles’ Buttermilk Biscuits (page 034), because I wouldn’t want
YIELD: to change a thing. The new secrets you’ll get here are for the glaze
MAKES 1 and a handy trick for getting the dried blueberries chopped into
DOZEN BISCUITS little bits without making a sticky mess.
I suggest margarine for a fluffier final product, but you can re-
place the margarine with butter if you want more butter flavor in
the biscuits. Just as with the plain buttermilk biscuits recipe, make
sure all your ingredients are cold and your oven is very hot. And
don’t overmix or overwork the dough if you want flakey, fluffy bis-
cuits that look and taste just like the real ones.

1 Toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of flour, then mince
them into small bits with a sharp knife. Add more flour if neces-
sary to keep the pieces from sticking together.
5 ounces dried blueberries
20 ounces (4 cups) plus
1 tablespoon White Lily
self-rising flour (see Tidbits)
2 Whisk the remaining 4 cups flour together with the sugar and 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
salt in a large bowl. Add the shortening and margarine, and ¾ teaspoon salt
cut it into the flour with a pastry blender or fork until there are no ½ cup cold vegetable
chunks of fat larger than a pea. Stir in the blueberries, then put the shortening
whole bowl into your refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours to make the ½ cup cold margarine
flour cold. (or butter)
1¾ cups cold buttermilk (plus 3
3
to 4 tablespoons more if using
After 1 hour or so, preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. If you
other flours; see Tidbits)
have convection bake on your oven, I recommend you use it
¼ cup salted butter, melted
for more consistent browning. With convection bake, set the temp
to 475 degrees F.
ICING
4 Make a shallow well in the middle of the flour and pour in the 9¾ ounces (2 cups) powdered
sugar
buttermilk. Use a large mixing spoon to gently bring the ingre-
dients together. Begin by bringing the flour up from the bottom
3 tablespoons water
of the bowl and folding it over the buttermilk. Spin the bowl all the ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
way around while folding the dough. Stir in big, slow strokes until 1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
all the flour is wet, and the dough looks like cottage cheese. Only
stir long enough to moisten all the flour, and no more than that.
Let the dough sit for 5 minutes.
5 Use a sifter to sprinkle flour on a clean countertop and turn

the dough out onto the flour. Sprinkle the top of the dough
with more flour and press down with the heels of your hands to
form the dough into a rough rectangle shape about 1½ inches
thick. Fold the sides in over each other, like folding a letter for an
envelope. Press down gently a couple times, then fold the dough
in half. Give the dough a quarter turn and fold the dough again.
Sprinkle more flour onto a clean section of your countertop, then
flip the dough over onto the flour. Sprinkle a little flour on top of
the dough, then use the heel of your hand to press down on the
dough, making it around 1 inch thick. Use a well-floured rolling
pin to roll the dough to between ½ inch and ¾ inch thick.
6 Use a 3¼-inch biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits. Press down
with the cutter, but don’t twist it or the biscuits may not rise
properly. Removing the dough around the biscuits first will make
it easier to pick up the rounds you cut out. Press the remaining
scraps of dough together, without overworking it, and re-roll the
dough to use up as much of it as possible. Line a baking sheet

with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and arrange the
biscuit rounds on the baking sheet.
Bb
7 Bake the biscuits on an upper oven rack for 12 to 15 minutes or
until the tops are golden brown. Cool for 1 minute.
8 Brush the tops of the biscuits twice with melted butter.
9 Make the glaze by combining all ingredients in a medium bowl

with an electric mixer on high speed. Mix for 1 minute, then
spoon the glaze into a squeeze bottle or a plastic storage bag with
the tip of a corner cut off. Drizzle the icing over the tops of all the
biscuits. Let the icing set for 30 minutes and your biscuits are
ready to serve.
TIDBITS:
> If you can’t find White Lily flour and are using another end up too dense, and we don’t like that. Your dough should
popular brand such as Gold Medal, the gluten may be resemble cottage cheese when mixed properly, so it should
higher and the recipe will require more buttermilk. As a be rather loose, but it shouldn’t be too sticky to handle. If
rule, I found that adding an additional 3 to 4 tablespoons you go too far with the liquid, sift in additional flour and mix
of buttermilk is necessary with these flours, or the biscuits it in gently.
Mince the blueberries until

they look like this.

Bojangles’ DIRTY RICE
Bojangles’ signature Cajun rice is always a big seller at the
750-unit fried chicken chain, and a hack has been on my hit HACK
list for years now. When I recently found myself in Hunts- ACTIVE PREP:
ville, Alabama, I stopped at Bojangles’ and filled up my trav- 20 MIN.
el cooler with tubs of dirty rice and buttermilk biscuits and
INACTIVE PREP:
smuggled them safely back to the underground lab in Vegas. 25 MIN.
DIFFICULTY:
Dirty rice gets its dirty look from the chunks of pork sausage
EASY
(made from the patties used on the breakfast biscuit sandwich-
es), and the ground green herbs found in the traditional, and top YIELD:
Rice
secret, Cajun seasoning blend. I started with the seasoning, and MAKES 6 CUPS
since I couldn’t see any large herb leaf pieces, I made sure to
(6 SERVINGS)
crush the dried parsley in the palm of my hand before adding it. I
figured oregano and thyme would be in there, but they should be
in ground form to contribute the proper green “dirtiness” to
the rice.
Flavors in Cajun cooking are often created with what’s known
as “the holy trinity,” a combination of onion, celery, and bell pep-
per. The celery salt in the Cajun seasoning brings the celery flavor
to the dish. Adding green onion and red bell pepper to the rice

completes the trinity. Be sure to finely mince the red bell pepper
before sweating it in the butter with the green onion. And keep
the heat medium/low when you cook the pepper and green onion
Bb
to prevent the butter from burning.
As for the rice, I found converted to work best since it’s less
starchy and tends not to be as sticky. Converted rice has been
parboiled in its husk, so it’s also a healthier option than regular
white rice, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. If you
can’t find converted rice (Uncle Ben’s is a good one), you can also
use long-grain white rice.
CAJUN SEASONING
½ teaspoon dried parsley
1 To make the Cajun seasoning, first crush the parsley flakes in
the palm of your hand until fine. Combine the crushed parsley
flakes and the other ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
½ teaspoon salt
2
¼ teaspoon ground oregano Dissolve the chicken bouillon cube in 2 cups of hot water.
¼ teaspoon ground thyme When the bouillon is dissolved, reserve ½ cup of the broth and
¼ teaspoon garlic powder combine the remaining 1½ cups of broth with the remaining 1½
¼ teaspoon onion powder cups of water in a large saucepan over medium/high heat. Add 2
¼ teaspoon celery salt tablespoons of butter and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the rice,
cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes
⁄8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1
or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

⁄8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1
3
⁄8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1
While the rice cooks, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of
butter in a small sauté pan over medium/low heat. Add the red
1 Knorr extra-large chicken bell pepper and green onion and cook for 5 minutes, until the red
bouillon cube pepper has softened. Don’t let the butter burn. Turn off the heat
and set the pan aside.
3½ cups hot water, divided
4
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, Form the breakfast sausage into ¼-inch-thick patties and cook
divided
it over medium heat until brown. When you can handle the
1½ cups converted white rice
cooked sausage, use your hands to crumble and break the patties
(or long-grain rice)
into smaller bits, none bigger than a peanut.
2 tablespoons finely minced red
bell pepper
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
4 ounces pork breakfast sausage
5 When the rice is done, uncover it and stir in the Cajun season-
ing. Let the rice cool for 5 minutes.
(Jimmy Dean Regular works great)
6 Pour the butter with the red pepper and green onion into the
rice and mix it in. Stir in the crumbled sausage. Warm the re-
maining ½ cup chicken broth for 30 seconds in your microwave
and stir it into the rice.

Bojangles’
BO’S SPECIAL SAUCE
Bojangles’ was founded in 1977 in Charlotte, North Carolina,
and today the 750-unit chain is famous throughout the HACK
southeastern U.S. for its juicy fried chicken, fluffy buttermilk ACTIVE PREP:
biscuits, and Cajun dirty rice. 15 MIN.
INACTIVE PREP:
And just like McDonald’s, Bo’s has a special sauce that’s pretty
1 HR.
famous too. It’s arguably much better than McDonald’s Big Mac
sauce, especially if you like the flavors of horseradish and roasted DIFFICULTY:
red bell pepper. The lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and sugar EASY
team up for the appropriate sweet-and-sour notes found in any
YIELD:
decent special sauce, and the herbs add a nice finish you don’t get MAKES 1 CUP
with other sandwich sauces. You might also like to know that my
version is made without the high-fructose corn syrup that’s listed
as the third ingredient in the real thing.
Mix everything in a bowl and park it in the fridge for a spell so
the flavors can mingle, then use the sauce as you see fit on sand-
wiches made with fried chicken, grilled chicken, and roast beef, or
as a dip for chicken fingers and nuggets.

1 cup mayonnaise Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and chill for 1 hour before
2 tablespoons prepared using as a dipping sauce or sandwich spread.
horseradish
Bb
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon TIDBITS:
granulated sugar
2 teaspoons finely minced > To roast the red bell pepper in your oven, preheat the
roasted red bell pepper oven to 450 degrees F and place the pepper on a greased
(from 1 pepper; see Tidbits) baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, turning twice while
2 teaspoons finely minced baking, until the skins are wrinkled and charred. You can
white onion also roast the pepper by setting it directly over the high
1½ teaspoons lemon juice flame of a gas stove, turning often until blackened. Drop the
charred pepper into a covered container or paper bag for
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar a couple of minutes and the skin should easily wash off in
¾ teaspoon yellow cold water. Remove the stem and seeds and mince.
prepared mustard
¼ teaspoon minced garlic
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon dried parsley,
lightly crushed
¼ teaspoon dried oregano,
lightly crushed

Bush’s
COUNTRY STYLE BAKED BEANS
Beans
In the Bush’s Beans commercials, Duke, the family golden
retriever, wants to sell the secret family recipe, but the Bush HACK
family always stops him. The dog is based on the Bush ACTIVE PREP:
family’s real-life golden retriever, and the campaign, which 15 MIN.
began in 1995, made Bush’s the big dog of the canned baked
INACTIVE PREP:
beans market practically overnight. Their confidential baked 16 HRS.
beans formula is considered one of the top 10 biggest recipe
DIFFICULTY:
secrets in the U.S. EASY
Bush Brothers & Company had been canning a variety of fruits

YIELD:
SERVES 8
and vegetables for over 60 years when, in 1969, the company cre-
ated canned baked beans using a cherished recipe from a family
matriarch. Sales jumped from 10 thousand cases in the first year
to over 100 thousand cases in 1970. And just one year later sales
hit a million cases. Today Bush’s makes over 80 percent of the
canned baked beans sold in the U.S., and the secret family recipe
remains a top food secret, despite Duke’s attempts. A replica of the

original recipe book—without the original recipe in it
(drat!)—is on display at the company’s visitor center in Chestnut
Hill, Tennessee.
Bb
I chose to hack the “Country Style” version of Bush’s Beans
because I don’t think the Original flavor has enough, uh, flavor.
Country Style is similar to Original, but richer, with more brown
sugar. The recipe starts by soaking dry small white beans in a
brine overnight. The salt in the water helps to soften the skins, but
don’t soak them for more than 14 hours or the skins may begin to
fall off.
My first versions tasted great but lacked the deep brown color of
the real Bush’s beans, which include caramel coloring—an ingre-
dient that can be hard to find on its own. I eventually discovered
that the “browning” sauce, Kitchen Bouquet, will add the dark car-
amel color needed to our home version of the beans so that they’ll
look just like the real thing.
3 quarts plus 6 cups

water, divided
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon
1 Dissolve 3 tablespoons of salt in 3 quarts of water in a large bowl.
Add 1 tablespoon of Kitchen Bouquet along with the beans. Let
the bowl sit for 12 to 14 hours, then drain and rinse the beans.
salt, divided
2
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon When you are ready to bake the beans, preheat your oven to
Kitchen Bouquet Browning and
350 degrees F.
Seasoning Sauce, divided
3
16 ounces dried small
white beans In a large saucepan, dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining
6 cups of water. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt and 1
3 tablespoons cornstarch
teaspoon of Kitchen Bouquet, plus the brown sugar, yellow mus-
1 cup dark brown sugar
tard, onion powder, and garlic powder. Whisk well to break up
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons the mustard. Heat over medium until the mixture begins to boil,
yellow prepared mustard
then add the beans and salt pork. Bring the beans back up to a boil,
¾ teaspoon onion powder
then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Cool
½ teaspoon garlic powder for 5 minutes.
3 ounces salt pork, sliced
2 teaspoons white vinegar
¾ teaspoon hickory
smoke flavoring
4 Stir the vinegar and hickory smoke into the beans, then pour
them into an oven-safe casserole dish and cover with a lid or
foil. Bake for 2½ hours, then remove the foil or lid, stir, and bake
uncovered, stirring occasionally, for another 1½ hours, or until the
beans are soft. Remove the dish from the oven and cover it again
with the lid or foil. The beans will soften a bit more over the next
20 minutes or so as they sit.

California Pizza Kitchen
SPICY BUFFALO CAULIFLOWER
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Fresh cauliflower florets but-
termilk-battered and fried to a golden brown, then tossed in HACK
housemade Sriracha buffalo sauce and topped with a salad ACTIVE PREP:
of celery, cilantro, scallions and Gorgonzola.” 20 MIN.
INACTIVE PREP:
Crispy cauliflower appetizers are abundant at the chains these 20 MIN.
days, and not all of them are good enough to be clone-worthy, but
CPK’s take on breaded cauliflower in buffalo wing sauce is one DIFFICULTY:
of the best I’ve had. The crispy florets are made gluten-free with EASY
rice flour and they are beautifully presented in a puddle of ranch
YIELD:
dressing, sprinkled with Gorgonzola cheese, and topped with SERVES 4 TO 6
julienned celery and green onions.
For the sauce, CPK chefs combine the flavor of traditional
buffalo wings with sriracha and then sweeten it a bit. After a few
tries, I came up with a hack that’s ridiculously easy, requiring only
four ingredients.

The batter is even easier, with only three ingredients—rice flour,
buttermilk, and salt—and once your oil is hot enough, it takes
under 3 minutes to cook the cauliflower to perfection. After a gen-
tle toss in the secret sauce, you’re ready to plate your trendy,
tantalizing appetizer. Cc
SRIRACHA
BUFFALO SAUCE 1 Fill a saucepan, Dutch oven, or deep fryer with enough oil to
cover the cauliflower and preheat the oil to 325 degrees F.
⁄3 cup Frank’s RedHot Original
2
1
Hot Sauce Make the sriracha buffalo sauce by combining everything in

¼ cup unsalted butter a small saucepan over medium/low heat. When the butter is
melted, whisk the sauce until it’s homogenous, then set it aside to
3 tablespoons sriracha sauce
cool. The sauce will stick better when it has cooled down.
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
BATTER
1 cup rice flour, divided
3 Prepare the batter by whisking ½ cup rice flour with the
buttermilk and salt in a medium bowl. Let this sit for 5 minutes.
Measure the other ½ cup flour into another medium bowl.
¾ cup buttermilk
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1
4 Batter the florets by first coating them with dry flour, then
shaking off the excess. Dip each floured floret into the wet
batter, let excess batter drip off, and place on a plate; repeat until
all the pieces have been battered.
20 bite-size cauliflower florets
(10 ounces, about ½ head)
3 tablespoons ranch dressing
1 heaping tablespoon Gorgonzo-
5 Fry the cauliflower in batches in the hot oil for 2½ to 3 minutes
or until the batter begins to brown. Remove the cauliflower to a
rack or paper towel–lined plate to cool for about 1 minute.
la cheese crumbles
6
¼ stalk celery, julienned
Put the cauliflower into a large bowl and coat the pieces
½ green onion, julienned with the sauce. Toss gently to coat so that you don’t loosen
1 teaspoon chopped fresh the breading.
Italian parsley
7 To build the serving plate, first spoon ranch dressing into the
middle. Arrange the cauliflower on the ranch dressing, then
sprinkle the Gorgonzola chunks around the plate. Stack the
celery strips on top of the cauliflower and arrange the julienned
onion on top of the celery. Finish by sprinkling parsley over the
top of everything.

Carl’s Jr. FRIED ZUCCHINI
For decades, Carl’s Jr. has effectively cornered the market on
fried zucchini at major fast food chains by serving a great HACK
Ranch
crispy breaded version that’s flavorful all the way through. ACTIVE PREP:
Now you can make zucchini that tastes just as good, as long 40 MIN.
as you know the secret step that other fried zucchini recipes
INACTIVE PREP:
miss. It makes all the difference. 1 HR.
DIFFICULTY:
The secret is a brine. I found that this fried zucchini tastes best
MEDIUM
when it takes a salted water bath before breading. In 60 minutes,
the salt in the brine is absorbed by the zucchini, spreading good YIELD:
flavor all the way through. After the brine, the zucchini is rinsed, MAKES 40 PIECES
coated twice with flour and once with seasoned breadcrumbs,
(6 TO 8 SERVINGS)
and fried to a beautiful golden brown.
I’m giving you a couple choices here. You can make the recipe
all the way through and serve it immediately, or if you want to
serve it later, you can par-fry the zucchini and freeze it for several
days. After that, when an occasion arises, a couple minutes is all it
takes to finish off the dish and serve it. This recipe makes enough
for a small gathering, but you can easily cut it in half for a more
intimate hang.

BRINE
2 cups water 1 Make the brine by dissolving the kosher salt in the water in a
medium bowl. Add the sliced zucchini and let the slices soak
for 1 hour. After 1 hour, rinse the slices with tap water and blot
kosher salt them dry.
Cc
2 medium zucchini, sliced into
¼-inch-thick rounds 2 Fill a deep fryer, Dutch oven, or large saucepan with enough oil
to cover the zucchini and preheat the oil to 350 degrees F over
medium heat.
3
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
(I used Progresso) Combine the breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon of the salt, the parsley,
garlic powder, and onion powder in a medium bowl.
1½ teaspoons salt, divided
4
1 teaspoon finely crushed
Whisk the flour with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and the
dried parsley
baking powder in another medium bowl.
5
¼ teaspoon onion powder Combine the eggs and milk in another medium bowl
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, beaten
½ cup whole milk
6 Bread each zucchini slice by first coating it with the flour. Drop
it into the milk-egg mixture so it’s completely moistened, then
go back into the flour until well-coated. Let the zucchini sit for a
bit in the flour so that it sticks, then give it another dip in the milk-
ON THE SIDE
egg mixture. This time drop the moistened slice into the bread-
Ranch dressing
crumbs for a generous coating on both sides. Set the finished slice
aside on a plate or baking sheet while you bread the rest of them.
7 For the frying, you can either cook them all the way through in
one step, or you can par-fry and freeze them (as Carl’s Jr. does),
and then finish them at a later date for a fast, low-effort appetizer.
To cook them all the way through, fry the zucchini in batches for
2 minutes, flipping the slices halfway through for even browning
on both sides. Drain the fried zucchini on a rack or paper tow-
el–lined plate for 1 minute, then serve with ranch dressing on the
side. To par-cook and freeze, fry the slices in batches for just 30
seconds, flipping them halfway through. Drain the zucchini on
a rack or paper towel–lined plate and let them cool completely.
Freeze the par-fried slices in a covered container with wax paper
between the stacks. To finish the dish, fry the frozen zucchini slic-
es, flipping every 30 seconds or so to evenly brown both sides, for
2½ minutes or until browned. Drain the fried zucchini on a rack
or paper towel–lined plate for 1 minute, then serve with ranch
dressing for dipping.

Cheddar’s PAINKILLER Rum
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Pusser Rum, cream of
coconut, pineapple and orange juice. Limit two per guest.” HACK
ACTIVE PREP:
The most popular and notorious cocktail at this 157-unit casual 5 MIN.
chain is the pumped-up piña colada–style drink served in a
heavy 18-ounce schooner with a rim of toasted coconut. The INACTIVE PREP:
menu warns customers that they are allowed only two of these
8 MIN.
cocktails, since each is made with a supersized 2-ounce shot of
DIFFICULTY:
Pusser’s rum. EASY
Pusser’s Rum is the best choice here if you want a perfect clone,
but you can certainly make this drink with your choice of any YIELD:
SERVES 1
good gold rum. But watch out. At home there’s no two-drink limit.

And these are so good that you might forget how many
you’ve downed!
1
Cc
½ cup sweetened Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the coconut on a
shredded coconut baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once halfway
¼ cup simple syrup (bottled or through, or until the coconut is mostly golden brown. Let it cool,
homemade; see Tidbits)
then pour it onto a medium plate that is slightly bigger than the
2 ounces Pusser’s rum rim of your glass.
(Original Admiralty Blend)
2
2½ ounces piña colada mix Pour the simple syrup onto another medium plate. Invert an
3 ounces pineapple juice 18-ounce schooner glass onto the simple syrup so that the rim
1½ ounces orange juice of the glass gets a coating. Let the excess drip off, then dip the rim
Dash of nutmeg of the schooner into the toasted coconut to coat the entire rim of
the glass.
GARNISH
Maraschino cherry (with stem)
Wedge of fresh pineapple
3 Fill the schooner with ice, then add a little bit more ice to a
cocktail shaker.
TIDBITS: 4 Pour the rum, piña colada mix, and juices into the cocktail
shaker. Shake vigorously for 10 seconds, then strain the drink
into the schooner glass.
> You can make simple syrup
by combining 1 cup of water
with 1 cup of granulated sugar
in a saucepan over medium/
high heat. Heat the solution un-
5 Sprinkle a dash of nutmeg on top of the drink, then use a
toothpick to attach the cherry to the rind side of a wedge of
fresh pineapple. Cut a slit about halfway up on one side of the
til it begins to boil, then remove pineapple wedge and slide it onto the rim of the glass.
it from the heat and cool.
The first painkiller was served in

the 1970s at the Soggy Dollar Bar at
White Bay on the Island of Jost Van
Dyke in the British Virgin Islands.

Cheddar’s
SANTA FE SPINACH DIP
Spinach dips are a great finger food appetizer and just about
every chain has its own version, but Cheddar’s Scratch HACK
Kitchen has one of the best in the business with a unique, ACTIVE PREP:
slightly spicy southwestern twist. Four different kinds of 15 MIN.
cheese are used in this recipe: three are blended into the
INACTIVE PREP:
spinach, then mozzarella is melted over the top just 10 MIN.
before serving.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
And for speed, we’ll use a microwave oven to quickly defrost the
YIELD:
Spinach
box of frozen spinach so that you’ll have a delish spinach dip on
the table in just 20 minutes.
SERVES 4 TO 6

1 (10-ounce) box frozen
1
chopped spinach
⁄3 cup half-and-half
1 Place the frozen spinach in a microwave-safe bowl and cover
it with plastic wrap. Poke a few holes in the top of the plastic
to vent. Microwave on high for 4 minutes, stir, then microwave
4 ounces cream cheese again on high for 2 more minutes. Keep the bowl covered and set
1 slice white American cheese it aside. Cc
1 ounce shredded pepper
Jack cheese
¼ teaspoon salt 2 Combine the half-and-half, cream cheese, American cheese,
pepper Jack, salt, crushed red pepper, cumin, garlic powder,
and onion powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
3
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Whisk the mixture as it heats until no more chunks of cream
1
⁄8 teaspoon garlic powder
cheese are visible. When the mixture is smooth and begins to
1
⁄8 teaspoon onion powder bubble, add the spinach to the pan. Reduce the heat and simmer
the spinach dip for 10 minutes or until the spinach is tender.
GARNISH
½ to ¾ ounce shredded
mozzarella cheese
1 heaping tablespoon sour
4 To serve the dip, spoon it into a microwave-safe serving dish.
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top and microwave it on
high for 1 minute or until the cheese on top is melted. Spoon a
cream small scoop of sour cream on top of the dip, in the middle. Serve
with the tortilla chips and salsa on the side.
SERVE WITH
Tortilla chips
Salsa

Cheddar’s
MONTE CRISTO
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Smoked ham, smoked turkey,
two cheeses, battered and fried until golden, with raspberry HACK
preserves and dusted with powdered sugar.” ACTIVE PREP:
15 MIN.
When pondering casual chains with the best Monte Cristo sand-
INACTIVE PREP:
wiches, two come to mind: Bennigan’s and Cheddar’s. At each
12 MIN.
chain the sandwich is built with turkey, ham, and cheese, then
it’s battered and fried, dusted with powdered sugar, and served DIFFICULTY:
with raspberry preserves for dipping. It probably sounds strange MEDIUM
if you’ve never had one, but Monte Cristo alums know it all tastes
YIELD:
pretty darn great together. I hacked Bennigans’ version years ago
SERVES 2
for my cookbook Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2, and recently,
on a trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, I was able to get my hands
on Cheddars’ signature version of this famous sandwich.
Sugar
I planned for the mission by bringing along a cooler of ice so
that I could get a fresh sample safely back home. Once I was back

in the lab in Vegas, I subjected the sandwich to a series of tasty
tests, burned through several versions of batter, and eventually
assembled this new Cheddar’s Monte Cristo copycat recipe that I
think is even better than my previous Bennigan’s hack. The better
batter is the big secret here—it’s light and crispy and perfectly Cc
golden brown, and the sandwich features two kinds of cheese,
both white and yellow American. Will this be the best Monte Cris-
to you’ve ever had? You’re about to find out.
6 to 10 cups vegetable oil

for frying 1 Fill a Dutch oven or large saucepan with a thermometer
attached with about 4 inches oil and heat to 375 degrees F. If
using a deep fryer, use the amount of oil required by your fryer.
SANDWICH
6 slices white bread
2 slices white American cheese 2 Make the two sandwiches by laying a piece of white American
cheese on each of two slices of white bread. Place 3 ounces
of ham on the cheese on each sandwich, followed by another
6 ounces deli-sliced
smoked ham slice of bread. Stack 3 ounces of turkey on each sandwich next,
6 ounces deli-sliced followed by the yellow American cheese. Top off each sandwich
smoked turkey with another slice of bread. With light pressure, press down with
2 slices yellow the palm of your hand on each sandwich to flatten them a bit.
American cheese
BATTER 3 Make the batter by beating the egg in a large bowl. Add the cold
water and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until
foamy. Mix in the baking soda and salt. Add the flour and mix just
1 large egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons until there are no visible lumps of flour.
very cold water
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt 4 Slice each sandwich in half diagonally from corner to corner.
Dip one half of the sandwich into the batter while holding it
together with your fingers. Coat the sandwich well with the batter
5 ounces (1 cup)
all-purpose flour but let some of the batter drip off before gently lowering it into the
oil. Repeat the process with the other half of the sandwich. Fry for
ON TOP 3 minutes, then flip the sandwich over and fry on the other side
for 3 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove the sandwich to a
Powdered sugar
rack or paper towel–lined plate to cool, then repeat with the other
sandwich.
ON THE SIDE
5
Raspberry preserves Serve each sandwich by slicing each of the halves in half and
arranging them on a plate, then dusting the sandwich quarters
with a little powdered sugar. Serve with a small bowl of raspberry
preserves on the side for dipping.

Cheesecake Factory
CINNAMON ROLL PANCAKES
Cinnamon
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Two fresh breakfast favorites
are even better together with our buttermilk pancakes HACK
swirled with cinnamon-brown sugar.” ACTIVE PREP:
1 HR.
This new Cheesecake Factory brunch item packs everything you
INACTIVE PREP:
love about cinnamon rolls into an extra-wide stack of pancakes,
NONE
including buttery icing on top. To make pancakes that are caramel
brown on their faces and super spongy with lots of air pockets, DIFFICULTY:
you’ll need a tablespoon of baking soda in the batter. When the MEDIUM
alkaline baking soda collides with the acidic buttermilk, the batter
YIELD:
will instantly puff up, making pancakes that are extra light and
MAKES 8
airy, and very dark on their surface, like pretzels. LARGE PANCAKES
The batter here makes plain buttermilk pancakes until the secret
cinnamon filling is swirled over the top of the batter when it’s
poured into the pan. The combination of brown sugar, powdered
sugar, cinnamon, and butter will melt into the pancake, making it
look and taste like a sweet, buttery cinnamon roll. Hopefully you

have a big griddle or very large skillet to cook these on. The origi-
nal pancakes are 7 to 8 inches across, so you’ll need a big cooking
surface if you want to cook more than one at a time. Or you could
just make smaller pancakes.
Cc
CINNAMON FILLING
6 tablespoons unsalted
butter, softened
1 To make the cinnamon filling, combine the butter, powdered
sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl with
an electric mixer until smooth, with no lumps. Spoon the filling
1
⁄3 cup powdered sugar into a squeeze bottle or a small plastic bag with the tip of one
2 tablespoons light brown sugar corner cut off. Set it aside.
2
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
To make the icing, combine the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla,
Pinch of salt
and salt in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.
Spoon the icing into a squeeze bottle or a small plastic bag with
ICING the tip of one corner cut off. Set this aside also.
4 ounces (1 cup)
3
powdered sugar To make the pancakes, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda,
⁄3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1
and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate large mixing bowl,
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil,
Pinch of salt and vanilla.
PANCAKES
9 ounces (about 1¾ cups)
4 Add the dry ingredients to the buttermilk mixture. Stir the
ingredients together just until combined, but don’t overmix.
There should be a few lumps.
all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
5 Heat a griddle or nonstick skillet over medium/low heat. Add ¼
teaspoon of vegetable oil. Once heated, use a ½ cup measuring
cup or ladle to add batter to the griddle or skillet, making one pan-
2 cups buttermilk cake that is 7 to 8 inches in diameter. Immediately squeeze a swirl
2 large eggs of filling on top of the batter in a spiral from the outside to the
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, middle using the squeeze bottle or bag. Cook for about 3 minutes,
plus more for the pan or until the pancake is dark brown, then flip it with your largest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract spatula. Cook for another 2½ minutes, then flip the pancake over
onto the serving plate so that you can see the cinnamon swirls.
TIDBITS:
Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more oil to the griddle
> If the cinnamon filling or skillet as needed.
or icing is too thick, you
can microwave either of
them for 10 seconds to
soften before using.
6 Serve a stack of two to three pancakes per serving, with icing
drizzled over the top.

Cheesecake Factory
CHEESEBURGER SPRING ROLLS
Relish
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Certified angus ground
beef, lots of melted cheese, and grilled onions rolled in a HACK
crispy wrapper.” ACTIVE PREP:
35 MIN.
Here’s how to build a cheeseburger in crispy spring roll dough
INACTIVE PREP:
and make the secret 4-ingredient dipping sauce for a perfect hack
15 MIN.
of one of Cheesecake Factory’s newest appetizers. I found the best
solution for a good clone was to first cook two 4-ounce Angus DIFFICULTY:
patties—with no less than 15 percent fat so the beef stays juicy—in MEDIUM
a sauté pan until browned. I then sautéed some onion in the same
Spring Roll
YIELD:
pan and mixed it into the crumbled patties, with ketchup and
SERVES 4 TO 6 AS
diced American cheese. AN APPETIZER
I tried several different wrappers and found the thinnest wrap-
pers to work the best. Try to find wrappers that say “super thin” on
them. Thicker dough wrappers will blister when fried, which is
not how the restaurant version looks, although the thicker wrap-
pers still make tasty spring rolls.
Rice paper wrappers will give you a chewier, less crispy bite,
and are a good option if you’re interested in a gluten-free version.
If you go with rice paper, you won’t need the cornstarch solution
to seal them. Dipping the whole wrapper in a little water makes
the rice paper pliable and naturally sticky.

SPECIAL DIPPING
SAUCE 1 Make the special sauce by combining all the ingredients in a
small bowl. Cover and chill until needed.
½ cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons sweet
pickle relish 2 Preheat a large sauté pan over medium heat.
Cc
3
3 tablespoons ketchup
Form the ground beef into two ¼-pound patties and place
1 tablespoon finely
them into the hot pan. Salt and pepper each of the patties.
minced onion
Cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until nicely browned. Remove
the patties from the pan and cool. Wipe the pan and heat it back
½ pound ground 85/15 angus
up over medium heat.
beef (15% fat)
4
Salt
Add 1 teaspoon of oil to the same pan and add the onion. Cook,
Ground black pepper stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly browned.
1 teaspoon vegetable oil, plus Remove the onion from the pan and cool.
more for frying
5
½ cup diced onion When the beef is cool, crumble it by hand, leaving no pieces
4 slices American cheese, bigger than an almond.
petite diced
6
3 tablespoons ketchup Combine the beef with the onion, American cheese, and ketch-
2 tablespoons water up in a medium bowl and stir well.
6 (9-inch) spring roll wrappers
(super thin dough wrappers) 7 To build each spring roll, dissolve the cornstarch in the water.
Place a spring roll wrapper on a clean, flat surface, with a cor-
ner pointing toward you. Load 1 ⁄ 3 cup of the filling into the center
GARNISH of the wrapper, but closer to the bottom than the top, and form it
Minced fresh parsley into a rectangular shape that is about 4 inches long from left to
right. Fold over the corner closest to you, then fold in the left and
right corners so that it looks like an envelope with the top open.
Use a brush to coat the top flap of the “envelope” with the corn-
starch solution, then roll the spring roll up and away from you,
pressing firmly so that the filling is tightly packed. Place all the
spring rolls on a plate.
8 Fill a saucepan or Dutch oven with enough oil to cover the

spring rolls and preheat the oil to 375 degrees F.
9 Fry the spring rolls 2 to 3 at a time for 3 to 4 minutes or until

golden brown. Drain on a rack or paper towel–lined plate, then
slice each through the middle at an angle. Arrange the spring rolls
on a plate, sprinkle with parsley, and serve with the dipping sauce
on the side.

Cheesecake Factory
PORK BELLY SLIDERS
This delicious new appetizer from the Cheesecake Factory
Carrot
features four little sandwiches, each packing big flavor. HACK
Smoked pork belly is slathered with barbecue sauce, then ACTIVE PREP:
stacked on soft slider buns with spicy sauce, creamy cole- 45 MIN.
slaw, and crispy fried pickles. Smoked pork belly is the star,
INACTIVE PREP:
so you’ll either smoke some yourself using a smoker or use 4 HRS. 15 MIN.
your grill with the technique described in the Tidbits below.
DIFFICULTY:
You need around 10 ounces of pork belly to get 6 ounces MEDIUM
when smoked, or 1½ ounces per sandwich.
YIELD:
SERVES 2 AS
The coleslaw is easy, the spicy sauce is easy, the barbecue sauce AN APPETIZER
is premade (bottled), and the fried pickles are a simple exercise in
breading and frying that anyone can master. After the pork belly
Buns
is perfectly smoked and fall-apart tender, stack everything on

your favorite toasted soft slider rolls and let the devouring begin.
1 Season the pork belly with salt and pepper or your favorite rub,
then smoke it using hickory chips or pellets in a smoker set to
225 degrees F for 4 hours. If you don’t have a smoker, you can
smoke the pork belly on your grill (see Tidbits).
2 While the meat smokes, make the coleslaw. Combine the

mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt, and celery seed in a

COLESLAW medium bowl. Mix well, then stir in the cabbage. Put the coleslaw in
¼ cup mayonnaise your fridge to sit until later. It’s best after it chills for a couple hours.
3
1 teaspoon yellow prepared
mustard Make the spicy sauce by combining all ingredients in a small
bowl. Cover and chill until later. Cc
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
4
1½ teaspoons granulated sugar
About 45 minutes before your pork belly is done smoking,
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1
make the fried pickles. Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, and
⁄8 teaspoon celery seed
1
pepper in a medium bowl.
2½ cups packaged coleslaw
5
blend (green cabbage, red Beat the egg in another medium bowl.
cabbage, carrots)
Or 2 cups green cabbage, ¼
6
cup red cabbage, ¼ cup juli-
Remove 8 to 12 of the biggest pickles from the jar and dry them
enned carrot
on paper towels. Working in batches of 4, dredge each pickle
slice in the egg, then drop it into the breading and coat it well.
SPICY SAUCE
7
1
⁄3 cup mayonnaise
Arrange the breaded pickles on a plate until they are all done.
1 tablespoon ketchup The pickles need to sit for 10 to 15 minutes so that the breading
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne will stick.
pepper
8
¼ teaspoon paprika While the pickles rest, heat up enough oil to cover the pickles in
¼ teaspoon yellow prepared a saucepan or Dutch oven to 375 degrees F.
mustard
1
FRIED PICKLES
⁄3 cup all-purpose flour
9 When the oil is hot, fry the pickles in batches for 2 to 3 minutes
or until lightly browned. Remove the pickles to a rack or paper
towel–lined plate to drain.
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1
¼ teaspoon salt
10 When the pork belly is done, remove it from the smoker and
let it rest for 10 minutes. Heat up a large sauté pan over
medium heat.
black pepper
11
1 large egg, beaten
Spread butter on the face of each bun and toast all of them in
8 to 12 dill pickle slices
the hot pan until browned. Set the buns aside and keep the
1 cup vegetable oil pan over the heat.
10 ounces pork belly

Salt and ground black pepper or
your favorite pork rub
12 Slice the pork belly and sear it in the pan until browned, 3 to 4
minutes. Before removing the pork belly from the pan, brush
barbecue sauce on top of the slices.
4 slider buns
Butter, softened
¼ cup Sweet Baby Ray’s
13 To build the sandwiches, first spread a couple teaspoons of
the spicy sauce on each of the bottom buns. Stack about 1½
ounces of pork belly on top of the sauce on each sandwich, fol-
barbecue sauce
lowed by a heaping spoonful of coleslaw. Stack 2 to 3 fried pickles
on top of the coleslaw, then top off each sandwich with the top bun.
Use a fancy sandwich toothpick to hold them together and serve.
TIDBITS

TIDBITS:
> If you don’t have a smoker you can smoke the pork belly on the side away from direct heat and cook it for 2 hours, or
on your grill. Wrap some wood smoking chips (hickory or until it’s done. You may want to add another packet of wood
applewood works best) in a packet of aluminum foil. Poke chips halfway through the cooking time for extra smoky
several holes in the top of the packet and place it over a flavor.
low flame on one side of the grill, then place the pork belly
Cheesecake Factory
OREO DREAM EXTREME CHEESECAKE Oreo
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Oreo Cookies baked in our
creamy cheesecake with layers of fudge cake and Oreo HACK
Cookie mousse. Topped with a milk chocolate icing.” ACTIVE PREP:
1 HR. 15 MIN.
The Cheesecake Factory’s latest decadent dessert goes extreme
INACTIVE PREP:
with America’s favorite cookie. You’ll find Oreos in the middle of
2 HRS. 55 MIN.
the cheesecake, in the cookie mousse layer, pressed onto the edge,
sprinkled on the whipped cream, and even up on top where an DIFFICULTY:
Oreo wafer crowns each slice. In fact, I’ve designed this copycat HARD
Cheesecake Factory Oreo cheesecake recipe to use every Oreo in
YIELD:
Sugar
a standard-size package—all 36 of them!
SERVES 12

This beautiful cheesecake starts with a chocolate cake layer,
topped with a layer of chocolate buttercream icing, followed by a
no-bake cheesecake layer, Oreo cookie mousse, and more choc-
olate icing. It’s a chocolate lover’s—and Oreo lover’s—dream, and
not surprisingly, one of Cheesecake Factory’s best sellers. Cc
When creating your own version of this dessert masterpiece
at home, be sure to use a 10-inch springform pan. This is a big
cheesecake, so you’ll get 12 large slices out of it. The restaurant
charges around 56 bucks for a whole cheesecake this big, but
thankfully, a homemade version will cost you much less than that.
FUDGE CAKE CHEESECAKE GARNISH

1 cup granulated sugar FILLING 3 ounces (½ cup) mini
½ cup heavy cream semisweet chocolate chips
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar 3 Oreo cookies
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon
(filling removed), crushed
Hershey’s cocoa powder ¼ cup whole milk into small crumbs
(unsweetened)
2 large egg yolks 6 Oreo cookies
¾ teaspoon baking powder
3 (8-ounce) packages cream (filling removed)
¾ teaspoon baking soda cheese, softened 2 Oreo cookies
½ teaspoon salt 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract (filling removed), crushed
into bigger crumbs
½ cup whole milk 18 Oreo cookies
Whipped cream
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 large egg COOKIE MOUSSE
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 7 Oreo cookies
¼ cup hot water 1 envelope Knox unflavored
gelatin
MILK CHOCOLATE ¼ cup cold water
ICING 4 ounces white baking
chocolate (or 2⁄3 cup white
4 cups powdered sugar
chocolate chips)
1½ cups Hershey’s cocoa
1¾ cups heavy cream,
powder (unsweetened)
divided
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted
1 large egg yolk
butter, softened
2
⁄3 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch springform

pan with nonstick baking spray or a little butter, then line the
bottom and the sides of the pan with parchment paper. When
cutting the paper to line the sides of the pan, make sure the paper
is higher than the pan by about 1 inch, since the filling will likely
overfill the pan. Wrap the outside of the pan with foil to prevent
any leaks from the bottom.

2 Make the fudge cake by combining the sugar, flour, cocoa, bak-
ing powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate
medium bowl whisk together the milk, oil, egg, and vanilla extract.
Combine this wet mixture with the dry mixture and mix with an
electric mixer on medium speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl with
a rubber spatula. Reduce the mixing speed to low and slowly pour
in the boiling water. The batter will be runny.
3 Pour the batter into the springform pan and bake for 23 to 25
minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center of the cake
comes out clean. Cool completely. While cooling, pat down gently
on the top of the cake in the center, if necessary, to make it flat.
4 While the cake is cooling, make the milk chocolate icing. Blend
the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and butter in a large bowl
with an electric mixer on low speed. Add the cream, vanilla, and
salt and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes, or until smooth and
fluffy. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure every-
thing is well mixed.
5 Once the cake has cooled completely, top it with one-third

of the icing. Cover the remaining icing and set it aside. Use a
rubber spatula or icing knife to smooth out the icing so that it’s
flat. Freeze for 1 hour.
6 To make the cheesecake filling, whip the heavy cream with an

electric mixer on high speed until it forms stiff peaks, then set it
aside. In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar, milk, and egg yolks
over medium heat, whisking constantly. Cook until thick enough
to coat the back of a spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn off the heat and
allow it to cool slightly. In a large bowl, blend the cream cheese
and vanilla. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the cream cheese
mixture while mixing slowly. Scrape the sides of the bowl with
a rubber spatula. Increase the mixing speed to medium and
blend for 2 minutes, or until smooth and glossy. Fold in the
whipped cream.
7 Pour one-third of the cheesecake filling into the springform

pan on top of the chocolate icing layer, then layer it with 18
Oreos. Don’t put an Oreo in the center because it makes slicing
harder and doesn’t look good when the cake is sliced. Carefully
spread the remaining cheesecake mixture into an even layer over
the Oreos. Chill for 1 hour.

8 To make the cookie mousse, pulse 7 Oreos in a food proces-
sor until crushed, or place them in a zip-top bag and pound
on them with a kitchen mallet or rolling pin until they are fine
crumbs. Ah, stress relief. In a separate bowl dissolve the gelatin in
the water and set it aside. Cc
9 Make a water bath by filling a large bowl halfway with ice cubes
and then adding water up to the top of the ice. Measure the
white chocolate into a medium bowl. In a medium saucepan,
bring ½ cup of cream to a boil. Once it boils, turn off the heat and
whisk in the gelatin, egg yolk, and sugar, beating constantly for 30
seconds. Pour this mixture into the bowl of white chocolate and
stir until the chocolate is melted, then place bowl onto the ice in
the ice bath to cool. Whip the remaining 1¼ cups cream with an
electric mixer on high speed in a medium bowl until it forms stiff
peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the white chocolate mixture,
being careful not to overmix. Split the vanilla bean in half length-
wise with a knife and scrape the seeds from the inside. Stir the
vanilla bean seeds and the crushed Oreo cookies into the mousse.
10 Pour the mousse into the springform pan on top of the

cheesecake layer and smooth it out using a rubber spatula.
Chill for 2 hours or freeze for 30 minutes.
11 After it has cooled, remove the cheesecake from the spring-

form pan. Use an icing knife to completely cover the top and
sides of the cake with chocolate icing, reserving one-third.
12 Load the remaining icing into a piping bag with a large round
tip and pipe 12 evenly spaced mounds of icing on top of the
cheesecake, around the edge.
13 In a small bowl, combine the mini chocolate chips with the

three Oreos crushed into small crumbs. Press this mixture
onto the icing on the side of the cake all the way around. Lean 1
Oreo cookie half on each of the 12 mounds of icing on top of
the cake.
14 To serve, slice the cake into 12 even slices, and serve with
whipped cream on the side, with a couple pinches of the
bigger Oreo crumbs sprinkled on top of the whipped cream.

Cheesecake Factory
PUMPKIN PECAN CHEESECAKE
Pecans
The Cheesecake Factory’s autumnal dessert offering is a
clever mashup of pecan pie and pumpkin cheesecake in a HACK
traditional flakey pie crust. At first glance, I thought this ACTIVE PREP:
would be an easy one to unlock, but I found the recipe to be 30 MIN.
a surprisingly tricky hack since all the components in the
INACTIVE PREP:
cheesecake follow different baking rules. 8 HRS.
DIFFICULTY:
The first step was to design a crust that could withstand being
HARD
cooked three times. After a few tests, I came up with a recipe that
produces a hardy dough that can be par-baked, then baked again YIELD:
two more times while maintaining flakiness. SERVES 12
The next step was to thicken the pecan filling before adding it to
the cheesecake pan. My first version skipped this step and pecan
filling soaked through the crust and through the springform pan
onto the bottom of the oven, where a charred, dark stain remains
to this day.
Cooking the pecan filling before it goes into the cheesecake will
thicken it so it won’t soak through the crust and wind up dirtying
your oven. After the filling cools for 45 minutes, you can build a
Pecans
cheesecake on top of it.

Add the cheesecake filling right up to the top of the crust. If you
do a good job making the top edge of the crust even all the way
around, the cheesecake filling will fit perfectly.
I’m sharing two ways to make the delicious finishing caramel
sauce that goes over the top. The easy way is to simply combine Cc
walnuts with your favorite caramel sauce and pour it over a slice.
But the best way is to make the sauce from scratch using the rec-
ipe I’ve included here. It’s only a few ingredients, it’s not too hard,
and you’ll love the results.
Pour the sauce over the top, add a dollop of whipped cream,
and you’ll have produced a finished slice of cheesecake that
looks—and tastes—like it was made by a pro.
CRUST PUMPKIN CARAMEL NUT

9 ounces (1¾ cups) CHEESECAKE TOPPING
all-purpose flour FILLING (THE BEST WAY):
½ teaspoon salt 2 (8-ounce) packages cream 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
⁄3 cup unsalted butter, cold cheese, softened
1
½ cup light brown sugar
⁄3 cup shortening ¾ cup granulated sugar
1
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup ice cold water 1 cup canned pumpkin puree 1
⁄3 cup half-and-half
2 large eggs 1
⁄3 cup chopped walnuts
PECAN FILLING ¼ cup sour cream
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted 1 tablespoon vanilla extract CARAMEL NUT
butter, melted ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon TOPPING
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark ¼ teaspoon ground ginger (THE EASY WAY):
brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground allspice 1
⁄3 cup caramel topping
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg ¼ cup chopped walnuts
5 large eggs
11⁄3 cups dark corn syrup
GARNISH
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Canned whipped cream
1¾ cups chopped pecans
1 To make the crust, whisk the flour and salt together in a large
mixing bowl. Cut up the butter into small chunks, then add it
and the shortening to the flour. Use a pastry blender or fork to cut
the fat into the dry ingredients. Continue mixing until there are
no chunks bigger than a pea. Add the water, and mix using your
hands to form the dough into a ball. Flatten the dough into a fat
disk and cover it with plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.
2 Lightly grease the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan and line

the bottom of it with parchment paper.

3 Lightly flour your work surface then roll the dough out in a
circle that is approximately 14 inches across. Fold the dough
in half and lift it into the springform pan. Unfold it and press it
into the bottom of the pan and up the sides, as close to the top as
possible. Trim any excess dough that goes up too high and over
the edge of the pan and use the dough to patch any holes or other
spots that need more dough. Make the top edge of the dough as
even as possible all the way around so that it will properly hold
the pumpkin cheesecake filling later, and be sure that there are no
holes in the crust. Chill the crust for 30 minutes.
5 Cover the crust with foil or parchment paper and fill it with
pie weights or 1 pound of dry beans. Bake for 15 minutes, then
pull the pan from the oven and remove the weights and the foil or
parchment. Do not poke any holes in the crust. Return the pan to
the oven and bake the crust for another 8 minutes or until it’s light
brown. Cool.
6 To make the pecan filling, combine the melted butter with the
sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on
medium speed. Mix in the eggs. Add the corn syrup and vanilla
and mix well.
7 Pour the syrup into a medium saucepan over medium/low heat

and cook until it thickens, about 20 minutes, stirring often. Add
the pecans and cool for 20 minutes.
9 Pour the pecan filling into the crust and bake it for 30 to 40
minutes, or until the filling is darker and firm around the edges.
Cool for 45 minutes.
10 Meanwhile, raise the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
11 Make the pumpkin cheesecake by combining the cream

cheese and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the pumpkin, eggs,
sour cream, vanilla, and spices, and mix with an electric mixer on
medium speed until smooth.

12 Pour the pumpkin cheesecake filling over the pecan filling
and up the top edge of the crust.
13 Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or just until the top of the cheese-

cake begins to brown. Cool the cheesecake and chill it until
firm, about 4 hours or overnight.
Cc
14 Before slicing the cheesecake, make the caramel nut top-

ping one of two ways: the best way or the easy way. For the
best way, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Mix in the sugar, salt, and half-and-half, heat until boiling, then
reduce the heat to a simmer. When the sauce has thickened and is
foamy, turn off the heat and add the walnuts. The sauce will thick-
en as it cools. When it’s cool, spread it in a circle in the center of
the cheesecake, but leave room around the top outer edge of the
cake for the whipped cream that you’ll add later. The easy way is a
simple matter of mixing walnuts into your favorite caramel sauce
and spreading it in a circle in the middle of the cheesecake.
15 To serve, slice the cake into 12 portions. Add a pile of

whipped cream on top of each slice of cheesecake, near
the crust.
TIDBITS:
> If you want to make a dang tasty and easy pecan pie
without the cheesecake topping, follow the recipe for the
pecan filling (steps 6 and 7) and load it into a 9-inch (large)
pie shell. It will fit perfectly. Bake at 300 degrees F for 30 to
35 minutes, then cool, chill, and eat.

Chick-fil-A
CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
Like at Wendy’s, where unsold and broken burger patties
provide the beef for their famous chili, Chick-fil-A gets the HACK
chicken for this noodle soup by chopping up the leftover ACTIVE PREP:
chicken used on their grilled chicken sandwiches. But 25 MIN.
grilling isn’t the first step to take when whipping up a home
INACTIVE PREP:
hack of this famous soup. First, you must brine the chicken 2 HRS. 40 MIN.
to fill it with flavor and keep it juicy like the real thing. A
DIFFICULTY:
couple hours later, when the brining is done, it’s grilling EASY
go-time.
YIELD:
SERVES 8
The pasta shape Chick-fil-A uses in their soup is an uncommon
one, and you might have a hard time finding it at your local mar-
ket. It’s called mafalda corta (upper right in the photo), which is a
miniature version of the ruffled-edge malfadine pasta used in my
hack for Olive Garden Beef Bolognese (page 154). It also goes by
the name “mini lasagna.” If you can’t find mafalda corta (I found it
online), you can instead use your favorite small fancy pasta here,
Pasta
such as farfalle, rotini, fusilli, or whatever looks good at the store.

BRINE
2 cups water 1 Prepare the brine by dissolving the salt and sugar in the water in
a medium bowl or storage container. Slice the chicken breast(s)
through the middle to make two (or four) thinner fillets, then add
1 tablespoon plus
1 teaspoon salt the chicken to the brine and refrigerate for 2 hours. After 2 hours,
1 tablespoon granulated sugar rinse the chicken fillets and blot them dry. Cc
1 large or 2 small chicken

breast fillets (enough for 2
2 Preheat your barbecue grill to high. Rub vegetable oil on the
chicken breasts and grill for 4 to 6 minutes per side, or until
done. Chop the chicken into small, bite-size pieces and set it aside.
cups cooked and chopped)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil,
plus more for grilling
4 ounces mafalda corta or
mini lasagna pasta
3 Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until tender, 12 to
14 minutes, then strain it and set aside.
1½ cups diced carrots

1 cup chopped celery 4 Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a 3- to 4-quart saucepan or Dutch
oven over medium heat. Add the carrots and celery and cook
for 4 minutes, stirring often.
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
5
¼ cup all-purpose flour
To make a roux with the butter and flour, melt the butter over
8 cups chicken broth medium/low heat. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook the
½ cup water mixture, stirring often, until it becomes light brown, then remove
2 tablespoons cornstarch it from the heat.
2 teaspoons minced fresh
parsley (or ½ teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon salt 6 Mix the roux into the carrots and celery, followed by the chick-
en broth. Dissolve the cornstarch in the ½ cup of water and add
it to the pot along with the parsley, salt, black pepper, onion pow-
½ teaspoon ground
black pepper der, and garlic powder. Raise the heat to medium and cook for 10
½ teaspoon onion powder minutes. Turn the soup down to a simmer if it begins to boil.
7 After 10 minutes, add the chopped chicken and cooked pasta.

Cook the soup for 20 more minutes at a simmer, until thicker.
Remove the soup from the heat and cover it until you’re ready
to serve.

Chick-fil-A
MAC & CHEESE
The new Mac & Cheese at Chick-fil-A is baked fresh every
day, and the recipe is more complex than you might expect HACK
from a fast food chicken chain. According to the official list ACTIVE PREP:
of ingredients, the formula includes several different kinds 20 MIN.
of cheese including Parmesan, Romano, and an award-win-
INACTIVE PREP:
ning hard cheese from Wisconsin called BellaVitano. The 25 MIN.
BellaVitano cheese adds a subtle nuttiness to the mix and all
DIFFICULTY:
three hard cheeses contribute big umami flavor that nicely EASY
complements the blend of white and yellow cheddars.
YIELD:
MAKES 8 CUPS
Those five kinds of cheese combine to make a great flavor, but the (6 SERVINGS)
blend would melt into a greasy mess if it weren’t for the assistance
of one more ubiquitous cheese: American. The benefit of Ameri-
can cheese—which makes up for its lack of flavor—is found in the
sodium citrate it contains. This natural sodium salt is an emul-
sifier that keeps the fat in the cheese from separating (and it also
happens to be useful in preventing kidney stones!). By first melt-
ing several slices of American cheese in the milk we don’t need to
make a roux to create a perfectly smooth cheese sauce.

As for cooking the macaroni, here’s another secret: don’t follow
the directions on the box for al dente pasta, because you don’t
want the pasta to be al dente, or slightly tough. You want to cook
the elbow macaroni for 20 minutes so that it absorbs as much wa-
ter as possible. This will ensure that the pasta won’t suck up liquid Cc
in the cheese sauce when they are combined, and the sauce will
maintain a perfectly creamy consistency.
8 ounces elbow macaroni

1 cup whole milk 1 Cook the macaroni in 2 quarts of boiling water for 20 minutes.
When the macaroni is completely soft, strain out the water.
3½ ounces (5 slices) American

cheese (not Kraft Singles),
roughly chopped or torn
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 While the pasta cooks, make the cheese sauce by combin-
ing the milk, American cheese, butter, and salt in a medium
saucepan over medium/low heat. Slowly heat up the milk to melt
½ teaspoon salt the butter and cheese. Stir often with a whisk until the American
3½ ounces (scant cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.
1 cup) shredded sharp
3
cheddar cheese Add the remaining cheeses and stir until the sauce is smooth,
1 ounce (¼ cup) shredded white then remove it from the heat.
cheddar cheese
4
1 ounce (¼ cup) shredded Allow the sauce to sit for 10 minutes to cool and thicken, then
BellaVitano Gold cheese
combine the sauce and pasta in a large bowl and allow it to
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cool enough that the cheese doesn’t fall to the bottom of the bowl.
1 tablespoon grated Romano Gently stir it occasionally as it sits.
TOPPING
3 ounces (¾ cup) shredded
sharp cheddar cheese
5 Preheat your broiler to high.
3 ounces (¾ cup) shredded

white cheddar cheese 6 Pour the macaroni and cheese into an 8x8-inch baking pan
or dish.
7 Combine the yellow and white cheddar cheese for the topping,
then sprinkle the mixture over the top of the mac and cheese.
8 Pop the pan under your hot broiler for 2 to 3 minutes or until
the top has lightly browned.
TIDBITS:
> If you can’t find BellaVitano cheese, you can substitute

1 additional tablespoon of Parmesan cheese. If you don’t
have American cheese, you can use Velveeta or any cheese
that contains sodium citrate.

Chick-fil-A
SWEET & SPICY SRIRACHA SAUCE
Sauce
The newest flavor in Chick-fil-A’s line-up of seven sauces
is this spicy little number packing big heat from chili sauce HACK
and sriracha. The sauce is mostly used as a dip for the ACTIVE PREP:
chain’s chicken strips and nuggets, but you’ll find it also 10 MIN.
works great on chicken that’s grilled or roasted. Or use this
INACTIVE PREP:
sauce as a dip for fried seafood, like shrimp, and as a glaze 30 MIN.
that perks up the flavor of almost any fish.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
YIELD:
MAKES ¾ CUP

¼ cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 Combine the water and cornstarch in a small bowl. Stir until
the cornstarch dissolves in the water, then transfer it to a small
saucepan, add the remaining ingredients, and stir well.
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons
chili garlic sauce 2 Place over medium heat and watch it closely, stirring occasion-
ally. When the sauce comes to a full boil, cook it for 1 minute,
then turn off the heat and cover it.
Cc
1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
3
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Cool the sauce for 30 minutes, then use it or cover and chill it
1½ teaspoons soy sauce to use later. It will last for a couple months in your refrigerator.
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1
cayenne pepper
When buying sugar,

I’ve gotta go big!

Chili’s
ORIGINAL CHILI
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Yeah, chili is our thing. Our
original recipe, filled with beef, onions & signature blend of HACK
spices. Topped with shredded cheese & tortilla strips.” ACTIVE PREP:
20 MIN.
Over the years I’ve hacked a bunch of items from Chili’s menu,
INACTIVE PREP:
including their Fajitas, Baby Back Ribs, Salsa, Chili Queso, South-
1½ HRS.
western Eggrolls, Chicken Crispers, Boneless Wings, and more,
but it wasn’t until recently that I got the chance to work on a hack DIFFICULTY:
for the chain’s award-winning Original Chili. Why it took so long, EASY
I have no idea.
YIELD:
The chili served at Chili’s is a Texas-style con carne recipe,
MAKES 6½ CUPS
which traditionally means no beans and no tomato. You won’t (6 SERVINGS)
find any beans in this recipe or chunks of tomato, but their chili
does have a tomato base to boost flavor, so I’m adding that into
the mix by including one 6-ounce can of tomato paste. As it turns
out, that small can is just the right amount.

The preparation technique is simple: brown the beef, drain off
the fat, then add some of the fat back to the empty pan to sauté
the onions and peppers in. When those are done, you add the beef
back to the pan along with the remaining ingredients and simmer
for 1½ hours. That will be just long enough to braise the beef and Cc
tenderize it, and to thicken the chili to a perfect consistency.
When the chili’s done, top each serving with a cheddar/
pepper Jack blend and some crispy tortilla bits. Then pass out
the spoons.
2 pounds 80/20 ground beef

(20% fat)
1½ cups diced white onion
1 Brown the ground beef in a large saucepot or Dutch oven over
medium heat. Crumble the beef into small bits as it cooks.
When you no longer see pink in the beef, about 5 minutes, pour
½ cup diced green chile pepper off the fat into a small cup or bowl, and pour the cooked beef into
(Anaheim or Hatch) a medium bowl.
¾ cup (one 6-ounce can)
2
tomato paste Put the pan back over medium heat and measure 1 ⁄ 3 cup of
4 cups chicken broth the fat from the beef into the pan. When the fat is hot, add the
1½ cups water onion and green chile. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the onions
3 tablespoons cornstarch are translucent, then stir in the beef and tomato paste. When the
¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons chili tomato paste is broken up and coating the beef, add the chicken
powder (I used Mexene) broth to the pot.
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1¾ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons paprika
3 Dissolve the cornstarch in the water, then add that slurry to
the pot.
4
1 teaspoon ground
Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring the mixture up to a
black pepper
simmer. Cook uncovered for 1½ hours or until the chili is
thick and the beef is tender. Reduce the heat if the chili is
1 tablespoon apple
bubbling rapidly.
cider vinegar
ON TOP
1 cup shredded
5 Combine the shredded cheeses, then serve the hot chili in
bowls with the shredded cheese and crispy tortilla strips or
crumbled chips on top.
cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded pepper
Jack cheese
Crispy sliced tortilla strips or
crumbled tortilla chips

CARNITAS
Broth
Chipotle
Braised and shredded pork shoulder is a staple of Mexican
cuisine that Chipotle prepares with a simple blend of flavors, HACK
and a surprising ingredient you may not have expected: ACTIVE PREP:
juniper berries. Once you track those down (they’re easy to 20 MIN.
find online), the berries are combined with thyme and bay
INACTIVE PREP:
leaves in a braising liquid that will transform your own pork 3 HRS. 10 MIN.
roast into an easily shreddable thing of beauty in under 3
DIFFICULTY:
hours. Then you can use your freshly cloned carnitas on EASY
tacos, in burritos, or in a bowl over rice and beans just like
YIELD:
they do at the restaurant. MAKES 6 CUPS
When picking your pork roast, try to find one without too much
fat. If your roast has a thick cap of fat on it, trim off the excess. You
want some fat in your braising liquid, but if the cap of fat is too
thick, it may not fully render down and you’ll get chunks of fat in
the shred.

It’s often assumed that the pork butt is from the rear end of the
pig, even though cuts from the back region already have a name:
ham. The pork butt, also known as a Boston butt, is cut from the
other end, the upper shoulder of the pig. It’s called a “butt” be-
cause in pre-Revolutionary War New England the roasts were Cc
stored and transported in barrels called “butts,” and the confusing
name stuck.

4-pound boneless pork butt
roast (pork shoulder)
1 Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large saucepot over high heat.
Slice the pork roast in half and place it into the hot pan. Sear all
sides of the pork, about 10 minutes.
4 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons dried juniper
berries, lightly crushed
1 teaspoon chopped
2 Pour out the excess oil and place the seared roasts back into the
pan. Add the chicken broth, juniper berries, thyme, 1 teaspoon
of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, and the bay leaves. Bring to a
fresh thyme boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook uncovered for 2 hours and
2 teaspoons salt, divided 45 minutes, or until the pork falls apart.
2 teaspoons coarse ground
3
black pepper, divided Remove the pork from the liquid, then pour the liquid into a
2 bay leaves large spouted measuring cup or other container.
4 When the pork has cooled enough to be handled, shred the

pork into bite-size pieces and load them back into the pot.
5 Spoon off the fat from the top of the braising liquid, strain the
solids out of the liquid, then pour 2 cups of the strained liquid
into the pot with the pork. Add the remaining salt and black pep-
per and heat over medium/low heat until the liquid is nearly gone,
10 minutes.

Costco (Kirkland)
BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
Three things make Costco Blueberry Muffins special: they’re
huge, they’re moist, and berries are bursting out of the top HACK
of each one. Now your home muffins can be just as special ACTIVE PREP:
using a similar recipe and freshly unlocked tricks from our 15 MIN.
favorite big-box store.
INACTIVE PREP:
40 MIN.
Obviously, you get huge muffins by using a huge muffin pan, so
you’ll need a jumbo or “Texas-size” muffin pan if you want your DIFFICULTY:
muffins the same size as the originals. You can certainly make
EASY
standard muffins with this batter in a standard-size muffin pan, YIELD:
but in this case, bigger is definitely better. MAKES 5 JUMBO
To get muffins that are moist you’ll need oil. I noticed many MUFFINS, OR
muffin recipes use butter, but I found it made the muffins taste
10 REGULAR-SIZE
MUFFINS
Milk
more like butter cake or pound cake than true muffins. Looking
at the ingredients listed on the package of Kirkland muffins, you
won’t find any butter in there. Just oil. For this hack, some of that
oil comes from margarine (for a mild butter flavor and thicker
batter), and the rest is vegetable oil.
As for the blueberries, if you add them straight into the batter
the juice frozen on the outside of the berries will streak your batter

blue, so be sure to rinse the berries before you add them. And to
make your muffins look as irresistible as those at Costco, we’ll use
another one of their tasty tricks: press 4 blueberries into the batter
in each cup just before the pan goes into the oven so that every
baked muffin is sure to have several tantalizing berries popping Cc
out of the top.
½ cup margarine, softened

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons
granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white 2 Combine the margarine and sugar in a large mixing bowl with
an electric mixer on high speed.
3
Add the egg and egg white and beat well until fluffy, then mix
1 tablespoon baking powder
in the oil.
1¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
10 ounces (2 cups) all-purpose
flour
4 Mix in the baking powder, vanilla, and salt.
½ cup whole milk

11⁄3 cups frozen blueberries 5 Mix in half of the flour, then add half of the milk and mix.
Add the remaining flour and the rest of the milk and mix until
combined.
6 Rinse the blueberries in a strainer until the water runs clear,

Sugar
with no more blue in it. Blot the berries on paper towels to

remove any excess water, set 20 blueberries aside, then stir the
remainder into the batter by hand. Stir just enough to evenly
distribute the blueberries in the batter, and no more than that.
Over-stirring will make your batter blue.
7 Line a jumbo or “Texas-size” muffin pan with 5 paper muffin

cups, then evenly distribute the batter into the 5 cups. Fill the
sixth cup up about halfway with water. Place four of the leftover
blueberries on top of each muffin, pressing them into the batter.
Make the placement of the berries look random. This will ensure
that all the muffins bake with visible blueberries on top like those
at Costco. If making smaller, standard-size muffins, divide the
batter among 10 muffin cups and use 2 blueberries per muffin
to top.
8 Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the muffins are dark brown

on top and a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean.
If you use a standard-size muffin pan, bake the muffins for 25 to
30 minutes or until dark brown on top.

Denny’s
BUTTERMILK PANCAKES
Buttermilk
First impressions are important, and after my first bite of
Denny’s new buttermilk pancakes, I couldn’t stop thinking HACK
about waffle cones. Back in the lab I mashed together a stan- ACTIVE PREP:
dard waffle cone recipe with one of mine for buttermilk pan- 30 MIN.
cakes and was able to create the perfect hack for Denny’s
INACTIVE PREP:
new, improved flapjacks. And because of their unique waffle NONE
cone flavor, these pancakes taste just as great doused with
DIFFICULTY:
maple syrup as they do topped with a big scoop of ice cream. EASY
The recipe makes eight big 6-inch pancakes, which you will form
YIELD:
MAKES 8 (6-INCH)
by measuring ½ cup of batter onto your preheated griddle or PANCAKES
skillet. If you have a large griddle pan you may be able to make a
couple of these at a time. With smaller pans, though, you’ll have
to make one at time, which will take a little longer. And that’s why
Sugar
they invented mimosas.

10 ounces (2 cups)
all-purpose flour
1
1 Preheat a griddle or large sauté pan over medium heat.

baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a
large mixing bowl.
1 cup buttermilk
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon
3 Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and combine every-
thing with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.
Dd
whole milk
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter,
4 When the pan is hot, spray it with a light coating of nonstick
oil spray, or add a little oil to the pan. Spoon ½ cup portions of
batter into the pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until
melted
brown. If the batter doesn’t form a round 6-inch pancake when
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
poured into the pan, your batter is too thick. Mix in another table-
spoon of milk to thin it out. Repeat to use all the batter. Serve the
ON TOP
pancakes topped with butter and with maple syrup on the side.
Softened salted butter
ON THE SIDE
Maple syrup
But the Den

ny’s escalato
r is fast!
t oday .
is s l o w
y ’ s elevator
he D e n n
T

Denny’s
HEARTY 9-GRAIN PANCAKES
My favorite new Denny’s pancakes are these tasty whole-
grain-filled buttermilk flapjacks, peppered with healthy flax HACK
seeds. At the base of the formula is my hack for Denny’s ACTIVE PREP:
plain buttermilk pancakes, and to that I’ve added whole 30 MIN.
wheat flour, a little flax seed, and a hot cereal blend with
nine different grains in it. Okay, mine had ten grains in it,
INACTIVE PREP:
10 MIN.
Buttermilk
but who’s counting?
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
Regardless of how many grains are in the cereal blend you use, I
find it best to give the grains a quick soak to soften them up be- YIELD:
fore making the pancakes. Just let the cereal and flax seeds rest for
MAKES 9 (6-INCH)
PANCAKES
a bit in the liquid before mixing them into the dry ingredients.

1 cup buttermilk
1 cup whole milk 1 Combine the buttermilk, milk, and eggs in a large bowl with an
electric mixer on high speed. Mix in the butter and vanilla, then
add the 9-grain blend and flax seeds and mix well. Set this mixture
2 large eggs
aside for 10 minutes to soften the grains.
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
2
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar,
¼ cup 9-grain hot cereal blend baking powder, and salt. Dd
1 tablespoon whole flax seeds
5 ounces (1 cup)
all-purpose flour
3 ¾ ounces (¾ cup) whole
3 Dump the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix on
medium speed with your electric mixer until smooth.
4
wheat flour Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat.
¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons
granulated sugar
5
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon When the pan is hot, spray it with some nonstick spray and
baking powder
pour about ½ cup of batter onto the pan. It should spread into
1 teaspoon salt a circle that is about 6 inches across. If your batter is too thick, add
another tablespoon of milk and mix well with the electric mixer.
ON TOP
Salted butter, softened
6 Cook the pancake for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until golden
brown. Repeat to use all the batter. Serve the pancakes topped
ON THE SIDE with butter and with maple syrup on the side.
Maple syrup
Foodtoid
You can get married at the Denny’s in Las Vegas. And if you
do you’ll get a Wedding Pancake Puppies Cake and a coupon
for two free Grand Slam Breakfasts on your next visit.

Einstein Bros. Bagels
TWICE-BAKED HASH BROWN
Chives
I’m not sure why Einstein Bros. claims there are just four
cheeses in the new Twice-Baked Hash Brown when the in- HACK
gredients clearly list six kinds of cheese, plus cream cheese. ACTIVE PREP:
Regardless, the shredded Asiago, Romano, Parmesan, pro- 25 MIN.
volone, and mozzarella listed there can be found combined
INACTIVE PREP:
in an “Italian Blend” at many supermarkets, making for an 45 MIN.
easy start to our home clone. And don’t just be thinking
DIFFICULTY:
about breakfast for these cheesy potatoes. They work great MEDIUM
as a side for any meal.
YIELD:
MAKES 12 HASH
In the detailed description of the new item, Einstein Bros. claims BROWNS
the hash browns contain two kinds of shmears, which is true, but
a little misleading because one of them is just plain cream cheese.
The other is onion-and-chive cream cheese, which we can make
from scratch. We’ll combine those two shmears into one blend by
Potatoes
doubling the cream cheese added to our onion-and-chive shmear
formula.
Mix everything together and load the ingredients into a stan-
dard 12-cup muffin pan with circles of parchment paper cut out to
fit into the bottom of each of the 12 cups. Without these parch-
ment circles, the hash browns may stick and break when they’re
released. You can also use paper muffin cups, if you don’t mind
the less crispy, ridged sides.
Ee
Bake them the first time for 30 minutes, then cool and store.
Now you have a dozen servings of cheesy hash brown potatoes
that are easy to finish off by baking them a second time until
crispy. They are great served with breakfast, or for dinner as your
starchy side alongside beef, chicken, lamb, and many other
savory entrees.
6 ounces cream
cheese, softened
¼ teaspoon onion powder
1 Combine the cream cheese with the onion powder and garlic
powder in a medium bowl. Mix with an electric mixer on
high speed until the cream cheese is somewhat fluffy, about 30
1
⁄8 teaspoon garlic powder seconds. Add the chives and mix for another 30 seconds, then
2 teaspoons chopped set aside.
fresh chives
6 cups frozen shredded
potatoes (hash browns), thawed
¾ teaspoon salt
2 Use a large spoon to mix the salt and pepper into the potatoes
in a large bowl.
¼ teaspoon coarse ground

black pepper
1¼ cups shredded Italian
3 Combine the Italian blend and cheddar cheese and stir this
blend into the potatoes.
4
cheese blend (Asiago, Romano, Mix the cream cheese into the potatoes. You may find it easier
Parmesan, provolone,
to mix in if you first warm the cream cheese in your micro-
mozzarella)
wave on high for 30 seconds. Also, you might find that using
½ cup shredded mild
cheddar cheese your hands to mix everything together works better than using a
wooden spoon.
2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted
butter, softened
5 Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
6 Coat all the cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with the softened
butter. Flip over the muffin pan and trace the bottom of one
muffin cup onto a piece of parchment paper. Using the traced cir-
cle as a guide, cut 12 circles out of parchment paper and use them
to line the bottom of each muffin cup so that the hash browns will
release without falling apart. You can also use paper muffin cups,

but your hash browns will have less crispy, ridged sides, and not
smooth ones like the original.
7 Spoon the potato mixture into each of the 12 cups. Use your
fingers to flatten the tops of the hash browns so that they look
nice, then bake them for 30 to 35 minutes or until they begin to
brown around the top edge.
8 Cool the hash browns, then use a spoon to pull the sides away
from the pan. Slip the spoon under each of the hash browns to
pull them out of the pan intact. These can be chilled in a covered
container for baking and serving later, or you can give them the
second bake right way.
9 To prepare the hash browns for serving, preheat your oven to

425 degrees F.
10 If the hash browns have been chilled, allow them to sit out
for 30 to 60 minutes so they don’t go into the oven cold. Bake
the hash browns on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet for 12
to 14 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Hh
Hattie B’s
NASHVILLE HOT CHICKEN
It’s hard to say exactly when Nashville hot chicken was
HACK born, but most agree the Prince family of Prince’s Chicken
ACTIVE PREP: in Nashville, Tennessee can take credit for the dish’s cre-
30 MIN. ation. Today there are over two dozen different hot chicken
restaurants in Nashville and the popularity of the dish is
INACTIVE PREP:
5 HRS. still growing. The 70-year-old recipe from Prince’s may be
the original, but the fastest-growing Nashville hot chicken
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM chain in the country right now is a much newer concept
called Hattie B’s.
YIELD:
MAKES 8 PIECES
(4 SERVINGS) Several years ago, Nick Bishop and his son, also Nick Bishop, ob-
served the growth of Nashville hot chicken concepts and wanted
a piece of the action. They opened the first Hattie B’s in Nashville
in 2012, and business was good. Now there are six Hattie B’s in
three southern states and one in Las Vegas at the Cosmopolitan
Hotel, where I was able to get my hands on a fresh sample of the
real thing without taking a round trip flight to Tennessee.

At the Vegas Hattie B’s I sat at the food counter close to the BRINE
fryer and watched the chicken being made, which provided some
8 cups water
useful intel for my clone. I learned that the fried chicken drenched
¼ cup kosher salt
in the spicy oil paste is the “medium” heat level chicken. For the
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
“hot” chicken an additional dry seasoning blend is sprinkled on the
basted chicken. 1 whole chicken, cut up
(8 pieces)
The oily paste is what makes Nashville chicken special, so I
made sure to obtain a sample of the sauce in a small cup for later
study. Most of the ingredients were predictable—paprika, salt,
SPICY OIL
pepper, garlic, onion, sugar, and lots of cayenne—but the oil had
¼ cup ground cayenne pepper
an unusual taste to it. I recalled reading that the oil used for tra- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
ditional Nashville hot chicken comes out of the fryer after several 1 tablespoon paprika
batches of chicken have been fried in it. When the chicken fries 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
in the oil it contributes tasty flavors that makes the fat a great base 1½ teaspoons salt (fine
for the spicy baste. table salt)
To replicate this at home, wait for at least one batch of chicken ½ teaspoon ground black
to cook in the oil, then carefully remove a cup, let it cool a bit, and pepper (fine grind)
whisk the spices into it. ½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
1 cup oil (from the fry oil, after
the first batch of chicken)
1 Make the brine for your chicken by dissolving the salt and
sugar in the water in a large bowl. Add the chicken and chill for
4 hours.
“HOT” SEASONING
(OPTIONAL, FOR “HOT”
HEAT CHICKEN)
2 While the chicken is brining, mix the dry ingredients for the
spicy oil together in a medium bowl and set it aside. We’ll add
the oil later.
2 tablespoons paprika
ground cayenne pepper
3
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
If you plan to make your chicken “hot,” mix all the ingredients
for the hot seasoning in a small bowl. Spoon this into an empty 1 teaspoon salt
shaker-top spice jar, if you’ve got one. The “medium” heat level ½ teaspoon onion powder
doesn’t require this additional seasoning, and it’s probably hot ½ teaspoon garlic powder
enough for most. ½ teaspoon ground
black pepper
4 When the chicken has brined, rinse off the chicken and blot it
dry. Fill a deep fryer or a large pan with a thermometer at-
tached with about 3 inches of oil, and heat the oil to 300 degrees
F. The chicken will cook better if you let it sit out at room tempera-
ture for 30 minutes before preparing it, so that it’s not cold in the
middle when it drops into the fryer.
5 Prepare the breading by combining the flour, cayenne, salt,

pepper, and baking powder in a shallow bowl or pie pan. Com-
bine the milk and eggs in a large bowl.

BREADING
2 cups all-purpose flour 6 When the oil is hot, prepare the chicken by coating each piece
well with the flour mixture. Dip the chicken into the milk-egg
mixture, allow some of the liquid to drip off, then dredge the
2 tablespoons ground
cayenne pepper chicken in the flour again until well-coated. Flip the chicken over
1 teaspoon salt a couple of times in the flour, while pressing the flour into the
chicken with your fingertips to get a thick breading with a craggy
1 teaspoon ground black
pepper (fine grind) texture. Let the chicken rest in the flour for at least 5 minutes
1 teaspoon baking powder before frying.
7
2 cups whole milk
Fry the chicken, a couple pieces at a time, in the hot oil for 15 to
25 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces. You want the
internal temperature of the chicken to reach at least 165 degrees
Vegetable oil for frying F—drumsticks won’t take as long as the breasts. When the chicken
4 slices white bread is golden brown and cooked through, take it out of the oil and let Hh
8 thick dill pickle slices it rest on a rack or paper towel–lined plate. If you’d like to serve all
the chicken at once, you can keep the cooked pieces warm in a
250-degree-F oven while waiting for the others to cook.
8 After the first couple of pieces of chicken are cooked, carefully

remove 1 cup of the frying oil. Allow the oil to cool for a couple
minutes, then whisk in the blend of spices you set aside earli-
er. Let this sit for 2 to 3 minutes so the flavors of the spice blend
infuse the oil. This oil will get darker and more flavorful over time,
but always be sure to stir it well before using it.
9 Allow each piece of chicken to cool for a couple minutes before

applying the oil. Brush or spoon the oil over the fried chicken
that’s ready to be served, being sure to coat the entire surface of
each piece. Chicken basted in the spicy oil is “medium” heat. For
“hot” chicken, sprinkle each piece with the “hot” seasoning blend.
10 Place two pieces of chicken on a slice of white bread for each

serving. Pierce two pickle slices with a fancy toothpick, stick
it into the top of largest piece of chicken on each plate,
and serve.

MAYOCHUP
Sauce
Heinz
The basic recipe of two parts mayonnaise to one part ketch-
up has been around for years, served as a condiment with HACK
French fries and other fried finger foods. It’s commonly ACTIVE PREP:
called “fry sauce,” but Heinz chefs added a few more ingre- 5 MIN.
dients to their version of the sauce, making it more sweet-
INACTIVE PREP:
and-sour than the common two-ingredient formula, and 15 MIN.
then they gave it a new name.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
Heinz debuted Mayochup in September of 2018 following a
carefully planned social media campaign that polled followers YIELD:
on whether or not they wanted Heinz to create the product. Final
MAKES ¾ CUP
result: 55 percent said “yes.”
Now you can make your own mimicked Mayochup in a matter
of minutes with these five common ingredients, a bowl, and a
whisk. Use it on burgers and sandwiches, or as a dip for French
fries and other fried foods.
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir gently with a whisk ½ cup mayonnaise
to mix, then cover the sauce and store it in your refrigerator for at ¼ cup ketchup
least 15 minutes before using. 1¾ teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1

Hh
Hershey’s
GOLD PEANUTS & PRETZELS
Pretzels
Since the candy maker’s first milk chocolate bar debuted in
HACK 1900, just three other candy bars have carried the
ACTIVE PREP: Hershey’s name. Hershey’s Special Dark came out in 1939
1 HR. and Hershey’s Cookies and Crème was introduced in 1995.
The third one—and the first to be made without any choc-
INACTIVE PREP:
30 MIN. olate in it—is the new Hershey’s Gold Peanuts & Pretzels,
which hit the shelves in late 2017.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
The base of the bar is “caramelized crème” that Hershey’s claims
YIELD: is made by browning the sugar in white crème. I recalled a recipe
MAKES 6 TO for caramelizing white chocolate by slowly cooking it in the oven,
7 BARS
stirring often, until it becomes golden brown. By mixing in a little
creamy peanut butter and salt with the white chocolate before it
goes in the oven, I created a perfect golden base to which crushed
peanuts and pretzels could be added.

I poured the golden crème into candy bar molds and let them
set in the fridge for 30 minutes. When I removed the candy from
the molds it looked like it was made in a real candy bar factory,
and it tasted like it too. I wrapped each in gold foil and felt like
Willy Wonka.
If you don’t have candy bar molds for your candy bars, you can
make the candy in a more old-fashioned, homemade style by
pouring the cooked candy onto parchment paper or wax paper on
a baking sheet and allowing it to cool. When it’s firm, break up the
candy and store it in a covered container or a resealable bag.
Spooning the candy into
bar molds. Mmm.
1 Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F. 12 ounces white chocolate

(chips or bars)
1 tablespoon creamy
2 Place the white chocolate in an 8x8-inch glass or metal baking peanut butter
pan. If using a bar of white chocolate, chop it up before adding
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
it to the pan. Add the peanut butter and salt, then place the pan in ¼ cup crumbled salted pretzels
the warm oven. (sifted; see Tidbits)
2 tablespoons finely chopped
3 Stir the white chocolate after 5 minutes, then stir it every 3 to 4

salted peanuts
minutes until it’s done. This frequent stirring will prevent the
candy from becoming too thick and/or burning. Cook it until the
white chocolate has caramelized into a golden brown, which will
take about 1 hour. Don’t let it get too dark.
4 Remove the candy from the oven and immediately stir in the
pretzels and peanuts. Pour the candy into bar molds or onto a
parchment- or wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Spread the candy
flat quickly, before it cools, and tap the molds or pan on the count-
er several times to settle the candy. Harden in your refrigerator for
about 30 minutes.
5 When cool and hardened, separate the candy from the molds.
If not using molds, just break the candy into chunks and store
in a covered container. You can also wrap the candy with foil or
plastic wrap. Store it in a cool place.
TIDBITS:
> To make pretzel crumbs, put a handful of crunchy

pretzels or pretzel sticks into a resealable plastic bag and
pound on it with a kitchen mallet or rolling pin until the
pretzels are all crumbs, with no pieces bigger than a grain
of rice. Sift the crumbs through a wire-mesh strainer and
toss out the fine powder that falls through. Measure only
the bigger crumbs for the recipe.

Hh
Hooters
DAYTONA BEACH STYLE WINGS
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Another Hooters original.
HACK Naked wings tossed in our signature Daytona Beach sauce.
ACTIVE PREP: After they’re done, we throw them on the grill to sear in the
15 MIN. flavor. They take just a little longer to cook, but like most
INACTIVE PREP: things worth waiting for, you won’t mind a bit.”
45 MIN.
Hooters debuted a new flavor and style of their famous chick-
DIFFICULTY: en wings in 2013 with the introduction of Daytona Beach Style
EASY Wings—naked wings (not breaded) that are fried, sauced, and
YIELD: grilled. The new menu item was a sales success, eclipsing the
SERVES 4 famous buffalo-style wings the chain had become known for, and
making it imperative that we have a delicious and accurate copy-
cat hack. And now we do.
To build an identical home version you’ll first need to make a
knockoff of the delicious Daytona sauce to brush over the wings.
It’s a combination of barbecue sauce and the same cayenne sauce
used to coat traditional buffalo wings, plus a few other important
ingredients that make the sauce special—and things you won’t
find in other hacks—like Worcestershire sauce and minced jala-
Wings
peños. The wings are coated, grilled for just a minute on each side,
then sauced again for maximum flavor. Stack the napkins close
by and get something tall to drink, because these messy wings are
guaranteed to deliver a super-spicy kick to your food hole.

1 Fill a deep fryer or Dutch oven with 3 inches of vegetable oil and
preheat the oil to 350 degrees F. Preheat your grill to
high heat.
20 chicken wing pieces
(drumettes and flats)
2 Prepare the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a

medium bowl. Set aside.
SAUCE
¾ cup Sweet Baby Ray’s
original barbecue sauce
3 When the oil is hot, fry the wings in batches until golden
brown, 10 to 12 minutes, and drain them on a wire rack over a
baking sheet or paper towel–lined plate.
1
⁄3 cup Frank’s RedHot original
cayenne pepper sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1½ teaspoons finely minced
4 When all the wings are done frying, combine them with
around two-thirds of the sauce in a large bowl. Toss to coat.
canned sliced jalapeños
(nacho slices)
1 teaspoon paprika
5 Place the wings on your grill using tongs, cook for 1

minute, or until grill marks form, then flip and cook the
wings for another minute.
1 teaspoon
Worcestershire sauce
ON THE SIDE
6 Remove the wings from the grill and brush them with the re-
maining sauce. Serve them straight up, or with blue cheese or
ranch dressing on the side for dipping.
Blue cheese or ranch dressing
for dipping
The waiting is the hardest part.

Hh
Hooters
ORIGINAL STYLE WINGS
MENU DESCRIPTION: “The one and only! The style
HACK we invented over 30 years ago; they’re breaded by hand,
ACTIVE PREP: tossed in your choice of wing sauce and served by your
15 MIN. favorite Hooters girl.”
INACTIVE PREP:
When I first hacked this recipe back in 1997 for the book Top Se-
40 MIN.
cret Restaurant Recipes, Hooters wings looked different than they
DIFFICULTY: do today. The chain used to leave the pointy end of the wing at-
EASY tached to the middle piece, or “flat,” which, frankly, is unnecessary
because there is very little meat on the tip segment. Today the
YIELD:
SERVES 4 chain serves wings like everyone else, with drumettes and flats
completely separated, and delivered by waitresses in the same
bright orange shorts as when the chain started in 1983.
One thing that wasn’t available to me back then was the oppor-
tunity to examine the chain’s packaging for the lists of ingredients

on signature items like sauces and breading. Today, since they
sell these items as retail products, I can take advantage of labeling
laws that require ingredients to be clearly listed and see what real-
ly goes into these recipes. Using that new information, I’ve made
a few small tweaks to improve my recipe from over 20 years ago,
including two versions of the kickass wing sauce—medium and
hot—for your wing-devouring pleasure.
1 Combine all the ingredients for the breading in a large bowl.

Rinse the wings, then, while they are still moist, toss them in
the breading until they build up a nice coating. Remove the
BREADING
10 ounces (2 cups)
all-purpose flour
wings from the bowl and let them sit in your refrigerator for 15 to ½ teaspoon salt
30 minutes.
½ teaspoon ground
cayenne pepper
2 Fill a deep fryer or Dutch oven with 3 inches of vegetable oil

and preheat the oil to 350 degrees F.
½ teaspoon paprika
3
Make the sauce of your choice by combining the ingredients in
a small saucepan over medium/low heat. Heat until the butter
is melted, stir well, then turn off the heat.
MEDIUM WING SAUCE

4 Fry the wings in batches until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes,
then drain them on a rack over a baking sheet or paper towel–
lined plate.
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted
butter
½ cup Frank’s RedHot cayenne
5
pepper sauce
Toss the wings in the wing sauce until completely coated, then
¾ teaspoon paprika
serve with blue cheese or ranch dressing on the side
for dipping.
HOT WING SAUCE
½ cup Frank’s RedHot cayenne
pepper sauce
¾ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon ground
Foodtoid cayenne pepper
The founders of Hooters were so convinced the concept ON THE SIDE

would fail that they incorporated the company on April
Fool’s Day. Blue cheese or ranch dressing
for dipping

Hh
Hostess
POWDERED DONETTES
At the 2018 Salvation Army National Doughnut Day World
HACK Doughnut Eating Contest, held every June 1st, competitive
ACTIVE PREP: eater Joey Chestnut consumed 257 Hostess powdered Do-
Sugar
1 HR. nettes in six minutes to take home the top prize. There was
a big smile on Joey’s powdered-sugar-and-crumb-coated
INACTIVE PREP:
NONE face that day as he raised a trophy to celebrate another glori-
ous gastronomic feat.
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM
If you had to guess who makes the top-selling doughnuts in
YIELD: America, you’d probably say Dunkin’ Donuts or Krispy Kreme, but
MAKES 20 you’d be wrong. According to Hostess, Donettes are the country’s
DOUGHNUTS
most popular doughnuts—you rarely find a supermarket, corner
market, or convenience store without at least a few packages on
the shelf. Hostess Donettes come in several flavors, including
chocolate, crumb, and strawberry, but the one most people turn to,
and the one I grew up on (they were called “Gems” back then), is
coated with a thick layer of powdered sugar.

Cloning the Hostess powdered doughnuts recipe is not hard,
once you know the secrets. You’ll make a stiff cake dough, punch
out 2-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter, pierce the dough with a
straw or chopstick to make a hole, then fry the doughnuts for 2
minutes until golden brown. After you roll them in powdered sug-
ar, you’ll have around 20 fresh, home-cloned miniature dough-
nuts that will make you feel like a kid again.
And—just doing a little math here—it would take Joey Chestnut
all of about 14 seconds to eat that entire plate of doughnuts you
just made.
1 Combine the sugar, salt, butter, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla in a
medium bowl. Mix with an electric mixer on high speed for 2
minutes. Add the buttermilk and mix for 1 minute.
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter,
melted
2 Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in

a medium bowl, then mix the flour into the wet ingredients
in 3 additions by hand, stirring after each addition with a sturdy
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
mixing spoon. Don’t mix too much or your doughnuts will end up
¼ cup buttermilk
tough. Form the dough into a ball.
7 ounces (scant 1½ cups)
3
all-purpose flour
Fill a large saucepan with 2 inches of oil and preheat over
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
medium/low heat to between 350 and 360 degrees F. Keep the
temperature in this range while frying the doughnuts. ¼ teaspoon baking soda
4 Roll the dough out on a floured surface to ⁄ inch thick. This 2 cups powdered sugar
3 8
is the perfect thickness. Seriously, use a ruler here if you don’t

want chubby doughnuts. Use a 2-inch biscuit cutter to cut rounds YOU WILL ALSO NEED
from the dough. Press a straw or chopstick through the middle of
2-inch biscuit cutter
each round of dough and spin the dough around so that the hole
is widened. Use your pinkie finger to open up the hole so that it’s
about ½ inch across.
5 Fry the doughnuts, several at a time, for 1½ to 2 minutes. Turn

them over every 30 seconds so they brown evenly. They’re
done when both sides are a nice golden brown. Cool the dough-
nuts completely on a rack or paper towel–lined plate.
6 When the doughnuts are cool, drop each of them into a bowl
of powdered sugar and press the sugar onto the doughnuts.
The real Donettes have a thick coating of powdered sugar, so be
generous with the powder. These won’t last as long as the pack-
aged product, so it’s best to eat them within a few hours
after making them.

Ii
IHOP
MEXICAN CHURRO PANCAKES
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Four buttermilk pancakes
HACK layered with a fiesta of warm cinnamon spread, crunchy
ACTIVE PREP: mini-churros and sweet cream cheese icing. Crowned with
30 MIN. whipped topping.”
INACTIVE PREP:
This creative flapjack recipe is cloned by starting with my hack
30 MIN.
for IHOP’s famous buttermilk pancakes from Top Secret Recipes
DIFFICULTY: Step-by-Step. A fresh stack of these fluffy pancakes is then layered
EASY with the sweet cinnamon spread made with butter, brown sugar,
and cinnamon.
YIELD:
MAKES 12 Rather than making churros from scratch, we’ll save time by
PANCAKES (3 TO 4 using frozen churros. I found some at Target and Walmart. Chop
SERVINGS) them into bite-size chunks and arrange them on top of the pan-
cakes, then drizzle your stack with the homemade cream cheese
icing recipe here, and prepare to accept your “oohs” and “ahhs.”
You just won the morning. Now go win the day.

1 Make the cinnamon spread by melting the butter in a small
saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, half-and-
half, cinnamon, and salt, and cook, stirring, until the sugar has
CINNAMON SPREAD
¼ cup unsalted butter
2
⁄3 cup light brown sugar
dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Immediately remove the
3 tablespoons half-and-half
sauce from the heat and whisk in the flour.
2½ teaspoons ground
2
cinnamon
Combine the ingredients for the cream cheese icing in a me-
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
dium bowl. Beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until
smooth, 1 minute. Spoon the icing into a squirt bottle, or a plastic 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
bag with the tip of one corner snipped off.
CREAM CHEESE ICING
3 Make the pancakes by combining the flour, sugar, baking soda,

and salt in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, eggs, and melted
butter, and mix well with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1
4 ounces cream cheese,
softened
1¼ cups powdered sugar
minute or until smooth. ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon juice
4 Preheat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium

heat. Rub the pan with a little oil or spray it with nonstick
cooking spray.
Pinch salt
BUTTERMILK
PANCAKES
5 Pour 1 ⁄ 3 -cup portions of pancake batter onto the hot pan or
griddle. Cook the pancakes for 1½ to 2 minutes per side or until
nicely browned. Repeat to use all the batter.
13½ ounces (22⁄3 cups)
all-purpose flour
granulated sugar
6 Build each stack of pancakes by spreading a thin layer of the

cinnamon spread on top of each pancake before layering
the next pancake on top. Use twice as much spread on the
1 teaspoon salt
top pancake.
3 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
7 Cook the churros following the instructions on the package,

then slice them into 1-inch pieces. Arrange 6 churro pieces in
a circle on the top pancake of each stack. Drizzle cream cheese ON TOP
icing over the top in a sweeping motion. 3 frozen churros
8
Finish each stack with a dollop of whipped cream on top, in the
middle of the circle.

Ii
IHOP
MEXICAN TRES LECHES PANCAKES
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Four buttermilk pancakes
HACK layered with vanilla sauce and dulce de leche caramel sauce.
ACTIVE PREP: Crowned with whipped topping.”

30 MIN.
Re-creating this pancake version of Mexico’s mucho moist tres
INACTIVE PREP: leches cake boils down to mastering two easy sauces: dulce de
3 HRS.
leche caramel and a vanilla sauce.
DIFFICULTY: For the dulce de leche we’ll use a can of sweetened condensed
EASY milk, as do many traditional recipes. But I found that undiluted
condensed milk produced caramel with an unpleasant canned-
Vanilla
YIELD:
milk aftertaste. To improve the flavor, I first combined the con-
MAKES 12
PANCAKES (3 TO 4 densed milk with whole milk, then cooked it down in a water bath
SERVINGS) the same way. The caramel sitting in the bottom of the pan was
Caramel
smooth and creamy, it tasted much better, and the process was as
simple as it gets.
Turning to the vanilla sauce, I expected a basic formula at IHOP
flavored with just vanilla extract, but I was pleasantly surprised to
see real vanilla bean seeds in there. I excitedly added the seeds of
a whole vanilla bean to our clone, in addition to the vanilla extract.
But that’s not all the flavor we need for a match. I taste some
butterscotch in there as well, so I’m including a little butterscotch
flavoring in the final formula. If butterscotch isn’t your thing, feel
free to replace that flavoring with an equal amount of vanilla
extract.

2 Make the dulce de leche caramel by combining the sweetened

condensed milk with the whole milk in a large loaf pan. Cover
the pan with aluminum foil. Place the loaf pan into a 9x13-inch
baking pan filled with 1 inch of hot water and place the baking
pan into your oven for 2 hours and 45 minutes. Check the water
level every hour and add more hot water as needed. When it’s
done the caramel will be thick and dark tan. Cool, uncovered.
3 Make the vanilla sauce by combining the cream with 2 table-

spoons of the sugar in a small saucepan over medium/low heat.
Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use the dull edge of a
DULCE DE LECHE
CARAMEL
knife to scrape the tiny seeds from the bean; add the seeds to the 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened
cream. Heat the mixture, stirring often, just until it begins to boil, condensed milk
then turn off the heat. ¼ cup whole milk
4 In a medium bowl whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons

sugar with the egg yolks until the sugar has mostly dissolved.
Temper the egg yolks by stirring in a few tablespoons of the hot
VANILLA SAUCE
2 cups heavy cream
¼ cup granulated sugar,
cream mixture, then pour the egg yolks into the cream and stir to divided
combine. Heat the cream again until bubbling around the edges
1 vanilla bean
and thick. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and but-
2 large egg yolks
terscotch. Pour the vanilla sauce into a medium bowl that is set
into a larger bowl filled with ice. This will cool the sauce quickly.
Stir occasionally until cool. ½ teaspoon butterscotch
flavoring
5 Make the pancakes by combining the flour, sugar, baking soda,

and salt in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, eggs, and melted
butter, and mix well with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1
BUTTERMILK
PANCAKES
minute or until smooth. 13½ ounces (22⁄3 cups)
all-purpose flour
6
Preheat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium
granulated sugar
heat. Rub the pan with a little oil or spray it with nonstick
cooking spray.
1 teaspoon salt
7 Pour 1 ⁄ 3 cup portions of pancake batter onto the hot pan or 3 cups buttermilk
griddle. Cook the pancakes for 1½ to 2 minutes per side or until 2 large eggs
nicely browned. Repeat to use all the batter. ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
GARNISH

8 Pour each of the sauces into squirt bottles if you’ve got them. If
not, you can drizzle the sauces on the pancakes with spoons.
Drizzle some of the vanilla sauce on top of each pancake as you
stack them. After stacking on the top pancake, drizzle the vanilla
sauce over the top in a sweeping motion, then do the same with
the dulce de leche caramel. Squirt some whipped cream on top of
the stack and serve.
Ii
IHOP
RED VELVET PANCAKES
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Rich chocolaty red velvet
Sugar
HACK pancakes drizzled with cream cheese icing, a dusting of
ACTIVE PREP: powdered sugar, and crowned with whipped topping.”

20 MIN.
By making a few tweaks to basic pancake batter, including adding
INACTIVE PREP:
20 MIN. a little cake flour to the mix, typical flapjacks are deliciously con-
verted into ritzy, flat red velvet cakes just like those offered for a
DIFFICULTY: limited time at the world’s largest pancake chain.
EASY But the recipe would not be complete without a sweet clone
for the cream cheese icing that’s drizzled over the top, so that’s
YIELD:
8 PANCAKES included here as well.
Cooking these pancakes on a griddle pan set over medium/low
heat seems to work the best. Just be sure to give your pan plenty
of time to heat up and only add the nonstick spray once.

1 Make the cream cheese icing by creaming together the cream
cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on
medium speed. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well for
CREAM CHEESE ICING
6 ounces cream
cheese, softened
one minute on high speed. Spoon the icing into a squirt bottle, ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
if you’ve got one. You can also make an instant piping bag by 6 ounces (1½ cups)
spooning the icing into a small storage bag and then snipping off powdered sugar
just the tip of one corner. 1 tablespoon milk
2 Preheat a nonstick griddle or pan (or a griddle-pan) over medi-

um/low heat. Let it heat for at least 15 minutes.
Pinch of salt
3 Make the pancake batter by measuring the flours, sugar, cocoa,

PANCAKES
baking soda, and salt into a sifter. Sift the ingredients together 5 ounces (1 cup)
all-purpose flour
into a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix
2½ ounces (½ cup) cake flour
well for about 30 seconds with an electric mixer on high speed.
2
4 Spray the griddle or pan with a light coating of nonstick spray.

Measure ⁄ cup of batter onto the griddle or into the pan for
1 3
each pancake, being sure to leave several inches between each

2 tablespoons
unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
pancake. They will spread out as they cook. Cook the pancakes for ¾ teaspoon salt
2 to 3 minutes on the first side, or until they are nicely browned. 1 cup whole milk
Then flip the pancakes over and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. 2 large eggs
Repeat to use all the batter.
5
Serve each stack of pancakes with a dusting of powdered sugar,
and drizzle the cream cheese icing over the top. Just before
1 teaspoon red food coloring
serving add whipped cream on top.
GARNISH
Powdered sugar
Foodtoid
In one year IHOP serves more than 700 million pancakes.

Jj
Jolly Rancher HARD CANDY

The name Jolly Rancher has a friendly Western sound to it,
HACK and that’s why Bill Harmsen picked the name for his Golden,
ACTIVE PREP: Colorado confection company in 1949. Bill sold chocolate

25 MIN. and ice cream, but it was his hard candies that got the most
attention, and that’s where Bill focused his efforts and grew
INACTIVE PREP:
60 MIN. his business.
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM The first Jolly Rancher hard candies came in just three flavors:
apple, grape, and cinnamon. Eventually they added more flavors
YIELD: including cherry, orange, lemon, grape, peach, and blue raspber-
MAKES 63 TO 72 ry. But today the main flavors have been cut to just five: cherry,
CANDIES
watermelon, apple, grape, and blue raspberry. I’ve included clone
recipes here for four of them: grape, cherry, watermelon, and
green apple.
The flavors are all sour, thanks to malic acid, a very tart natural
ingredient often used to make sour candies. If you can’t find ma-
lic acid, you can duplicate the sour taste with easier-to-find citric
acid. I found some at Walmart.
You’ll also need super-strength flavoring from LorAnn in
whichever flavors you chose to make. This is the most popular
baking/candy flavoring brand, and you can find it online or in

craft stores like Michael’s. Each small bottle is 1 dram, which is just BASE
under 1 teaspoon, and you’ll need one of those for each flavor. 12⁄3 cups granulated sugar
Regardless of which flavors you choose to make, the base candy
½ cup water
recipe will be the same. The hard candy is formed by bringing
½ cup corn syrup
the sugar solution up to the “hard crack” stage, or the stage where
the candy becomes hard and brittle when cool. You must get the
2 teaspoons malic acid
(or citric acid)
candy to exactly 300 degrees F, and for that, you’ll need a candy
thermometer.
CHERRY
The thermometer is essential here and will help you determine
1 dram (scant 1 teaspoon)
when to add the coloring, when to remove the candy from the
LorAnn Super Strength
heat, and when to add the citric or malic acid. If you cook the can- cherry flavor
dy too long, it will begin to caramelize and darken and won’t taste 30 drops red food coloring
right. If you add the acid before the candy cools to 165 degrees F,
it will burn and turn bitter. If you add it too late, it may be hard to
WATERMELON
mix.
This recipe makes over 60 hard candies. When cool, crack the LorAnn Super Strength
candies apart along their score lines, wrap them up in 4x4-inch watermelon flavor
cellophane candy wrappers, and you should have more than 3 drops red food coloring
enough hacked homemade hard candies to fill a candy bowl.
GREEN APPLE
1
Combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a medium sauce- apple flavor
pan over medium/high heat. Add a candy thermometer and 1 drop green food coloring
keep an eye on it. Your target temperature is 300 degrees F, or the
2 drops yellow food coloring
hard crack stage. This should take 20 to 30 minutes from when
Plus: add an additional ¼
the candy starts to boil. teaspoon of citric acid or
malic acid
2 Prepare a 9x5-inch (or 10x5-inch) loaf pan by lining it with

parchment paper. Press the parchment paper firmly into the
bottom with at least 1 inch of paper going up the sides.
GRAPE
3 When the candy reaches 300 degrees, remove it from the heat grape flavor
but keep the thermometer in it. When the candy comes down 2 drops red food coloring
to 285 degrees, add the flavoring and stir it in. Keep the thermom-
eter in there. YOU WILL ALSO NEED
Candy thermometer
4 When the candy reaches 280 degrees, add the coloring for the
flavor of your choice. Stir gently, then allow the bubbling to
more thoroughly distribute the color throughout the candy as it
4x4-inch cellophane candy
wrappers (optional)
continues to cook. We’ll stir it more later.
5 When the candy reaches 265 degrees F, remove the thermom-

eter, add the citric acid (or malic acid), and gently stir it in until
it’s dissolved.

6 Pour the candy into the parchment-lined pan. Set your timer
for 6 minutes.
7 After approximately 6 minutes, when the candy has firmed but

is still soft enough to score, remove it from the pan by lifting
the paper out. The candies we’re copying are 1x½-inch rectan-
gles, so use a long-bladed chef’s knife to score (indent) the candy
lengthwise into approximately ½-inch strips. Turn the knife and
score the candy crosswise to make rows that are approximately 1
inch apart. This will give you around 63 candies if you use a 9x5-
inch pan, or around 72 candies if using a 10x5-inch pan. Repeat
the scoring if your score lines are not deep enough, or if they start
to disappear because the candy is still soft. The deeper the lines,
the easier it will be to cleanly break the candy apart when it’s
cool. Let the candy cool for at least 30 minutes, or until it’s no
longer warm.
Jj
8 Flip the candy over onto a doubled-over dish towel with the
score lines facing down and break it into little candies by
bending it outward or away from you. You may want to wear
gloves because the candy can break into shards that could cut
your fingers. The towel will help cushion the candy as you break
it so that it doesn’t crack in the wrong places. Any candies that are
too tough to separate can be separated with slight pressure from a
large knife. Wrap the individual candy pieces in plastic 4x4-inch
plastic candy wrappers, or store them in an airtight container.

KFC POTATO WEDGES
“Don’t call them fries,” says KFC about its popular side made
with sliced, skin-on russet potatoes. What sets these pota- HACK
toes apart from all the others is the secret breading made ACTIVE PREP:
with a similar seasoning blend to the one used for Colonel’s 25 MIN.
Original Recipe Fried Chicken. To achieve the proper crisp-
INACTIVE PREP:
iness, the potatoes are par-fried, frozen, then fried again 2½ HOURS.
until golden brown.
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM
One important ingredient that completes the flavor is MSG.
Monosodium glutamate is a food additive derived from glutam- YIELD:
ic acid, which is an important amino acid found in abundance
SERVES 4
(1 LARGE ORDER)
in nature, food, and in you right now. Over the last 60 years of
study and use, MSG has not only been found harmless in normal
amounts, but tests have shown glutamate to be a chemical mes-
senger that benefits gut health, immunity, and brain functions
such as memory and learning. In addition to all of that, it imparts
a unique savoriness that enhances flavors in other ingredients
and makes your food taste amazing. Using MSG in your food is,
literally, smart cooking.
Another important ingredient is ground Tellicherry black pep-
per, a select black pepper from India. Winston Shelton, a friend
of Harland Sanders who invented the first high-volume pressure
fryers for KFC, confirmed this. Shelton recalled seeing the ingre-
dient when Sanders showed him the secret formula for the fried
chicken seasoning he had scribbled on a piece of paper.
Potatoes
2 small or medium While we were shooting the first episode of my TV Show, Top
russet potatoes Secret Recipe, Winston pulled me aside and whispered to me that
1 cup whole milk Tellicherry pepper is crucial to creating the unique KFC aftertaste.
2 large eggs, beaten It was a great tip, and fortunately we caught that moment on
5 ounces (1 cup) camera and aired it on the show. Later, I conducted a side-by-
all-purpose flour side taste test with common black pepper and Tellicherry black
1 tablespoon salt pepper and discovered Winston was right. If you want the best
1 teaspoon MSG taste for your clone you’ll need Tellicherry pepper, which you can
¾ teaspoon ground Tellicherry find online and in some food stores. Be sure to grind it fine before
black pepper (fine grind) using it.
½ teaspoon ground coriander For this recipe, just two russet potatoes are all it takes to make
½ teaspoon rubbed sage the equivalent of a large serving of fried potato wedges, which will
be enough for at least four people.
¼ teaspoon ground
white pepper
1
Vegetable oil for frying Slice each potato in half lengthwise. Slice those halves in half
lengthwise, slice those slices in half, then slice them once again,
making 16 thin potato slices from each potato. If your potatoes are Kk
on the large side, you’ll be able to cut more than 16 slices. Ideally,
you want the potato slices no thicker than ¼ inch. After you slice
them, soak the potatoes in a large bowl of water for 30 minutes to
remove excess starch.
2 While your potato slices soak, prepare the breading by com-

bining the milk and eggs in a medium bowl. In another bowl,
whisk together the flour, salt, MSG, Tellicherry pepper, coriander,
sage, garlic powder, and white pepper.
The Harland Sanders Cafe,
3
where the Colonel served
his first secret recipe Fill a deep fryer or Dutch oven with 3 inches of oil and preheat
fried chicken. it to 325 degrees F.
4 Before breading the potato wedges, dry them off by blotting

them on a towel. Working with one potato wedge at a time, dip
it in the milk-egg mixture, then dredge it in the seasoned flour. A
single light coating of flour is all you’ll need. Arrange the breaded
wedges on a large plate or baking sheet and let them sit on their
sides until only a few dry spots of flour are visible. The breading
will appear to have become more of a batter at that point, and
that’s what you want.
The kitchen where Colonel

5 Fry the potato wedges several at a time in the oil for 2 minutes,
or until some very light brown spots are visible. This is just a
par-fry, so the potatoes will not be fully cooked. After they have
Sanders developed his
secret blend of 11 herbs cooled, arrange them on wax paper in a covered container and
and spices. Unfortunately,
freeze for at least 2 hours (if you’re anxious to eat), or even longer
I found no clues to the
secret recipe in here.

so that they are completely frozen. Reserve the oil for the
second frying.
6 When you’re ready to finish the potato wedges, heat the oil to
350 degrees F.
7 Fry the wedges several at a time for 3 to 4 minutes, or until

brown and crispy, and serve them immediately. You may want
to hold the finished wedges in a 325-degree-F oven while the
rest cook. This will keep them crispy and hot until the whole batch
is done.
KFC
CHICKEN POT PIE
KFC’s Chicken Pot Pie is a classic. It’s packed with lots of
shredded white and dark meat chicken, potatoes, peas, and HACK
Chicken!
Pie
carrots; all of it swimming in a delicious creamy gravy and ACTIVE PREP:
topped with a tantalizing flakey crust. It seems more like 30 MIN.
homemade food than fast food. And now it can be made at
INACTIVE PREP:
home better than ever before with this improved hack of 2½ HRS.
my original recipe. The crust now has a better flavor (more
DIFFICULTY:
butter!), and the gravy tastes closer to the original with the MEDIUM
addition of more spices.
YIELD:
SERVES 4

BRINE You can make these in ramekins or small oven-safe baking dishes,
8 cups water or get some recyclable aluminum pot-pie pans, which you can
find in many supermarkets. Those pans are the perfect size for
¼ cup salt
four single servings, and they make cleanup easy after the feast.
1 tablespoon MSG
2 chicken thigh fillets

1 large chicken breast fillet
(or 2 small breasts) 1 Dissolve the salt and MSG in the water in a large bowl or storage
container. Add the chicken and set it in your refrigerator for 2
hours to marinate (or brinerate, as it’s sometimes called).
CRUST
10 ounces (2 cups)
all-purpose flour 2 Make the dough for the crust by mixing flour, sugar, and salt
together in a large bowl. Slice the butter into tablespoon-size
chunks. Add it to the flour, then use a pastry blender or a large
fork to cut the cold butter into the flour until it is broken up into
1 teaspoon salt
pea-size bits. Combine the egg with the water in a small bowl,
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted
butter, cold then pour it into the flour and mix it in with a large mixing spoon.
Form the dough into a ball with your hands, wrap it in plastic
1 large egg, beaten
wrap, and pop it into your fridge for a couple hours or until Kk
3 tablespoons cold water
it’s needed.
3
FILLING When the chicken is done brining, rinse it under cold water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil and blot it dry. If you are not using it right away, you can store
1½ cups peeled and diced it in a storage bag in your refrigerator until you need it.
russet potato
4
¾ cup sliced carrots When you are ready to make the pot pies, preheat your oven to
¾ cup frozen peas 400 degrees F.
12⁄3 cups chicken broth
5 Preheat the vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add
the chicken to the pan and sauté the breast(s) for 5 to 6 minutes
per side and the thighs for 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until cooked
1 cup whole milk
through. Remove the chicken from the pan and let it cool, then
¾ teaspoon salt use your hands to shred it into bite-size pieces.
¼ teaspoon rubbed sage
¼ teaspoon ground black
pepper
6 Place the diced potato and sliced carrots in a steamer basket
set over a pan of simmering water, cover, and steam for 10
minutes or until tender.
7 Make the sauce by melting the butter over medium heat in a
large saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook the mixture for 1
minute, whisking often. Add the chicken broth and milk while
1 large egg white
whisking. Whisk in the salt, parsley, sage, black pepper, garlic
powder, and onion powder and bring the sauce to a boil, then re-
YOU WILL ALSO NEED duce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce thick-
4 (5-inch) aluminum pot-pie ens. Add the potato, carrots, peas, and shredded chicken. Cook for
pans or 12-ounce ramekins/
baking dishes 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.

8 Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is ¼ inch thick.
Invert one of the pot-pie pans (or whatever baking dish you are
using) onto the dough. Cut around the pan or dish, being sure to
cut the dough an extra ½ inch wider all the way around so you’ll
have enough excess to form the dough over the edge of each pan
or dish.
9 To build the pot pies, evenly distribute the filling among the 4
pot pie pans. Cover each with a circle of dough, then bend the
dough over the rim of each pan or dish to seal the pot pies.
To promote Top Secret
10 Lightly beat the egg white, then brush it on the top and
edges of the dough on each pot pie. Bake the pot pies on a
baking sheet for 22 to 25 minutes or until nicely browned on top.
Recipe, CMT parked this food
truck in Times Square and
gave away free KFC chicken
to anyone walking by.
KFC
EXTRA CRISPY TENDERS
As you can probably guess, KFC’s Extra Crispy Tenders are
chicken tenderloins coated with the same delicious bread-
ing as KFC’s Extra Crispy Chicken. These tenders come in
HACK Chicken!
ACTIVE PREP:
servings of two, three, six, or twelve, with your choice of 30 MIN.
dipping sauces on the side including buffalo, barbecue, and
INACTIVE PREP:
the new Finger Lickin’ Good Sauce. 2 HRS. 10 MIN.
DIFFICULTY:
To duplicate these chicken fingers at home we’ll resort to a similar MEDIUM
prep technique to the one used for the Extra Crispy Chicken: the
chicken is brined for 2 hours to give it more flavor and juiciness, YIELD:
then the tenders are double-breaded for an extra-crunchy coating.
SERVES 2 TO 3

An important secret revealed in this breading recipe is the use
of a specific type of ground black pepper. For the best clone you
want to use Tellicherry black pepper, which is premium black
pepper ground from mature peppercorns that have had time to
develop more flavor. The unique aftertaste of KFC chicken is at-
tributed to this special spice, so it’s worth the time to track it down.
Tellicherry black pepper costs a little more than the younger,
more common black pepper, but if you want a good clone of the
famous crispy fried chicken, it’s an essential ingredient. Be sure to
grind the pepper fine before adding it.
BRINE
8 cups water 1 Make the brine by dissolving the salt and MSG in the water in a
large bowl. Add the chicken tenders and place the bowl in your
refrigerator for exactly 2 hours to marinate. After 2 hours, rinse
¼ cup salt
the chicken and blot it dry.
1 tablespoon MSG
8 chicken tenderloins
2 Fill a deep fryer or a Dutch oven with a thermometer attached
with 3 inches of oil, and preheat the oil to 325 degrees F.
Kk
BREADING 3 Combine the eggs and milk in a medium shallow bowl. Com-
bine the flour, pepper, salt, MSG, sage, baking powder, onion
powder, and garlic powder in another bowl. Whisk well.
4
½ cup whole milk
To bread each tender, first coat it with the dry breading, then
9 ounces (1¾ cups) all-purpose
dip it into the egg-milk mixture. Remove the tender from the
flour
wet mixture and drop it immediately into the breading. Toss the
2½ teaspoons Tellicherry
ground black pepper (fine tender in the breading until a lot of it sticks. Dip each tender back
grind) into the egg-milk mixture and then back into the breading. Again,
2 teaspoons salt move the chicken around in the breading so that each piece gets
2 teaspoons MSG a nice buildup of breading on it. Let the pieces sit for 10 minutes
1 teaspoon ground sage in the breading to ensure that the breading sticks to the chicken
when it’s fried.
5
Fry the tenders in the hot oil in batches of 2 to 4 for 6 to 8
¼ teaspoon garlic powder minutes, or until the coating is golden brown. Cool on a paper
towel–lined plate or a rack for a couple minutes before serving.
Foodtoid
While he did serve in the Army for a bit, Colonel
Sanders wasn’t a real Colonel. Kentucky Governor
Ruby Laffoon gave Harlan Sanders the honorary rank
in 1935 for his contribution to the state’s cuisine.

KFC
GEORGIA GOLD HONEY
MUSTARD BBQ CHICKEN
After the success of KFC’s Nashville Hot Chicken (clone rec-
ipe on page 118), R&D chefs explored other sauce variations HACK
that could be drizzled over the chain’s Extra Crispy Fried ACTIVE PREP:
Chicken and breaded tenders. The beauty of the Nashville 10 MIN. Mustard
chicken sauce is that it’s made without any water in the
INACTIVE PREP:
formula, just oil, so the crispy fried chicken that gets doused 25 MIN. (TO BAKE
with it stays crispy.
PRE-BREADED
TENDERS)
But I had to make this sauce another way that includes water in DIFFICULTY:
the mix. With moisture in the blend, chicken coated with this EASY
clone of Georgia Gold sauce doesn’t stay crispy as long as Nash- YIELD:
ville chicken, even though it still has the same great taste as KFC’s MAKES 1¼ CUPS
version—sweet, tangy, spicy, and slightly smoky.

To make the sauce I mixed dry ingredients into the mustard,
then drizzled the oil into the mustard blend while whisking to
form an emulsion, locking everything together into a smooth
baste. Since mustard is such a great emulsifier, the process pro-
duced a very thick sauce. At the end I added a little water to thin it
out so that when the sauce is drizzled over fried chicken or strips,
it coats just right.
¼ cup yellow mustard

¼ cup light brown sugar 1 Combine the mustard, brown sugar, smoked paprika, cayenne,
salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in a small bowl.
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1¼ teaspoons ground
cayenne pepper 2 Whisk the mixture while slowly drizzling the oil into the bowl.
The mixture will be smooth and creamy.
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground
black pepper 3 Mix in the honey and vinegar.
Kk
4
Add the water a tablespoon at a time, mixing well after each
½ teaspoon onion powder addition, then pour the sauce into a squirt bottle. You can also
½ cup vegetable oil use a spouted cup, such as a measuring cup, to pour the sauce
1 tablespoon clover honey over the chicken, but a squirt bottle will work best.
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
7 tablespoons water
5 Prepare the chicken from my recipe for KFC Extra Crispy Ten-
ders (page 114) or cook pre-breaded crispy frozen
chicken pieces.
6 to 8 pieces fried chicken or
chicken tenders (KFC clone on
page 114 or store-bought)
6 to 8 dill pickle slices 6 While the chicken is warm, shake the sauce in the squirt
bottle (or stir it if using a spouted measuring cup), then apply
the sauce over the top of each piece of chicken until it is
completely covered.
7 Add one pickle slice on top of each piece of chicken and serve
it hot.
Shooting the first episode of Top Secret Recipe in front of KFC’s

impressive corporate headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky.

KFC
NASHVILLE HOT CHICKEN
Chicken!
It was only a matter of time before the spicy fried chicken
made famous in Nashville, Tennessee at shops like Prince’s HACK
Hot Chicken Shack and Hattie B’s would find its way into ACTIVE PREP:
the mainstream. A dish this good is never contained forever, 10 MIN.
and KFC became the first fast food chain to give the recipe
INACTIVE PREP:
national exposure. A test run of the new spicy chicken in 55 MIN.
Pittsburgh was the most successful product test in KFC’s
DIFFICULTY:
recent history. EASY
The original dish from Nashville is made with crispy fried chicken
that’s doused with a top secret spicy chili sauce and served on
YIELD:
SERVES 3 TO 4 Hot
sliced white bread with dill pickles on top. KFC’s version is served
with just pickles, no bread (a biscuit on the side instead), and is
made by soaking the chain’s Extra Crispy Fried Chicken with the
oily chili sauce from a squirt bottle. Since there isn’t any water
in the sauce, just oil, the chicken stays crispy, regardless of how
much sauce is applied.

To make a home version, you first need to make some chick-
en, either using my hack for KFC Extra Crispy Tenders (page 114),
or by baking or frying some of the pre-breaded chicken pieces
you can find frozen in just about every grocery store. While the
chicken cooks, make the sauce and pour it into a squirt bottle or
spouted measuring cup. Apply it to your chicken when it’s done
(shake it or stir it first!), then top it with dill pickle slices.
SAUCE
2 teaspoons paprika 1 Prepare the sauce by combining all the dry ingredients in a
small bowl. Add the oil and stir until combined, then pour the
sauce into a squirt bottle. You can also use a spouted cup, such as
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
a measuring cup, to pour the sauce over the chicken, but a squirt
2 teaspoons ground
cayenne pepper bottle will work best. Let the sauce sit for at least 30 minutes be-
fore using it so that the oil is infused with flavor. The longer it sits,
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
the better it gets.
½ teaspoon chili powder
2
½ teaspoon salt Prepare the chicken from the recipe for KFC Extra Crispy Kk
½ teaspoon garlic powder Tenders (page 114), or bake or fry pre-breaded crispy frozen
¼ teaspoon ground black chicken pieces.
pepper
⁄3 cup vegetable oil
3
2
While the chicken is warm, shake the sauce in the squirt bottle
(or stir it if using a spouted measuring cup), then apply the
6 to 8 pieces fried chicken or sauce over the top of each piece of chicken until it is completely
chicken tenders (KFC clone on covered.
page 114 or store-bought)
4
6 to 8 dill pickle slices Add one pickle slice on top of each piece of chicken and serve
it hot.
I never get tired

of this finger
lickin’ chicken.

Kind
DARK CHOCOLATE NUTS Sea Salt
& SEA SALT BAR
You probably think the dark chocolaty stuff that looks
like dark chocolate on a dark chocolate Kind nut bar is all HACK
chocolate, but it mostly isn’t. There is chocolate in there,
ACTIVE PREP:
but chicory root is listed third in the ingredients statement, 20 MIN.
Chocolate
right after peanuts and almonds and way before cocoa, so
INACTIVE PREP:
the dark chocolate is actually a chocolate-flavored coating 1 HR.
made mostly with chicory root fiber. Curiously, older labels
DIFFICULTY:
list “chocolate-flavored coating” as the second ingredient, MEDIUM
but newer labels don’t.
YIELD:
MAKES 8 BARS
Chicory is the root of the endive plant and it’s beloved in New
Orleans, where it’s combined with coffee drinks because its taste
is so similar to coffee. Chicory also happens to taste a lot like
chocolate, and it’s cheaper than chocolate, and that’s probably
why it’s used here.
But just because Kind uses chicory, doesn’t mean we have to.
For our hack, we’ll use real chocolate in the form of melting wa-
fers you can find in most stores. I used Ghirardelli brand because
it tastes great, but any easy-to-melt, dippable dark chocolate
will do.

4 ounces (¾ cup) roasted The bars are stuck together with honey and agave syrup heated
unsalted peanuts to 260 degrees F, or the hard ball stage. The sticky mixture is
4 ounces (¾ cup) roasted pressed into a 10x5-inch loaf pan, cooled, and sliced into 8 bars.
unsalted almonds
The bottoms are dipped in the pure chocolate, and more is driz-
½ ounce (½ cup) Rice Krispies zled over the top. About 30 minutes later, when the chocolate sets
cereal
up, your bars are ready to eat.
⁄3 cup honey
1
3 tablespoons dark agave syrup

2 teaspoons cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon sea salt
(shaker grind)
8 ounces dark chocolate
melting wafers (I used
Ghirardelli)
2 Combine the peanuts, almonds, and Rice Krispies in a metal
bowl or a casserole dish and place it in the oven to get hot
while the syrup cooks.
YOU WILL ALSO NEED

Candy thermometer 3 Combine the honey, agave syrup, and cocoa in a medium
saucepan over medium/low heat. Whisk the cocoa into the
honey as it heats up until there are no lumps, then attach a candy
Nonstick foil or wax paper Kk
thermometer to the pan. Continue to cook until the mixture
10x5-inch loaf pan
reaches 260 degrees F. Watch it closely in case it begins to
boil over.
4 Line a 10x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick foil or wax paper. Use
enough to allow the ends to go up over the sides, like a sling, so
you can easily pull it out later. Press it firmly against the sides of
the pan, especially at the bottom.
5 When the syrup reaches 260 degrees F, about 15 minutes, turn

off the heat. Stir in the vanilla, but be careful because it could
spatter when it hits the hot liquid.
6 Remove the bowl or dish of nuts from the oven and pour the
hot syrup over it. Mix well so that all the nuts and Rice Krispies
are coated. Sprinkle on the salt and mix, then spoon the mixture
into the loaf pan. Spread the mixture evenly around the pan but
don’t worry about pressing it down yet—it’s much too hot. Let the
mixture cool for 7 to 8 minutes, then moisten one of your hands
with water and compress the mixture firmly down into the pan,
making it flat on top. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.
7 Pull the nut bar out of the pan, but don’t remove the foil or wax
paper. Slice it into 8 bars using a large knife. The best way to do
this is to first cut it in half, then cut those halves in half, then slice
the quarters in half.

8 Melt the dipping chips by microwaving them in a shallow bowl
for 30 seconds or until melted.
9 Remove the foil or wax paper from the bars. Dip the bottom of
each bar in the chocolate, then place each one on a wax paper–
lined baking sheet with a couple inches between each bar. Spoon
the remaining chocolate into a squirt bottle, and drizzle it diago-
nally over the top of each bar. When the bars have firmed up in an
hour or two, store them in a sealed container and they will keep
for several weeks or more.
King’s Hawaiian
ORIGINAL HAWAIIAN SWEET ROLLS
Flour
A recipe for Portuguese sweet bread inspired the soft rolls
that became the main attraction at the Bakery & Restaurant HACK
Robert Taira opened in Honolulu, Hawaii in the 1950s. It ACTIVE PREP:
wasn’t long before Robert changed the name of his thriving 20 MIN.
Rolls
business to King’s Hawaiian, and in 1977 the company
INACTIVE PREP:
opened its first bakery on the mainland, in Torrance, Cali- 2 HRS. 15 MIN.,
fornia, to make the now-famous island sweet rolls sold in
PLUS COOLING TIME
stores across the country. DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM
King’s Hawaiian Rolls are similar to Texas Roadhouse Rolls in that
YIELD:
they are both pillowy, sweet white rolls, so it made sense to dig out MAKES 2 DOZEN
ROLLS

my Texas Roadhouse Rolls clone recipe (page 256) and use it as a
starting point. These new rolls had to be slightly softer and sweet-
er, so I made some adjustments and added a little egg for color.
And by baking the dough in a high-rimmed baking pan with 24
dough balls placed snugly together, I ended up with beautiful rolls
that rose nicely to the occasion, forming a tear-apart loaf just like
the original, but with clean ingredients, and no dough condition-
ers as in the packaged rolls.
Use these fluffy sweet rolls for sandwiches, sliders, or simply
warmed up and slathered with soft European butter.
16 ounces (3 cups plus 2

tablespoons) all-purpose
flour, divided
1 Measure 8 ounces of the flour into a large bowl or into the bowl
of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix in the
sugar, yeast, and salt.
¾ cup granulated sugar
2
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Combine the water, butter, and milk in a spouted measuring
instant (quick-rise) yeast
cup or medium bowl and warm the mixture in your microwave Kk
¾ teaspoon salt
for 30 to 60 seconds. Make the water warm, not hot, no more than
1 cup water, minus 1 tablespoon 120 degrees F. You can also warm the mixture in a small saucepan
3 tablespoons unsalted butter over low heat.
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons beaten egg
3 When the butter is melted, add the water solution to the flour
in the mixing bowl. Combine the mixture with the stand mixer
or with a handheld electric mixer on medium speed. Mix for 1
minute to dissolve the sugar.
4 Add the remaining 8 ounces flour and egg, and combine with
the kneading hook if using a stand mixer, or with a heavy
spoon if you don’t have a stand mixer. When all the flour is mixed
in, knead the dough for 2 minutes in the stand mixer, or for 5
minutes by hand. The dough will be sticky, so if kneading the
dough by hand, you’ll probably need to add a little flour so that the
dough doesn’t stick to your hands and work surface. The dough
will be much less sticky after the first rise.
5 Place the dough in a covered bowl and set it in a warm spot to

rise for 1 hour.
6 After 1 hour, fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a

boil. Punch down the dough and form it into 24 balls that each
weigh 1¼ ounces. Arrange the balls in a parchment paper–lined
9x13-inch baking pan. Place the pan into your oven, place the
saucepan of boiling water in the oven either next to the pan or
below it, and close the door (leave the oven turned off). The heat

and steam from the water will help proof the rolls without drying
them out.
7 When the rolls have more than doubled in size, in 1 to 2 hours,

remove the saucepan and rolls from the oven. Preheat your
oven to 375 degrees F, or 350 degrees F if using convection bake.
8 Bake the rolls for 14 to 16 minutes or until they’re nicely

browned on top. Allow the rolls to cool for 5 to 10 minutes
before serving.
Knott’s Berry Farm

SHORTBREAD COOKIES
It’s been nearly 100 years since Walter and Cordelia Knott
first started selling berries, preserves, and pies from their HACK
Sugar
roadside produce stand in Buena Park, California. ACTIVE PREP:
Walter Knott’s berry stand and farm was a popular stop 30 MIN.
throughout the 1920s for travelers heading to the Southern
INACTIVE PREP:
California beaches. 36 MIN.
DIFFICULTY:
But Walter’s big claim to fame came in 1932 when he cultivated MEDIUM
and sold the world’s first boysenberries—a hybrid of raspberry,
blackberry, loganberry, and dewberry. This new berry brought so YIELD:
many people to the farm that they added a restaurant, featuring
MAKES 40 COOKIES

6 tablespoons Cordelia’s secret fried chicken recipe, and the Knotts struck
margarine, softened gold again.
7 tablespoons The fried chicken was a huge hit, and the restaurant got so
granulated sugar
crowded the Knotts added rides and attractions to the farm to
3 tablespoons beaten egg keep customers occupied while they waited for a table. Over the
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract years the real berry farm transformed into an amusement
¼ teaspoon butter flavoring park called Knott’s Berry Farm—one of my favorites as a
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt kid—which is now ranked as the tenth most visited theme park
5½ ounces (1 cup plus 2 in North America.
tablespoons) all-purpose flour Knott’s Berry Farm also makes delicious packaged preserves,
2 tablespoons Knott’s Berry jams, and other foods, including these fantastic little jam-filled
Farm seedless jam (raspberry, shortbread cookies that everyone seems to love. The shortbread
strawberry, apricot, or your
dough is piped into closed “c” shapes with a pastry bag onto
favorite seedless jam)
baking sheets, then a little bit of jam is spooned into the center.
You’ll need a pastry bag and a 1M open star tip, plus your favorite
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
seedless jam. Once you’ve got all that, the rest is pretty easy.
Pastry bag
1M open star tip
Kk
1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with
parchment paper or nonstick foil.
2 Combine the margarine with the sugar in a large bowl using an

electric mixer on high speed. Mix for 1 minute.
3 Add the egg, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt. Continue to mix
until fully incorporated.
4 Reduce the mixing speed to low, then add the flour. Mix well,
scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
Don’t let the dough sit long before baking.
5 Spoon the dough into a large pastry bag fitted with a 1M open
star tip. Twist the bag to prevent the dough from leaking.
6 To pipe the cookies, press the bag firmly with your palm, rather
than your fingers. Hold the pastry bag just above the baking
sheet and pipe 1½-inch circles. When the ends touch, gently lift
upward to create a delicate seam. Try not to pipe rings with an
open center. If you can see the baking sheet in the center, add a
little bit of dough to the middle so that the jam won’t be in direct
contact with the baking sheet.
7 After piping, make a shallow indentation in the center of each

ring with the back of a moistened ¼-teaspoon measuring

spoon. Use the measuring spoon to measure ¼ teaspoon of jam
into each indention. Use another spoon to scoop the jam out of
the measuring spoon onto the cookies. You may also use a small
piping bag to add the jam.
8 Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until light brown around the bottom

edges. Repeat with the remaining dough and jam, but be sure the
baking sheets are cool, not hot, before piping the dough on. Cool
the cookies on a wire cooling sheet and store in a sealed container.
Kozy Shack RICE PUDDING Sugar

My previously published recipe hack of America’s most
popular rice pudding was not clear about which kind of rice
to use. That’s a problem because not all rice is created equal.
HACK
ACTIVE PREP:
Rice
The recipe calls for medium-grain rice but is not any more 1 HR.
specific than that, which could lead to varying results in the
INACTIVE PREP:
consistency of the pudding since every rice has a different 2 HRS. 10 MIN.
thickening ability.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
I recently reworked this recipe using many different types of rice,
including instant rice, converted rice, basmati rice, jasmine rice,
YIELD:
MAKES 2½ CUPS
calrose rice, arborio rice, and even sushi rice. Most didn’t contain (5 SERVINGS)

the starch needed to properly thicken the pudding, especially the
par-cooked rice such as instant rice and converted rice. On the
other end of the spectrum, sushi rice contained too much starch
and was much too small.
The best of the bunch was jasmine rice, a long-grain rice,
which thickened the pudding nicely after 45 minutes or so of sim-
mering and appeared to be comparable in size to what is in the
real thing. Jasmine rice plus five more ingredients are all it takes
to make this new, improved clone.
And now there’s no need for a cooking thermometer as re-
quired in my previous recipe, since you can just add the rice
when you see the milk beginning to steam and keep the pudding
at a low simmer until it’s done. After about an hour, you’ll have a
Kozy Shack rice pudding copycat recipe that’s ready to pop into
the fridge until it’s cool, creamy, and ready to eat.
4 cups whole milk

¼ cup granulated sugar 1 Whisk together the milk, sugar, egg, and salt in a large (3-quart)
steam (which should be at around 160 degrees F), add the rice and
Kk
1 tablespoon beaten egg

reduce the heat to medium/low. Let the mixture reach a very low
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
simmer, but don’t let it boil (it should be around 190 degrees F).
¼ cup jasmine rice
2
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract Cook for 45 to 50 minutes, stirring often, until the pudding
thickens and reduces to around 2½ cups.
3 Turn off the heat, add the vanilla, and let the pudding sit for 10
minutes. Transfer it to a covered container and chill it for at
least 2 hours before eating. The pudding will thicken more when
completely chilled.
Foodtoid
Bread delivery man Vincent Gruppuso was so fond of the rice pudding served at Cozy
Shack Deli in Brooklyn, New York, that he bought the recipe and opened a pudding
factory. Today Kozy Shack makes the top-selling rice pudding in the U.S.

Kozy Shack
TAPIOCA PUDDING
The brand that makes the most popular rice pudding in the
country also makes a great tapioca pudding, with large tapi- HACK
Tapioca
oca pearls in a delicious vanilla cream. I wanted to duplicate ACTIVE PREP:
the pudding as easily as possible, and since large tapioca 40 MIN.
pearls are much harder to find and take longer to cook than
INACTIVE PREP:
Minute Tapioca made by Kraft, I opted to design the recipe 2 HRS. 10 MIN.
using this more available ingredient.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
Minute Tapioca’s small pearls of tapioca have been par-cooked so
that it takes less time to prepare the pudding. Soaking large tapio-
YIELD:
MAKES 3 CUPS
ca pearls until tender is a process that can take as long as 12 hours, (6 SERVINGS)
and then you still have to make the pudding. This quick recipe,
however, will take you just an hour from beginning to end.
Give the pudding a nice chill once it’s done and it will thicken
up nicely. You can be spoon-deep in a bowl of homemade tapioca
pudding the same day you make it.

4 cups whole milk
granulated sugar
1 Whisk together the milk, sugar, egg, and salt in a large (3-quart)
steam (at around 160 degrees F), add the tapioca and reduce the
1 tablespoon beaten egg heat to medium/low.
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1
⁄3 cup Kraft Minute Tapioca
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 Bring the pudding to a low simmer (around 190 degrees F) and
cook, stirring often, for 30 minutes, or until it thickens and
reduces to around 3 cups. Don’t let it come to a boil.
3 Turn off the heat and let the pudding sit for 10 minutes, then
whisk in the cornstarch.
4 Turn the heat to low again and cook the pudding for 10 min-
utes, stirring often, until it’s thickened, then remove it from the
heat and stir in the vanilla.
5 Allow the pudding to sit uncovered for 10 minutes to cool, then

transfer it to a covered container and chill for a couple hours
before eating. The pudding will thicken more as it becomes com- Kk
pletely chilled.
Working on a hack for Cinnamon Rolls

in the food truck while on a break from
shooting Top Secret Recipe. It was
SO hot in there.
These are fun: live cooking demos

at home and garden shows
across America. The best part? I
hand out fresh samples at the end!

Kraft
JET-PUFFED MARSHMALLOWS
Vanilla
The most popular recipe circulating on the internet and
among Food Network chefs who claim it as their own makes HACK
decent marshmallows, but the ubiquitous formula won’t ACTIVE PREP:
pass as a hack for America’s favorite marshmallows, Jet- 25 MIN.
Puffed. I know this for sure because my eleven-year-old
INACTIVE PREP:
daughter says so, and she’s the House Marshmallow 4 HRS. 10 MIN.
Expert (HME).
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM
According to our HME, the internet recipe makes marshmallows
that are too sweet, and they don’t have the right flavor. After test-
YIELD:
MAKES 40
ing the sweetness for myself I decided she was right, so I reduced MARSHMALLOWS
the sugar for my clone. I also adjusted the flavor by adding more
vanilla, and after another taste test, my batch of fresh marshmal-
lows got the HME seal of approval. Cylindrical shapes can be made with
a cornstarch mold.
But the shape was still wrong.
One thing you’ll notice about homemade marshmallow recipes
is that they all make cubic marshmallows, which are hand-sliced
from one sheet of marshmallow that has set up in a square pan.
But Jet-Puffed Marshmallows aren’t cubes, they’re cylindrical, and
I wanted marshmallows like that. So, borrowing a technique for
cornstarch molds used by candy manufacturers, I came up with

3 envelopes Knox a way you can make cylindrical marshmallows just like the big
unflavored gelatin boys do. All you need is cornstarch and a muffin pan. You’ll find
½ cup ice-cold water instructions for cylindrical marshmallows in the Tidbits if you
½ cup warm water want to give the more authentic shape a try.
1¼ cups granulated sugar Regardless of what shape you decide to make, a stand mixer
1 cup light corn syrup and a candy thermometer will help you turn out the best-ever
homemade marshmallows—which, by the way, make fantastic
¼ teaspoon salt
s’mores.
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Cornstarch
YOU WILL ALSO NEED

Stand mixer 1 Combine the gelatin with the ice-cold water in the bowl of a
stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Stir gently so that all the
gelatin is moistened. Let the gelatin soak in the water while you
Candy thermometer
prepare the syrup.
2
TIDBITS:
Combine the warm water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a me-
> For round marshmallows dium saucepan over medium heat. Using a candy thermometer
you’ll need one or more clipped to the side of the pan, bring the mixture to 240 degrees F, Kk
muffin pans, lined with muffin or the soft ball stage.
cups. You’ll also need a lot of
3
cornstarch. Each muffin cup While the syrup is cooking, lightly spray a 9x9-inch pan or
must be filled with cornstarch,
baking dish with nonstick spray. Dust the inside of the pan
and that will take nearly 2
(16-ounce) boxes of cornstarch with cornstarch.
for all 12 muffin cups. After
filling each cup, press lightly
on the cornstarch to flatten it.
Then use a small round bottle
4 When the syrup reaches 240 degrees F, immediately remove
it from the heat and add the syrup to the gelatin by pouring
it down the inside of the bowl while the mixer is running on low
with a 1¼-inch diameter, such
speed. Turn the mixer to high speed and beat syrup for 6 to 8
as an extract bottle or pill
minutes, or until it no longer increases in volume. About 5 min-
bottle, to make a cylindrical
hole 1½ inches deep in each utes in, add the vanilla.
cup of cornstarch. When the
marshmallow crème is done
mixing, use a teaspoon and
your fingers to drop a spoonful
5 Immediately pour the syrup into the cornstarch-dusted pan.
Wiggle the pan to help evenly spread the marshmallow. Pour
some cornstarch on top of the marshmallow and use dry hands to
of marshmallow into each
gently pat down on the marshmallow to flatten the top. Set it aside
cornstarch mold. Work quickly
because the marshmallow for 4 hours to solidify.
crème will firm up as it cools.
The more muffin pans you have,
the more marshmallows you
can make, but you don’t have
6 Pour some cornstarch into a bowl. Remove the marshmallow
from the pan by inverting the pan, then slice it into cubes with
a sharp knife. After slicing, immediately toss each marshmallow
to make them all round. After
into the cornstarch, covering all the sticky sides. Shake off the
filling the muffin cups you can
pour the remaining marshmal- marshmallows and place them onto a sheet pan to dry for a few
low into a cornstarch-dusted hours. Store the marshmallows in a covered container so that they
pan to make square don’t dry out.
marshmallows as described in
the recipe above.

Leonard’s Bakery MALASADAS
“Biting into a cloud” is how many describe the lightly crisp
browned shell and fluffy, custard-like middle of Leonard’s HACK
malasadas. Hawaii has become known for the best malasa- ACTIVE PREP:
das in North America, but the hole-less doughnuts aren’t 30 MIN.
originally from Hawaii. Malasadas were brought to the
INACTIVE PREP:
islands in the late 1800s by Portuguese immigrants who 24 HRS.
worked on the sugarcane plantations, and today malasadas
DIFFICULTY:
are sold in bakeries all over Hawaii. But for the best mala- MEDIUM
sadas, everyone knows you must brave the long lines that
YIELD:
always go out the door at Leonard’s Bakery in Honolulu. MAKES 16
And that’s okay because it’s always worth the wait. MALASADAS
Yeast
Leonard’s has been making malasadas since 1952 using a

well-protected secret recipe that many have unsuccessfully tried
to duplicate. The chain will ship malasadas from Hawaii to your
house on the mainland for a pretty hefty fee (nearly $100), but
even after following strict reheating instructions, eating a two-
day-old malasada is not the same heavenly experience as con-
suming a fresh one. A fluffy, fresh malasada turns into a tough

3 large eggs, beaten and chewy malasada in just a few hours. That’s the nature of fried
⁄3 cup plus 1 tablespoon
1 dough. It quickly became clear that if I were ever to properly clone
evaporated milk these, I would have to experience them fresh, from the source. So,
1
⁄3 cup unsalted butter, melted I hopped on a plane to Hawaii.
⁄3 cup granulated sugar, plus
1 I visited two Leonard’s locations in Honolulu: the original brick-
more for rolling and-mortar bakery and a Leonard’s Bakery food truck parked in a
3 tablespoons water shopping mall lot. I watched them make malasadas in big vats of
1 teaspoon salt oil, lowering dozens of doughnuts at once into the oil with a metal
1¾ teaspoons active dry yeast screen pressing down on them so that they were fully submerged
in the hot fat. I observed the process, noted the temperature,
tablespoons) all-purpose flour watched the malasadas come out of the oil and get sugared, and
timed everything.
Back home I made malasadas for weeks, using intel gathered in
Canola oil for frying (or other
neutral oil) Hawaii. Dozens and dozens of versions later, after altering vari-
ables such as proofing methods, mixing methods, flour types, fat
types, sweetness, saltiness, and many others, I landed on this one.
I believe it was number 92 out of 93 attempts.
Before we start, let me offer a few tips about equipment you’ll
need. It’s best to have a stand mixer. The dough starts loose but
it eventually gets too tough for a handheld granny mixer. You
Ll
can knead the dough by hand when it gets too tough for the little
mixer, but a big mixer is much better.
Also, a deep fryer is helpful. You can fry these in a pot of oil with
a thermometer if you want, but it’s so much easier to regulate
temperature with a deep fryer. And you must devise a way to keep
the malasadas submerged so that you won’t have to flip them, and
they won’t get a white line around the middle where the dough
isn’t in the oil. Deep fryers typically have a basket that you can use
to put on top of the malasadas to hold them down. Rather than
placing the dough in the basket when frying, carefully lower the
dough into the fryer without the basket and use the basket on
top of the dough to hold it under the oil. If you are frying on your
stovetop, you can use a spider or strainer to hold the dough under
the oil.
1 Mix the eggs, milk, butter, sugar, water, and salt in the bowl of
a stand mixer with the whisk attachment for 1 minute. You can
also use a handheld mixer. Mix in the yeast.
2 Add the flour in 4 portions, mixing well after each addition.

If you’re using a hand mixer and the dough gets too thick for it,
mix with a large wooden spoon until no lumps are visible.
The dough will be soft and sticky. Cover the bowl and refrigerate
it overnight.

3 The next day, allow the dough to sit out for about 2 hours to
come to room temperature.
4 Using well-floured hands, form 2-ounce balls by squeezing

the dough through the top of your fist and pinching off the
balls with your thumb and forefinger. The dough is still tacky, so
flouring your hands is a must. Place the dough balls on oiled wax
paper on baking sheets to proof. Cover the dough (unless your
kitchen is warm and humid) and let it rise for 2 to 3 hours, or until
the balls have more than doubled in size.
5 Fill a deep fryer or a deep pan with 3 to 4 inches of oil. If using a

stovetop pan, clip on a thermometer. If using a deep fryer, take
the basket out.
6 To carefully remove a dough ball from the wax paper, lift the
edge of the oiled wax paper with dough on it and invert it over
your other hand so that the dough falls off gently into your palm.
You should avoid grabbing or squeezing the dough, or it will
deflate and your malasada won’t be as light and fluffy as it should
be. Lower the dough into the oil and fully submerge it so that it
browns evenly. If using a deep fryer, you can lower the basket on
top of the malasada until it’s submerged. If using a Dutch oven or
large saucepan, use a spider or a metal strainer to push the mala-
sada down under the oil. Fry a couple at a time for 3 to 4 minutes,
or until golden brown.
7 Cool the malasadas for 3 to 4 minutes on a rack or a paper

towel–lined plate, then roll them in granulated sugar and eat
within a few hours.
Foodtoid
In Portugal, the name “malasada” means “poorly
cooked,” which describes the soft, doughy middle
beneath the crisp, sugary exterior.

Maggiano’s
BEEF TENDERLOIN MEDALLIONS
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Portobello, balsamic cream
HACK sauce & garlic mashed potatoes.”
ACTIVE PREP: Mm
15 MIN. For many years this entree has been a top menu choice at Mag-
giano’s, the 54-unit Italian chain from Brinker, the same company
INACTIVE PREP: that operates Chili’s Grill & Bar. The $30 restaurant dish consists
30 MIN. of three 2½-ounce tenderloin steaks, swimming in a fantastic
balsamic cream sauce with sliced portobello mushrooms—but a
DIFFICULTY:
EASY home version of the signature dish is only seven easy steps away,
and it won’t hit you in the wallet as hard as the pricey original.
YIELD: Cracking this dish required a perfect hack of the sauce, and that
SERVES 2
came quickly after obtaining some very reliable information from
my incredibly helpful server/informant at a Las Vegas Maggiano’s.
Let’s call him Skippy.
According to Skippy, the balsamic cream sauce is as simple as
mixing a sweet balsamic glaze with the chain’s creamy alfredo
sauce. So, I first got a sample of Maggiano’s alfredo sauce and
figured out how to replicate it. Once that was done, I measured
increments of balsamic glaze into the alfredo sauce until the color
and flavor matched the original. The rest of the recipe was easy.
This recipe will make two servings of the dish, and includes
preparation for the tenderloins and sauce. If you’d like to com-
plete the dish the way it’s served at the restaurant (as in the photo),
add some garlic mashed potatoes on the side, using my hack for
Olive Garden Garlic Mashed Potatoes on page 165.

1 Make the sauce by melting 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium
saucepan over medium/low heat. Add the garlic and cook for
just a minute or two, being sure not to brown the garlic. Add the
BALSAMIC
CREAM SAUCE
cream, Parmesan, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, the pepper, and basil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
and heat just until bubbles begin forming around the edge of the
1 cup heavy cream
pan. Add the balsamic glaze, then turn the heat to low and cook
the sauce uncovered, stirring often, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
cheese
thick. Remove the sauce from the heat.
¼ teaspoon plus 1⁄8 teaspoon
salt, divided
2 While the sauce cooks, prepare the mushrooms by heating the

olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium/high heat. When the
oil begins to shimmer, add the mushrooms, sprinkle them with
1
⁄8 teaspoon coarse ground
black pepper
Pinch dried basil
the remaining 1 ⁄ 8 teaspoon salt, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or
until they are starting to brown, then turn off the heat. balsamic glaze (see Tidbits)
3
2 tablespoons extra virgin
Let them sit for a minute, then stir the cooked mushrooms olive oil
into the balsamic cream sauce. Cover and set aside until ready 5 ounces (2 cups) sliced
to serve. portobello mushrooms
4 Heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauté pan over

medium/high heat.
MEDALLIONS
2 tablespoons extra virgin
olive oil
5 Salt and pepper each beef medallion and cook all of them in
the hot pan for 3 to 5 minutes per side or until they hit your
preferred doneness.
6 (2½-ounce) beef tenderloin
filets
Salt
Ground black pepper
6 Serve each dish by arranging 3 filets around a mound of

mashed potatoes. Spoon a generous portion of the sauce with
mushrooms over the filets. Sprinkle minced parsley over the dish
ON THE SIDE
Garlic mashed potatoes
and stick a sprig of rosemary into the mashed potatoes. (page 165)
GARNISH
Minced fresh Italian parsley
2 springs fresh rosemary
TIDBITS:
> Balsamic glaze is balsamic vinegar and a sweetener, with 3 tablespoons of brown sugar in a small saucepan over
such as honey, maple syrup, or brown sugar, cooked down medium/low heat. When the mixture begins to bubble, sim-
to a syrup. You can find it in many stores, but you can also mer for 6 to 8 minutes or until the liquid reduces to about
make your own by combining 1 cup of balsamic vinegar one-third of its original volume.

Maggiano’s
VERA’S LEMON COOKIES Mm
One of the most-loved treats at the Maggiano’s Little Italy

HACK restaurant chain are the crescent-shaped lemon cookies
ACTIVE PREP: served at the end of your meal. The cookies are soft, chewy,
15 MIN. and coated with a bright lemon icing, and it’s impossible to
eat just one.
INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR. 45 MIN.
Well, now you can eat as many as you like because this knockoff
DIFFICULTY: recipe makes five dozen lemony taste-alike cookies. And you
EASY won’t have to worry about getting a crescent cookie cutter to get
YIELD: the shapes right. First, cut out a circle using a round 2-inch biscuit
MAKES 60 cutter, then use the cutter to slice a chunk out of the round, mak-
COOKIES ing a crescent.

1 Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted
butter, softened
2
2 Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an

electric mixer on high speed for 1 minute. Add the egg yolks
and sour cream and mix well. Mix in the lemon extract, vanilla,
3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon extract
and salt.
3 In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
and baking soda. Pour this into the wet mixture and mix well 10 ounces (2 cups) all-purpose
flour
with the mixer until no more flour is visible. Use your hands to
form the dough into a ball. ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
4 Roll out the dough on a floured surface to ½-inch thick. Use a

2-inch biscuit cutter to cut rounds from the dough. Then use
the biscuit cutter to cut a crescent shape out of each circle. Form
ICING
6 ounces (1½ cups)
the leftover dough back into a ball, then roll it out again to cut powdered sugar
more cookies, and repeat the process until all the dough is used 2 tablespoons lemon juice
up. Place the cookies on silicone pad–lined or parchment paper– 1 teaspoon milk
lined baking sheets.
¼ teaspoon lemon extract
5 Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or just until light brown on the bot-

toms. They should be soft when cooled, and not crispy. Cool
the baking sheets between batches.
6 Make the icing by combining the powdered sugar, lemon juice,

milk, and lemon extract in a medium bowl with a mixer on
high speed for 1 minute. When the cookies are cool, use a small
frosting knife or butter knife to coat the top of each cookie with
icing. Let the icing set up for about an hour before serving.

Melting Pot
COQ AU VIN FONDUE
Mm
Re-creating the signature cooking style at the country’s

HACK most famous fondue chain required hacking the flavorful
ACTIVE PREP: simmering broth in which all the proteins and vegetables
10 MIN. are cooked. This was tricky since only some of the prep is
performed tableside at the restaurant.
INACTIVE PREP:
10 MIN.
When a server brought the warm broth to my table, it was already
DIFFICULTY: seasoned with a few mystery ingredients. The pot was left alone to
EASY heat up on the center burner, which was the perfect time for me
YIELD: to scoop out ½ cup of the liquid and seal it up in a small jar to take
MAKES 5 CUPS back to the lab for further analysis. When the server came back to
the table after five minutes, she added a few more ingredients to
the pot: fresh garlic, mushrooms, green onions, Burgundy wine,
and black pepper. I took mental notes on the amounts and wrote
them into my phone before I forgot.
The server told me the hot liquid base was vegetable broth, so I
figured some Swanson in a can would do. But later, after further
taste-testing, I found the broth in my stolen sample to be more sa-
Wine
vory than any of the canned broths I tried. I then made a broth by

dissolving a vegetable bouillon cube in boiling water and found 2 Knorr extra-large
the flavor to be a much closer match to the sample I had swiped. vegetable bouillon cubes
The bouillon is also cheaper than the broth, and I’m okay with that.
4 cups boiling water
After a few tweaks to the seasoning additions, I had a good
clone that could stand up to any taste test. Use this fondue formu- ¾ teaspoon salt
la to cook chopped veggies, chicken, beef, and shrimp. And if ½ teaspoon ground
black pepper
you want the complete Melting Pot experience, you’re going
to need my hacks for the six dipping sauces coming up on the ¼ teaspoon finely crushed
dried parsley
following pages.
1
⁄8 teaspoon onion powder
This recipe is designed for a 2-quart fondue pot. If you have a
3-quart pot and would like a bigger fondue party (lucky you), refer ¾ cup Burgundy wine
to the Tidbits below for that adjustment. 1 tablespoon minced garlic
½ cup thinly sliced
white mushrooms
¼ cup chopped green onions
1 Add the bouillon cubes to the boiling water. Steep for a minute
or so until the bouillon is dissolved, then add the liquid to your
fabulous 2-quart fondue pot (for 3-quart pots, refer to Tidbits be-
FOR COOKING
Sliced beef tenderloin
low), along with the salt, black pepper, parsley, and onion powder.
Turn the heat up to high. Sliced sirloin
Sliced chicken breast
2 When the mixture begins to bubble, add the wine, garlic,

mushrooms, and green onions. When the cooking liquid
returns to bubbling, reduce the heat to medium, and commence
Peeled white shrimp
Sliced lobster tail
Quartered red new potatoes
with the fondue fork cooking: Cook the steak and chicken for 2 (steam for 10 to 12 minutes
minutes, cook the seafood for 1½ minutes, and cook the potatoes before serving)
for 3 minutes. Cook the broccoli and mushrooms until they are as Broccoli florets
tender as you like them. White mushrooms, stems
removed
TIDBITS:
> If you have a 3-quart pot, you’ll probably want more powder, 1¼ cups Burgundy wine, and 1 tablespoon plus 1
cooking liquid. In that case, use this recipe: 6 cups vegeta- teaspoon minced garlic. Measure the mushrooms and green
ble bouillon (3 cubes, 6 cups of water), 1 teaspoon salt, ¾ onions the same as above. Happy fondue-ing.
teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon parsley, ¼ teaspoon onion
Foodtoid
The word “Fondue” comes from
the French verb “fondre,” which
means “to melt.”

Melting Pot
COCKTAIL SAUCE
Mm
It’s a simple formula, and a perfect sauce to have nearby

HACK when you’re looking for a classic, great-tasting dip for your
ACTIVE PREP: fondue-cooked shrimp and lobster.

5 MIN.
INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
YIELD:
MAKES 1¼ CUPS
1 cup ketchup Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and chill for at
½ cup prepared horseradish least 1 hour before serving.
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Melting Pot
CURRY SAUCE
Curry Powder
If you like curry, you’ll love this sweet-and-sour yo-
gurt-based curry sauce, sweetened with sugar and citrus HACK
juices and kicked up with just a pinch of cayenne pepper. ACTIVE PREP:
Use this for saucing up your fondue-cooked chicken and 5 MIN.
shrimp. It’s also good on vegetables.
INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
YIELD:
MAKES 1 1⁄3 CUPS
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and chill for ½ cup Greek yogurt
at least 1 hour before serving. ½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup water
2½ teaspoons yellow curry powder
1½ teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lime juice
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1
cayenne pepper

Melting Pot
GINGER PLUM SAUCE
Ginger
It would have been great to find a brand-name plum sauce
HACK that is a perfect match to the ginger plum sauce served at
ACTIVE PREP: The Melting Pot, but after trying several popular brands, Mm
5 MIN. none of them was quite right. The sauce that came the clos-
est is made by Lee Kum Kee, and I found the best solution
INACTIVE PREP:
NONE was to use that bottled sauce as a base and transform it into
a clone by adding a few other ingredients.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
You’ll find that this sweet-and-sour sauce tastes delicious on your
YIELD: fondue-cooked shrimp and chicken.
MAKES 1¼ CUPS
¾ cup (one 9.2-ounce jar) Lee Kum Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Can be used immediate-
Kee plum sauce ly. Store chilled in a covered container.
1
⁄3 cup water
ketchup
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
2½ teaspoons lemon juice
1½ teaspoons rice wine vinegar

Melting Pot
GORGONZOLA PORT SAUCE
It only takes a little bit of port wine to perfectly flavor this
creamy gorgonzola dipping sauce, which tastes great on HACK
your fondue-cooked beef and vegetables. ACTIVE PREP:
5 MIN.
INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
YIELD:
MAKES 1 1⁄3 CUPS
1 Combine all ingredients except the gorgonzola in a

medium bowl.
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
3 tablespoons milk
2
½ teaspoon port wine
Stir in the gorgonzola cheese crumbles, then cover and chill
for at least 1 hour before serving.
¼ teaspoon ground
black pepper
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1 cup (one 5-ounce tub)
gorgonzola cheese crumbles

Melting Pot
GREEN GODDESS SAUCE
Chives
Cream cheese, sour cream, and fresh herbs make a great
HACK hack of this Melting Pot favorite dip for your fondue-
Mm
ACTIVE PREP: cooked veggies.
5 MIN.
INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
YIELD:
MAKES 1¼ CUPS
4 ounces cream cheese

½ cup sour cream 1 Combine all ingredients in a medium microwave-safe bowl.
¼ cup whole milk

2 tablespoons chopped
fresh chives 2 Heat for 1 minute in your microwave oven on high. Stir well,
then cover and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
fresh parsley
1½ tablespoons minced
white onion
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1

1

Melting Pot
TERIYAKI SAUCE Soy Sauce
The Melting Pot sells this thick sauce by the bottle and uses
it as a marinade for sirloin in several of the entrees. But HACK
there’s no need to buy the bottle since you can now whip ACTIVE PREP:
up an easy clone of your own at home with this handy Top 10 MIN.
Secret Recipe.
INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR.
Use this flavorful sauce for dipping fondue-cooked steak, chicken,
and shrimp. DIFFICULTY:
EASY
YIELD:
MAKES 1 CUP
1 Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and place it over

medium heat.
1 cup dark brown sugar
⁄3 cup water
2
½ cup soy sauce
2 When the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat and simmer
for 3 minutes. Cool the sauce to room temperature, about 1
hour, before using.
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon plus 1
teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
½ teaspoon ground ginger

Nabisco
FIG NEWTONS Nn
In 1891, a baker named Charles Rosen invented a machine

HACK that inserted fig paste into a seamless pastry dough and was
ACTIVE PREP: soon mass producing one of the first commercially baked
45 MIN. products in America. Rosen named his creation after the
nearby town of Newton, Massachusetts, and eventually
INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR. 5 MIN. sold the recipe to the Kennedy Biscuit Company, which
later became Nabisco. Today Nabisco sells over 1 billion Fig
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM Newtons each year.
YIELD: It has long been my wish to create a satisfying clone of such an

MAKES 48
FRUIT BARS iconic snack, but I was never quite sure how to go about it. The
fig filling needs to be sweet with a sour aftertaste, and thick like
jam. The thin pastry would need to be tender, not tough, and
should smoothly wrap around the figs without cracking.
I had to know if I could figure it out. After a week or so of pu-
reeing dry figs and testing pastry doughs, I finally had a hack that
Sugar
tasted great and looked just like the original.

Since you likely don’t have a fig bar extruder in your kitchen
like Charles Rosen did, we’ll use a dough folding technique to
make nicely shaped bars with smooth sides, no cracks, and no

visible seam. The trick is to roll out the dough on wax paper, then
wrap the dough around the fig filling by lifting the wax paper up
and over the filling. You can cleanly manipulate very thin dough
this way, and when you flip the bar over, the seam will be hidden.
Re-hydrating the dried figs will help make them easier to puree,
and the dry pectin in the mix will thicken the figs to a jammy
consistency and give the filling additional tartness (citric acid is in
pectin to help activate it). This clone recipe will make 48 cookies,
or more than twice what you get in two 10-ounce packages of the
real thing.
1 To make the fig filling, combine the figs with the water in a
2-quart saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover,
reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat
FIG FILLING
12 ounces dried black mission
figs, stems removed
and let the figs cool, covered, for 10 minutes. 1 cup water
3 tablespoons pulp-free
2 Combine the figs, plus any liquid in the saucepan, with the
orange and lemon juices in a food processor and puree the
figs until smooth. There should be no large pieces visible, but you
orange juice
2 teaspoons lemon juice
should see plenty of whole seeds. Scrape down the sides of the granulated sugar
food processor once while pureeing. ¼ cup corn syrup
3
Spoon the figs back into the saucepan, add the remaining in- dry pectin
gredients, and place over medium/low heat. Cook, uncovered, ½ teaspoon salt
stirring often until the mixture is hot and thick, about 15 minutes.
Turn down the heat if the figs begin to stick to the bottom of the
PASTRY DOUGH
pan. Cool the figs in the pan, uncovered, until needed.
1¼ cups (2½ sticks) unsalted
butter, softened
4 Make the pastry dough by beating the butter and sugar with
an electric mixer on high speed in a large bowl. Mix until the
butter is pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
5 Mix in the eggs, egg white, vanilla, and salt. Beat on high speed
until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
2½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon salt
tablespoons) all-purpose flour
6 In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flours and

baking powder.
4 ounces (about ¾ cup)
whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
7 Combine the flours with the wet ingredients and mix well.
Form the dough into a ball and let it sit for 15 minutes. No need
to cover it.

8 When you’re ready to assemble your fruit bars, preheat the
oven to 325 degrees F.
9 Shape 8 ounces of dough (about one-quarter of the dough)

into a rough rectangle and roll it out on lightly floured wax pa-
per to 1 ⁄ 8 -inch thick, and 13 inches long. Slice the dough into long
strips that are 3½ inches wide and 13 inches long. Don’t press
down too hard with the knife when you trim the dough because
you don’t want to slice through the wax paper. Spoon a 1-inch
wide strip of fig jelly down the center of each strip of dough. Use
your fingers to shape the filling so that it’s straight, and an even
thickness from one end to the other. Lift the top of the wax paper
over the bar, folding the dough slightly more than halfway over
the top of the fig filling. Peel the wax paper back, leaving the
dough folded over the figs. Do the same with the bottom of the
dough. This flap of dough should overlap the first fold by a little
bit, so that when you pull back the wax paper, you can then pinch
the seam together all the way across the fruit bar. Lift either the
top or bottom of the wax paper, flipping the fruit bar over onto
the seam so that it’s hidden. Slice the ends off, leaving a 12-inch
bar, then slice that bar in half to make two 6-inch bars. Place the
bars on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone
cooking mat and repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Nn
10 Bake the fruit bars for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly

browned on the bottom.
11 When cool, slice the fig bars into 1½-inch pieces. Store them
in a sealed container, and they’ll last about a week.

Nothing Bundt Cakes
WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CAKE
While sharing a Bundt cake one day in 1997, amateur bakers
and close friends Dena Tripp and Debbie Shwetz realized HACK
they could do better. After much experimentation, the duo ACTIVE PREP:
Raspberry
discovered a batter that produced a moist, delicious cake, 45 MIN.
which was a huge improvement over the dense, dry cake
INACTIVE PREP:
usually associated with Bundts. But they weren’t done yet. 2 HRS. 15 MIN., PLUS
CHILLING TIME
The next step was to decide how to best frost their new Bundt
DIFFICULTY:
cake. Traditionally, Bundt cakes are glazed by drizzling warm
MEDIUM
icing over the top, which drips down the sides and dries there. But
the pair didn’t want to use glaze. They had a cream cheese icing YIELD:
they thought tasted better than any glaze, but it took some time to MAKES 1
(10-INCH)
figure out how to apply it. They eventually settled on frosting their
CAKE (18 TO 20
Bundts with large piped vertical ropes, so the icing looks like it’s SERVINGS)
dripping down the outside of the cake.
To make a Bundt cake that matches the moistness and crumb of
the real thing, it’s important to start with the right flour. The cake
has more bite to it than one made with only cake flour, but it isn’t

as tough as one made with all-purpose flour. That’s why I settled
on pastry flour, like the one from Bob’s Red Mill. Pastry flour con-
tains more protein than cake flour, but not as much as all-purpose
flour, so it works perfectly here. If you can’t find pastry flour, no
need to worry. I’ve got a way for you to hack it by combining cake
flour with all-purpose flour in a 2-to-1 ratio.
The raspberry puree is made from scratch using frozen rasp-
berries and it’s swirled into the batter before the cake goes into
the oven. While the cake cools you can make the cream cheese
buttercream icing. Get a 1A tip, which is a wide, circular tip for a
pastry bag or gun, to make ropes of icing over the top and down
the sides of the cake all the way around, just like the original.
RASPBERRY PUREE CAKE ICING

4 ounces frozen 12 ounces (just under 2½ 8 ounces cream cheese,
raspberries, thawed cups) Bob’s Red Mill Fine softened
Pastry Flour, or 8 ounces
3 tablespoons granulated ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted
(12⁄3 cups) cake flour
sugar butter, softened
plus 4 ounces (¾ cup)
¼ cup water all-purpose flour 2½ teaspoons vanilla
extract
Pinch of salt 1¾ cups granulated
sugar, divided 1 teaspoon lemon juice
1¼ teaspoons baking powder 1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda 14 ounces (3½ cups)
1 teaspoon salt
powdered sugar Nn
4 large eggs, separated
(room temperature) YOU WILL ALSO
½ cup buttermilk (room NEED
temperature) 10-inch Bundt cake pan
½ cup sour cream Pastry bag or gun
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted 1A decorating tip
butter, melted
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
Pinch cream of tartar
3 ounces (½ cup) white
chocolate chips, melted
2 Make the raspberry puree by combining all the ingredients in a

small saucepan set over medium heat. When the sauce begins
to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occa-
sionally. Pour the sauce through a wire-mesh strainer set over

a bowl and stir what’s left of the berries in the strainer to force
out the liquid. Toss out all the seeds in the strainer and place the
warm sauce in your refrigerator to cool.
3 Make the cake by whisking together the pastry flour (or the
blend of cake and all-purpose flour), 1½ cups of the sugar, the
baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Separate
the eggs, then combine the yolks with the buttermilk, sour cream,
butter, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla in another medium bowl and
whisk until smooth.
4 Combine the cream of tartar with the egg whites in the bowl of
a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a medium
bowl with a hand mixer on medium speed. Mix for about 1 minute,
then increase to high speed. When the egg whites stiffen, about 1
minute more, add the remaining ¼ cup of sugar. Continue to mix
for 1 more minute until the egg whites become creamy and form
stiff peaks. If using a stand mixer, pour the egg whites into anoth-
er medium bowl, then attach the paddle to the mixer and pour the
dry blend into the mixing bowl.
5 Combine the egg yolk-buttermilk mixture with the dry ingre-

dients and mix on medium speed for 20 seconds, or until the
batter is smooth. Add the melted white chocolate chips and mix
until combined, about 10 seconds.
6 Add about one-third of the egg whites to the batter and fold
in with a spatula. Continue adding the egg whites and stirring
them in with a smooth, folding motion until all the egg whites are
incorporated into the batter.
7 Grease a 10-inch Bundt cake pan with shortening or nonstick

spray. Add a few pinches of all-purpose flour to the pan and
shake it around so that much of it sticks to the oil, then dump out
any excess. This will help you get a clean release. Pour just over
half of the batter into the pan, then use a spoon to drizzle about
3 tablespoons of the raspberry sauce into the center of the batter.
Don’t add too much sauce at once or it may sink to the bottom of
the pan when the cake is baking, which will make the cake stick to
the pan and be hard to release. Spoon a little sauce at a time into
the batter, then swirl it around a bit with the spoon, but don’t let
it touch the sides of the pan. Do this all the way around until you
have used 3 tablespoons of sauce.

8 Bake the cake for 60 to 65 minutes or until browned on top.
Cool for about 1 hour, then flip the pan over so the cake falls
out onto the center of a plate. If you have trouble getting your
cake out of the pan, fill the sink with about 4 inches of hot water
and place a dish towel in the shape of a circle in the hot water.
Place the Bundt cake on the towel in the water, then cover it with
plastic wrap. Leave the cake in there for 15 minutes to steam and it
should come out of the pan easily.
9 Make the cream cheese icing by combining the cream cheese,

butter, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt in the bowl of a stand mix-
er with the whisk attachment or in a medium bowl with a hand-
held mixer on high speed. Mix until smooth and creamy. Add the
powdered sugar and mix on low until the sugar is incorporated,
and then on high speed for 1 to 2 minutes or until the frosting
has become fluffier and whiter. Spoon the frosting in a pastry bag
or pastry gun fitted with a 1A decorating tip. This will make thick,
round ropes of frosting on top of the cake.
10 Frost the cake starting about 1 inch from the bottom. Gently
squeeze the frosting onto the cake, without touching the
cake with the decorating tip, and move in a straight line up over
the top of the cake and into the center hole. Use the straight lines
formed on the cake by the Bundt pan to guide your hand. Make Nn
vertical ropes of frosting all the way around, about ¾ inch apart,
spinning the plate as you go. Spread the remaining frosting in the
center hole of the Bundt cake, then use a small frosting knife or
butter knife to smooth out the frosting in the hole as you spin the
cake around.
11 Chill the cake for an hour or two, add something decorative to

the middle of the cake, and serve.
Foodtoid
When a Bundt cake won 2nd place in the 1966
Pillsbury Bake-Off, sales of Bundt cake pans went
through the roof.

Olive Garden
BRAISED BEEF BOLOGNESE
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Slow-simmered meat sauce
with tender braised beef and Italian sausage, tossed with HACK
ruffled pappardelle pasta and a touch of alfredo sauce—just ACTIVE PREP:
like Nonna’s recipe.” 30 MIN.
INACTIVE PREP:
It’s a mistake to assume that a recipe posted to a restaurant chain’s
3 HRS. 15 MIN.
website is the real recipe for the food served there. I’ve found this
to be the case with many Olive Garden recipes, and this one is no DIFFICULTY:
exception. A widely circulated recipe that claims to duplicate the MEDIUM
chain’s classic Bolognese actually originated on Olive Garden’s
YIELD:
own website, and if you make that recipe you’ll be disappointed SERVES 4
when the final product doesn’t even come close to the real deal. I
won’t get into all the specifics of the things wrong with that recipe
(too much wine, save some of that for drinking!), but at first glance
it’s easy to see that a few important ingredients found in tradition-
al Bolognese sauces are conspicuously missing, including milk,
basil, lemon, and nutmeg.

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided I incorporated all those missing ingredients into this new
1½ pounds chuck roast hack recipe, tweaked a few other things, and then tested several
6 ounces Italian sausage methods of braising the beef so that it comes out perfectly tender:
(without casing) covered, uncovered, and a combo. The technique I settled on
1 cup diced white onion was cooking the sauce covered for 2 hours, then uncovered for 1
½ cup diced carrot additional hour so that the sauce reduces and the beef transforms
into a fork-flakeable flavor bomb. Yes, it comes from Olive Garden,
⁄3 cup diced celery
1
but this Bolognese is better than any I’ve had at restaurants that
1 tablespoon minced garlic
charge twice as much, like Rao’s where the meat is ground, not
1 Knorr extra-large beef
braised, and they hit you up for $30.
bouillon cube (or 2 regular-size
cubes) As a side note, Olive Garden’s menu says the dish comes with
2 cups boiling water ruffled pappardelle pasta, but it’s actually mafaldine, a narrower
noodle with curly edges (shown in the top right corner of the
½ cup red wine
photo). Pappardelle, which is the traditional pasta to serve with
½ cup whole milk
Bolognese, is a very wide noodle with straight edges, and it’s more
1 (28-ounce) can petite diced
familiar than mafaldine, so perhaps that’s why the menu fudg-
tomatoes with sauce
es this fact. In the end, it doesn’t really matter which pasta you
1
⁄3 cup tomato paste
choose. Just know that a wide noodle works best. Even fettuccine
is good here.
lemon juice
For the little bit of alfredo sauce spooned into the middle of the
1½ teaspoons dried basil
dish I went with a premade bottled sauce to save time. You can
1½ teaspoons salt
also make this from scratch if you like (I’ve got a great hack for
1 teaspoon coarse ground black Olive Garden’s Alfredo Sauce on the website: TopSecretRecipes.
pepper
com), but it’s such a small amount that premade sauce in either a
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
chilled tub from the deli section or in a bottle off the shelf works
½ teaspoon dried sage great here.
Oo
2 bay leaves
1 pound mafaldine pasta (or
pappardelle)
GARNISH 1 Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a Dutch oven or a large

soup pot over high heat. Slice the chuck roast into large chunks
that are no more than 2 inches thick so that the meat will be fully
½ cup alfredo sauce (bottled or
chilled) submerged in the liquid later. Sear all sides of the chuck in the hot
Grated Parmesan cheese oil until dark brown, then remove the beef from the pot and set
aside. Add the sausage to the pot and reduce the heat to medi-
Minced fresh parsley
um. Cook the sausage until crumbly and no pink is visible, then
remove the sausage from the pot, but keep the heat on medium.
2 Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pot, then

add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes or
until the garlic just begins to brown.
3 While the vegetables are cooking, dissolve the beef bouillon

cube in the boiling water.

4 When the garlic begins to brown, pour in the wine and heat
until bubbling. Add the bouillon liquid, milk, tomatoes, tomato
paste, lemon juice, basil, salt, ground black pepper, nutmeg, sage,
and bay leaves. Heat until bubbling, stirring occasionally to break
up the tomato paste. Add the sausage and the browned beef to the
pan and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, covered, for 2 hours,
then uncover the pot and cook for another hour or until the meat
can be pulled apart with ease.
5 Remove the beef from the pot and place it on a plate, then use
a fork in each hand to shred it into bite-size pieces. Discard any
large chunks of fat.
6 Add the beef back to the pot and cook it uncovered for 10 min-
utes or until the sauce is the desired thickness. When the sauce
is done, cover it and remove from the heat.
7 Prepare the pasta by cooking it in boiling water for 10 to 12

minutes, until tender with a slight toughness (al dente).
8 While the pasta cooks, warm the alfredo sauce in your micro-
wave or in a saucepan on the stovetop over medium heat.
9 When the pasta is done, strain and divide it evenly among 4

plates. Divide the sauce and spoon it over the pasta. Spoon 2
tablespoons of alfredo sauce onto the center of the pasta on
each plate.
10 Sprinkle each plate with Parmesan cheese and parsley, if

desired, and serve.
Foodtoid
Bolognese sauce is famous around the world,
but Italians don’t call it bolognese. In Italy
this sauce is called “Ragu.”

Olive Garden
CHICKEN MARGHERITA
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Grilled chicken breasts Oo
HACK topped with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil pesto, and a
ACTIVE PREP: lemon garlic sauce.”

30 MIN.
This Olive Garden signature dish hack starts with a quick 30-min-
INACTIVE PREP:
ute brine to bless the chicken with flavor and juiciness. While the
45 MIN.
chicken is marinating and then grilling, you’ll have plenty of time
DIFFICULTY: to make the basil pesto and lemon garlic sauce knockoffs.
MEDIUM When the chicken comes off the grill, top it with cheese and
pop it under the broiler for a nice melt. Once plated, the chicken is
YIELD:
doused with the delicious lemon garlic sauce, topped with pesto,
SERVES 2 TO 4
and dressed up with colorful grape tomatoes.
And if you’re into it, I’ve also worked up a clone for the side
served with this entree at Olive Garden—Parmesan zucchini. The
hack is in the Tidbits on the next page if you’d like to include this
simple side with your copycat plate, like they do in the restaurant.
This recipe makes four servings, which is four lunch-size serv-
ings at Olive Garden, or two dinner portions. Now, how hungry
are you?

1 Preheat your grill to high heat. CHICKEN
2 skinless chicken breast fillets
2
3 cups water
Slice the chicken breasts through the middle with a sharp knife
to make two thinner fillets from each chicken breast. Dissolve 2 tablespoons salt
the salt in the water in a large bowl or container, then add the Olive oil
chicken and marinate it for 30 to 60 minutes. In the meantime, Ground black pepper
prepare the basil pesto.
BASIL PESTO
3 Combine the pesto ingredients in a food processor or blender

and blend until the sauce is smooth. Set it aside.
2 cups basil leaves
¾ cup olive oil
4
1
⁄3 cup pine nuts
When the chicken is brined, rinse the fillets with cold water
and blot them with paper towels. Rub each of them with olive
1
⁄3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
oil and sprinkle with ground black pepper. Cook the chicken on
1
⁄3 cup grated Romano cheese
the hot grill for 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until cooked through. 2 cloves garlic
Preheat your broiler. 2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon plus 1⁄8
5 Make the lemon garlic sauce by melting the butter in a small

saucepan over medium/low heat. Add the garlic and cook for 2
teaspoon salt
minutes, then add the wine. Stir in the cream. Add the remaining LEMON GARLIC SAUCE
ingredients, raise the heat to medium, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes ¼ cup unsalted butter
or until thicker. Turn off the heat and add the tomatoes.
1 tablespoon dry white wine
6 Arrange the cooked chicken on a baking sheet. Pile ⁄ cup ⁄3 cup heavy cream
1 3 1
shredded cheese on top of each chicken breast and broil for 2 2 teaspoons lemon juice
to 3 minutes or until the cheese is melted. ¼ teaspoon Italian herb
seasoning (oregano, marjoram,
savory, thyme, basil, etc.)
7 To serve, place a chicken breast on a serving plate and spoon

some of the lemon garlic sauce, without tomatoes, over the
chicken. Spoon some of the basil pesto on top of the chicken,
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
Pinch ground black pepper
12 grape tomatoes, halved
then add six tomato halves on top, and serve. Repeat for the re-
maining servings.
1
⁄8 cup shredded
mozzarella cheese
TIDBITS:
> This dish is served with a side of Parmesan-crusted zucchini, which ON THE SIDE
you can also easily re-create. First, preheat your broiler. Brown ¼ cup of (OPTIONAL; SEE
panko breadcrumbs in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Cool, then mix TIDBITS)
the golden-brown breadcrumbs with 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan
Parmesan-crusted zucchini
cheese. Slice the zucchini into thin strips that are around ¼ inch thick and
arrange them on a nonstick baking sheet. Brush basil pesto over each slice
of zucchini, then sprinkle each with the Parmesan breadcrumbs. Broil for 2
minutes, until lightly browned on top, and serve with the entree.

Olive Garden
CHICKEN PARMIGIANA
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Two lightly fried parme-
HACK san-breaded chicken breasts are smothered with Olive Gar-
ACTIVE PREP: den’s homemade marinara sauce and melted Italian cheeses.
30 MIN. We serve our Chicken Parmigiana with a side of spaghetti
INACTIVE PREP: for dinner.” Oo

1 HR.
Chicken parmigiana is a forever favorite, and it’s not a difficult
DIFFICULTY: dish to whip up at home. But for it to taste like the Olive Garden
MEDIUM signature entree, we’ll need to take some very specific steps.
YIELD: Olive Garden’s chicken is salty and moist all the way through,
SERVES 4 so we must first start by brining the chicken. Give yourself an
extra hour for this important marinating step. The marinara sauce
used on the chicken is an Olive Garden specialty and no bot-
tled sauce compares, so we’ll make our own from scratch using
canned crushed tomatoes and the formula below.
While the sauce cooks, filling your house with its intoxicating
aroma, the chicken is breaded and browned. When the marinara
is done, top the chicken with the sauce and mozzarella and stick
it under your hot broiler until bubbling.
Hopefully everyone at your house is hungry, because the Olive
Garden dinner portion is two chicken fillets, and this recipe will
yield a total of four 2-piece servings. Add a small serving of spa-
ghetti on the side, topped with more of the delicious sauce, and
you’ll have a perfect match to the restaurant plate.
Garlic
1 For the brine, dissolve the salt in the water in a large bowl. Use
a long, sharp knife to slice each chicken breast in half through
the middle so that you make two thinner fillets, or cutlets. Add the
BRINE
3 cups water
2 tablespoons salt
chicken to the brine, place it in your refrigerator, and let it hang
4 skinless chicken breasts
out there for 1 hour.
2 Make the marinara sauce by heating up the oil in a medium MARINARA SAUCE
saucepan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the ¼ cup olive oil
onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes or until you see the garlic 1
⁄3 cup diced white onion
beginning to brown. Add the tomatoes to the pan along with the 1½ teaspoons minced garlic
rest of the ingredients and continue to cook until the sauce be- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed
gins to bubble, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 20 tomatoes
to 25 minutes or until thick. When the sauce is done, turn off the ¾ cup water
heat and cover the pan. 1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 When the chicken has brined, rinse all the pieces with cold
water and blot them dry on paper towels. Heat the oil to 325
degrees F, or until shimmering, in a large skillet or sauté pan over
¾ teaspoon Italian seasoning
blend (oregano, marjoram,
savory, thyme, basil, etc.)
medium heat. Don’t make the oil too hot or the outside of the ¾ teaspoon salt
chicken will get too dark before the inside is cooked. ½ teaspoon freshly ground
black pepper
4 Combine the beaten eggs and milk in a medium bowl. Place

the flour in a shallow pan or pie dish, and combine the
breadcrumbs with the Parmesan cheese in another shallow pan or
1
⁄8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cups vegetable oil

pie dish.
5 To bread the chicken, first coat each cutlet with flour. Dredge
BREADING
the chicken in the milk and egg mixture, then coat with the 2 large eggs, beaten
Parmesan breadcrumbs. Arrange the chicken on a tray or baking 1 cup whole milk
sheet until each cutlet is breaded and the oil is hot. 1 cup all-purpose flour
1½ cups plain breadcrumbs
6 Preheat the broiler to high.

3 tablespoons grated
Parmesan cheese
7 Cook the chicken in the hot oil for 3 to 4 minutes per side or
until golden brown. Let the cooked chicken drain on a rack or
on a plate lined with paper towels.
1½ cups shredded
mozzarella cheese
GARNISH
8 To finish the chicken, arrange the browned fillets on a nonstick
baking sheet. Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of sauce over the top of
each chicken fillet and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of mozzarella on top
Grated Parmesan cheese
of the sauce. Place the chicken under your broiler (on the upper
rack) for 1 to 2 minutes or until the cheese is beginning to brown ON THE SIDE
in spots. (OPTIONAL)
Cooked spaghetti (topped with
marinara, Parmesan,
and parsley)

9 Serve the chicken straight out of the oven with grated
Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top, followed by a few
pinches of minced parsley. You may want to serve this with
spaghetti on the side, topped with the marinara sauce, just like
at the chain.
Olive Garden Oo
CHICKEN PICCATA
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Grilled chicken topped
HACK with a lemon garlic butter sauce, sun-dried tomatoes,
ACTIVE PREP: and capers.”

20 MIN.
For many years this traditional chicken dish has been a top
INACTIVE PREP:
choice at the nation’s largest Italian restaurant chain, and a Top
30 MIN.
Secret Recipes hack is long overdue. Brined chicken breast fillets
DIFFICULTY: are grilled and topped with a lemon butter sauce made with garlic,
EASY sundried tomatoes, and capers in this copycat clone that will fool
even the biggest Olive Garden fans.
YIELD:
Two large chicken breasts get sliced into four fillets here, so
SERVES 2 TO 4
you’ll have either four lunch-size portions or two double-sized
dinner meals. And if you need even more servings, you can easily
double up the recipe.

In the Tidbits, I’ve added a quick recipe for the optional side CHICKEN
of Parmesan-crusted zucchini served with the actual dish if you 2 skinless chicken breast fillets
want to make an even more authentic clone.
3 cups water
2 tablespoons salt
Olive oil
1 Preheat your grill to high. Ground black pepper
LEMON GARLIC
2 Slice the chicken breasts through the middle with a sharp knife
to make two thinner fillets from each chicken breast. Dissolve
the salt in the water in a large bowl or container, then add the
BUTTER SAUCE
chicken and marinate it for 30 to 60 minutes.
1 tablespoon dry white wine
3 ⁄3 cup heavy cream

1
When the chicken is brined, rinse the fillets with cold water
and blot them dry with paper towels. Rub each of them with ¼ cup diced sundried tomato
olive oil and sprinkle with ground black pepper. Cook the chicken 3 tablespoons capers
on the hot grill for 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4
1 teaspoon minced fresh
While the chicken cooks, make the sauce by melting the butter parsley
in a small saucepan over medium/low heat. Add the garlic and
¼ teaspoon Italian herb
cook for 2 minutes or just until the garlic is beginning to brown, seasoning (oregano, marjoram,
then add the wine. Stir in the cream. Add the remaining ingredi- savory, thyme, basil, etc.)
ents for the sauce, raise the heat to medium, and cook for 3 to 4 1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
minutes or until thicker. Pinch of ground black pepper
5 Serve the dish by spooning the sauce over the grilled chicken
breast fillets. If you’d like to serve the dish with the same sides
ON THE SIDE
(OPTIONAL; SEE
as the restaurant (Parmesan-crusted zucchini and a grilled lemon), TIDBITS)
see the Tidbits below.
Parmesan-crusted zucchini
Grilled lemon wedges
TIDBITS:
> At the restaurant this dish is served with Parmesan-crust-

ed zucchini, which you can also re-create with a quick and
easy hack. First, preheat your broiler. Brown ¼ cup panko
breadcrumbs in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Cool,
then mix the golden-brown breadcrumbs with 2 tablespoons
of grated Parmesan cheese. Slice a zucchini into thin strips
that are around ¼ inch thick, and arrange them on a non-
stick baking sheet. Brush basil pesto (which you can find
bottled in stores) over each slice of zucchini, then sprinkle
each with some of the Parmesan breadcrumbs. Broil for 2
minutes, just until hot, and serve with the chicken piccata.
> You can also add a grilled lemon to each plate by simply
browning both sides of each lemon wedge on the grill as
you cook the chicken.

Olive Garden
STUFFED CHICKEN MARSALA Oo
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Creamy marsala wine sauce

HACK with mushrooms over grilled chicken breasts, stuffed with
ACTIVE PREP: Italian cheeses and sundried tomatoes. Served with garlic
45 MIN. mashed potatoes.”
Mushrooms
INACTIVE PREP:
20 MIN. This recipe includes a marsala sauce that even marsala sauce hat-
ers will like. My wife is one of those haters, but when she tried this
DIFFICULTY: sauce, her eyes lit up and she begged for more. That’s great, now I
MEDIUM won’t have to eat alone.
Not only is Olive Garden’s delicious marsala sauce hacked here
YIELD:
SERVES 4 (and it’s easy to make), you’ll also get the copycat hack for the
chain’s awesome Italian cheese stuffing that goes between the
two pan-cooked chicken fillets. Build it, sauce it, serve it. The pre-
sentation is great, and the flavor will soothe your soul.
Try this dish paired with my clone of Olive Garden’s Garlic
Mashed Potatoes (page 165) for the complete O.G. Stuffed Chicken
Marsala experience.

1 Make the cheese stuffing by combining all the ingredients ex-
cept the sour cream in a medium bowl. Mix well. Add the sour
cream. Start mixing in the sour cream with a spoon, then use your
CHEESE STUFFING
6 ounces shredded
mozzarella cheese
hands and keep the stuffing crumbly. Don’t pack it together. ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup plain breadcrumbs
2 Pour the stuffing into a large sauté pan over medium/low heat.
Cook the stuffing for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often. You want
the cheese to soften, but not melt. When the stuffing is warm and
(I use Progresso)
2 tablespoons minced sundried
tomatoes (dry, not in oil)
it begins to clump, turn off the heat and cover it to keep it warm. 2 tablespoons minced fresh
parsley
3 To prepare the chicken, heat the vegetable oil in a large sauté

pan over medium heat. Slice each chicken breast through the
middle to make two thinner fillets. Lightly salt the chicken and
¼ teaspoon salt
1
black pepper
add it to the pan. Cook the chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per ¼ cup sour cream
side, or until nicely browned and cooked through.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 While the chicken cooks, make the marsala sauce by melting

the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the
mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are
4 skinless chicken breasts
Salt
starting to brown.
MARSALA SAUCE
5 Add the wine to the pan along with the parsley, rosemary, salt, 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
pepper, and basil. Simmer for 3 minutes to reduce it. 3 cups sliced white mushrooms
1 cup marsala wine
6 Add the cream to the pan and simmer gently for 2 minutes, or
until it’s thicker. When the sauce is done, turn off the heat and
cover it.
1 teaspoon minced fresh
parsley
½ teaspoon chopped fresh
rosemary
7 When the chicken is done, it’s time to assemble your stuffed

chicken marsala. If the stuffing has cooled, raise the tempera-
ture to medium/low to heat it back up.
teaspoon salt
pepper
8 To serve, place a cooked chicken breast on the plate, then

lightly pack together a handful of the warm stuffing between
your hands and press it down onto the chicken breast. Add an-
¼ teaspoon dried basil
½ cup heavy cream
other chicken breast on top of the stuffing, then spoon a generous GARNISH
helping of marsala sauce, along with the mushrooms, over the top
of the chicken.
9 Sprinkle minced parsley over the plate and serve.

Olive Garden
GARLIC MASHED POTATOES
Cream
Garlic mashed potatoes are a great side for many entrees,
HACK especially when the mashed potatoes are as creamy and
ACTIVE PREP: flavorful as those at Olive Garden. In our hack, the cloves of
15 MIN. peeled garlic are boiled with the potatoes. When the pota-
toes get passed through a potato ricer (or mashed) the soft-
INACTIVE PREP:
45 MIN. ened garlic cloves go along for the ride and get mashed up
too. This way you’re guaranteed to get the perfect amount
DIFFICULTY:
EASY of flavorful garlic in every bite.
Oo
YIELD: I settled on cream as the dairy here after my attempts using milk
MAKES 8 CUPS (8
SERVINGS) and half-and-half resulted in thin and runny potatoes. I found
that cream adds the perfect thickness and smooth richness to the
mashers, and it made the closest duplicate.
3½ pounds russet potatoes

(4 medium potatoes)
8 cloves garlic
1 Peel and slice the potatoes into 1- to 1½-inch-thick chunks
that are all approximately the same size. Fill a large soup pot or
Dutch oven with cold water and drop the potatoes and the peeled
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter whole cloves of garlic into the water. Be sure the water completely
1½ teaspoons salt covers the potatoes and set it over high heat. When the water be-
¼ teaspoon freshly ground gins to boil, reduce the heat to medium and boil the potatoes for
black pepper 30 minutes or until you encounter very little resistance when you
1¼ cups heavy cream stick a paring knife into a potato chunk. When the potatoes are
done pour them into a strainer or colander, along with the garlic,
and allow them to cool for 5 minutes.
2 When you can handle the potatoes, mash them through a

potato ricer, along with the cloves of garlic, back into the pan.

If you don’t have a potato ricer you can mash the potatoes with a
potato masher. Be sure the garlic is well-pulverized.
3 Add the butter to the pan with the potatoes and turn the heat to
medium/low. Add the salt and pepper.
4 Warm the cream to room temperature by nuking it in your

microwave for 30 seconds, then add it to the potatoes.
5 Continue heating the potatoes, stirring occasionally, until the

butter has melted and the potatoes are hot and thick, about
10 minutes.
Olive Garden
WARM APPLE CROSTATA
Cinnamon
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Northern Spy apples baked
in a pastry crust topped with vanilla ice cream and a HACK
caramel drizzle.” ACTIVE PREP:
30 MIN.
The most important component of a good crostata, or Italian
INACTIVE PREP:
baked tart, is a great crust. When cloning this top Olive Garden
1 HR.
dessert, that’s where I first focused my efforts, baking dozens of
slightly different unfilled sugared crusts. Thankfully, flour is cheap. DIFFICULTY:
Once I had an easy, yet still delicious and flakey crust that was as MEDIUM
good, if not better, than the real thing, I turned to the filling.
YIELD:
Olive Garden uses Northern Spy apples in the crostata, which
SERVES 4 TO 8

APPLE FILLING are somewhat tart, firm apples often used in pies. But they are
2 cups Northern Spy (or Granny hard to find. If you can’t find Northern Spy apples, the much more
Smith) apples, peeled, sliced common Granny Smith apples work just fine here. As for chop-
and roughly chopped ping the apples, I noted that the apple pieces in the real crostata
(2 small apples)
have no uniformity—the apples appear to be sliced, then those
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons
slices are coarsely chopped, resulting in a mixture of small and
lemon juice, divided
large apple pieces. We’ll do the same here.
After your crostatas have been baked to a golden brown, top
¾ cup water
each one with a scoop of ice cream and drizzle some caramel
1
⁄3 cup granulated sugar sauce over the top for a beautiful dessert no one will have the
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar power to resist.
1½ tablespoons cornstarch This recipe makes four crostatas, which is enough for eight
¼ teaspoon plus ⁄8 teaspoon
1 people to share. If you have crostatas left over, they can be stored
ground cinnamon in a covered container for a couple of days, then reheated under a
¼ teaspoon salt broiler until hot just before serving.
PASTRY CRUST
1
10 ounces (2 cups) To make the apple filling, toss the apples with 1 tablespoon of
all-purpose flour
lemon juice in a medium bowl and set aside.
granulated sugar, divided
2
½ teaspoon salt
⁄3 cup (11⁄3 sticks)
2 Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the
apples and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the apples begin to
soften and a little browning is visible. Turn off the heat.
unsalted butter
3
¼ cup ice water
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, sugars, cornstarch, Oo
1 large egg, beaten cinnamon, salt, and remaining lemon juice. Whisk the mixture
1 teaspoon over medium heat until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sau-
room-temperature water
téed apples and stir to coat evenly. Turn off the heat, cover, and
2 tablespoons coarse sugar allow the filling to cool while you make the dough.
(white sparkling sugar)
ON TOP
4 To make the pastry crust, in a large bowl, mix together the flour,
3 tablespoons of the sugar, and the salt.
5
Caramel sauce (in squirt bottle) Cut the butter into cubes and mix it into the dry ingredients
with a pastry blender. Continue mixing until the chunks of
butter are no bigger than peas. Mix in the water using your hands
and form the dough into a ball. You can also use a food processor
by combining the dry ingredients with the butter and pulsing
until the butter becomes pea-size chunks. Slowly add the water
while mixing until it comes together, then form it into a ball with
your hands. Divide the dough into two portions. Shape the dough
portions into thick disks, like thick hamburger patties, cover each
with plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.

6 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. TIDBITS:
> Any leftover crostatas can
7
be frozen and later reheated
Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll it out onto a
under a preheated broiler for 1
floured surface until it is between 1 ⁄ 8 inch and ¼ inch thick. Us- to 2 minutes, or until warm.
ing an inverted bowl that is 7 inches across, cut out a circle from
the rolled dough and place it onto a parchment paper–lined bak-
ing sheet. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough, re-rolling
the dough when necessary to get 4 circles.
8 Combine the beaten egg with the remaining 1 teaspoon granu-

lated sugar and 1 teaspoon of water.
9 Spoon a heaping 1 ⁄ 3 cup of the filling into the center of one

dough circle and smooth it out, but leave a margin for folding
the dough. Fold an edge of the dough circle down about 1 inch
over the filling and brush it with the beaten egg mixture. Repeat
the folding all the way around in six folds, being sure to coat the
top of each fold with beaten egg and to fold a bit of each fold over
the previous fold so that the dough is pleated.
10 Sprinkle the pastry lightly with coarse sugar while the egg is
still wet so that the sugar sticks. Repeat the process for the
remaining 3 crostatas.
11 Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until nicely browned. Serve the

crostatas warm with a scoop of ice cream on top, drizzled
with caramel sauce.
Foodtoid
The dessert called a “crostata”
in Italy is called a “galette” in
France, but it’s virtually the
same thing.

Orville Redenbacher’s
MOVIE THEATER BUTTER POPCORN
Oo
The health concerns regarding microwave popcorn are a re-

HACK sult of the way it’s packaged. For the corn to pop, the kernels
ACTIVE PREP: are submerged in boiling fat inside the bag until a buildup
10 MIN. of steam in the kernels causes them to burst. To prevent the
liquid fat from seeping through, the bags are lined with a
INACTIVE PREP:
40 MIN. chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid, which, unfortunate-
ly for microwave popcorn lovers, has been linked to cancer
DIFFICULTY:
EASY and other nasty things.
YIELD: I set out on a mission to make better homemade microwave

MAKES 2 BATCHES
popcorn with only natural ingredients, and without using costly
(SERVES 4)
popping gadgets. I also wanted to avoid using plastic, tape, or
metal, such as staples. My solution is a new method of prepping
the kernels, but like many other techniques I researched, it re-
quires paper lunch bags. I was dismayed to find some discussions

about the potential for problems using brown paper bags in your ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter
microwave oven, such as fire, but I had absolutely no issues any 2
⁄3 cup popcorn kernels (Orville
of the many times I did it. No smoke, no sparks, nothing looking Redenbacher’s is best)
at all dangerous was going on inside my cooking box. The USDA 2 teaspoons salt (popcorn salt
states that using paper bags in your microwave, “may cause a fire, is best)
and may emit toxic fumes,” yet the internet is full of microwave
popcorn recipes calling for paper bags. I chose to still share my YOU WILL ALSO NEED
recipe and technique, but ultimately leave it up to you to decide 4 paper lunch bags
if it’s a hack recipe you feel safe using. If you’d rather stay on the 2 custard bowls or other small
safe side, see the Tidbits for an alternate technique. microwave-safe bowls
My hack starts with clarifying butter so that it’s pure fat, without
any milk solids or water. Butter is about 16 percent water and if
any of that stays in the mix, your popcorn will be on a fast trip to
Soggytown. Once the butter is clarified, we’ll combine it with pop-
corn and salt and freeze it into pucks that can be saved for weeks
until you are ready to make quick popcorn.
When it’s popcorn time, a puck goes into a small bowl, which
goes inside two interlocking paper bags. After a warming session,
you hit the “popcorn” button on your microwave oven and the
popcorn will pop just like the store product (you may have to add
another 30 seconds or so of cooking time). The first bag will soak
up the excess butter that splashes around inside as the popcorn
pops, and the second bag will keep the butter from messing up
your oven.
To serve, pull the bags apart over a big bowl, and you’ll have a
fresh batch of hot microwave popcorn coated perfectly with real
butter and salt.
1 Clarify the butter by placing the stick in a medium saucepan

over medium/low heat. Allow the butter to melt slowly without
stirring it. When the butter has melted, carefully scoop or skim
the foam (milk solids) off the top. Allow the pan to rest for about
5 minutes, then carefully pour the clear butter into a small bowl.
When you get to the bottom, you’ll see some more milk solids and
water. Stop pouring just before you get to the water. You should
have at least 6 tablespoons of clarified butter.
2 Make the popcorn pucks by lining 2 custard bowls with plastic

wrap or wax paper. Add 1 ⁄ 3 cup of popcorn kernels to each bowl,
followed by 3 tablespoons of clarified butter and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Place these in your freezer for at least 30 minutes.

3 When frozen, remove the pucks from the bowls and plastic or
wax paper. Keep them in a plastic bag in your freezer until it’s
time to chillax on the couch and catch up on some shows (aka
popcorn time).
4 To make popcorn, place a frozen puck in a small micro-

wave-safe bowl. Put that bowl inside a paper lunch bag, and
then put that bag into another bag, open side first, so that the bags
are interlocking. Make sure the bowl is in the approximate middle.
5 Place the bags with the bowl in them in your microwave oven
and run it for 1 minute on high, then let it sit for 1 minute. This
will warm up the butter and popcorn in the bowl. Be sure not to
move the bags, since the butter is now liquified in there.
6 After the rest, run the oven on high for 2 to 4 minutes.

Microwave ovens vary wildly in strength, so you’ll have to use
your ears. When the popcorn stops popping for about 2 seconds,
it’s done.
Be careful when you take it out. You must get under the bags
where the bowl is so that the bowl doesn’t fall out of the bags. And
it will be HOT, so protect your hands. Put the whole thing into a
large bowl, then pull each bag from the ends. The popcorn and
the small bowl inside will fall out into your large bowl. All you
have left to do is remove that small bowl from the popcorn, which Oo
will be VERY HOT, so use a towel or tongs or something that isn’t
your bare hands to get it out of there.
TIDBITS:
> If you want to stay away from brown paper bags, you can
place your pucks in a large glass bowl and cover with a
microwave-safe plate, then follow the recipe from step 5.

Outback Steakhouse
BAKED POTATO SOUP
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Creamy potato soup topped
with melted cheese, bacon and green onions.” HACK
ACTIVE PREP:
It’s not called baked potato soup because the potatoes in it are 15 MIN.
baked. It’s called baked potato soup because it’s topped with
shredded cheese, bacon, and green onion, and it tastes like a INACTIVE PREP:
baked potato. Other hacky hacks for this recipe miss that point
30 MIN.
and add over an hour to the preparation process by preheating
DIFFICULTY:
an oven and baking the potatoes, all while hungry stomachs are EASY
growling on the sidelines. My version skips that part by adding
the raw potatoes directly into the pot with the other ingredients, YIELD:
MAKES 8 CUPS
where they cook in 20 minutes, and the soup is ready to eat in less
(8 SERVINGS)
time than other recipes take just to get the potatoes done.
Also, other clones add way too much flour to thicken the
soup—¾ cup! Sure, flour is good at thickening, but it doesn’t add
any flavor, so I found a better way. I ended up using just a little
flour to make the roux, then later thickening the soup mostly with
dehydrated potato flakes, which are usually used to make quick

mashed potatoes. The flakes not only do a great job of thickening
the soup, they also add more delicious potato flavor to the pot.
Top your finished soup with shredded cheese, crumbled bacon,
and green onion, and every spoonful will taste like a fully loaded
baked potato.

1 cup diced yellow onion (about
½ medium onion)
1 Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or saucepan that holds at least 3
quarts over medium heat.

4 cups chicken broth 2 Add the onion to the butter and cook it, without browning it,
for about 5 minutes. Lower the heat if the onion is cooking
too fast. You want to just sweat the onion until it begins to be-
2 cups hot water
come translucent.
1 Knorr extra-large chicken
bouillon cube
6 cups peeled and diced russet
potatoes
3 Stir the flour into the butter and onion. Cook it over medium/
low heat until the flour begins to darken to a tan color, about 5
minutes. Add the chicken broth and crank the heat up to medium.
(from 3 medium potatoes)
4
½ cup dehydrated potato flakes Dissolve the chicken bouillon cube in the hot water and add
1½ teaspoons salt it to the soup along with the diced potato. Bring the soup to a
½ teaspoon coarse ground boil, then reduce it to a simmer and let it cook for 8 to 10 minutes,
black pepper or until the potatoes are beginning to soften.
¼ teaspoon dried basil
½ cup heavy cream
5 Stir in the potato flakes, salt, pepper, and basil and simmer the
soup for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
Oo
GARNISH
Shredded cheddar/Jack blend
Crumbled cooked bacon
6 Stir in the cream, then serve the soup hot, topped with shred-
ded cheese, bacon, and green onions.
Sliced green onions

Outback Steakhouse
CHILI LIME CORN
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Sweet fire-roasted corn with
chili-lime butter, feta cheese and fresh cilantro.” HACK
ACTIVE PREP:
Outback takes a traditional Mexican street corn recipe and light- 15 MIN.
ens it up for this new premium side menu addition. The corn
comes off the cob after grilling it, and butter steps in where may- INACTIVE PREP:
onnaise and Mexican sour cream are included in the traditional
15 MIN.
recipe. Want to do something cool for dinner tonight with those
DIFFICULTY:
fresh ears of corn? Try this easy side. EASY
YIELD:
SERVES 4 TO 6
1 Preheat your barbecue grill to high heat. 4 ears sweet yellow corn,
shucked and cleaned
Vegetable oil
2 Rub the corn with a little oil and place all the ears on your grill.
Turn the corn every minute or two and grill it until there are
many charred spots on each ear, about 10 minutes.
2 teaspoons lime juice
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
3
½ teaspoon paprika
Cool the corn for 10 minutes, then cut the kernels from the
cobs with a sharp knife and toss out the cobs.
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
Pinch ground cayenne pepper
4 Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the
corn, lime juice, crushed red pepper, paprika, salt, and cayenne
pepper. Heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until the corn is hot. Stir in the
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
cilantro and pour the corn into a serving dish. Sprinkle the crum-
bled feta cheese over the top before serving.

Outback Steakhouse
BACON BOURBON SALMON
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Wood-fire grilled Salmon Oo
HACK brushed with smoky bourbon glaze and topped with bacon.”
ACTIVE PREP:
20 MIN. Before a generous portion of bacon bits—followed by a strip of
crispy bacon—are stacked on top of Outback’s signature salmon,
INACTIVE PREP: the fillet is brushed with a delicious, slightly spicy bourbon sauce
15 MIN. that must be properly duplicated, or this hack would be a fail.
After several batches I settled on glaze that’s made by cooking
DIFFICULTY:
EASY a brown sugar and corn syrup mixture until thick, then adding
cider vinegar, bourbon, and liquid smoke after the pan comes off
YIELD: the heat to keep the acidic flavors bright.
SERVES 4
For the bacon bits sprinkled on top of the salmon, I used thick
bacon and diced it into bits before cooking it until crispy. The
strip of bacon that goes on the top of each fillet should be made
with thinner bacon, so it’s easy to cut. That’s how Outback does it,
but you can use whatever bacon you like for the bits and on top,
and I’m sure no one will protest.
I say that with confidence because I know it’s impossible to
complain while eating any food with lots of bacon on it. Totally
true fact.

1 Preheat your grill to high, and spray or wipe the grates with
plenty of oil so that the salmon doesn’t stick.
BOURBON GLAZE
¼ cup dark brown sugar
2
¼ cup light corn syrup
Make the bourbon glaze by combining the brown sugar, corn
1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon
syrup, soy sauce, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, crushed red
soy sauce
pepper, cayenne, and basil in a medium saucepan over medium
heat. When the mixture begins to bubble turn down the heat and teaspoon salt
simmer the sauce for 6 minutes or until thick. Remove it from the
heat and stir in the vinegar, bourbon, and liquid smoke. Cover
and set aside. pepper
3
Make the seasoning by combining all the ingredients in a small
1
bowl. Sprinkle the salmon lightly with the seasoning, then grill pepper
it until it’s cooked the way you like it; 2 to 3 minutes per side for
Pinch dried basil
medium rare.
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
4 Cook the bacon: Cook the 6 ounces of diced thick bacon until 1½ teaspoons bourbon
crispy. Cook the other 4 slices whole, until crispy. ¼ teaspoon liquid hickory
smoke
5 When the salmon is done, serve each fillet by first spooning

or brushing the sauce over the top. Stack cooked bacon bits
on top of the salmon, followed by a whole piece of cooked bacon.
SEASONING
1¼ teaspoons salt
Sprinkle with parsley and serve. 1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon ground black
pepper
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1
cayenne pepper
4 salmon fillets
6 ounces (about 4 slices) thick
bacon, diced
4 slices bacon (leave whole)
GARNISH
Chopped fresh parsley

Outback Steakhouse
TOOWOOMBA STEAK Oo
Here’s a hack that might help when you feel like doing
HACK something special with those steaks in the fridge. Or maybe
ACTIVE PREP: you have salmon fillets in there? Doesn’t matter, this recipe
20 MIN. works great on both. And it also makes a great pasta sauce.
INACTIVE PREP:
The secret Toowoomba sauce is a variation on alfredo sauce that
40 MIN.
Outback served over pasta at one time. These days the sauce is
DIFFICULTY: only used to top steak and salmon at the restaurant, but you can
MEDIUM also use it on just about any type of pasta.
In my early batches of the sauce, I noticed that if the shrimp are
YIELD:
MAKES 4 SERVINGS added at the beginning they get too tough. To solve that problem,
I sautéed the seasoned shrimp separately, then added them closer
to the end, and they came out perfect.
Spoon this clone of the Toowoomba sauce over grilled tender-
loin filets (or salmon fillets) for an easy way to elevate your entree.
This recipe will make enough for four servings.

1 Make the seasoning blend by combining all the ingredients
in a small bowl. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the seasoning over the
shrimp and sprinkle some on both sides of the steaks. Don’t try
SEASONING
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
to use it all; you should have some seasoning left over. Put the
shrimp back in the fridge and let the steaks sit out and rest while pepper
you preheat your barbecue grill to high heat, about 30 minutes.
2
After 30 minutes, place a medium sauté pan and a large
saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to ½ teaspoon ground coriander
each pan. When the butter is melted and bubbling, add the shrimp 1
pepper
to the sauté pan and the mushrooms to the saucepan. Cook the
shrimp for 2 minutes, flipping them several times. When they just
begin to brown on the edges, remove the shrimp from the heat 5 ounces (¾ cup) small raw
shrimp, shelled and deveined
and set the pan aside. Cook the mushrooms for 4 to 5 minutes,
stirring often, until they begin to brown on the edges. Four 6- or 9-ounce tenderloin
steaks
3 Add the cream to the mushrooms. Stir in the ketchup, crushed ¼ cup unsalted butter, divided
red pepper, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and coriander and 5 ounces (2 cups) sliced white
mushrooms
cook until the sauce begins to boil, then reduce the heat and
continue cooking it for 3 minutes, or until thicker. Add the shrimp 1 cup heavy cream
(along with the butter from the pan) to the sauce and continue 1 tablespoon ketchup
simmering for 2 minutes. Stir in the green onions, then remove ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
the sauce from the heat and cover it. ¼ teaspoon paprika
4 While the sauce is cooking, cook the steaks on your preheated

grill until they’re cooked to your desired doneness; 5 to 6 min-
utes each side for medium rare.
¼ teaspoon salt
1
⁄8 teaspoon ground coriander
¼ cup sliced green onions
5 When the steaks are done, let them sit for a minute or two, then
serve them with the warm sauce spooned over the top, sprin-
kled with a little chopped parsley.
GARNISH
Chopped fresh parsley
Foodtoid
Toowoomba is Australia’s 2nd most populous inland
city and home to the country’s oldest pub. And as far
as I know, they do not serve this steak there.

P.F. Chang’s
BANANA SPRING ROLLS
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Six warm, crispy bites of ba-
HACK nana, caramel-vanilla drizzle, coconut-pineapple ice cream.”
Pp
ACTIVE PREP:
35 MIN. The crispy banana spring rolls are just one delicious component
of this signature dessert—it also comes with a big scoop of coco-
INACTIVE PREP: nut-pineapple ice cream for an extraordinary flavor combo. The
1 HR. perfect mash-up of the warm spiced banana and the sweet tropi-
cal ice cream is why this is the number-one dessert at the restau-
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM rant, and no other copycat recipe I’ve seen provides methods for
you to make both parts at home.
YIELD: The bananas are wrapped in spring roll dough and fried, but
MAKES 2
first they are rolled in sugar and seasoned with Chinese five-spice
DESSERTS
(4 SERVINGS) powder, which is a blend of anise, star anise, cinnamon, cloves,
and ginger that you can find in most big food stores.
The ice cream hack is made by combining your favorite vanilla
ice cream with toasted coconut bits, coconut extract, and real
pineapple in a frozen bowl. Chains such as Cold Stone Creamery
mix chunks into ice cream in a similar way—on a frozen slab of

stone—so that the ice cream doesn’t melt while mixing. COCONUT-PINEAPPLE
I’m also sharing with you an easy way to make the vanilla bean ICE CREAM
sauce from scratch, because there’s nothing better than fresh ¼ cup sweetened
when it comes to vanilla sauce. For the caramel sauce, just pick shredded coconut
your favorite from the many delicious bottled sauces available, ¼ cup canned crushed
and try to get one that comes in a squirt bottle so your dish pineapple (with juice)
looks great. 1 tablespoon pineapple juice
Bring it all together and you’ll have created a beautiful hack (from canned crushed
pineapple)
of the dessert made famous by P.F. Chang’s, with enough for four
2 teaspoons coconut extract
to share.
3 cups vanilla ice cream
VANILLA SAUCE
1 To make the coconut-pineapple ice cream, preheat your oven
to 300 degrees F. When the oven is hot, spread the shredded
coconut out on a baking sheet and bake it, stirring a few times so
11⁄3 cups heavy cream
¼ cup granulated
sugar, divided
that it browns evenly, for 10 to 14 minutes, until it’s golden brown.
½ vanilla bean
When the coconut is cool, use your fingers to crumble it up into
2 large egg yolks
smaller pieces, like coarse sand, then pour it into a small bowl and
put it in the freezer. Also place a large glass or ceramic bowl in the
freezer and put the coconut extract, crushed pineapple, and pine-
BANANA
apple juice in your refrigerator. Everything should be cold enough
SPRING ROLLS
after about 1 hour. Make the custom ice cream by combining the Vegetable oil for frying
vanilla ice cream, crushed toasted coconut, crushed pineapple, 2 tablespoons water
pineapple juice, and coconut extract in the frozen bowl. Use a 1 tablespoon cornstarch
large spoon to mix everything together until well-combined, then 3 medium bananas, peeled
get the ice cream back into the freezer to firm up. 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
Make the vanilla sauce by combining the cream with 2 table-
½ teaspoon Chinese
spoons of sugar in a small saucepan over medium/low heat.
five-spice powder
Use a knife to scrape the seeds from inside the vanilla bean and
6 (6-inch) egg roll or
add those to the pan. Heat the mixture, stirring often, just until it spring roll wrappers
begins to boil, then turn off the heat. Watch the cream closely as it
heats to make sure it doesn’t boil over. GARNISH
3
Caramel sauce
In a medium bowl whisk together the remaining 2 table-
Strawberries, halved
spoons of sugar and the egg yolks until the sugar has dissolved.
Temper the egg yolks by pouring in a few tablespoons of the hot Blueberries
cream mixture and stirring it in, then slowly add the rest of the
cream. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat it again
until bubbling and thick. Pour the vanilla sauce into a medium
bowl that is set into a larger bowl filled with ice. This will cool the
sauce quickly. Stir occasionally until cool, then pour the sauce
into a covered container or a squirt bottle and chill.

4 To make the spring rolls, fill a deep fryer, Dutch oven, or wok
with 3 inches of oil. Preheat the oil to 375 degrees F.
5 Combine the water and cornstarch in a small bowl.
6 Cut the ends off the bananas, then cut each banana in half so
that you have six 3-inch-long banana pieces.
7 In a separate small bowl combine the sugars and Chinese five-

spice powder. Pour this onto a plate.
8 Roll each spring roll by positioning a wrapper on a clean

counter in front of you with one corner pointed toward you.
Roll a banana piece in the spiced sugar, then position it at the bot-
tom of the wrapper. Use a brush to paint the edges of the wrapper
with the cornstarch slurry, then roll the banana up to the center.
Fold the left and right corners in over the banana, add more of
the cornstarch slurry, then continue to roll the banana all the way
up to the top corner and seal it. Repeat until all of the bananas
are wrapped.
9 Fry a couple rolls at a time in the hot oil for about 2 minutes, or
until golden brown. Remove the rolls from the oil and drain on
a cooling rack or paper towel–lined plate.
10 To serve, slice each spring roll in half on the diagonal and

arrange six halves on each plate. Add a small pile of straw-
berries and blueberries to each plate. Drizzle caramel sauce and
Pp
vanilla sauce over the spring rolls, then add a scoop of coco-
nut-pineapple ice cream to each plate and serve.
Foodtoid
The horses in the front of each P.F. Changs stand
guard as a symbol of strength. At Christmastime
they wear giant Santa hats.

Panda Express BEIJING BEEF
The problem with adding sauce to fried food is that the wet
sauce makes the crunchy fried food not so crunchy. Panda HACK Soy Sauce
Express manages to keep the crispy beef in Beijing Beef ACTIVE PREP:
crispy even though it may be sitting for over 20 minutes in 25 MIN.
the sauce on its way to a hungry you. My early attempts at
INACTIVE PREP:
hacking my favorite dish at the massive Chinese food chain 2 HRS.
all resulted in gummy, soggy beef pieces that were more like
DIFFICULTY:
flat dumplings than the delicious, crunchy strips of joy they MEDIUM
were meant to be.
YIELD:
SERVES 4
Then finally, on one batch, I decided to fry the coated beef for
much longer than I intuitively felt it should be cooked, resulting
in dark browning on the cornstarch coating and an even darker
piece of meat beneath it. I anticipated a beef jerky experience, but
when I took a bite, I found it to be delicious! It wasn’t tough and
chewy as I expected it to be. And when this seemingly overcooked
beef was stirred into the sauce, it stayed crispy until served, just
like the real thing.
Now, with the soggy beef problem solved, we’ve finally got a
good hack for this famous sweet-and-spicy dish.

1 pound flank steak
1 Slice the flank steak across the grain into thin, bite-size slices
that are 1 ⁄ 8 inch thick.
MARINADE
3 large egg whites
2 Prepare the marinade by whisking 1 tablespoon of the corn-
starch into the egg whites in a medium bowl until there are no
lumps and foam has formed. Whisk in the soy sauce and sesame
3 tablespoons soy sauce
oil. Add the beef and marinate for 2 hours in your fridge.
¼ teaspoon sesame oil
2
SAUCE
⁄3 cup pineapple juice
3 Make the sauce by combining the pineapple juice, vinegar,
sugar, ketchup, chili sauce, soy sauce, and canola oil in a
2-quart saucepan. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and add
1
⁄3 cup rice vinegar this slurry to the pan. Set the pan over medium heat and cook the
1 mixture until it begins to bubble, stirring often. Once the sauce
thickens, 2 to 3 minutes, turn off the heat and cool.
3 tablespoons ketchup
4
¼ cup chili garlic sauce
Slice the onion and bell pepper into bite-size pieces. Place the
1½ teaspoons soy sauce cornstarch in a medium bowl.
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons cornstarch 5 To cook the beef, heat the canola oil to 350 degrees F in a wok
or large saucepan.
1 small yellow onion

1 large bell pepper
6 Dredge the beef slices in the cornstarch until well-coated and
arrange them on a plate.
7
1 cup cornstarch Working in batches, gently slide the beef slices into the hot
2 to 4 cups canola oil for frying, oil and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the beef browns and
plus 1 tablespoon for the pan becomes very crispy on the outside. Use tongs or a spider to re-
move the beef to a plate or a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Pp
ON THE SIDE Repeat until all of the beef is cooked.
(OPTIONAL)
Cooked white or brown rice
8 To complete the dish, heat a clean wok or sauté pan over
high heat.
9 Add just a little canola oil to coat the surface of the wok or pan.
Add the vegetables and stir fry for a minute, then add the sauce.
Cook for 3 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender.
10 Add the flank steak pieces to the pan and stir until all of the
beef is coated with sauce. Serve the dish immediately with
rice on the side, if desired.

Panda Express
HONEY SESAME CHICKEN BREAST
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Honey Sesame Chicken
Breast is made with thin, crispy strips of all-white meat HACK
chicken tossed with fresh-cut string beans, crisp yellow bell ACTIVE PREP:
peppers in a sizzling hot wok with our new delicious honey 45 MIN.
sauce and topped off with sesame seeds.” INACTIVE PREP:
10 MIN.
The limited-time-only availability of this entree is unfortunate
for those who claim it as their top choice at America’s biggest DIFFICULTY:
fast Chinese chain. But now, with this Top Secret Recipe, you can
MEDIUM
make your own version of honey sesame chicken breast anytime YIELD:
you want, and it won’t matter when the real one goes away.
The success of this clone depends almost entirely on how good
the sauce is. The sauce needs to be sweet, but when I used too
SERVES 4
Chicken!
much honey the honey flavor overpowered the dish, so it was
clear that some of the sweetness would have to come from sugar.
Eventually, I found the right balance for a good sauce hack: sweet,
salty, and sour, with a light back-end hit of red pepper.
After your sauce is done and the chicken is finished, build
the dish by tossing green beans, yellow bell peppers, and crispy
chicken in a wok or large sauté pan with the sauce, then spoon it
over rice and grab some chopsticks.

HONEY SAUCE
¾ cup water 1 Make the sauce by whisking the water and cornstarch together
in a 2-quart saucepan until the cornstarch is dissolved, then
stirring in the remaining ingredients. Place over medium/high
heat and cook until the mixture begins a rolling boil, then set
⁄3 cup honey
2
your timer for 1 minute. When your sauce has boiled for 1 minute,
¼ cup granulated sugar remove it from the heat, let it cool for 5 minutes, then cover it.
¼ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 To make the chicken, fill a Dutch oven, large saucepan, or deep
fryer with at least 2 inches of vegetable oil and preheat the oil
to 350 degrees F. Also, preheat your oven to 250 degrees F.
3
¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Slice the chicken into small, bite-size chunks. The chicken
pieces will double in size when battered and cooked, so don’t
Vegetable oil for frying, plus 1 make them too big.
tablespoon for the pan
4
Combine 5 ounces (1 cup) of the flour with the cornstarch,
5 ounces (1 cup) plus 2½ baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add the water and
ounces (½ cup) all-purpose
flour, divided whisk until smooth. Let this sit for at least 5 minutes before you
use it. Spoon the remaining 2½ ounces (½ cup) of flour into an-
other medium bowl.
2 teaspoons baking powder
5
¾ teaspoon salt When the oil is hot, bread the chicken several pieces at a time
1½ cups water by first coating the pieces with the dry flour. Toss them around
1 cup sliced green beans (10 in the flour until well-coated, then submerge them in the wet bat-
beans, cut into thirds) ter. Let some of the batter drip off as you transfer each piece from
1 cup sliced yellow bell pepper the batter into the oil. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes (flip the pieces as
(½ large pepper)
necessary for even browning), then remove the chicken to a rack
or a paper towel–lined plate to drain. As you prepare the chicken, Pp
SERVE WITH transfer cooked batches to a baking sheet and keep the chicken
(OPTIONAL) warm in a 250-degree-F oven.
White or brown rice
GARNISH
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
6 To par-cook the sliced green beans, combine them with 1 cup
of water in a microwave-safe bowl and cook for 2 minutes on
high in your microwave oven. You can also use your stovetop and
submerge the beans for 2 minutes in a saucepan of boiling water
over high heat. Remove the beans from the hot water, transfer
them to a bowl of cold water to cool them down, then dry them.
7 Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok or large sauté pan

over high heat. Add the beans and yellow bell pepper. Cook for
2 minutes, stirring often.
8 Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 2 more minutes, stir-
ring often.

9 Pour about 1 cup of the sauce over the chicken and vegetables
in the pan. Cook for 1 minute, stirring gently to coat everything
with sauce.
10 Serve the dish over rice, if desired, with sesame seeds sprin-
kled over the top.
Panda Express
HONEY WALNUT SHRIMP
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Honey Walnut Shrimp
features fresh tempura shrimp wok-tossed in a honey sauce HACK
and topped with glazed walnuts, an irresistible combo of ACTIVE PREP:
sweet and crispy.” 45 MIN.
INACTIVE PREP:
Walnut
Three components must be mastered to properly hack this top
35 MIN.
menu pick at the country’s largest fast Chinese chain: can-
died nuts, honey sauce, and perfectly battered shrimp. For the DIFFICULTY:
candied walnuts, I came up with a technique using the oven, MEDIUM
which means there’s no candy thermometer required and it’s a
YIELD:
no-brainer. For the sauce, you just whisk the ingredients together SERVES 4 TO 5
in a bowl.

WALNUTS To make your shrimp look like the shrimp at Panda Express, you
1
⁄3 cup light brown sugar don’t want them tightly curled up when they fry. You can keep
them from curling by pinching the tail end of each shrimp after
all-purpose flour it has been floured and dipping it into the batter headfirst. When
½ teaspoon paprika you pull it out, the weight of the batter will help unfurl the shrimp
a bit, and if you then lower it slowly into the oil it will mostly stay
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
that way.
1 large egg white
When all the shrimp have been fried, bake them in the oven so
⁄3 cup water
1
that they are crispy and warm, then toss the shrimp and the nuts
¾ cup walnut pieces in the sweet honey sauce and serve.
HONEY SAUCE
⁄3 cup mayonnaise
1
2
Prepare the candied nuts by combining the brown sugar, flour,
3 tablespoons clover honey
paprika, and turmeric in a medium bowl. Briefly beat the egg
1¼ teaspoons rice vinegar white with a whisk, then whisk it into the water in another me-
1 teaspoon lemon juice dium bowl. Mix it well, but don’t make it foamy. To coat the nuts,
½ teaspoon granulated sugar first dip them into the egg white-water mixture. Shake off the
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1 excess liquid before tossing the walnuts into the brown sugar and
⁄8 teaspoon paprika
1 coating them well. Lay them out onto a baking sheet lined with
1
⁄8 teaspoon ground turmeric nonstick foil, a silicone baking pad, or parchment paper. It’s best
to let them sit for 2 to 4 hours to dry before baking, but if you’re
short on time you can go ahead and bake them now. Preheat your
SHRIMP
oven to 250 degrees F. Bake the nuts for 30 minutes, flipping them
over halfway through. They will harden as they cool.
4 ounces (¾ cup) plus 2½
2
ounces (½ cup) all-purpose
flour, divided Make the sauce by whisking together all the ingredients in a
medium bowl. Cover the sauce and set it aside until needed. Pp
3
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
To make the shrimp, fill a large saucepan or Dutch oven with at
½ teaspoon salt least 2 inches of oil. Preheat the oil to 350 degrees F.
1 cup water
¾ pound medium
(41–50) raw shrimp, shelled 4 Combine 4 ounces (¾ cup) of the flour with the cornstarch,
baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the water
until the batter is smooth and there are no lumps. Measure the
remaining 2½ ounces (½ cup) flour into another medium bowl.
6 When the oil is hot, add a handful of shrimp to the bowl of

flour and coat well. Working one at time, pinch the tail of each
shrimp and dip it into the wet batter, then lift the shrimp out of
the batter and carefully lower it into the oil. Fry the shrimp for 3

minutes or until lightly browned on the tail. Let the shrimp drain
on a rack or a paper towel–lined plate. Arrange all the shrimp on a
baking sheet when cool.
7 Bake the shrimp for 5 minutes or until crispy and golden

brown. Add the shrimp to a large bowl with the candied
walnuts. Spoon the sauce over the shrimp (you will likely not use
all the sauce), toss gently until well-coated, and serve while
still warm.
Panda Express
FORTUNE COOKIES
I like making fortune cookies because it means I get to write
fortunes. My fortunes are sometimes ridiculous (“No matter HACK
what, be sure you don’t…ah, never mind. Have a cookie.”), ACTIVE PREP:
sometimes sarcastic (“Wow, you broke a cookie! Have you 20 MIN.
been working out?”), and sometimes paradoxical (“These
INACTIVE PREP:
cookies are filled with lies.”). But’s let’s face it, the fortune 40 MIN.
isn’t the best part. What matters most is that the cookie
DIFFICULTY:
tastes good. EASY
Contrary to popular belief, fortune cookies are not from China. YIELD:
MAKES 12
They don’t even serve them in China. Fortune cookies are an
COOKIES

American invention, created either in San Francisco or Los Ange-
les in the early 1900s—the exact origin is in dispute. Originally, I
set out to clone the best-selling fortune cookie in the U.S., called
Golden Bowl, made by Wonton Foods. But I found out that I don’t
like those cookies. They’re thin and tasteless and have an unnatu-
ral orange tint to them. Instead, I chose to hack the thicker, tastier,
golden brown fortune cookies you get at the largest Chinese take-
out chain.
Fortune cookies start their life looking like pancake batter. The
batter is formed into 3-inch circles that, when baked, become thin
cookies. These are pliable when warm and crispy when cool—so
you’ll need to work fast when forming them. Because they’re so
thin, it’s best to bake the cookies on a silicone pad or nonstick foil.
You can also use parchment paper, but it tends to ripple from the
moisture of the batter, and that ripple shows up on the surface of
the cookies.
I suggest baking just three or four cookies at a time so that
they’ll all be warm and pliable while you add the fortunes and
shape them. And if you’re very fortunate, you can find a helpful
someone to assist you with that part, so you’ll be able to make
more cookies faster.
2 large egg whites

granulated sugar
1¼ teaspoons vanilla extract

1
⁄8 teaspoon salt 2 Beat the egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer on
high speed until they’re stiff, with soft peaks.
Pp
3
2½ ounces (½ cup)
all-purpose flour Add the sugar and mix for 30 seconds. Mix in the vanilla
and salt.
2 tablespoons water
YOU WILL ALSO NEED

12 (5⁄8-x2¼-inch) strips of paper
4 Add the flour and mix until all the flour is moistened, then add
the water and mix up the whole shebang until smooth.
5
with fortunes on them
Line a baking sheet with a silicone nonstick pad or with non-
stick foil. Parchment paper won’t work as well here because the
wet batter makes it ripple, and your cookies also end up rippled.
That might be good for potato chips, but not for fortune cookies.
Carefully drop a little less than 1 tablespoon of batter onto your
nonstick surface using a measuring spoon. Use the back of the
spoon to smooth out the batter with a circular motion, into a
circle that is 3 inches across. You may want to bake just 3 or 4 at a

time, since you will have a very short window of time to form the
cooked batter into fortune-filled cookies before they cool. Foodtoid
Wonton Foods, the largest
6
manufacturer of fortune cookies
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies have
in the U.S., has over 15,000
turned brown and light brown spots are forming in the middle. fortunes in its database.
If the cookies aren’t cooked enough they won’t be crunchy in the
middle when cool, and they will also be more difficult to remove
from the nonstick surface. Immediately after removing the cook-
ies from the oven, carefully lift a corner of the silicone pad or foil
out of the baking pan so that you can peel a cookie off the baking
surface. Don’t get burned, man. Working quickly, place a fortune
into the center of the cookie and fold the cookie like a taco over
the slip of paper. Hold the cookie by the ends and bend the middle
of it over a drinking glass, with the open side up. Hold the ends
together for just a bit, then place the cookie into a muffin tin cup
to keep it closed. Even better, get an assistant to help you hold the
cookies closed until they are cool. It only takes a minute for them
to set.
7 Repeat with the remaining batter. Allow the cookies to cool

completely before eating them for maximum crunch. And be
sure to store the cookies in a covered container so that they
stay crunchy.
No shortage of big chains on the Las Vegas Strip.
n n i n g l o w on
Dang, ru Beef!
Beijing

Panera Bread
AUTUMN SQUASH SOUP
The weather’s cooler, the days are shorter, and pumpkin
HACK spice lattes are back in style. When fall arrives, it brings with
ACTIVE PREP: it the traditional edibles we have come to expect. Usually,

20 MIN. that’s something warm and/or orange and/or with squash
INACTIVE PREP:
in it. Panera’s top fall-release soup is all of the above. And its Pp
1 HR. great taste inspired this new hack.
DIFFICULTY:
On Panera’s ingredients statement for this soup, there is no
EASY
specification for which types of squash are used. The ingredients
YIELD: mention only “squash,” so it’s possible there is more than one type
MAKES 7 CUPS of squash in it. Butternut squash has a great taste and rich orange
(4 SERVINGS) color, so that’s an obvious choice, but I am also adding another
flavorful squash to our pot: acorn squash. Its flesh is golden in
color and tastes like pumpkin, but it’s sweeter and more buttery. I
found that the blended color and flavor from the combination of
both butternut squash and acorn squash worked perfectly here.
The other flavors in the soup come from several spices includ-
ing cinnamon, curry, and cardamom, plus ginger puree, honey,
apple juice, and Neufchatel cheese. Just a little cream at the end
gives the soup body and a smooth richness you will love.
When the soup is thick, serve it hot with freshly toasted pump-
kin seeds sprinkled on top, and taste the season.

1 Melt the butter in a large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium
heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or
until the onion begins to turn translucent.
½ cup chopped white onion
½ cup chopped carrot
2
4 cups vegetable broth
Add the remaining ingredients, except the Neufchatel cheese
1
⁄3 cup apple juice
and heavy cream, to the pot. Cook for 30 minutes at a simmer,
or until the squash is soft, then turn off the heat and add the Neuf- 4 cups (20 ounces) chopped
butternut squash
chatel cheese.
2 cups (10 ounces) chopped
acorn squash
3 Use a blender to puree the soup in batches until smooth. Pour

the soup back into the pan over medium heat and stir in the
cream. Simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes or until thick, stirring
¼ cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
occasionally. 1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
4 Prepare the pumpkin seeds by toasting them in a medium

skillet over medium/low heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly
browned. Salt to taste.
1 teaspoon ginger puree
½ teaspoon lemon juice
5
Serve the soup with a couple pinches of toasted pumpkin seeds
sprinkled on top. ½ teaspoon ground white
pepper
¼ teaspoon curry powder
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1
⁄3 cup Neufchatel cheese,
softened
1
⁄3 cup heavy cream
GARNISH
¼ cup shelled pumpkin seeds
Salt

Panera Bread
BAKED POTATO SOUP
Since Panera Bread makes all its ingredients known, it’s not
HACK hard to find out that there’s no chicken broth in the original
ACTIVE PREP: recipe, yet every copycat recipe I located online calls for
Pp
20 MIN. chicken broth, as well as other ingredients clearly not found
in Panera’s version. Unlike those other recipes, this hack
INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR. uses the same or similar ingredients to those listed on the
company’s website.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
One of the ingredients in the soup, according to the posted list, is
YIELD: yeast extract. This tasty ingredient adds an MSG-like savoriness to
MAKES 8 CUPS Panera’s soup, and we can duplicate it by using nutritional yeast—
(5 SERVINGS)
often called “nooch”—now found in many stores, including Whole
Foods. A little bit of nooch will provide the umami deliciousness
that replaces chicken broth or bouillon.
Panera keeps its soup gluten-free by thickening it with a com-
bination of rice flour and cornstarch, rather than wheat flour. I’ve
included those ingredients as well so that your clone is similarly
gluten-free. Use the steps below and in about an hour you’ll have
8 servings of a soup that is a culinary doppelganger to Panera
Bread’s all-time favorite soup, and at a mere fraction of the cost.

1 Combine 7 cups of water with the salt in a Dutch oven or large
soup pot and bring it to a boil over medium/high heat. Set aside
the remaining cup of water for later. Add the potatoes to the pot
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups peeled and diced russet
and boil for 15 minutes. potatoes (2 medium potatoes)
2 While the potatoes are boiling, melt the butter in a medium

sauté pan over medium/low heat. When the butter is melted
add the onion. Cook the onion for 10 minutes, stirring occasional-
1 cup chopped white onion
3 tablespoons rice flour
ly, or until it becomes translucent.
1¼ cups half-and-half
3 When the potatoes have boiled for 15 minutes, add the onion.
Whisk the rice flour and cornstarch into the remaining cup of
water and add it to the pot, along with the half-and-half, Neufcha-
4 ounces Neufchatel
cheese, softened
3 tablespoons finely chopped
cooked bacon (3 strips)
tel, bacon, Parmesan, nutritional yeast, Tabasco, pepper, smoke
2 tablespoons grated
flavoring, onion powder, celery seed, and turmeric. Bring the soup
Parmesan cheese
back to a boil, then reduce the heat so that the soup is just lightly
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
bubbling. Simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
½ teaspoon Tabasco
4
pepper sauce
Stir in the chives and green onion and cook the soup for an-
½ teaspoon ground
other 5 minutes or until it’s thick.
white pepper
¼ teaspoon liquid hickory
smoke flavoring
1
⁄8 teaspoon celery seed
Pinch ground turmeric
green onion
1 tablespoon minced chives

Panera Bread
CREAM OF CHICKEN AND
WILD RICE SOUP Pp
Other recipes I’ve seen that claim to duplicate the fabulous

HACK flavor of this popular soup do not make good clones, yet the
ACTIVE PREP: long grain and wild rice mix that many of these recipes call
30 MIN. for is a great way to get the exact amount of rice you need in
a perfect blend. Just be sure not to use the flavor packet that
INACTIVE PREP:
3 HRS. comes with those rice kits, or you won’t get a proper clone
of the Panera original. Toss out that blend (or you can use it
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM elsewhere; see Tidbits) and use the recipe below to make a
better flavoring for the soup.
YIELD:
MAKES 10 CUPS
(7 SERVINGS) Thanks to Panera Bread’s policy of completely transparent ingre-
dients, I discovered a surprising ingredient or two (wow, cabbage!),
and was able to craft the best clone you’ll find for this top secret
signature soup.

1 Brine the chicken by combining the water and salt in a medium
bowl. Stir until the salt dissolves. Slice the chicken breast in half
through the middle, with your knife blade parallel to the cutting
CHICKEN
2 cups water
board, creating 2 thinner chicken breast fillets. Add the chicken to salt
the brining solution and place it in your refrigerator for 2 hours. 1 (8-ounce) chicken breast
When the chicken is done brining, remove it from the salt solu- fillet
tion and blot each fillet dry with paper towels. Dice the chicken
with a sharp knife and store it in your refrigerator until later. SOUP
2 Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium/low heat. Add the
onion, carrots, and celery and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring
occasionally, or until the onions begin to turn translucent.
1 cup sliced white onion (about
half a medium onion)
1 cup sliced carrots (about 3
medium carrots)
3 Stir in the cabbage and garlic. Add the chicken broth, 2 cups
of water (save the other cup!), and the chicken bouillon, onion
powder, pepper, parsley, sugar, salt, thyme, tarragon, and turmeric.
¾ cup sliced celery (about 2
medium stalks)
½ cup chopped green cabbage
Raise the temperature until the soup begins to bubble, then turn 1 tablespoon minced garlic
down the heat and simmer the soup for 20 minutes.
6 cups chicken broth
4
3 cups water
Combine the cornstarch and flour with the remaining cup of
water. Whisk well, then add this slurry to the soup along with 2 teaspoons Knorr chicken
bouillon powder (or 2 regular
the half-and-half and the rice from the Rice-A-Roni box and stir. bouillon cubes; see Tidbits)
The flavor packet that comes with the rice is not the right flavor
for this soup, so either toss it out or use it to flavor other rice (see
Tidbits). Bring the soup back up to a boil, then reduce the heat pepper
and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the diced chicken. Continue to
simmer for another 10 minutes or until the rice is tender and the
½ teaspoon granulated sugar
soup is thick.
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
TIDBITS:
¼ teaspoon dried tarragon
> You can use bouillon cubes in this recipe instead of pow- 1
⁄8 teaspoon ground turmeric
dered bouillon. Before adding the 2 cups of water called 1
⁄3 cup cornstarch
for in step 3, heat the water until boiling in your microwave
oven and add the chicken bouillon cube to it for a couple 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
minutes until it dissolves. Use 2 standard-size bouillon 1½ cups half-and-half
cubes or 1 Knorr cube (which are double-size) to replace
1 (4.3-ounce) box Rice-A-Roni
the 2 teaspoons of powdered bouillon in the recipe. Long Grain & Wild Rice
> If you don’t want to waste that blend of seasoning from

the Rice-A-Roni box, you can use it to flavor plain rice.
Bring 12⁄3 cups water and 1 tablespoon of butter to a boil in
a medium saucepan over high heat. Stir in 2⁄3 cup of white
rice (I like jasmine) and the flavor packet, then reduce the
heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until the water
is absorbed.

Panera Bread
TURKEY CHILI Pp
Panera’s turkey chili is a wholesome and flavorful mix of

HACK dark meat turkey, beans, tomatoes, chilies, carrots, onions,
ACTIVE PREP: and spices that’s easy to hack at home, once you know the
20 MIN. secrets. I found that adding turkey in two forms—ground
and sliced—resulted in the best copy. The sliced turkey
INACTIVE PREP:
2 HRS. should be dark meat, if possible, but if you can’t find un-
cooked, sliced dark meat, white meat is fine. It doesn’t finish
DIFFICULTY:
EASY quite as tender and flavorful as the dark meat, but it
still works.
YIELD:
MAKES 7 CUPS
(4 SERVINGS) To further improve flavor, I’m slipping in some nutritional yeast,
which acts like MSG. Panera uses a natural yeast extract similar
to this in many of their soups to improve flavor, so we’ll do the
same. You can find nutritional yeast, or “nooch,” at Whole Foods

or another well-stocked food store. If you can’t track it down, add
another ¼ teaspoon of salt to the pot.
And take note that you won’t be adding the edamame until the
latter half of the cooking process. We do it this way so that when
the chili is ready, the edamame will still be green, rather than the
unappetizing grey color that can curse overcooked soybeans.
1 Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large stock pot or Dutch oven

over medium/high heat. When the oil is hot, add the ground
and chopped turkey and cook for 2 minutes, until no pink is visi-
3 tablespoons
canola oil, divided
6 ounces ground turkey
ble and the turkey is cooked through. Use a slotted spoon or spider 6 ounces presliced, uncooked
to remove the turkey from the pan and set it aside. turkey, chopped (dark
meat is best)
2 Turn the heat to medium and add the remaining 2 tablespoons 1 cup diced white onion
of oil to the pan along with the onion and carrot. Cook for 4 to ½ cup chopped carrot
5 minutes or until the onion begins to turn translucent. 2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
3 Add the turkey back to the pot, then add the chili powder,
brown sugar, nutritional yeast, salt, cumin, garlic powder, and
onion powder. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
1½ teaspoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 Add the chicken broth to the pot. Dissolve the cornstarch into ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
the 4 cups of water and add it to the pot, along with all the ½ teaspoon onion powder
remaining ingredients except the edamame. 4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
5 Bring the chili to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the
chili, uncovered, for 1½ hours. Add the edamame. Cook the
chili for an additional 30 to 60 minutes or until the chili is thick.
1¼ cups canned
garbanzo beans
1 cup canned petite
diced tomatoes
¾ cup canned red kidney beans
½ cup frozen yellow corn
½ cup canned diced mild
green chilies
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons minced cilantro
½ teaspoon lime juice
½ cup frozen edamame

Panera Bread
VEGETARIAN SUMMER
CORN CHOWDER Pp
Panera’s top soup pick in the summer is a creamy vegetar-

Corn
HACK ian chowder that’s full of flavor and easy to copy at home
ACTIVE PREP: once you know an important flavor secret. I started my

20 MIN. hack using a vegetable broth, since that’s what all the other
“copycats” call for, but I found its strong vegetable flavor
INACTIVE PREP:
45 MIN. dominated the soup, so I quickly bailed on that plan.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY Starting over, I referred to the soup’s ingredients posted online
by Panera Bread and noticed there is no broth in the soup, which
YIELD: means every copycat recipe online is wrong. I didn’t want to
MAKES 9 TO make the same mistake in my recipe, but without the broth my
10 CUPS
(7 SERVINGS) soup would be lacking some important flavor components, and
that’s no good either.
In many soup recipes, the broth or stock is important for the
umami quality provided by the yeast extract added to the prod-

uct. Yeast extracts are one of the many ways food manufacturers 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
add an MSG flavor-enhancing effect without adding MSG. Panera 1
⁄3 cup diced white onion
does in fact list “yeast extract” as one of the ingredients in the ¼ cup diced poblano pepper
soup, so I needed to find a readily available ingredient that would
2 tablespoons minced jalapeño
provide the same savory quality. pepper
Enter nutritional yeast—or “nooch” as it’s often called—a flakey, 6 cups water
nutrient-packed, vegan ingredient that’s growing quickly in
popularity thanks to the savory, cheesy flavor it adds to a variety
2½ cups petite-diced red-
of foods (it’s great on popcorn). Nooch is also popular with vegans skinned potatoes (with skin on)
and vegetarians since it’s fortified with vitamin B12, an essential
3 cups frozen yellow corn
nutrient that’s mainly found in animal-sourced foods.
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
Now, with nooch in there, along with yellow corn, red-skin po- in juice
tatoes, poblano peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, and other tasty things,
¼ cup finely minced cilantro
no broth is required. Just give it water and a little patience.
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
granulated sugar
1 Melt the butter in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over 2¼ teaspoons salt
medium heat, then add the onion and poblano and jalapeño 2 teaspoons garlic powder
peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the 2½ cups half-and-half
onion softens. 1½ tablespoons lime juice
2
1½ tablespoons white wine
Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and add it to the pot. Bring vinegar
to a boil, then add the potatoes. Turn down to a simmer and
cook for 10 minutes.
3 Add the corn, tomatoes, cilantro, nutritional yeast, sugar, salt,

garlic powder, and half-and-half and bring the soup back to a
simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, then add the lime juice and vinegar
and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes or until thick.
Foodtoid
Panera Brad has a secret menu which features
high-protein, low-processed carbs choices. Just ask.
Everyone who works there knows about it.

Panera Bread
CINNAMON CRUNCH BAGEL Pp
Panera Bread’s product information pages refer to a long

HACK proofing time when describing the sour characteristic of
ACTIVE PREP: the chain’s phenomenal bagels, but there is no mention of

25 MIN. how long. After several weeks of trying different approaches
to proofing these cinnamon bit–filled bagels, I decided
INACTIVE PREP:
16 HRS. the best solution was to form the bagels and proof them
overnight in the cold. The next day the bagels came out of
DIFFICULTY:
Cinnamon
MEDIUM the refrigerator not much bigger, but after sitting for several
hours at room temperature they more than doubled in size
YIELD:
MAKES 6 BAGELS and had a light sourdough flavor like the original.
The cinnamon drops that go into the bagel were also tricky. I
needed to come up with a way to make bits of cinnamon/sugar
that were crunchy, but not so hard as to break a tooth. I found the
best way was to make oven-cooked cinnamon candy bound with

cornstarch and milk and tenderized with oil. This sugar mixture CINNAMON DROPS
is baked in a loaf pan until no longer bubbling, then cooled and AND TOPPING
shattered into tiny pieces. When the candy is broken up, much of 1
it gets pulverized into dust, which you separate from the crumbs
with a sieve. The crumbs are the cinnamon drops used in the
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
bagel, and the cinnamon/sugar powder is used to dust the tops of
2 teaspoons whole milk
the bagels just before baking.
I also found that kettling (boiling the bagels) with just a table- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
spoon of sugar in the water produced a browner bagel than ket-
tling with no sugar, so that’s the technique I’m sharing here. Some BAGELS
techniques call for malt in the water, but sugar works just fine and 1 cup lukewarm water
makes the perfectly shiny, blistered crust you see in the photo. 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
1 To make the cinnamon-sugar drops and topping, preheat your 15 ounces (3 cups) bread flour
oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, and 1½ teaspoons salt
cinnamon in a medium bowl. Stir in the milk and oil. Use your 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
hands to form the cinnamon-sugar mixture into a ball, then press 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
it into the bottom of a 5x9-inch loaf pan. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes,
or until the candy stops bubbling and is dry in the center. Cool
FOR KETTLING
completely, about 30 minutes, then turn the pan over onto a
4 quarts (16 cups) water
cutting board and slam it down to remove the solidified chunk of
cinnamon-sugar. Cover the candy with plastic wrap, then use a
kitchen mallet to break up the sugar into very small crumbs that
are no bigger than cooked rice. Use a mesh strainer over a bowl to 2 tablespoons unsalted
butter, melted
filter out the bigger chunks from the pulverized cinnamon-sugar
“shake.” Ideally, you want around ¼ cup of crumbs and ¼ cup of
dust. The solid candy bits will go into the bagel, and the cinna-
mon-sugar dust will be sprinkled on top. Set the separated ingre-
dients aside until you are ready to make the bagels.
2 Make the bagels by combining the lukewarm water, sugar,

honey, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Stir until the sugar is
dissolved and allow the solution to sit for 5 minutes or until foamy.
3 Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl, then add it to

the yeast solution in the large bowl along with the oil and va-
nilla. Mix well, either with a stand mixer using a dough hook or by
hand, until the dough forms a ball. Knead for 1 minute, or until the
dough is smooth, then work in ¼ cup of the cinnamon drops. Try
to evenly distribute the cinnamon drops throughout the dough,
but don’t overwork it or the candy bits may dissolve. Separate the
dough into 6 even portions that are about 4¼ ounces each. Then
roll each portion of dough into a rope that is about 11 inches long.
Lightly moisten one end of the rope then attach it to the other end.

With one hand, hold the bagel vertically with the seam end down,
then stick 2 or 3 fingers from your other hand through the hole
and roll the sealed ends of the bagel on a flat surface to hide the
seam. Place the formed bagels on a lightly greased baking sheet
and cover them with another baking sheet or plastic wrap. Refrig-
erate for 12 to 14 hours.
4 The next day, remove the bagels from the refrigerator and set
them out, still covered, for 2 to 4 hours (depending on how
warm your kitchen is), or until they double in size. They will grow
just another 15 percent or so when baked, so when they have
proofed close to the finished size you want, it’s time to bake them.
6 For kettling, combine the sugar and water in a large pot and
set it over high heat. When the oven has preheated and the
water in the pot is boiling, add 2 to 3 bagels to the hot water, up-
side-down. Boil for 15 seconds, then use a large spoon or spider
to flip the bagels and boil them for another 15 seconds. Lift the
bagels out of the water, let much of the water drip off, and place
them onto a parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Repeat with
the remaining bagels.
7 Brush melted butter on the top of each bagel and sprinkle with
1 to 2 teaspoons of the reserved cinnamon-sugar dust.
Pp
8 Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until nicely browned. Turn the

pan around halfway through the baking time for a more
even color.
Foodtoid
The hole in the bagel isn’t just for looks. It creates
more surface area so that the bagel cooks faster,
more evenly, and with more deliciously browned crust.

Panera Bread
CINNAMON CRUNCH SCONE
After the success of Panera Bread’s Cinnamon Crunch Ba-
gels, the popular sandwich chain went back into the devel- HACK
opment kitchen and came out with these incredible scones, ACTIVE PREP:
filled with the same crunchy cinnamon drops found in the 20 MIN.
bagels and drizzled with cinnamon icing.
INACTIVE PREP:
55 MIN.
When first released, these scones were cut as triangles and frost-
ed, but in 2018 the shape was changed to more “rustic”-shaped DIFFICULTY:
round blobs with drizzled or piped icing on top. I like to hack the
EASY
latest recipe, so the newer version of this pastry is the version I’ve YIELD:
re-created here. MAKES 8
These are cream scones, so cream is the main wet ingredient SCONES
that holds the dough together—but keep the dough crumbly as
you mix it, and try not to compress it much, or you risk making
the final product too dense. The best way to form the scones is to
use both hands and shape the dough like you’re making a loose
snowball. Then use one hand to place the dough onto the baking
sheet and form it into a rough dome shape. The scones will flatten
and spread out a little bit as they bake.

CINNAMON DROPS
2 1 To make the cinnamon drops, preheat your oven to 350 degrees
F. Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon in a
medium bowl. Whisk in the oil until there are no clumps, then
add the milk. Use your hands to form the cinnamon sugar into
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
a ball, then press it into the bottom of a 5x9-inch loaf pan. Bake
2 teaspoons vegetable oil for 9 to 10 minutes, or until the sugar stops bubbling around the
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon edges of the pan. Cool completely, about 30 minutes, then turn
whole milk
the pan over onto a cutting board and slam it down to remove the
solidified chunk of cinnamon-sugar. Cover the candy with plastic
SCONES wrap or put it in a plastic bag and use a kitchen mallet to break up
15 ounces (3 cups) all-purpose the sugar into very small crumbs that are no bigger than cooked
flour
rice. Use a wire-mesh strainer to separate the solid bits from the
powder that’s made by breaking up the candy. That sweet cinna-
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon mon powder can be used for another recipe, but we’ll use the solid
baking powder
bits for this one.
2
1¼ teaspoons salt To make the scones, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Com-
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened bine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy a large bowl with a whisk. Work the butter into the dry mixture
cream using your fingers or a pastry blender, then add the crumbled
cinnamon drops and continue mixing with your hands until no
CINNAMON ICING large chunks of butter are visible. Mix in the cream with a large
8 ounces (2 cups) powdered spoon, adding a little at a time. Once the cream is all in, use your
sugar hands to work the cream into the dough. The dough should be
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon crumbly and will stick together if formed into a ball. But don’t do
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon that—keep the dough crumbly and loose.
water
3
Pp
Measure a 4-ounce portion of dough, or about a handful of
dough, and loosely form it into a ball using both hands, as if
you were making a snowball. Use one hand to position the dough
on a nonstick or parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Repeat
with the remaining dough, forming the dough balls into rough
domes that are approximately 3 inches across, and set them 2
inches apart on the baking sheet. Be sure to keep the top of the
dough semi-loose and bumpy, not too smooth.
4 Bake the scones for 15 to 17 minutes or until they become light

brown on top with golden brown bottoms.
5 While the scones cool, make the cinnamon icing by combining

the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and water in a large bowl. Use
an electric mixer on medium speed and mix for 1 minute.
6 Spoon the cinnamon icing into a squirt bottle or a plastic

bag with the tip of a corner cut off, and drizzle the icing over
the scones.

Panera Bread
BLUEBERRY SCONE
A great cream scone should include just enough cream to
Sugar
help the dough stick together, but not so much that the in- HACK
side of the scone is gooey. And the perfect amount of butter ACTIVE PREP:
is required to keep the scone from being either too tough, or 15 MIN.
too flakey, like pie crust. After two dozen attempts, I believe
INACTIVE PREP:
I’ve found the right ratios that will give you tender, nice- 15 MIN.
ly-browned scones with juicy blueberries buried inside—
DIFFICULTY:
and very little blue dough from blueberry juice, just like the EASY
real thing.
YIELD:
MAKES 9
I tried this recipe with every type of blueberry—fresh, frozen, dry, SCONES
and rehydrated—and found that frozen worked best. After baking,
these berries had the same flavor and texture as those in the origi-
nal scone, so I have to assume that Panera also uses frozen berries.
The secret is to first rinse and blot the berries dry before adding
Flour
them to the dough. If you mix the dough properly, it should be

crumbly so that you can easily integrate the juicy berries into ev-
ery portion of dough. Just don’t squeeze too hard when you form
the dough, or the berries may pop and you’ll be seeing blue.

15 ounces (3 cups)
all-purpose flour

baking powder
2 Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
in a large bowl with a whisk. Work the butter into the dry mix-
ture using your fingers or a pastry blender and continue mixing
1¼ teaspoons salt with your hands until no large chunks of butter are visible. Mix in
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened the cream with a large spoon, adding a little at a time. Once the
cream is all in, use your hands to work the cream into the dough.
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon
heavy cream The dough should be crumbly and will stick together if formed
1 heaping cup frozen into a ball, but you want to keep it loose.
blueberries
3 Pour the blueberries into a strainer or colander and rinse them

with cold water until the water runs clear off the berries. This
will prevent the berries from turning the dough blue when they
are mixed in. Dry the blueberries as much as possible on pa-
per towels, then add them to the dough and carefully mix them
in with your hands. You want to be sure not to put too much
pressure on the blueberries or they will burst and dye the dough
blue. You also want to keep the stirring at a minimum. Using your
hands, gently toss the crumbly dough to integrate the berries.
4 Measure a 4-ounce portion of dough, or about a handful of

dough, and loosely form it into a ball using both hands, as if
you were making a snowball. Try not to grab too many or too few
blueberries when forming each dough ball. And don’t press on the
dough balls too hard or you’ll burst the berries. Use one hand to
position the dough on a nonstick or parchment paper–lined bak- Pp
ing sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, forming the dough
balls into rough domes that are approximately 3 inches across,
and set them 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Be sure to keep
the top of the dough semi–loose and bumpy, not too smooth.
5 Bake the scones for 15 to 17 minutes or until they become light

brown on top with golden brown bottoms.

Pei Wei
WEI BETTER ORANGE CHICKEN
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Fresh house-cut and battered
crispy tempura white-meat chicken, wok-seared in our or- HACK
ange sauce and tossed with fresh orange slices.” ACTIVE PREP:
30 MIN.
This 220-unit downscaled version of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
targets the lunch crowd with a smaller menu that features bento
INACTIVE PREP:
25 MIN.
Chicken!
boxes, bowls, and small plates. The bestseller on the menu is this
orange chicken, which I have to say is pretty damn good orange DIFFICULTY:
chicken. Obviously, a clone is needed for this one, stat. MEDIUM
The name “Wei Better Orange Chicken” is a competitive callout
YIELD:
to Panda Express’s signature orange chicken, which is made with
MAKES 4
pre-breaded frozen chicken. Pei Wei claims its orange chicken is SERVINGS

SAUCE prepared each day from scratch with chicken that is never frozen,
1 cup orange juice so we’ll craft our clone the same way. But rather than assemble
the dish in a wok over a high-flame fast stove like they do at the
½ cup water
restaurant, we’ll prepare the sauce and chicken separately, then
¼ cup soy sauce
toss them with fresh orange wedges just before serving.
3 tablespoons rice vinegar By the way, this dish goes very well with white or brown rice, so
3 tablespoons lemon juice don’t forget to make some.
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon chili
garlic sauce (sambal)
½ teaspoon sesame oil
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 Make the sauce by combining all ingredients in a small sauce-
pan and whisking until the cornstarch has dissolved. Place
over medium heat and cook until the sauce reaches a rolling boil,
then remove the sauce from the heat, let it cool for 5 minutes, and
cornstarch
cover it.
CHICKEN
2 To make the chicken, fill a Dutch oven, large saucepan, or deep
fryer with at least 2 inches of oil and preheat the oil to 350 de-
grees F. Also, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
⁄3 cup plus ½ cup all-purpose
3 Slice the chicken into small, bite-size chunks. The chicken
2
flour, divided pieces will double in size when coated and cooked, so don’t
2 tablespoons cornstarch make them too big.
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup water
4 Combine 2 ⁄ 3 cup flour with the cornstarch, baking powder and
salt in a medium bowl. Add the water and whisk until smooth.
Spoon the remaining ½ cup of flour into another medium bowl.
Pp
GARNISH
8 to 12 thin orange slices
(half-moon shapes)
5 When the oil is hot, bread the chicken several pieces at a time
by first coating them with the dry flour. Toss them around
in the flour until well-coated, then submerge them into the wet
batter. Let some of the batter drip off as you transfer each piece
SERVE WITH
from the batter into the oil. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes (flip the pieces
White or brown rice
as needed for even cooking), then remove the chicken to a rack or
paper towel–lined plate to drain.
6 Repeat the process with the remaining chicken pieces, then

arrange all the chicken on a baking sheet. Pop the chicken into
your preheated oven for 4 to 5 minutes or until hot. Warm up the
sauce over medium/low heat.
7 When the chicken and sauce are hot, toss the chicken with the
warmed sauce and orange slices in a large bowl until the chick-
en is well coated. Spoon over rice to serve.

Pizzeria Uno
CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA
Tomatoes
A requirement of any visit to Chicago is eating at least one
slice of deep dish pizza in the city that perfected it. Deep HACK
dish pizza quickly became a Chicago staple after Ike Sewell ACTIVE PREP:
and Ric Riccardo opened the first Pizzeria Uno in 1943 and
served a hearty new style of pizza constructed in a high-
20 MIN.
INACTIVE PREP:
Yeast
rimmed cake pan. The yeast crust was tender and flakey, like 24 HRS. 50 MIN.
a pastry, and the cheese was layered under the sauce so that
DIFFICULTY:
it wouldn’t burn in a hot oven for the long cooking time. MEDIUM
While researching a home hack of this now-iconic recipe, I

YIELD:
MAKES 1
discovered an unexpected technique that I hadn’t seen in other (10-INCH)
deep dish recipes. Employees told me the pizza crusts are partially PIZZA
cooked each morning to cut down on the wait time for customers.
Before the restaurant opens each day, cooks press the dough into
a pan and then sprinkle it with a little shredded cheese. The shells
are then partially baked and set aside. Later, when an order comes

CRUST in, the pizza is built into one of the par-baked crusts and finished
½ cup water off. This way customers get their food faster, and the tables turn
(room temperature) over quicker.
2 teaspoons granulated sugar Copying that delicious, flakey crust was the task that took me
½ teaspoon active dry yeast the longest. After two weeks of baking, I finally settled on a for-
mula that was a mash-up of yeast dough and pie crust and made
12 ounces (about 21⁄3 cups)
all-purpose flour a perfectly tender deep dish crust, with great flavor that exactly
¾ teaspoon salt mimicked the original. If you like Uno, you will love this.
Regarding the cheese: be sure your cheese is at room tempera-
1
ture, not cold, or it may not melt all the way through. Also, it’s best
3 tablespoons extra
virgin olive oil if you buy cheese by the block and shred it yourself. Pre-shredded
cheese is dusted with cornstarch so that the shreds don’t stick
together in the bag, and it won’t melt as smoothly as cheese you
SAUCE
shred by hand.
1 (28-ounce) can diced or
petite-diced tomatoes This recipe will make enough sauce for two pizzas. I just
thought you should know that in case you get the urge to make
¾ teaspoon salt
another deep dish after this one disappears.
¾ teaspoon dried basil

12 ounces (about 3 cups)
1 Make the dough a day or two before you plan to make the
pizza. To begin, dissolve the sugar and yeast in the water in a
small bowl or spouted measuring cup.
shredded mozzarella cheese
(room temperature)
1½ tablespoons grated Romano
cheese 2 In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt with a wooden
spoon. Add the oils and yeast solution and mix until the dough
comes together into a ball. Knead the dough in your hands for 1
TOPPINGS (OPTIONAL) minute, then place it in a covered container in your refrigerator Pp
Italian sausage (cooked) for 1 to 2 days.
Pepperoni
Onion
Mushrooms
3 A couple hours before you plan to make the pizza, take the
dough out of the refrigerator and let it warm up to room
temperature. When you are ready to make the pizza, place a pizza
Green peppers stone into your oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. This
will give the pizza a crispy bottom.
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
A pizza stone
4 Make the sauce by heating up the diced tomatoes in a medium
saucepan over medium heat. When the sauce begins to bubble
reduce the heat and simmer the tomatoes for 5 minutes. Use a
potato masher to smash the diced tomatoes a bit smaller. The
sauce should still be slightly chunky. Add the salt, basil, and garlic
powder and continue to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasion-
ally. Cover and cool.

5 Roll the dough out on a clean surface, making a circle that is
approximately 14 inches across. Pour 1 tablespoon of vegetable
oil into a 10-inch deep dish pizza pan or cake pan with a 2-inch-
high edge. Lay the dough in the pan and press it into the bottom
of the pan and up the sides all the way around, almost to the top.
Make several small holes with the tip of a knife in the bottom of
the dough, then sprinkle 2 ounces (about ½ cup) of shredded
cheese on the dough and bake it for 15 minutes. The cheese
should be browned.
6 Cool the dough for 20 minutes or so and remove it from the

pan. Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan and put the
crust back in. Spread the remaining 10 ounces (about 2½ cups) of
cheese on top of the browned cheese in the crust. Add any top-
pings on top of the cheese, then spoon half of the sauce, or about
1¼ cups over the toppings and spread it to the edges. Reserve
the other half of the sauce for another pizza. Bake the pizza for
25 to 30 minutes or until the top begins to brown. Spin the pizza
around halfway through the baking so that it browns evenly.
7 When you take the pizza out of the oven, sprinkle it with the
Romano cheese.
8 Run a flexible spatula around the edge of the pizza to make

sure it’s loose, then get the spatula under the pizza while hold-
ing the pan (using a mitt) with the other hand and scoop the pizza
out onto a pizza pan or cutting board for slicing. Slice the pizza 3
times through the middle, making 6 slices.
Foodtoid
Due to the long baking time, deep dish pizzas layer
ingredients differently than other pizzas. For a deep dish,
the cheese goes on first to keep it from burning.

Popcornopolis
CARAMEL POPCORN
My new favorite caramel corn is from Popcornopolis. Its
HACK caramel coating is lighter in color and flavor than the dark
Pp
ACTIVE PREP: molasses-heavy caramel coating on old-school caramel
20 MIN. corn, like Cracker Jack. The flavor is more buttery, like
butter toffee, with just a hint of molasses knocking at the
INACTIVE PREP:
40 MIN. back door.
DIFFICULTY:
To assemble this hack I worked with several versions of butter tof-
EASY
fee candy, adding light brown sugar to bring in the molasses, and
YIELD: after several attempts finally landed on the just the right combina-
MAKES 10 CUPS tion of ingredients to best duplicate the flavor, color, and texture
of the real thing.
You’ll want a candy thermometer for this recipe for the best re-
sults, but if you don’t have one you can estimate when the candy
is done by using the time cue in the steps.
Vanilla is added at the end, so we don’t cook out the flavor. You’ll
also add a little baking soda at the end, which will react with the
acid in the molasses and create tiny air bubbles so the hardened
candy has a more tender bite to it.

1 Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. 10 cups popcorn (from 1 to
2 bags natural microwave
popcorn or 1⁄3 cup
air-popped kernels)
2 Pop the popcorn. Measure 10 cups, without any kernels,

and spread the popcorn out on a large baking sheet. Place
the popcorn into your oven to warm up while you make the
2
candy coating. ¼ cup light brown sugar

¼ cup light corn syrup
3 Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. ¼ teaspoon salt
4
¼ teaspoon baking soda
When the butter is melted add the sugars, corn syrup, and
salt. Add a candy thermometer and simmer the mixture until
it reaches 290 degrees F, about 10 minutes from when it starts to
bubble.
5 Remove the candy from the heat and stir in the vanilla and
baking soda. Remove the hot popcorn from the oven and driz-
zle the hot candy coating from the pan over the popcorn. Place
the popcorn back into the oven for 30 minutes. Use a spatula to
stir the popcorn after the first 10 minutes, folding the popcorn
and candy coating over itself so that the candy coats the popcorn.
Stir the popcorn after another 10 minutes, then again after 5 more
minutes, and once again at the end so that the popcorn is evenly
coated with candy.
6 Pour the popcorn onto wax paper or a silicone baking mat. Use
the spatula to separate the candy-coated popcorn pieces while
they’re hot. Separate as many popcorn pieces as you can before
the candy hardens. When it’s cool, store the popcorn in a large
resealable bag or container.
Foodtoid
Before breakfast cereals were invented,
popcorn was eaten for breakfast in a bowl
with milk and sugar.

Popeyes
CHICKEN SANDWICH Pp
When Popeyes debuted its new crispy chicken sandwich

HACK on August 12, 2019, the company was not prepared for the
ACTIVE PREP: eruption of social media video posts comparing the new
20 MIN. sandwich to Chick-fil-A’s classic chicken sandwich. As a
result of the apparently unplanned instant viral campaign in
INACTIVE PREP:
4 HRS. 35 MIN. which Popeyes almost always emerges as the winner, cus-
tomers swarmed the stores and waited in long lines to try
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM the now-famous sandwich. The buzz continued to build day
by day, and just two weeks after its debut, the sandwich had
YIELD:
MAKES 4 sold out—a full month ahead of schedule.
SANDWICHES
But sold out or not, you don’t need Popeyes to get the great taste
combo of the crispy buttermilk breaded chicken breast, soft but-
tered brioche bun, mayo, and pickles. Fortunately, I was able to

get my hands on several of the sandwiches before they were gone, BRINE
and cranked out a clone recipe so you can now re-create the hit 2 cups buttermilk
sandwich any time you want. With these new tricks you’ll be able
to make crispy chicken at home that’s flavorful, juicy, and tender, kosher salt
just like Popeyes, coated in a thick golden breading with the same 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
light crunch. sauce (such as Louisiana or
The secret to moist, tasty chicken is to brine it for several hours Frank’s RedHot)
in a mixture of buttermilk, salt, and MSG. The buttermilk is slightly 2 teaspoons MSG
acidic, so it will help tenderize the chicken without making it too
tough like harsher acids, while the salt adds flavor (as does the 1 pound boneless chicken
MSG) and keeps the chicken juicy. The MSG (monosodium gluta- breast fillets (2 large fillets)
mate) is an amino acid with a salt-like flavor that at one time was
thought to be unhealthy, but is now considered an important culi- BREADING
nary additive. Popeyes uses it in their chicken because it provides 9 ounces (1¾ cups) self-rising
an essential savory flavor called “umami,” and you cannot make flour (not White Lily)
an accurate clone without it. 1 teaspoon MSG
To imitate the light, crispy breading, we’ll use baking powder ½ teaspoon ground white
in the flour. The baking powder forms bubbles in the flour when pepper
the chicken cooks so that the breading is tender and crispy, rather ¼ teaspoon ground black
than crusty and dense. I found that self-rising flour works great pepper
since it conveniently has just the right amount of baking powder ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne
pepper
and salt already added. But don’t use a low-protein self-rising
flour like White Lily. That brand is awesome for biscuits, but its ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
low gluten content makes it not stick well on chicken breasts. I
1
used Gold Medal self-rising flour, and it worked great. If all-pur- 2 large eggs, beaten
pose flour is all you’ve got, that can work as well. I’ve put measure- 1 cup buttermilk
ments for using all-purpose flour, plus baking powder and salt, in 1
⁄3 cup milk
the Tidbits.
Canola oil for frying

4 brioche hamburger buns
1 Make the brine by combining the buttermilk, kosher salt, pepper

sauce, and MSG in a medium bowl or storage container. Trim
off the tapered, thinner end of each chicken breast (so it will fit
Butter (salted), softened
¼ cup mayonnaise
12 to 16 dill pickle slices
better on the bun), and slice the fillets through the middle to make
four 4 ounce fillets. Make sure the chicken is no thicker than ½
inch. Slice bigger, thicker chicken breasts in half through the
middle to create two thinner fillets. Add the chicken breasts to
the brine, cover, and chill for 2 to 3 hours. Remove the chicken
from the brine and rinse it, then blot it dry. Let the chicken sit out
at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes so it’s not cold in the
middle when it starts cooking, or it may not cook properly.
2 Make the breading by combining the flour with the MSG,

ground peppers, garlic powder, and onion powder in a medi-
um bowl.

3 Beat the eggs in another medium bowl, then whisk in the but-
termilk and milk.
4 Fill a large saucepan, Dutch oven, or deep fryer with at least 3

inches of oil and preheat the oil to 300 degrees F.
5 To bread each chicken breast, first coat it with the flour mixture.
Dredge the chicken in the buttermilk-egg mixture, then put it
back in the flour and coat it well. Gently toss the chicken around
in the breading to build up a craggy texture. The breading will
expand as it cooks, but if you think you need more breading give
it another dip in the wet stuff and then back into the flour. Toss
again in the flour to build up a bumpy texture, then let the
chicken sit for a minute or two in the flour to make sure the
breading sticks.
6 Set the breaded chicken on a plate or sheet pan to rest for 5

minutes, then fry the chicken in the hot oil in batches, for 6 to
8 minutes or until golden brown and 165 degrees F in the center.
Drain the chicken on a rack or on a paper towel–lined plate.
7 To make each sandwich, lightly butter both faces of a brioche

bun and toast the buttered sides in a sauté pan over medium
heat until lightly browned.
8 Slather about ½ tablespoon of mayo onto each bun half. Ar-

range 3 to 4 pickles on the bottom bun, followed by a crispy
chicken breast. Finish off your sandwich by crowning it with the Pp
top bun.
TIDBITS:
> If you want to use flour that sticks a little better but of salt, and the same measurements as above for the MSG,
may not be quite as tender, try this recipe with all-purpose ground peppers, garlic powder, and onion powder in a medi-
flour. For the breading, whisk together 9 ounces (1¾ cups) um bowl. Follow the rest of the recipe from step 3.
of flour with 1 tablespoon of baking powder, ¾ teaspoon

Popeyes
SPICY MAYONNAISE
The ridiculously popular crispy chicken sandwich at
Popeyes comes with your choice of regular mayonnaise or HACK
kicked-up spicy mayonnaise. Fortunately, I was able to hack ACTIVE PREP:
the sandwich before it sold out just a couple weeks after its 5 MIN.
debut (the recipe is on page 215), but that recipe includes INACTIVE PREP:
just plain mayonnaise. Recently I had the chance to hack 15 MIN.
the secret spicy mayonnaise, and I’m glad I did. Popeyes
DIFFICULTY:
chicken sandwich with regular mayonnaise is crazy good, EASY
but with spicy mayonnaise, that sandwich is great.
YIELD:
MAKES 1 CUP
You can use this sauce on a variety of sandwiches and burgers, or as a
dip for chicken fingers, nuggets, and fried shrimp.
Combine everything in a small bowl, then cover the sauce and 1 cup mayonnaise
set it aside for 15 minutes. Stir again before using it as a spread 1½ teaspoons ground cayenne
or dip. pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon white vinegar

Qdoba
TORTILLA SOUP
Qq
If you want a tortilla soup that’s vegan (without the gar-
HACK nishes), this is the recipe for you. Unlike most tortilla soup
ACTIVE PREP: recipes, Qdoba doesn’t use chicken broth for the soup base.
20 MIN. So I tried vegetable broth, but every variety I tried threw the
whole recipe off, and I was about to give up. As a last resort,
INACTIVE PREP:
50 MIN. I tried the soup again with Knorr vegetable bouillon cubes,
and…bingo. The bouillon added the perfect flavor, and all
DIFFICULTY:
EASY was good in the world.
YIELD:
MAKES 7 CUPS For this soup, you’ll need to roast some peppers, but after that the
(5 SERVINGS) recipe is a straightforward chop-and-simmer, and you should
have a very easy time with it.
This soup gets garnished with sour cream, shredded cheese,
Poblano
and fried tortilla strips, but you can upgrade your soup by adding

chopped adobo chicken (from the TSR version of Qdoba Adobo
Chicken on page 221), black beans, rice, pico de gallo, and minced
cilantro. Now you’ve just cloned the chain’s Loaded Tortilla Soup,
and you’re a better person because of it.
1 Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Roast the poblanos on a

greased baking sheet for 20 to 30 minutes, turning twice while
baking, until the skins are wrinkled and charred. You can also
2 medium poblano peppers
1 cup diced white onion
roast the peppers by setting them directly over the high flame of
1½ teaspoons minced garlic
a gas stove, turning often until blackened. Drop the peppers into
6½ cups water, divided
a covered container for a couple minutes after charring and the
skin should easily wash off in cold water. Remove the stems and
3 Knorr extra-large vegetable
bouillon cubes (or 6 regu-
any seeds and dice the peppers. You should have around 1 cup. lar-size cubes)
3 cups masa harina corn flour
2 Heat the oil in a 3-quart saucepan or soup pot over medium

heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for a couple minutes
or until the garlic is beginning to brown.
1 cup canned diced tomatoes,
with juice
3
3 tablespoons minced cilantro
While the onions cook, heat 4 cups of water to boiling (the
microwave works great for this) and add the bouillon cubes so
1 tablespoon chili powder
they can start dissolving. 1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 When the garlic is beginning to brown add the bouillon liquid

plus 2 more cups of water to the pan.
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
5
Stir the masa harina and cornstarch into the remaining ½ cup pepper
of water until there are no lumps, then add it to the pan.
¼ teaspoon Mexican dried
oregano
6 Add the remaining ingredients and bring the soup to a boil,

then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes or until
thicker. Serve the soup topped with sour cream, cheese, and fried
TOPPINGS
Sour cream
tortilla strips.
Shredded cheddar cheese
Fried tortilla strips
(see Tidbits below) or crumbled
tortilla chips
TIDBITS:
> Make fried tortilla strips by slicing a stack of several with 1 inch of vegetable oil and preheat the oil to 350
corn tortillas into very thin strips. Keep the tortillas stacked degrees F. Fry the tortilla strips in the oil in batches for 1
and aligned with one hand while slicing with the other. Slice minute, then drain on paper towels and store in a
the strips into thirds. Fill a Dutch oven or large saucepan sealed container.

Qdoba
GRILLED ADOBO CHICKEN Qq
The 729-unit chain did not start its life as Qdoba. When the
HACK Mexican food restaurant was first founded by Robert Miller
ACTIVE PREP: and Anthony Hauser in Denver, Colorado in 1995, it was

Chicken!
20 MIN. called Zuma Mexican Grill, named after a friend’s cat. As
Pie
INACTIVE PREP:
24 HRS.
it turned out, a restaurant in Boston had that same name
and threatened to sue, so the partners changed the name
to Z-Teca. It wasn’t long before two different restaurants
DIFFICULTY:
EASY threatened to sue for that name—Z’Tejas in Arizona and Az-
teca in Washington—and the partners were forced to change
YIELD:
MAKES 2 TO 4 the name yet again. This time they called their restaurant
SERVINGS Qdoba, a completely made-up name that was unlikely to be
used by anyone else.

A signature item and consistent top seller is this marinated adobo
chicken, offered as a main ingredient in most of the chain’s selec-
tions. Make this chicken by marinating thigh meat for a couple of
days in the secret adobo sauce (a worker there told me they let it
soak for up to 8 days), then grill and chop. Use the flavorful chick-
en in burritos, tacos, bowls, on nachos, and in tortilla soup.
1 Combine the water, chilies, and garlic in a blender and blend on

high speed for 10 to 15 seconds or until the garlic and chilies are
pureed. Add all the remaining ingredients except the chicken and
1½ cups water
3 tablespoons chopped and
rinsed canned chipotle chilies
blend just until combined—about 5 seconds. Combine the chick- 2 cloves garlic
en with the marinade in a large bowl. Cover and chill for at least 1 ¼ cup vegetable oil
to 2 days, and up to a week. 2 teaspoons chili powder
2
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
When you are ready to prepare your chicken, preheat your
1 teaspoon paprika
barbecue grill to high heat. You can also cook the chicken on
an indoor grill pan on your stove over medium heat. Cook the 1 teaspoon lime juice
chicken for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done. 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 Allow the chicken to sit for 3 minutes, then dice. Use the chick-
en immediately to make burritos, tacos, bowls, or salads, or in
tortilla soup (page 219).
pepper
1½ pounds skinless chicken
thigh fillets

Rao’s Homemade
MARINARA SAUCE
Rr
Getting a table at the 123-year-old original Rao’s restau-
HACK rant in New York City is next to impossible. The tables are
ACTIVE PREP: “owned” by regulars who schedule their meals months in

20 MIN. advance, so every table is full every night, and that’s the
way it’s been for the last 38 years. The only way an outsider
INACTIVE PREP:
40 HRS. would get to taste the restaurant’s fresh marinara sauce is to
be invited by a regular.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
If that isn’t in the stars for you, you could buy a bottle of the sauce
YIELD: at your local market (if they even have it). It won’t be fresh, and it’s
MAKES 32 OUNCES
likely to be the most expensive sauce in the store, but it still has
that great Rao’s taste. An even better solution is to copy the sauce
for yourself using this new and very easy hack.

The current co-owner of Rao’s, Frank Pellegrino Jr., told Bon
Appetit in 2015 that the famous marinara sauce was created by
his grandmother many years ago, and the sauce you buy in stores
is the same recipe served in his restaurants. The ingredients are
common, but correctly choosing the main ingredient—tomatoes—
is important. Try to find San Marzano-style whole canned toma-
toes, preferably from Italy. They are a little more expensive than
typical canned tomatoes, but they will give you some great sauce.
After 30 minutes of cooking, you’ll end up with about the same
amount of sauce as in a large jar of the real thing. Your version
will likely be just a little bit brighter and better than the bottled
stuff, thanks to the fresh ingredients. But now you can eat it any-
time you want, with no reservations, at a table you own.
1 Strain the canned tomatoes, reserving the liquid, then place

the tomatoes in a 3-quart saucepan along with 1½ cups of the
strained liquid and set over medium heat. When the tomatoes
2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled
San Marzano-style tomatoes
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
begin to bubble, reduce the heat and cover the pan. Cook the ⁄3 cup minced white onion
2
tomatoes for 10 minutes to soften them, then turn off the heat and 2 teaspoons minced garlic
let the tomatoes sit, covered, for 5 minutes.
2 tablespoons coarsely
chopped basil
2 Use a potato masher to crush the tomatoes in the saucepan.

Make sure there are no chunks bigger than a peanut. Pour the
tomatoes into a large bowl, then transfer 3 cups of the crushed
1¼ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly cracked
black pepper (or coarse
tomatoes to a blender. Blend on high speed until the tomatoes are pepper)
pureed into tomato sauce, then add the sauce back to the bowl of ½ teaspoon dried oregano
crushed tomatoes.
3 Rinse out the pan and place it back over medium/low heat. Add
the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic and cook
for 3 minutes. You don’t want the garlic and onion to brown. If
they’re cooking too fast, turn down the heat.
4 Add the tomatoes and all the remaining ingredients to the pan
and turn the heat to medium. When the sauce begins to bubble
reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes
or until the sauce is thick.

Roscoe’s
CHICKEN AND WAFFLES
Waffles
Forty-five years ago, chicken and waffles sounded like
HACK an unusual combination to most people, but not to Herb
ACTIVE PREP: Hudson. He loved the dish so much when he lived in Harlem,
30 MIN. New York, where it was created, that he brought it west in
1975 to Long Beach, California, and turned the concept into
INACTIVE PREP:
4 HRS. 40 MIN. a chain of seven legendary Los Angeles restaurants that
were successful for decades.
DIFFICULTY: Rr
MEDIUM
But Roscoe’s has recently fallen on hard times. Eater.com report-
YIELD: ed in January 2018 that the chain had declared bankruptcy and
SERVES 4
Chicken!
owed $27 million. Snoop Dogg, known over the years for claiming
Roscoe’s as his favorite restaurant, told TMZ that he was going to
buy the chain and call it Snoop Dogg’s Chicken ‘N Waffles. That
deal never happened.
I’m not sure what’s in the cards for Roscoe’s, but I thought it
might be a good idea to head out to the Roscoe’s on Gower in LA
and do a little hacking, and the sooner, the better. Once there, I
ordered plenty of extra chicken and waffles to go, popped them
into the cooler, then headed back to Vegas and got to work.
The chicken at Roscoe’s is Southern-style, which usually means
the chicken is soaked in buttermilk, but several workers there

insisted that wasn’t the case. So instead, I brined the chicken in a
simple salt solution and was pleased to discover that it tasted like
theirs. By peeking into the kitchen I observed that Roscoe’s chick-
en is pan-fried, which is a very Southern thing to do with chicken,
so we’ll do the same with our clone. My waiter claimed they use
canola oil.
As for the waffles, they’re made special with a secret com-
bination of spices added to the batter. I noted a strong taste of
cinnamon and vanilla, with just a dash of nutmeg. To be sure, I
confirmed these three ingredients with a very helpful server from
another table who was proud to talk about the recipe, and even
high-fived me when I called out the correct secret ingredients.
CHICKEN BRINE CHICKEN BREADING WAFFLES

8 cups water 2 cups (10 ounces) 4 large eggs
all-purpose flour
¼ cup salt 1
1½ tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon granulated 1 tablespoon plus
sugar 2 teaspoons MSG 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons salt 1½ teaspoons salt
Canola oil for frying 1½ teaspoons onion powder ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted
butter, melted
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1½ cups half-and-half
1 teaspoon baking powder
15 ounces (3 cups)
1 teaspoon ground black
all-purpose flour
pepper
2½ teaspoons baking
½ teaspoon ground cayenne
powder
pepper
1¼ teaspoons ground
cinnamon
1½ cups whole milk
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1
⁄3 cup water
8 pieces of chicken with the
skin on (drumsticks, wings,
thighs, breasts) ON THE SIDE
Whipped butter
Maple syrup
YOU WILL
ALSO NEED
Waffle iron
1 Make the brine by combining the water with the salt and sugar
in a large bowl. Add the chicken and chill for 4 hours. When the
chicken is done brining, rinse it off with cold water and blot it dry.

2 Fill a large heavy pan, like a cast-iron skillet, with 3 to 4 inches
of oil and preheat the oil to 330 degrees F. Use a thermometer
on the side of the pan to monitor the temp.
3 Make the chicken breading by combining the dry ingredients

in a medium bowl. Combine the eggs with the milk in another
medium bowl.
4 Bread each piece of chicken by first dipping it in the egg-milk

mixture, then in the seasoned flour. Coat the chicken well with
flour on all sides, allowing it to sit in the flour for a few minutes so
that the flour sticks.
5 Gently lower the chicken into the oil in small batches and fry it
for 20 to 24 minutes, depending on the size of the piece. The
oil should drop to between 300 and 325 degrees F, which is where
it needs to stay as the chicken fries. Any hotter and the chicken
may become too dark on the outside before it’s cooked on the
inside. Flip the chicken over after every 5 minutes so that it cooks
evenly, then remove the cooked pieces to a rack or paper towel–
lined plate. You can keep the chicken warm on a baking sheet in
a 275-degree-F oven until all the chicken is done and you’re ready
to serve it.
6 The chicken takes a while to fry, so you’ve got some time to

make waffles. Fortunately, they’re easy. First step: heat up your
waffle iron.
7 Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl with
a mixer on high speed. Mix in the melted butter, then the half-
and-half. Combine the flour with the baking powder, cinnamon, Rr
and nutmeg, then add the dry combo to the wet stuff, along with
the water, and mix it up with your mixer until smooth.
8 Spray the waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray, then spoon
⁄ cup to ½ cup of batter (depending on the size of your waffle
1 3
iron) onto the center of the waffle iron.
9 Cook each waffle for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. The

recipe should produce at least 8 waffles, and probably a couple
more than that.
10 On each plate, set 2 pieces of fried chicken next to a stack of

2 waffles with a scoop of whipped butter on top, and serve
the maple syrup on the side.

Shake Shack
SHACKBURGER
Several puzzles had to be solved to make this burger a
satisfying hack of the signature sandwich from the rapidly HACK
expanding New York chain. First, our burger must include a ACTIVE PREP:
spot-on facsimile of the secret ShackSauce. I got a sample of 15 MIN.
the sauce from one of our Las Vegas Shake Shacks and de-
INACTIVE PREP:
termined the seven common ingredients, including pickle 10 MIN.
juice, to combine for a great clone.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
Second, the burger must be made with a special ground mix of
four different cuts of beef and the patties need to be cooked the YIELD:
right way. I tested many combinations of meat until I landed on a
SERVES 6
flavorful blend of chuck, brisket, skirt steak, and short ribs. If you
don’t have a meat grinder at home, you can have your butcher
grind these for you. At the restaurant, the ground beef blend is
formed into ¼-pound pucks that are smashed onto the grill with a
metal press. Grab a strong spatula and heat up a heavy skillet.

SECRET SAUCE And third, you’ll need some soft, buttered and toasted potato
½ cup mayonnaise buns to hold it all together. Shake Shack uses Martin’s rolls, which
are not cut all the way through, allowing the buns to be hinged
2 teaspoons ketchup
open for loading. If you can’t find Martin’s, any soft potato rolls
½ teaspoon yellow mustard
will do.
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika Use these secrets and follow the easy steps below and soon
¼ teaspoon garlic powder you’ll be biting into a perfect re-creation of the famous cheese-
1
⁄8 teaspoon dill pickle juice burger that helped this chain grow from a single food cart in New
1
⁄8 teaspoon ground York City to over 162 stores.
cayenne pepper
1
½ pound ground chuck
Make the ShackSauce clone by mixing the secret sauce
½ pound ground brisket
ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover until needed.
¼ pound ground skirt steak
¼ pound ground short ribs
Salt 2 Make the burgers by combining all the ground beef in a
bowl. Don’t overmix or the burgers may become too tough
and dense.
Ground black pepper
6 slices of American cheese
6 unsliced potato sandwich
rolls (such as Martin’s), or
potato hamburger buns
3 Form the ground beef into six ¼-pound pucks (like hockey
pucks) that are approximately 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch
thick.
Butter, softened
12 Roma tomato slices
6 leaves of green leaf lettuce,
4 Heat up a heavy skillet over medium heat. When the pan is hot,
drop a beef puck into the pan and smash the beef down with
a sturdy spatula until the patty is about 5 inches across and about
trimmed to fit
¼ inch thick. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper. When the beef is
nicely browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes, flip the patty and
cook it for a minute more, then place a slice of American cheese
on top. Cook the beef patty for an additional 1½ to 2 minutes for
medium rare, or to your desired doneness.
5 While the patty is cooking, use a serrated knife to split the roll,
but don’t cut all the way through. Leave a bit of the bun un-
sliced so that you can hinge it open. Open the roll and butter both
Ss
of the faces, then place buttered side down in another pan over
medium heat to brown the bun.
6 When the cheese is melted on the patty and the bottom of the
beef is nicely browned, it’s time to build your burger. Place the
cooked patty on the bottom toasted bun. Add two tomato slices on
top of the beef patty, followed by a leaf of lettuce with the ruffled
edge of the leaf facing away from the hinge of the bun. Spread
about a tablespoon of sauce on the face of the top bun, then close
up the sandwich and serve. Repeat for the remaining sandwiches.

Shake Shack
FROZEN VANILLA CUSTARD
What started as a single food cart in Madison Square Park
in New York City in 2000 has become one of America’s HACK
fastest-growing food chains. In 2014, Shake Shack filed for ACTIVE PREP:
its initial public offering of stock, and shares rose by 147 15 MIN.
percent on the first day of trading. The chain’s success can
INACTIVE PREP:
be attributed to a simple menu of great food that makes any 25 MIN., PLUS
bad day better, including juicy flat-grilled burgers, thick
CHILLING TIME.
shakes, and creamy frozen custard. DIFFICULTY:
EASY
Custard is made just like ice cream with many of the same
YIELD:
ingredients, except custard has egg yolks in it for extra richness. MAKES 3½ CUPS
Also, custards are made in ice cream machines with paddles that (4 SERVINGS)
move slowly so minimal air is mixed in. Home ice cream makers
work great for custard, and will churn out a thick, creamy finished
product. Using the right ratio of cream to milk and just enough
egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla, you can now make an identical hack

3 large egg yolks of Shake Shack’s custard, which is great on its own or topped
1 with syrups, fruit, and candy bits. You can also use this custard to
3 tablespoons corn syrup make a hack of Shake Shack’s Vanilla Milkshake. Just add milk and
blend following the recipe on page 232.
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1
And don’t forget that custards taste best when they’re fresh.
1½ cups heavy cream
Shake Shack serves the custard within a couple hours of making it,
1¼ cups whole milk
so consume your copycat custard as quickly as you can after
2 teaspoons vanilla extract it’s churned.
YOU’LL ALSO NEED
1
Ice cream maker
Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a
3-quart saucepan. Mix in the heavy cream and milk and place
the pan over medium heat. Whisk often as the mixture heats up to
a light boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes
or until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the vanilla and cool. Trans-
fer the custard to a container to chill it in your refrigerator for
several hours, until cold.
2 Pour the cold custard into an ice cream maker and run the
machine until the custard is thick, 15 to 20 minutes. Store the
frozen custard in a covered container in your freezer until you’re
ready to serve it. This frozen custard is best when eaten within a
few hours of making it, before it’s frozen solid. If the custard
gets too hard in your freezer, sit it out to soften for 5 minutes
before serving.
Ss

Shake Shack
VANILLA MILKSHAKE
The burgers rock, the custard is cool, and the shakes may be
the best you’ve ever had. Those shakes at Shake Shack are HACK
so good because they’re made with the chain’s signature ACTIVE PREP:
frozen vanilla custard that I hacked on page 230. To make 5 MIN.
the shake you just add milk to the custard and blend it until
INACTIVE PREP:
smooth. Pour the creamy shake into a 16-ounce glass and NONE
today will be your new favorite cheat day.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
YIELD:
1 (16-OUNCE)
SHAKE
Combine the custard and milk in a blender and blend on medi- 1½ cups Shake Shack Frozen
um speed until smooth. Pour into a 16-ounce cup or glass, top Vanilla Custard clone (page
230), or other frozen vanilla
with whipped cream, if desired, and add a straw. custard
½ cup cold whole milk
ON TOP (OPTIONAL)

Starbucks
PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE
The PSL is doing A-OK at Starbucks. In 2018, Starbucks
HACK moved the release of its seasonal Pumpkin Spice Latte from
ACTIVE PREP: September to August in anticipation of record sales for the

10 MIN. 15-year-old product. According to ‘Nation’s Restaurant
News,’ consumers in 2017 “visited PSL establishments twice
INACTIVE PREP:
10 MIN. as many times as typical patrons,” most likely because they
know the drinks are around for only a short time.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
The trick when hacking this Starbucks superstar is making a per-
YIELD: Ss
fect clone of the syrup used in the drink. I found a friendly barista
MAKES 1 DRINK,
WITH SYRUP FOR who was willing to squirt a little of the secret syrup into a cup for
MORE me to take back to headquarters for examination. Back in the lab
I discovered the mysterious light orange–colored syrup had no
spice particles in it whatsoever, meaning the flavors are added
as extracts or oils. Most home cooks like you and me cannot get
such ingredients, so I had to come up with a formula using easily
accessible ground spices and pumpkin puree.
Using pumpkin pie spice makes this recipe easy and is much
cheaper than buying all the spices separately. Pumpkin pie spice
is a convenient blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and either
allspice or clove, and it’s found in practically all food stores. For

our hack, the blend is combined with a sugar solution and cooked
until syrupy, then sweetened condensed milk is stirred in. Con-
densed milk is also used in the original syrup at Starbucks—ac-
cording to the ingredients list—which is why the syrup they use
is opaque and creamy. When your syrup is done, add a couple
tablespoons to your latte, then top it off with whipped cream and
a sprinkling of more spice.
Lattes are made with espresso, and in this case you’ll need a
double shot, which is about ¼ cup. If you can’t make espresso,
then make some strong coffee and use ½ cup of it. If you don’t
have a way to steam milk, you can heat it up in the microwave
for 2 minutes or until hot, then make it foamy with a milk foamer,
immersion blender, or whisk.
1 Make the pumpkin spice syrup by combining the water, sugar,

pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a medium
saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat
PUMPKIN SPICE
SYRUP
1 cup water
and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the con-
densed milk and vanilla.
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
puree
2 Steam the milk using a milk steamer. If you don’t have a

steamer, you can heat the milk in your microwave until hot,
then use a milk foamer, immersion blender, or whisk to make
¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon salt
foam in the milk. 2 tablespoons sweetened

condensed milk
3 To make your latte, pour 2 tablespoons of the pumpkin spice

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
syrup into a heatproof 16-ounce cup, then add the espresso (or
coffee), followed by the hot, foamy milk. 8 ounces milk
¼ cup fresh espresso (or ½ cup
4 Top off the drink with whipped cream and sprinkle it with a strong coffee)
couple dashes of pumpkin pie spice.
GARNISH
Whipped cream
Pumpkin pie spice
TIDBITS:
> Keep the leftover syrup in a sealed container in your

fridge and it will last for several weeks.

Starbucks
BACON & GRUYERE SOUS
VIDE EGG BITES
In January of 2017, Starbucks perfected slow-cooked sous
HACK vide–style egg snacks that can be prepped and served
ACTIVE PREP: quickly by the baristas at any location. To speed up service,

20 MIN. Starbucks makes the egg pucks ahead of time, then freezes
and ships them to the coffee stores where they are defrosted
INACTIVE PREP:
2 HRS. and reheated in blazing-hot convection ovens.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY Sous vide refers to the method of cooking food sealed in bags or
jars at a low, consistent temperature for a long time. This tech-
YIELD: nique creates food that’s softer in texture and less dried out than
MAKES 8 (4 food cooked with other, faster methods. Cooks who use sous vide
SERVINGS)
will often vacuum pack their food in bags and use special ma- Ss
chines to regulate temperature. But you won’t need an expensive
machine like that for this recipe—just some 8-ounce canning jars
and a blender.
The secret to duplicating the smooth texture starts with blend-
ing the cheeses very well until no lumps remain. Rub some of the
cheese mixture between your fingers to make sure it’s smooth
before you pour it into the jars. It’s also important to monitor
the temperature of the water. Try to keep it between 170 and 180
degrees F so that your eggs are neither too tough nor too soft. It’s
best to use a cooking thermometer for this, but if you don’t have
one, the right temperature is just below where you see tiny bub-
bles rising to the surface. Also, if you hear the jars jiggling in the
water, that’s their way of telling you the water is a bit too hot.

1 Combine the cheeses, eggs, butter, and pepper sauce in a
blender and blend on high speed until the mixture is smooth,
with no lumps. Rub some between your fingers to make sure
4 ounces (1 cup) shredded
Monterey Jack cheese
¾ cup cottage cheese (whole,
not low-fat)
there are no little bits of cheese in the mix.
2 ounces (½ cup) shredded
2
Gruyere cheese
To cook the eggs, you will likely need two large saucepans to
hold all the jars at once—four in each. Or you can make these 4 large eggs
in two batches using just one pan. Add 1 inch of water to your pan
1
⁄3 cup unsalted butter, melted
or pans and heat over medium/low heat to between 170 and 180 4 to 5 drops Tabasco pepper
degrees F. If you don’t have a thermometer, the proper tempera-
sauce
ture will be just before you see tiny bubbles rising in the water. 8 slices very thin bacon,
cooked (or 4 slices if not thin)
3 Spray the inside of each jar with oil spray. If your bacon is small
and thin, like the bacon Starbucks uses, fold each piece over
itself and press each one into the bottom of a jar. If your bacon
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
8 (8-ounce) canning jars,
without lids
is thick like most consumer bacon, slice it in half, or in thirds,
depending on how big it is, and press a cooked piece into the bot- non-stick oil spray
tom of each jar. If your bacon is too crispy, you can make it more
pliable to fit better in the jars by dipping the pieces in warm water
and blotting them dry.
4 Pour ¼ cup of the egg mixture into each jar, then cover each
one with plastic wrap. Use the tip of a knife to poke a hole in
the center of the plastic on each jar.
5 Place the jars into the water in the pan(s) and set your timer for
90 minutes. Periodically check the temperature to make sure
it hasn’t drifted too far up or down and adjust if necessary. If you
I convinced a Starbucks
barista to sell me
some cold Egg Bites to
hear the jars jiggling in the water, the temperature is likely too hot,
examine. Score!
and the heat should be turned down a smidgen.
6 After an hour and a half, remove the jars from the water and
cool them for 30 minutes. Remove the plastic, then invert
the jars over a cutting board and tap down gently to remove all
the egg bites. Place the egg bites you will be eating later into a
covered container and chill for a couple days or freeze them for a
couple weeks.
7 To prepare the egg bites so that they look like the ones you
get at Starbucks, place a pizza stone or heavy oven-safe sauté
pan, such as a cast-iron skillet, into the oven and preheat it to 500
degrees F. If your egg bites are cold, heat 2 on a plate, bacon-side
down, for 30 seconds in your microwave. Place a piece of parch-
ment paper or nonstick foil on the pizza stone or in the hot pan
in the oven. Place both of the warm egg bites in the oven on the

parchment paper, bacon-side down for 1 to 2 minutes or until
they have lightly browned on the bottom. Flip the egg bites over
onto a serving plate so that the browned side is up and serve hot
with a fork.
Starbucks
EGG WHITE & ROASTED RED
PEPPER SOUS VIDE EGG BITES
The same slow-cooking technique is used to copy this yolk- Ss
HACK less companion to the Bacon & Gruyere Sous Vide Egg Bites
ACTIVE PREP: (page 235), but instead of bacon, this version comes with
20 MIN. roasted red pepper, green onion, and spinach.
INACTIVE PREP:
2 HRS. Because there is no yolk, a little rice flour is used to help hold
everything together. I suspect Starbucks chose rice flour to keep
DIFFICULTY: the product gluten-free, even though most people really don’t
EASY mind a little gluten, and gluten does a much better job of binding.
YIELD: I include the rice flour here, but you can substitute with all-pur-
MAKES 8 (4 pose wheat flour if gluten isn’t a concern, and if you don’t feel like
SERVINGS) buying a whole bag of rice flour just to use 2 teaspoons out of it.

To get the same smooth texture in your egg bites as Starbucks,
be sure to blend the mixture until no bits of cheese can be felt
when you rub some between your fingers. The recipe tastes best
with full-fat cottage cheese, but you can still use low-fat cottage
cheese if you feel like trimming some of the fat.
1 Heat the oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the
roasted red bell pepper and cook for one minute. Add the green
onion and continue cooking for a couple more minutes or until
1 tablespoon canola oil
¼ cup petite-diced roasted
red bell pepper (see Tidbits for
prep tips)
the pepper and onion are just beginning to brown. Immediately
turn off the heat, stir in the spinach, and set the pan aside to cool. 2 tablespoons finely chopped
green onion
2 Combine the eggs, cheeses, butter, flour, salt, and pepper ¼ cup finely chopped spinach
leaves
sauce in a blender and blend on high speed until the mixture is
6 large egg whites
smooth, with no lumps. Rub some between your fingers to make
sure there are no little bits of cheese in the mix. Pour the egg mix- 4 ounces (1 cup) shredded
Monterey Jack cheese
ture into a medium bowl and stir in the red pepper mixture.
¾ cup cottage cheese
(whole, not low-fat)
3 To cook the eggs, you will most likely need two large sauce-
pans to hold all the jars at once—four in each. Or you can make
these in two batches using just one pan. Add 1 inch of water to
1 ounce (3 tablespoons) diced
feta cheese
1
⁄3 cup unsalted butter, melted
your pan or pans and heat over medium/low heat to between 170
2 teaspoons rice flour
and 180 degrees F. If you don’t have a thermometer, the proper (or all-purpose wheat flour)
temperature will be just before you see tiny bubbles rising in
¼ teaspoon salt
the water.
4 to 5 drops Tabasco
pepper sauce
4 Spray the inside of each jar with oil spray. Measure ¼ cup of
the egg mixture into each jar, then cover each one with plastic
wrap. Use the tip of a knife to poke a hole in the center of the
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
8 (8-ounce) canning jars,
plastic on each jar. without lids
5
non-stick oil spray
Place the jars into the water in the pan(s) and set your timer for
90 minutes. Periodically check the temperature to make sure
it hasn’t drifted too far up or down and adjust if necessary. If you
hear the jars jiggling in the water, the temperature is likely too hot,
and the heat should be turned down a just a bit.
6 After an hour and a half, remove the jars from the water and
cool them for 30 minutes. Remove the plastic, then invert
the jars over a cutting board and tap down gently to remove all
the egg bites. Place the egg bites you will be eating later into a
covered container and chill for a couple days or freeze them for a
couple weeks.

7 To prepare the egg bites so that they look like the ones you
get at Starbucks, place a pizza stone or heavy oven-safe sauté
pan, like a cast-iron skillet, into the oven and preheat it to 500
degrees F.
8 If your egg bites are cold, heat 2 on a plate for 30 seconds in

your microwave. Place a piece of parchment paper or nonstick
foil on the pizza stone or in the hot pan in the oven. Place both of
the warm egg bites in the oven on the parchment paper for 1 to 2
minutes or until they have lightly browned on the bottom. Flip the
egg bites over onto a serving plate so that the browned side is up
and serve hot with a fork.
TIDBITS:
> You can roast the red bell pepper on a greased baking a gas stove, turning often until blackened. Drop the charred
sheet in your oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and pepper into a covered container for a couple of minutes
bake the pepper for 20 to 30 minutes, turning twice while and the skin should easily wash off in cold water. Remove
baking, until the skin is wrinkled and charred. You can also the stem and seeds and chop it up.
roast the pepper by setting it directly over the high flame of
Ss

Starbucks
ICED LEMON LOAF CAKE
Several years ago, when this moist, lemony frosted pound
cake used to be called “Lemon Loaf,” it was discontinued HACK
from the coffee house chain along with the banana and ACTIVE PREP:
pumpkin flavors, and customers were outraged. The “Loa- 15 MIN.
fies” (my word for them) protested and demanded that the
INACTIVE PREP:
beloved sweet loaves be returned to their rightful place in 1 HR. 45 MIN.
the pastry display case, and in early 2014, the treats were
DIFFICULTY:
brought back. EASY
YIELD:
Today the Iced Lemon Loaf Cake (its new name) is made by the MAKES 8 SLICES
bakery chain La Boulange that Starbucks acquired in 2012, and
it is a little different than the one I cloned years ago. So I headed
back down into the underground lab for a re-hack of this loaf
Cake
Lemon
cake, which will now produce a better lemon loaf that is bigger,
moister, less oily, more buttery, and tastier than the previous
version. If Starbucks ever ditches your Lemon Loaf again, Loafies,
I’ve got your back…right here with a hack.

10 ounces (2 cups) all-purpose
flour
CAKE

¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a
medium bowl with a whisk.
3
¾ teaspoon salt
Use an electric mixer to combine the sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla,
1 cup granulated sugar and lemon extract in a large bowl. Mix for about 30 seconds
3 large eggs or until light yellow. Add the lemon juice and buttermilk and mix
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, until combined.
softened
1 teaspoon lemon extract 4 Pour the dry blend into the wet mixture and mix well until
combined. Mix in the oil.
⁄3 cup lemon juice
1
1
¼ cup buttermilk
5 Rub an 8x4-inch loaf pan with oil or spray it with nonstick
spray. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to
55 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cool in the pan.
6
LEMON ICING Make the icing by combining all the ingredients in a medium
8 ounces (2 cups) powdered bowl with an electric mixer on high speed for 1 minute.
sugar
7
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, Remove the lemon loaf from the pan and ice the top with the
softened
lemon icing with a spatula or icing knife. Let the icing set up
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
for an hour or two before slicing.
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Ss

Starbucks
PETITE VANILLA BEAN SCONES
Vanilla
Good things come in small packages—just like these hit
scones that have been a staple Starbucks favorite for years. HACK
ACTIVE PREP:
Unlike many scones that end up too dry and tasteless, these 20 MIN.
miniature scones are moist and full of great vanilla flavor.
They’re deliciously sweet and creamy, with real vanilla bean in INACTIVE PREP:
1 HR. 30 MIN.
both the dough and the glaze. Want to make some great scones?
Make these. DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM
YIELD:
MAKES 2 DOZEN
2 Place the heavy cream in a small dish or spouted measuring

cup. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the
seeds from the inside of the pod. Add the seeds to the heavy
cream, stir well with a whisk to help separate the seeds, then let
them steep in the cream while you prepare the other ingredients.

SCONES
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy
cream
3 In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder,
and salt.
1 vanilla bean
10 ounces (2 cups)
4 Cut the butter into cubes, then add it to the dry ingredients.
Use a pastry blender or a fork to combine the butter with the
dry ingredients. Continue mixing until no chunks of butter are
all-purpose flour
3 ounces ( ⁄3 cup plus 1 table-
1 visible. You can also use a food processor to pulse the butter into
spoon) granulated sugar the dry ingredients until no chunks of butter are visible.
2 teaspoons baking powder
teaspoon salt 5 Crack the egg into the cream and whisk well until the egg is
completely combined. Mix in the vanilla extract.
6 tablespoons cold unsalted
butter
1 large egg 6 Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber
spatula, then use your hands to work the dough into a ball.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press it into
a long rectangle that is ½ inch thick and 6 inches wide. Use a
large knife or a pizza wheel to slice twice down the length of the
GLAZE
dough, making three long, 2-inch-wide strips. Slice across each
½ vanilla bean
strip in alternating 45-degree angles from the top corner to the
2 tablespoons whole milk
bottom. This will make equilateral triangles, and the scones will be
4½ ounces (1 cup) powdered the same shape as the original.
sugar
7
Pinch salt
Arrange the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment
paper or a Silpat pad and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the
corners just begin to turn light brown. Cool.
8 While the scones are baking, prepare the glaze. Slice the ½
vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds from the
pod. Combine the seeds with the milk in a medium bowl. Use a
whisk to break apart the seeds and let them steep in the milk a bit.
Add the powdered sugar and salt to the cream and mix well with
an electric mixer on medium speed. Mix until smooth.
Ss
9 When the scones have cooled, flip each one over and dunk it
top side down into the glaze. Evenly coat the top of each scone
and let the excess drip off before quickly flipping it back over and
transferring it to a cooling rack or plate. Allow the scones to sit for
around 1 hour so that the glaze is dry before serving.
Foodtoid
Scones have been around for at least 500 years and
were originally round and flat.

Swiss Chalet
DIPPING SAUCE
Swiss Chalet is one of the biggest Canada-based restaurant
chains, with over 200 stores, and it’s the place our northern HACK
neighbors go when they want delicious rotisserie chicken ACTIVE PREP:
and ribs. At one time there were a few Swiss Chalet restau- 10 MIN.
rants in the U.S., but the last of those closed in 2010. So if
INACTIVE PREP:
you want to taste the food from Swiss Chalet and you live 5 MIN.
in the States, you’re out of luck—unless you do some
DIFFICULTY:
food hacking. EASY
YIELD:
Fortunately, the Canadian chain makes a few of its products MAKES 2 CUPS
available to purchase outside of the restaurant, including its most
sought-after recipe: the dipping sauce. The famous dipping sauce
is used on the chain’s popular chicken, fries, and rolls, and the
instant version of the sauce comes in 36-gram envelopes, but
even those are tough to find in the States. Luckily, I found some
on eBay and got to work.
An instant mix like this sauce powder is often tough to copy
since many ingredients in the packet are hard to find in super-
markets. For this hack, though, I found Knorr tomato bouillon
cubes to be incredibly useful. These cuboids of concentrated
flavor contain many of the ingredients we need for a great clone,

including tomato powder and chicken fat, both of which can be
found in the original sauce packet.
After you pulverize the bouillon cube into powder, combine
it with the other ingredients in a small bowl, and you’ve got an
instant dry blend that can be converted into a flavorful sauce in
minutes, just like the real thing.
1 Knorr extra-large cube

tomato bouillon with
chicken flavor
1 Crumble the bouillon cube so that there are no lumps and mix
it with all the remaining ingredients except the water in a small
bowl. This is a copy of the instant mix sold in packets. You can
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon save it for later in a small bag or container or make it into sauce
cornstarch
using the instructions in step 2.
¼ teaspoon salt
2
¼ teaspoon dried parsley To make the sauce, combine the dry blend with the water in
¼ teaspoon onion powder a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sauce
¼ teaspoon garlic powder comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes.
¼ teaspoon ground ginger You can also make the sauce in your microwave by combing the
⁄8 teaspoon ground allspice

1 dry blend with 2 cups of water in a 1-quart microwave-safe bowl.
Cook on high for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes, until
1
thickened.
2 cups water
Ss
Hmm. I feel like I’m

forgetting something.

Taco Bell
BREAKFAST CRUNCHWRAP
When Taco Bell introduced breakfast to America in 2014, the
company had high hopes for its new Waffle Taco: a waffle HACK
shaped like a taco, filled with scrambled eggs and sausage, ACTIVE PREP:
and served with a side of syrup. But the Waffle Taco had 30 MIN.
less-than-stellar sales and the product was eventually
INACTIVE PREP:
yanked off the breakfast menu. 10 MIN.
DIFFICULTY:
But another clever morning item, the Breakfast Crunchwrap, con- MEDIUM
tinues to sell well at the Mexican food chain. This hexagonal grill-
pressed wrap is a variation of the Crunchwrap Supreme, made by YIELD:
wrapping a large flour tortilla around a crispy corn tortilla, meat,
MAKES 4 WRAPS
cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and tomato (hacked in TSR Step-by-
Step). When it was introduced in 2005, the Crunchwrap Supreme
was Taco Bell’s most successful new product launch.
The Breakfast Crunchwrap looks exactly like a Crunchwrap Su-
preme from the outside—albeit slightly smaller—but the inside has
been swapped out for morning food. The flour tortilla is wrapped
around a crispy hash brown patty that’s been slathered with
creamy jalapeño sauce and topped with cheese, eggs, and bacon
(or sausage). The flour tortilla is folded over six times to make a
pinwheel wrap, then the wrap is pressed on a flat grill until golden
brown on both sides.

CREAMY In this recipe I’ll show you how to clone the creamy jalapeño
JALAPEÑO SAUCE sauce, build the wraps, and flat grill them until golden brown us-
¼ cup mayonnaise ing just your stovetop, a skillet, and a saucepan half-full of water.
2 teaspoons minced pickled

jalapeño (nacho slices)
1
2 teaspoons pickling juice from
Make the creamy jalapeño sauce by combining all the ingredi-
jalapeños
ents in a small bowl. Set the sauce aside for now.
¾ teaspoon granulated sugar
2
½ teaspoon paprika Heat the vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium/high
½ teaspoon ground cumin heat, then add the hash browns and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per
1
⁄8 teaspoon ground cayenne side or until golden brown and crispy.
pepper
3
1
Cook the bacon or sausage in a skillet. When the bacon has
Pinch salt cooled, chop it into bits, but don’t chop the sausage patties.

4 frozen hash brown potato
4 Heat up another large sauté pan over medium heat, then melt
the butter in it. Combine the beaten eggs with the salt, add the
eggs to the pan, and cook them while occasionally stirring
patties, thawed
to make scrambled eggs. When the eggs are done, spoon them
8 pieces bacon, finely diced, or
4 (2-ounce) breakfast sausage into a medium bowl. Wipe out the pan and place it back over
patties medium heat.
1 tablespoon butter
¼ teaspoon salt 5 Build each wrap by first placing a cooked hash brown patty in
the center of a tortilla. If you are making the sausage version,
add a sausage patty on top of the hash brown. Spoon a heap-
4 (10-inch) flour tortillas
ing tablespoon of sauce over the hash brown (and sausage) and
1 cup finely shredded (fancy
shred) medium sharp cheddar spread it around. Add ¼ cup of shredded cheese on top of the
cheese sauce. Divide the scrambled eggs and spoon one-quarter of the
eggs on top of the cheese. If you are making the bacon version
add approximately 2½ tablespoons of bacon bits on top of the
eggs and mix the bacon into the eggs with a small spoon.
6 Fold one side of the flour tortilla over the fillings as far as it
will go, then work your way around, folding the tortilla 5 more
times over the filling until it is concealed.
Tt
7 Place the wrap into the hot pan with the folded side down.
Place a medium saucepan filled about halfway with water for
weight (or a heavy cast-iron skillet) onto the wrap. Hold the pan
by the handle so that it doesn’t fall off. Cook the wrap for 1 minute
or until golden brown on the bottom. Flip the wrap over, place the
pan on it again, and cook it for another minute or until the second
side is browned. Repeat for the remaining three wraps.

Taco Bell
CHALUPA SUPREME
I’m not sure when it happened, but it appears Taco Bell
recently changed its seasoned beef recipe. I hacked the HACK
recipe several years ago for the book ‘TSR Step-by-Step,’ and ACTIVE PREP:
I recall the recipe had much more oat filler, so that’s how I 20 MIN.
cloned it. Taco Bell came under fire in 2011 for the signifi-
INACTIVE PREP:
cant amount of oats in the recipe that the chain was listing 5 MIN.
as “spices,” and after that, Taco Bell was more transparent
DIFFICULTY:
about ingredients. But somewhere along the way it appears EASY
the company tweaked the recipe to include less filler and
YIELD:
more flavor, so I decided I had to create a new Top Secret MAKES 4
Recipe for the beef. SERVINGS
Ground Beef
This recipe makes a duplicate of the beef currently served at Taco

Bell. If you want to turn it into a Chalupa—which the restaurant
makes by deep frying the flatbread used for Gorditas—the instruc-
tions are here. But you can also use this new, improved beef hack
for anything you’re copying, whether it’s tacos, burritos, Enchiri-
tos, Mexican Pizzas, or a big pile of nachos.
The secret ingredient in our hack is Knorr tomato bouillon. This
flavor powder adds many ingredients found in the original recipe
and provides the umami savoriness that’s required for a spot-on

SEASONED BEEF clone of the famous seasoned ground beef. To get the right flavor,
1 pound 80/20 ground beef you need to find “Knorr Tomato Bouillon with Chicken Flavor”
(20% fat) powder, in a jar. Not the bouillon cubes.
1
chili powder (I used Gebhardt)
Make the seasoned beef by combining everything except the
2½ teaspoons Knorr tomato
bouillon with chicken water in a medium bowl. Use your hands to work all the dry
flavor powder ingredients into the ground beef, then transfer the beef to a large
½ teaspoon onion powder sauté pan over medium heat.

⁄8 teaspoon salt
1
½ cup water
2 Break up the meat as it cooks. Continue cooking until no more
pink is showing and there are no large chunks of beef.

4 (6-inch) flatbreads
3 Add the water and cook for about 4 minutes or until the water
has cooked out. Cover and set aside.
½ cup sour cream

2 cups chopped iceberg lettuce
4 To make the chalupa shells, fill a large skillet with 2 inches of
vegetable oil and preheat the oil to 350 degrees F.
5
1 large tomato, diced
When the oil is hot, add a flatbread and fry it for 10 seconds,
1 cup shredded then use tongs to fold it in half while it’s in the oil. Hold the
cheddar/Jack blend
flatbread there for a bit until it doesn’t open up, then fry it for 30
seconds per side or until golden brown. Remove to a rack or a
paper towel–lined plate to drain and repeat with the rest.
6 Build each chalupa clone by spooning seasoned beef into a

fried shell. Add sour cream on top of the beef, then add lettuce
and tomato, and top it off with the shredded cheese blend.
Tt
Find flatbread that looks like this.

Taco Bell
NACHO FRIES
This limited-time-only new product from the country’s
biggest Mexican fast food chain is easy to make with bagged HACK
fries found in the freezer section of your food store, and you ACTIVE PREP:
can make as many or as few as you want at one time, since 15 MIN.
the recipe makes enough seasoning and cheese sauce for
INACTIVE PREP:
one 2-pound bag. Get Ore-Ida Golden Fries if you can find 10 MIN.
them, and if you want the best clone you really should fry
DIFFICULTY:
them, although baking works too. EASY
The secret spicy ingredient in the nacho cheese sauce is brine

YIELD:
MAKES 2
from bottled jalapeño nacho slices, plus a little cayenne for POUNDS (6
extra boom. SERVINGS)

SEASONING BLEND
2½ tablespoons paprika 1 Combine the ingredients for the seasoning blend in a
small bowl.
2
2 teaspoons salt
Combine the ingredients for the cheese sauce in a small sauce-
¾ teaspoon garlic powder
pan over low heat. Whisk until smooth and heat until hot.
¾ teaspoon onion powder
¾ teaspoon ground
cayenne pepper
3 Make the French fries following the instructions on the bag.
The best way is to fry them for 3 to 5 minutes in 375-degree-F
oil. You can also bake them.
pepper
CHEESE SAUCE
1 cup Cheez Whiz cheese dip
4 When the fries are done put them in a large bowl and sprinkle
them with the seasoning blend. Serve the fries with the cheese
dipping sauce on the side.
½ cup whole milk
brine from bottled
sliced jalapeño peppers
(nacho slices)
1
pepper
1 (2-pound) bag Ore-Ida

Golden Fries frozen
French fries
Tt
I made a Nacho Fries clone scoop

cup just like the real one with a
paper cup and a sharp knife.

Taco Bell
DIABLO SAUCE
The hottest of Taco Bell’s five hot sauces cranks up the heat
meter with a special blend of peppers for true chili heads. HACK
Diablo Sauce was introduced on Cinco de Mayo in 2015 as a ACTIVE PREP:
limited-time-only product and was soon discontinued. But 10 MIN.
demanding fans pleaded for the chain to bring the sauce
INACTIVE PREP:
back, and on May 5 of the following year, Diablo Sauce got a 15 MIN.
permanent spot in the Taco Bell hot-sauce lineup.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
According to Taco Bell, the sauce contains aji panca, a sweet
Peruvian red pepper, and chipotle, which is smoked red jalapeño.
YIELD:
MAKES 3 CUPS
Since aji panca can be hard to find we’ll use ground ancho instead,
which has a similar taste. There are other peppers in Diablo Sauce
which remain a mystery, but it’s easy to tell that at least one of
them comes packing big heat. I added habanero and cayenne and
the sauce had a perfect kick.
Puree all of it in a blender, then cook it for 10 minutes. Once it’s
cooled you’ll have an easy home hot sauce, with great flavor and
heat that’ll turn your face red, just like the real one.

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste 1 Combine 1 cup of water with everything except the vinegar and
lime juice in a blender. Blend on high speed until the peppers
are completely pureed. Add the remaining 2 cups of water and
1 tablespoon minced habanero
pepper blend it for a bit, then pour the sauce into a medium saucepan
1 tablespoon minced canned over medium heat.
chipotle pepper (rinsed)
2½ teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons salt 2 Heat the sauce until boiling, then reduce the heat to a simmer
for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the vinegar and lime
juice, and cover until cool. Pour into a sealed container and store
1½ teaspoons ground cayenne
pepper in the refrigerator.
1 teaspoon ground ancho
pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1½ teaspoons lime juice
Tt

Taco Bell
GREEN TOMATILLO SAUCE
Taco Bell has two green sauces mentioned on its website.
One is a green chili sauce, which isn’t served at any Taco HACK
Bell I’ve been to. The other is a green tomatillo sauce, the ACTIVE PREP:
most popular of the two, which can be ordered on any Taco 5 MIN.
Bell item or will be provided a la carte for you to pour on as
INACTIVE PREP:
you see fit. The tomatillo sauce, with its mild heat and bright NONE
tomatillo flavor, is the one we’re hacking here.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
It appears that Taco Bell uses canned peppers and tomatillos for
their recipe, which is great because canned ingredients are ready
YIELD:
MAKES 1½ CUPS
to use, they add additional flavors and the acidity we need, and
they simplify the recipe. Fresh produce would certainly require
much more wrangling.
The recipe is easy. Just pop everything into a blender in the
order prescribed and blend away, but don’t blend so much that
the seeds get pulverized. You want a sauce that isn’t completely
pureed, with visible small pieces of peppers and seeds. You’ll end
up with 1½ cups of the tasty green stuff to use on taco, burritos,
salads, eggs, and more.
Tomatillo
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons Be sure to warm up the sauce a little before you use it (they keep
canned diced jalapeños (nacho it in a warmer at Taco Bell). The flavor of the real thing is fairly
slices)
mild, so if you want your version hotter than that, just add more
½ cup water
jalapeños to the blender.
2
⁄3 cup canned green chile
peppers
8 ounces whole canned
1
tomatillos (from an Combine the jalapeños and water in a blender and blend on
11-ounce can)
high speed until the jalapeños are chopped into small bits, but
not completely pureed.
light brown sugar
2
1½ teaspoons white vinegar
Add the green chilies and tomatillos and blend until the chilies
1½ teaspoons lime juice and tomatillos are well chopped, but not pureed. The seeds of
1 teaspoon salt the tomatillos and chilies should remain whole and not ground up.
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
½ teaspoon garlic powder 3 Add the remaining ingredients to the blender and blend on low
speed for about 15 seconds.
4 Pour the sauce into a sealed container and store it in your

refrigerator. To use it, warm it up in your microwave or in a
saucepan (to just warm, not hot) before pouring it over tacos, bur-
ritos, nachos, or whatever you crave.
And eating things that

aren’t food.
Tt
Ginjo really loves the snow.

ROLLS
Flour
Texas Roadhouse
I never thought dinner rolls were something I could get ex-
cited about until I got my hand into the breadbasket at Tex- HACK
as Roadhouse. The rolls are fresh out of the oven and they ACTIVE PREP:
hit the table when you do, so there’s no waiting to tear into 25 MIN.
a magnificently gooey sweet roll topped with soft cinnamon
INACTIVE PREP:
butter. The first bite you take will make you think of a fresh 2 HRS. 15 MIN.
cinnamon roll, and then you can’t stop eating it. And when
DIFFICULTY:
the first roll’s gone, you are powerless to resist grabbing for MEDIUM
just one more. But it’s never just one more. It’s two or three
YIELD:
more, plus a few extra to take home for tomorrow. MAKES 16 ROLLS
Discovering the secret to making rolls at home that taste as

good as the real ones involved making numerous batches of
dough, each one sweeter than the last (sweetened with sugar, not
honey—I checked), until a very sticky batch, proofed for 2 hours,
produced exactly what I was looking for. You can make the dough
Rolls
with a stand mixer or a handheld one, the only difference being
that you must knead the dough by hand without a stand mixer.
When working with the dough add a little bit of flour at a time to
keep it from sticking, and just know that the dough will be less
sticky and more workable after the first rise.
Roll the dough out and measure it as specified here, and after
a final proofing and a quick bake—plus a generous brushing of
butter on the tops—you will produce dinner rolls that look and taste
just like the best rolls I’ve had at any famous American dinner chain.

20 ounces (4 cups)
all-purpose flour, divided
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 Measure 10 ounces (2 cups) of the flour into a large bowl or the
bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk in the sugar, yeast, and salt. Be-
cause we’re using rapid-rise (instant) yeast there is no need to first
5 teaspoons instant dissolve it in water.
(quick-rise) yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
¾ cup whole milk 2 Combine the milk with the water and butter in a spouted
measuring cup or medium bowl and warm the mixture in your
microwave for 30 to 60 seconds. Don’t make it hot, just warm,
¾ cup water
no more than 120 degrees F. You can also warm the mixture in a
small saucepan over low heat.
CINNAMON BUTTER
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted
butter, softened
3 Add the warm milk mixture to the flour in the mixing bowl.
Combine the mixture with the paddle attachment on a stand
mixer or with a handheld electric mixer on high speed. Mix for 1
1 tablespoon plus 2
teaspoons honey minute to dissolve the sugar.
4
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Add the remaining 10 ounces (2 cups) flour and combine with
Pinch of salt
the kneading hook if using a stand mixer, or with a heavy
spoon if you don’t have a stand mixer. When all the flour is incor-
FOR BRUSHING porated, knead the dough for 2 minutes in the stand mixer, or for
2 tablespoons unsalted 5 minutes by hand. The dough will be very sticky, so if kneading
butter, melted
by hand, you’ll need to add a little flour so that the dough doesn’t
stick to your hands and work surface. The dough will be less
sticky after the first rise.
5 Cover the bowl and place it in a warm spot to rise for 1 hour.
6 Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface to about ¾

inch thick. Use a pizza cutter to slice strips of dough that are
about 2¼ inches wide. Slice the dough strips the opposite way
every 2¼ inches to make squares of dough that are 2¼ inches on
all sides, each weighing about 2½ ounces.
7 Arrange the squares of dough about 1 inch apart on a baking Tt

sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Place the
dough in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours, or until the rolls
more than double in size. A great place to proof the rolls is in your
unheated oven with a large saucepan of boiling water placed
inside the oven, either next to or under the rolls to add warmth
and moisture.
8 While the rolls proof, make the cinnamon butter by whipping

the butter with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy. Add
the honey, cinnamon, and salt and mix well, then set it aside.

9 When the rolls have proofed to double their original size,
preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, or to 350 degrees F if using
convection bake. Bake the rolls for 12 to 16 minutes or until
they’re golden brown. Turn the pan around halfway through the
baking—even if you have a convection oven—so that the rolls
brown evenly.
10 After removing them from the oven, brush each roll with melt-
ed butter and serve them with cinnamon butter on the side.
ENGLISH MUFFINS
Cornmeal
Thomas’
Samuel Bath Thomas immigrated from England to New York
City and opened his first bakery there in 1880. That is where HACK
Thomas created skillet bread that would one day become ACTIVE PREP:
the famous muffins known for their craggy texture when 30 MIN.
split in half. This hack for Thomas’ English Muffins uses a
INACTIVE PREP:
special kneading process to give the muffins the “nooks and 4½ HRS., PLUS
crannies” they are famous for, making craters in the finished
COOLING TIME
bread to better hold on to melted butter and jam. DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM
YIELD:
MAKES 10
MUFFINS

I have seen several recipes that claim to re-create these muf-
fins, but none produce the large air pockets that a proper clone
requires, in addition to great flavor and a perfectly cooked interior.
To ensure proper nooks and crannies and muffins that are cooked
all the way through, I’ve included some important steps.
The dough you’ll make here is like a ciabatta dough in that it is
very wet. So rather than kneading the dough, you stretch and fold
it over several times on a well-oiled surface. Then, when the por-
tioned-out dough has proofed on baking sheets for another 1½ to
2 hours, you par-bake the muffins.
After baking, the muffins are cooked on a griddle or in a pan
until dark brown on both sides, then they must cool. This is the
hardest part. The muffins will be too soft to open for at least four
hours, and now you have to fight off the temptation to eat one. It’s
hard, I know. The muffins smell great and you’ve waited all this
time, but resist for now and your patience will be rewarded.
When the muffins have had their rest, split them with a fork and
toast them as you would any English muffin.
¼ cup instant nonfat dry milk

2½ tablespoons plus 1 pinch
granulated sugar, divided
1 Combine the instant milk, 2½ tablespoons of sugar, salt, oil,
and hot water in a large mixing bowl. Stir until the sugar has
dissolved. Cool.
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vegetable oil, plus
more for oiling the work
surface
2 Combine the yeast and the remaining pinch of sugar with the
warm water. Don’t make the water too hot or you could kill the
yeast, and you don’t want all that death on your hands—105 to 110
1 cup hot water degrees F is perfect. Stir to dissolve the yeast, then let this solution
¼ cup warm water sit until it begins to foam.
¾ teaspoon active dry yeast
11.5 ounces (2 cups plus 3
tablespoons) bread flour 3 Pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl with the instant milk
mixture. Add the flour and mix by hand for 2 minutes, then
cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
Cornmeal for dusting
Tt
4 After 10 minutes use your hands to spread a teaspoon of vege-

table oil onto a smooth surface like a kitchen counter or baking
sheet. With your oily hands, pick up the dough and drop it onto
the oiled surface, then stretch the dough and fold it over 8 times.
Place it back in the bowl to rise for another 10 minutes. Repeat
this process 3 more times, then cover the dough and let it rest
for 1 hour.
5 Sprinkle some cornmeal onto 2 parchment paper– or nonstick

aluminum foil–lined baking sheets. Measure ¼-cup (2-ounce)

portions of dough and drop them onto the baking sheets about
3 inches apart. Shape the dough as round as possible when you
drop it down onto the baking sheets, but the muffins will smooth
out as they rise, so don’t worry about making them too perfect.
Sprinkle the top of each muffin with some more cornmeal, then
let the dough sit and proof, uncovered, for 1½ to 2 hours, or until
the muffins more than double in size.
7 Bake the muffins for 5 minutes. The muffins may rise more, but
you don’t want them to brown at all. If they are beginning to
turn light brown on the top it’s time to get them the heck out of
there. Let them cool for 15 minutes.
8 Preheat a large heavy pan or griddle on your stovetop over

medium/low heat while the muffins cool.
9 After the muffins have cooled, sprinkle the preheated pan or

griddle with a little cornmeal. Use a spatula to carefully move
each muffin from the baking sheet to the hot pan to brown the
bottom. Brown the bottoms of the muffins for 2 to 4 minutes, then
flip them over and press down on each one with a spatula until
they are about 1-inch thick. Brown the other side for another 2 to
3 minutes or until the muffins are a nice coffee-colored brown.
Cool all the muffins on a rack for 4 to 6 hours before storing them
in a sealed bag.
10 To open the muffins, don’t use a knife. Instead stick a fork

into the side of a muffin to make perforations around the
side, then tear the muffin in half. Toast the muffin halves, then
butter and top with jam or honey; or use them for a breakfast
sandwich or a great eggs Benedict.
Foodtoid
English muffins are an American food, so you’ll
get strange looks if you ask for one in England.
When you’re there, ask for a crumpet or scone.

Warheads
SUPER SOUR SPRAY CANDY
Ultra-sour liquid candy in a spray bottle was first introduced
Sour HACK to puckering mouths in Taiwan in 1975, and eventually
ACTIVE PREP: came to the U.S. in 1993. The liquid candy is a simple formu-
5 MIN. lation of sugar, flavoring, acids (for the sour), and glycerin.
Once you have these ingredients, a home version is easy—
INACTIVE PREP:
NONE just measure and stir. For your own ultra-tart spray candy
hack, you’ll need six ingredients and three reusable small
DIFFICULTY:
EASY spray bottles.
YIELD: The sourness in the real thing comes from citric acid and malic
MAKES ENOUGH
TO FILL 3 SMALL acid, both of which are natural ingredients found in fruits and
SPRAY BOTTLES vegetables. Malic acid is a more intense sour and can be found
at Whole Foods or online, while citric acid can be found in many
stores, including Walmart. If you can’t track down malic acid, you
can still make the recipe with just citric acid (see Tidbits). The
quality of the sour will be a little different, but I’m pretty sure no Ww
kids will be complaining about it.
The candy is flavored with unsweetened Kool-Aid mix, which is
great because there are so many flavors to choose from. The real
Warheads come in watermelon, green apple, sour cherry, and blue
raspberry, but the blue raspberry Kool-Aid also has lemonade in it,
so that one won’t taste quite the same as the real one.

To thicken your spray, you’ll need some glycerin. Glycerin—also
a natural product—is developed from vegetable oil or animal fat
and is often used in icing preparation. Glycerin helps thicken the
liquid candy to make it more syrupy, and it also adds sweetness.
You’ll find glycerin where cake decorating supplies are sold,
or online.
While you’re online, also look for three 2.7-ounce reusable spray
bottles. That’s where I found mine. This recipe will fill each bottle
all the way up, with a little left over for a partial refill.
1 In a spouted 2-cup measuring cup, combine the water with

the sugar, citric acid, malic acid, and Kool-Aid and stir until the
sugar is dissolved.
1 cup warm water
1
⁄3 cup plus 1 tablespoon
granulated sugar
2 teaspoons citric acid
2 Stir in the glycerin, then pour the liquid candy into small spray
bottles and prepare to pucker up.
1 teaspoon malic acid
(see Tidbits)
¼ teaspoon plus 1⁄8 teaspoon
Kool-Aid unsweetened drink mix
(any flavor)
1 tablespoon glycerin
YOU WILL ALSO NEED

3 (2.7-ounce) spray bottles
TIDBITS:
> If you can’t find malic acid,

you can still make the sour
spray candy by increasing the
amount of citric acid to
1 tablespoon.

Wendy’s
HOT CHILI SEASONING
The little red packets of viscous hot sauce at the fast food
HACK giant have a cult following of rabid fans who will do what-
ACTIVE PREP: ever it takes to get their hands on large quantities. One such
10 MIN. fan of the sauce commented online, “Are there any Wendy’s
employees or managers out there who will mail me an entire
INACTIVE PREP:
5 MIN. case of Hot Chili Seasoning? I swear this is not a joke. I
love the stuff. I tip extra cash to Wendy’s workers to get big
DIFFICULTY:
EASY handfuls of the stuff.” Well, there’s really no need to tip any
Wendy’s employees, because now you can clone as much of
YIELD:
MAKES 5 the spicy sauce as you want in your own kitchen with this
OUNCES Top Secret Recipe.
The ingredients listed on the real Hot Chili Seasoning are water, corn
syrup, salt, distilled vinegar, natural flavors, xanthan gum, and ex-
tractives of paprika. We’ll use many of those same ingredients for our
Ww
clone, but we’ll substitute gelatin for the xanthan gum (a thickener) to
get the slightly gooey consistency right. For the natural flavor and color
Cumin
we’ll use cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika, and garlic powder, then filter
the particles out with a fine wire-mesh strainer after they’ve contribut-
ed what the sauce needs.

This recipe makes 5 ounces of sauce— just the right amount
to fit nicely into a used hot sauce bottle—and costs just pennies
to make.
1 teaspoon salt
1
½ teaspoon ground
Combine the salt, cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika, and garlic cayenne pepper
powder in a small bowl. Add the hot water and let the mixture
½ teaspoon ground cumin
sit for 5 minutes.
¼ teaspoon paprika
2 Pour the mixture through a fine wire-mesh strainer to remove ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
most of the solid spices. ½ cup hot water
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
3 Whisk the gelatin into the remaining mixture until it dissolves. 2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
4 Add the corn syrup and vinegar and pour the sauce into a cov-
ered container to store until needed.
TIDBITS:
> An empty hot sauce bottle

with a small opening in the top
is the perfect way to store
this sauce.

Wendy’s
MAPLE BACON CHICKEN SANDWICH
Wendy’s claims it took three years to develop this hit chick-
HACK en sandwich that’s built on a croissant roll and slathered
ACTIVE PREP: with the chain’s secret maple glaze. Now you can re-create
20 MIN. the sandwich at home (four of them, actually), with copycat
ingredients, and I’ve got some shortcuts here to help make
INACTIVE PREP:
45 MIN. all of it quick and easy.
DIFFICULTY:
For the chicken, find frozen chicken breasts or large tenderloins
EASY
with a homestyle breading. Tyson’s Southern Style Breast Tender-
YIELD: loins work great if you pick out the biggest pieces from the bag.
MAKES 4 The breading on this chicken is similar to what you get at Wendy’s.
SANDWICHES Rather than making croissants from scratch, which is a
time-consuming task, we’ll use Pillsbury dough from a tube.
Pillsbury’s “Crescents” are not true croissants, even though they
look and taste similar to croissants. Real croissant dough rises
Chicken!
with yeast and would blow out a Pillsbury paper tube in a day or
two, even if chilled. For that reason, Pillsbury uses baking powder
in breads that usually call for yeast, such as cinnamon rolls and
croissants. Unlike yeast, baking powder is a chemical leavening
agent activated by heat, so the dough will remain stable in the
refrigerated section of your supermarket, safely inside the paper Ww
tubes until you’re ready to bake it.
Instead of cooking the rolls as directed on the package, we’ll roll
the dough using the technique below, form it in a 3½-inch ring
mold, and then bake it. This will make perfect croissant buns that
we can slice and toast for our sandwich. If you don’t have a 3½-
inch ring mold you can use a ring from a canning jar or a biscuit

cutter. If the diameter of your ring is less than 3½ inches, just MAPLE GLAZE
form the dough using the smaller ring, then remove it and press ¼ cup apple juice
down on the dough to spread it out until it is 3½ inches across.
1 tablespoon apple
cider vinegar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 Make the maple glaze by combining the apple juice and vinegar ½ cup maple syrup
(or maple-flavored syrup)
in a small saucepan. Whisk in the cornstarch and stir until it
dissolves. Add the remaining ingredients, then set the pan over ¼ cup unsalted butter, sliced
(for quicker melting)
medium heat and stir until the butter melts. When the mixture
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
begins to bubble, continue stirring for 1 minute or until the sauce
thickens. Cover and cool for 15 minutes, then chill until needed. 1½ tablespoons stone-ground
mustard
2 To make the croissant buns, preheat your oven to 325 degrees ¼ plus 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
F. Working with one tube of dough at a time, open the tube and ¼ teaspoon onion powder
tear the dough lengthwise down the perforated middle. Place one ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
strip of dough onto the other, then roll them up together. Slice the 1
roll of dough in half creating two thinner circles of dough, then black pepper
place one circle cut sidedown in a greased 3½-inch ring mold.
Press down on the dough so that it fills the mold to the edges and 2 (8-ounce) tubes Pillsbury
forms a perfect circle. Remove the ring mold, repeat the molding Original Crescents
with the remaining dough, and arrange all 4 dough pucks on a 4 frozen breaded chicken
parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until breasts or tenderloins (Tyson
Southern Style Breast
golden brown. Cool on the pan. Tenderloins work great)
4 slices Swiss cheese
3 When you are ready to make your sandwiches, cook the chick-
en following the directions on the package.
8 slices applewood-smoked
bacon, cooked
4 While the chicken is cooking, heat up a large skillet over me-

dium heat. Slice the croissant rolls in half and toast the faces
of the buns in the hot pan until golden brown. They will brown
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
3½-inch ring mold or
biscuit cutter
nicely without any butter.
5
TIDBITS:
Build each sandwich while the chicken is hot by first stacking
the chicken on the bottom bun, followed by a slice of Swiss > Don’t want so much bread?
cheese. The heat from the chicken will perfectly melt the cheese. After you’ve rolled up the crois-
Stack 2 pieces of bacon on the cheese. Break the bacon so that it sant dough, cut it into thirds,
fits nicely onto the sandwich without too much overhang. rather than in half, and prepare
as described above. You’ll get
6
an extra sandwich bun out of
Spoon a heaping tablespoon of sauce onto the face of the top
each tube of dough and you will
bun and spread it around, then stack it on top of your sand- make slightly leaner sandwich-
wich. Repeat for the remaining sandwiches, or make them later. es that will still taste great.
You can save the sauce in a covered container in the fridge for a
couple weeks and the croissant buns in a covered container at
room temp for a couple days. Bake only the chicken you need for
each sandwich.

Wendy’s
CHOCOLATE FROSTY
It may look like it’s all chocolate, but Wendy’s founder Dave
HACK Thomas thought that a purely chocolate frozen dairy dessert
ACTIVE PREP: would overpower his burger and fries, so he mixed choc-
5 MIN. olate with vanilla to create his signature ultra-thick shake,
and in 1969, the Frosty was born
INACTIVE PREP:
1½ HRS.
My first crack at this iconic treat was revealed in a copycat recipe
DIFFICULTY: I published 25 years ago that called for mixing milk with Nestle
EASY Quik and vanilla ice cream in a blender. Tasty? Sure, it was. But
YIELD: the finished product was too runny, and the flavor wasn’t perfect.
MAKES 2 MEDIUM That’s why I recently holed myself up in the lab and created a for-
SERVINGS mula that you churn in a home ice cream maker until thick and
creamy, and it now tastes just like the real thing.
Unlike my previous recipe, which relied on premade ice cream
and a drink mix, the scratch ingredients I used here allowed me
to make small adjustments in flavor for a better match, and an ice Ww
cream maker is the perfect way to produce a thick, creamy consis-
tency. So far, this is the best hack I’ve come up with to duplicate
the treat that tests have shown is up to twice as thick as other
famous desserts in a cup, including Dairy Queen’s Blizzard and
McDonald’s McFlurry.

1 Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until the sugar
is dissolved. Stir the mixture gently so you don’t make bubbles.
Place the bowl in your refrigerator for 1 hour to chill.
1¾ cups whole milk
1¼ cups heavy cream
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon
Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup
2 When you are ready to make the Frosty clone, pour all the
ingredients from the bowl into your ice cream maker and run it
for 20 to 30 minutes or until the dessert is thick. Spoon the Frosty
½ cup fat-free half-and-half
½ cup light corn syrup
into two 16-ounce cups and serve immediately.
1
⁄8 teaspoon salt
YOU WILL ALSO NEED

Ice cream maker
Wendy’s
VANILLA FROSTY
Vanilla
For 50 years, the Frosty at Wendy’s came in only one flavor:

chocolate. But in 2006, after repeated customer requests, HACK
the new Vanilla Frosty debuted nationwide. Like its choc- ACTIVE PREP:
olate counterpart, the Vanilla Frosty is a super-thick milk- 5 MIN.
shake that has the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. Don’t
INACTIVE PREP:
even attempt to get it through the straw they serve it with 1½ HRS
unless you feel the urge to collapse a lung. That’s why they
DIFFICULTY:
also give you a spoon. Start there. EASY
YIELD:
MAKES 2 MEDIUM
SERVINGS

1¾ cups whole milk Just as with my improved Chocolate Frosty hack (page 267), you
1¼ cups heavy cream must make this in a home ice cream maker to get the same thick
½ cup fat-free half-and-half and creamy consistency as the real thing. Sure, other Frosty
clones might taste okay, but if it ain’t thick like this one, it just ain’t
½ cup light corn syrup
a good hack.
⅓ 1⁄3 cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
YOU WILL ALSO NEED 1 Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk gently until
the sugar is dissolved. If you’re creating bubbles in the mixture,
you are mixing too hard. Place the bowl in your refrigerator for 1
Ice cream maker
hour to chill.
2 When you are ready to make the Frosty clone, pour all the
ingredients from the bowl into your ice cream maker and run it
for 20 to 30 minutes or until the dessert is thick. Spoon the Frosty
into two 16-ounce cups and serve immediately.
Morea and Pamela. The girls

who stole my heart.
Ww

Werther’s ORIGINAL HARD CANDIES
The famous hard caramel candy created in 1903 in the Ger-
man town of Werther is easy to duplicate at home as long as HACK
you’ve got a candy thermometer and some rounded silicone ACTIVE PREP:
candy molds. Realistically, you can make these candies any 15 MIN.
shape you want (one time I made some in a gummy-bear
INACTIVE PREP:
mold!), but the best shape for hard candies is something 1 HR.
smooth and rounded. That’s what works best for a candy
DIFFICULTY:
designed to be sucked on, rather than chewed. Just be sure MEDIUM
to get enough molds to hold 50 or more bite-size candies
YIELD:
at once. MAKES 50 TO
60 CANDIES
This hack calls for fresh cream and butter just like the original,
which was invented in Germany over 100 years ago and is now
sold throughout Europe and North America.
Sugar
¼ teaspoon salt 1 Combine the sugar, salt, and water in a medium saucepan. Add
the corn syrup and butter and bring the mixture to a boil over
medium heat. Reduce the heat to a steady simmer, then add a
3 tablespoons water
candy thermometer to the side of the pan.
1
⁄3 cup light corn syrup
2
When the candy gets close to 260 degrees F, warm the cream in
1
⁄3 cup heavy cream your microwave for 30 seconds.
YOU WILL ALSO NEED 3 When the temperature hits 260 degrees F, add the warmed
cream to the mixture while stirring. Be careful not to pour the
cream in too fast—it will spatter. Adding the cream will temporari-
Candy thermometer
Silicone candy molds ly reduce the temperature, but it will go back up.
4 When the candy hits 280 degrees F, first rejoice, then turn off
the heat and stir in the vanilla.
5 Use a spoon to distribute the hot caramel into candy molds.

Don’t expect this to be a perfect process. You will probably
make drips and dribbles everywhere as you go, but that’s all part
of the fun. If the candy begins to harden in the pan, put it back on
the heat for a minute to soften it up.
6 Let the candy set for about 30 minutes at room temperature,

then remove the pieces from the molds and store them in a
resealable bag or in a covered container.
Ww
Testing various candy
cooking temperatures.

Wingstop
GARLIC PARMESAN WINGS
If you feel like diving into a pile of wings with big flavor
and no heat, you’ll love this hack of a top pick at Wingstop. HACK
At the restaurant, these wings are deliciously doused with ACTIVE PREP:
a buttery garlic Parmesan baste and then sprinkled with 15 MIN.
grated Parmesan cheese. A home clone is easy when you
INACTIVE PREP:
toss crispy wings in this hack of the top secret baste and top
them with a snowfall of good Parmesan cheese.
25 MIN.
DIFFICULTY:
Chicken!
EASY
To duplicate the baste, you clarify a stick of butter, then add a little
oil so that the butter doesn’t solidify. Parmesan cheese, garlic, and
YIELD:
MAKES 20
salt are mixed in, then the sauce is set aside to cool and thicken. WINGS
Once the wings are fried to a golden brown, toss them with the
baste in a bowl, then grab the grated Parm and make it snow.

GARLIC
PARMESAN BASTE 1 Make clarified butter for the garlic Parmesan baste by melting
the butter in a small saucepan over medium/low heat. Allow
the butter to melt slowly without stirring it. When the butter has
melted, remove it from the heat and carefully scoop or skim the
⁄3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1
foam (milk solids) off the top and discard it. Allow the pan to rest
for about 5 minutes, then carefully pour the clear butter into a
¼ teaspoon salt
bowl. Stop pouring when you get to the milky water at the bottom
¼ teaspoon garlic powder of the pan—that part gets tossed. Keep pouring the butter off the
top until you have 6 tablespoons of clarified butter.
(drumettes and flats) 2 Combine the 6 tablespoons of clarified butter with the Parme-
san cheese, vegetable oil, salt, and garlic powder in a medium
bowl. Place the bowl in your refrigerator for 5 minutes or until the
Grated Parmesan cheese
baste begins to thicken, then remove the bowl from the refrigera-
tor and set it aside. At room temperature the baste will maintain a
perfect thickness for coating the wings.
3 While the baste is chilling, fill a large saucepan, Dutch oven, or

deep fryer with 3 inches of oil. Preheat the oil to 300 degrees F.
4 Blot the wings dry, then fry them in the oil in batches for 12
to 16 minutes or until they’re crispy on the outside. Drain the
wings on a rack or a paper towel–lined plate for 1 minute,
then transfer them to a bowl and spoon some of the baste over
them. Toss the wings to coat them with baste, then place them
on a plate, sprinkle them with Parmesan cheese, and
serve immediately.
Ww

Wingstop
LEMON PEPPER WINGS
Pepper
The Wingstop menu offers nearly a dozen flavor variations
of fried chicken wings, including original hot buffalo-style, HACK
parmesan garlic, and mango habanero, but it’s the lemon ACTIVE PREP:
pepper wings that get the most raves. And even though 15 MIN.
they’re referred to as “dry rub” wings on the menu, the se-
INACTIVE PREP:
cret to a perfect hack of the chain’s lemon pepper wings is in 25 MIN.
the wet baste that goes on first.
DIFFICULTY:
EASY
Chicken!
The lemon pepper won’t stick to the wings without making them
wet, and that’s where the sauce, or baste, comes in. The baste is
YIELD:
MAKES 20
easy to make by clarifying butter and combining it with oil to WINGS
prevent the butter from solidifying, then adding lemon pepper
and salt.
I obtained a sample of Wingstop’s lemon pepper seasoning and
took a few stabs at cloning the blend from scratch, but ultimate-
ly decided the task was a time-waster when pre-blended lemon

pepper is so easy to find. I compared Wingstop’s lemon pepper
with the blends from McCormick and Lawry’s—each is slightly
different than what Wingstop uses. McCormick’s is lemonier than
Wingstop’s blend, and Lawry’s version is chunkier and less lem-
ony, but either blend is close enough to deliver a satisfying clone.
After the wings are fried, baste them with the sauce below and
sprinkle them with your favorite lemon pepper. Now you’ve made
wings like a Wingstop pro.
LEMON PEPPER BASTE

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 1 Make clarified butter for the lemon pepper baste by melting
the butter in a small saucepan over medium/low heat. A small
spouted saucepan works great for this. Allow the butter to melt
slowly without stirring it. When the butter has melted, remove it
1¼ teaspoons lemon pepper
from the heat and carefully scoop or skim the foam (milk solids)
⁄8 teaspoon salt
1
off the top and discard it. Allow the pan to rest for about 5 min-
utes, then carefully pour the clear butter into a bowl. Stop pouring
Vegetable oil for frying when you get to the milky water at the bottom of the pan—that
20 chicken wing pieces part gets tossed. Keep pouring the butter off the top until you have
(drumettes and flats) 6 tablespoons of clarified butter.
Lemon pepper
2 Combine the 6 tablespoons clarified butter with the vegetable

oil, lemon pepper, and salt in a medium bowl. Place the bowl in
your refrigerator for 5 minutes or until the baste begins to thicken,
then remove the bowl from the refrigerator and set it aside. At
room temperature the baste will maintain a perfect thickness for
coating the wings.
3 While the baste is chilling, fill a large saucepan, Dutch oven, or

deep fryer with 3 inches of oil. Preheat the oil to 300 degrees F.
4 Blot the wings dry, then fry them in the oil in batches for 12
to 16 minutes or until they’re crispy on the outside. Drain the
wings on a rack or a paper towel–lined plate for 1 minute, then
transfer them to a bowl and spoon some of the baste over them.
Toss the wings to completely coat them with baste, then place
them on a plate, sprinkle each of them with lemon pepper, and
serve immediately.
Ww

Wingstop hicken!
ORIGINAL HOT WINGS
Much of Wingstop’s success can be pinned on its great
selection of unique wing flavors, such as Korean, Louisiana HACK
Rub, Garlic Parmesan (cloned on page 272), and Hawaiian. ACTIVE PREP:
But it’s the traditional buffalo-style hot wings that are one of 10 MIN.
the top two picks at the 1,124-unit chicken-wing chain (the
INACTIVE PREP:
other one is Lemon Pepper, cloned here on page 274). 25 MIN.
DIFFICULTY:
The chain’s buffalo-style sauce is darker red than most buffalo EASY
wing sauces, which are typically made by combining Frank’s Red-
Hot sauce with melted butter. Frank’s is more orange than red, so I YIELD:
set out to find an alternative Louisiana-style hot sauce that looked
MAKES 20
WINGS
the part.
My market had several other Louisiana hot sauces, but the one
whose color best matched Wingstop was called “The Original
Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce.” This particular vinegar-and-pepper

hot sauce has been around for over 90 years, and it has the right
color and flavor to make a great knockoff of the wing sauce. You’ll
just need to add a few more ingredients, including butter, and it’s
ready for saucing your wings.
If you can’t find The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce, you can use
another Louisiana-style sauce, such as Crystal, Bulliard’s, or even
Frank’s, and although your wings won’t look quite the same as
Wingstop’s, they’ll still taste similar.

1 Fill a large saucepan, Dutch oven, or deep fryer with 3 inches of
oil. Preheat the oil to 300 degrees F.
HOT WING SAUCE 2 Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over
medium heat. Cook just until the sauce begins to bubble, about
3 minutes, then remove it from the heat.
1 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce
(I used The Original Louisiana
3
Hot Sauce) Blot the wings dry, then fry them in the oil in batches for 12
1
⁄3 cup unsalted butter to 16 minutes or until they’re golden brown and crispy on the
2 teaspoons paprika outside. Drain the wings on a rack or a paper towel–lined plate
1 teaspoon dill pickle juice for 1 minute, then transfer them to a bowl and spoon some of the
¼ teaspoon garlic powder sauce over them. Toss the wings to coat them with lots of sauce
and serve immediately.
Foodtoid
Chicken wings were invented in 1964 by mistake when the Anchor Bar in Buffalo,
New York received chicken wings instead of the chicken necks they ordered. The
owner’s wife fried and sauced the wings and a soon-to-be-iconic appetizer was born.
Ww

Zaxby’s
CHICKEN FINGERZ
Zaxby’s is the largest chicken-finger chain in the country,
with over 800 units throughout the Southeastern U.S., but HACK
it wasn’t the first. In the early 1980s, Guthrie’s restaurant in ACTIVE PREP:
Haleyville, Alabama was serving hamburgers, sandwiches, 45 MIN.
ice cream, and Golden Fried Chicken Fingers that became a
INACTIVE PREP:
24 MIN.
smash hit with customers. Guthrie’s eventually eliminated
all the other menu items and began serving just chicken
fingers, French fries, Texas toast, and coleslaw, along with
DIFFICULTY:
MEDIUM
Chicken!
a special dipping sauce. You’ll find the same offerings on
YIELD:
Zaxby’s menu, and the chain’s Chicken Fingerz are always SERVES 3 TO 4
the star of the show.
One secret to making great chicken fingers at home is brining

the chicken with a lightly seasoned salt solution to add flavor and
juiciness throughout the tenderloins. Another secret revealed

here is the inclusion of baking soda in the breading. This will
make a light, crispy coating with a perfect golden brown color,
just like the original.
For dipping these, you’ll want to check out my Zaxby’s Zax
Sauce hack. It’s next on page 280.
BRINE
2 cups water 1 Make the brine by combining all the ingredients in a
medium bowl.
2
2 teaspoons salt
Slice any chicken tenderloins that are extremely thick in half
lengthwise, then add the chicken to the brine, cover the bowl,
1 teaspoon MSG and marinate the chicken for 24 hours.
1
3 When the chicken has finished marinating, remove it from the
1
brine and rinse off each piece. Blot the chicken tenders dry
8 chicken tenderloins with paper towels.
4
Fill a deep fryer, Dutch oven, or large saucepan with at least 3
1 large egg, beaten
to 4 inches of oil. Preheat the oil to 325 degrees F.
1 cup milk
BREADING
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 Combine the beaten egg with the milk in a medium bowl.
Combine all of the breading ingredients in a shallow bowl or
pie pan.
1¼ teaspoons salt
1¼ teaspoons MSG
6 To bread each chicken tender, first toss the chicken in the dry
breading. Dip the chicken in the egg-milk mixture, let some
of the liquid drip off, then place it back in the dry blend. Roll the
chicken around in the breading while pressing down on it so that
pepper
a thick coating of breading sticks to the chicken. Let the chicken
1
sit for 5 minutes in the breading so that it sticks.
1
7 Working in batches of up to 4 at a time, depending on the size

of your fryer or saucepan, gently drop each tender into the hot
oil and fry for 6 to 8 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown.
Drain the chicken tenders on a rack or a paper towel–lined plate
for 1 minute, then serve hot with a dipping sauce of your choice
or with my Zax Sauce hack recipe (page 280).
Zz

Zaxby’s
ZAX SAUCE
This combination of mayonnaise, ketchup, Worcestershire
sauce and spices for dipping chicken fingers was originally HACK
created at Guthrie’s—the first chain to offer chicken-finger ACTIVE PREP:
meals—by one of founder Hal Guthrie’s kids, and the sauce 5 MIN.
became a big part of the restaurant’s early success. Even
INACTIVE PREP:
though Guthrie’s debuted the first version of this sauce, it’s 1 HR.
the bigger chicken-finger chains that riffed on Guthrie’s
DIFFICULTY:
concept (Zaxby’s and Raising Cane’s) that have made the EASY
secret recipe iconic.
YIELD:
MAKES 2⁄3 CUP
Here’s how to join in on the fun and copycat your own version of
this famous sauce at home. Use it for dipping homemade chick-
en fingers (see page 278) or pre-breaded tenders you buy in the
frozen food aisle of your store.
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Cover ½ cup mayonnaise
and chill for at least 1 hour before using. 3 tablespoons ketchup
Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
pepper
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1

TRADEMARKS
American Cony Island is a registered trademark of Hershey’s and Gold Peanuts & Pretzels are regis-
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Bread Pizookie are registered trademarks of BJ’s Restaurants, LLC.
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Jolly Rancher is a registered trademark of The
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Carl’s Jr. is a registered trademark of Carl’s Jr. Hawaiian Holding Co., Inc.
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Orville Redenbacher’s is a registered trademark of August Storck KG.
Conagra Foods RDM, Inc.
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Outback Steakhouse of Florida, LLC
Zaxby’s, Chicken Fingerz, and Zax Sauce are regis-
P.F. Chang’s is a registered trademark of P.F. tered trademarks of Zaxby’s Franchising, LLC.
Chang’s China Bistro, Inc.
Panda Express is a registered trademark of Panda

Restaurant Group, Inc.
Panera Bread is a registered trademark of

Pumpernickel Associates, LLC.
Pei Wei and Wei Better Orange Chicken are regis-

tered trademarks of Pei Wei Asian Diner, LLC.
Pizzeria Uno is a registered trademark of Pizzeria

Uno Corporation.
Popcornopolis is a registered trademark of

Popcornopolis, LLC.
Popeyes is a registered trademark of Popeyes

Louisiana Kitchen, Inc.
Qdoba Mexican Eats is a registered trademark of

Qdoba Restaurant Corporation.
Rao’s Homemade is a registered trademark of Rao’s

Specialty Foods, Inc.
Roscoe’s is a registered trademark of East Coast

Foods, Inc.
Shake Shack and ShackBurger are registered trade-

marks of SSE IP, LLC.
Starbucks is a registered trademark of Starbucks

U.S. Brands, LLC.
Swiss Chalet is a registered trademark of Cara

Operations Limited.
Taco Bell and Crunchwrap are registered trade-

marks of Taco Bell Corp.
Texas Roadhouse is a registered trademark of Texas

Roadhouse, Inc.
Thomas’ is a registered trademark of Bimbo

Bakeries USA, Inc. Suiting up to shoot the commercial for Top Secret
Recipe. I’ve never been in such a clean dumpster!
Warheads is a registered trademark of Impact
Confections, Inc.
Wendy’s and Frosty are registered trademarks of

Oldemark, LLC.
Werther’s Original is a registered trademark of

INDEX
Aa Blueberry Muffins, Costco
(Kirkland)’, 80–81
Hard, Jolly Rancher, 107–109
Original Hard Candies, Werther’s,
American Coney Island Chili Dogs, Blueberry Scone, Panera Bread, 270–271
18–20 206–207 Super Sour Spray, Warheads,
Autumn Squash Soup, Panera Bo-Berry Biscuits, Bojangles’, 37–39 261–262
Bread, 191–192 Bojangles’ Caramel Popcorn, Popcornopolis,
Bo-Berry Biscuits, 37–39 213–214
Bb Bo’s Special Sauce, 42–43 Carl’s Jr. Fried Zucchini, 48–49
Buttermilk Biscuits, 34–36 Carnitas, Chipotle, 78–79

Bacon & Gruyere Sous Vide Egg
Bites, Starbucks, 235–237 Dirty Rice, 40–41 Cauliflower, Spicy Buffalo,
California Pizza Kitchen, 46–47
Bacon Bourbon Salmon, Outback Bo’s Special Sauce, Bojangles’,
Steakhouse, 175–176 42–43 Chalupa Supreme, Taco Bell, 248–
249
Bagel, Cinnamon Crunch, Panera Braised Beef Bolognese, Olive
Bread, 201–203 Garden, 154–156 Cheddar’s
Bahama Breeze Bread Monte Cristo, 54–55
Banana Bread Supreme, 22–23 Banana Bread Supreme, Bahama Painkiller, 50–51
Coconut Shrimp, 20–21 Breeze, 31–33 Santa Fe Spinach Dip, 52–53
Rum Cake, 24–26 Monkey Bread Pizooke, BJ’s Cheese Sauce, Taco Bell, 251
Restaurant and Brewhouse, Cheeseburger Spring Rolls,
Baked Potato Soup, Outback
31–33 Cheesecake Factory, 58–59
Steakhouse, 172–173
Breakfast Crunchwrap, Taco Bell, Cheesecake Factory
Baked Potato Soup, Panera Bread,
246–247
193–194 Cheeseburger Spring Rolls,
Burger 58–59
Banana
Cheeseburger Spring Rolls, Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, 55–56
Bread Supreme, Bahama Breeze,
Cheesecake Factory, 58–59
22–23 Oreo Dream Extreme
ShackBurger, Shake Shack, 228– Cheesecake, 62–65
Spring Rolls, P.F. Chang’s, 179–
229
181 Pork Belly Sliders, 60–61
Bush’s Country Style Baked Beans,
Barney’s Beanery Classic Chili, Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake,
44–45
27–28 66–69
Buttermilk Biscuits, Bojangles’,
Vanilla, Bahama Breeze, 25 Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, Pizzeria
34–36
Beans, Country Style Baked, Bush’s, Uno, 210–212
Buttermilk Pancakes, Denny’s,
44–45 Chicken
82–83
Beef Daytona Beach Style Wings,
Buttermilk Pancakes, IHOP, 102, 104
Beijing, Panda Express, 182–183 Hooters, 95–96
Braised Beef Bolognese, Olive
Garden, 154–156 Cc Fingerz, Zaxby’s, 278–279
Garlic Parmesan Wings,
Chalupa Supreme, Taco Bell, Cajun Seasoning, Bojangles’, 41 Wingstop, 272–273
248–249 Cake Georgia Gold Honey Mustard
Tenderloin Medallions, BBQ, KFC, 116–117
Iced Lemon Loaf (Improved),
Maggiano’s, 135–136 Starbucks, 240–241 Grilled Adobo, Qdoba, 221–222
Toowoomba Steak, Outback Oreo Dream Extreme Honey Sesame Chicken Breast,
Steakhouse, 177–178 Cheesecake, Cheesecake Panda Express, 184–186
Beef Tenderloin Medallions, Factory, 62–65 Lemon Pepper Wings, Wingstop,
Maggiano’s, 135–136 Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake, 274–275
Beijing Beef, Panda Express, 178 Cheesecake Factory, 66–69 Maple Bacon Chicken Sandwich,
Biscuits Rum Cake, Bahama Breeze, Wendy’s, 265–266
Bo-Berry, Bojangles’, 37–39 24–26 Margherita, Olive Garden, 157–
White Chocolate Raspberry Cake, 158
Buttermilk, Bojangles’, 34–36
Nothing Bundt Cakes, 150–153 Nashville Hot, Hattie B’s, 89–91
California Pizza Kitchen Spicy Nashville Hot, KFC, 118–119
Honey Sriracha Brussels Sprouts, Buffalo Cauliflower, 46–47
29–30 Original Hot Wings, Wingstop,
Candy 276–277
Monkey Bread Pizooke, 31–33

Coq Au Vin Fondue, Melting Pot,
139–140
Corn, Chili Lime, Outback
Steakhouse, 174
Costco (Kirkland) Blueberry Muffins,
80–81
Country Style Baked Beans, Bush’s,
44–45
Cream Cheese Icing, IHOP, 102, 106
Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice
Soup, Panera Bread, 195–196
Creamy Jalapeño Sauce, Taco Bell,
247
Curry Sauce, Melting Pot, 142
Custard, Frozen Vanilla, Shake
Shack, 230–231
Dd
Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt,
Kind, 120–122
Daytona Beach Style Wings,
Hooters, 95–96
Denny’s
Buttermilk Pancakes, 82–83
Hearty 9-Grain Pancakes, 84–85
Original Style Wings, Hooters, Dogs, 18–20 Diablo Sauce, Taco Bell, 252–253
97–98 Barney’s Beanery Classic Chili, Dipping Sauce, Swiss Chalet, 244–
Parmigiana, Olive Garden, 159– 27–28 245
160 Hot Chili Seasoning, Wendy’s, Dips
Piccata, Olive Garden, 161–162 263–264 Mayochup, Heinz, 92
Pot Pie, KFC, 112–113 Original. Chili’s, 76–77 Santa Fe Spinach Dip, Cheddar’s,
Extra Crispy Tenders, KFC, 114– Turkey, Panera Bread, 197–198 52–53
115 Chili Dogs, American Coney Island, Dirty Rice, Bojangles’, 40–41
Sandwich, Popeyes, 215–217 18–20 Drinks
Stuffed Chicken Marsala, Olive Chili Lime Corn, Outback Painkiller, Cheddar’s, 50–51
Garden, 163–164 Steakhouse, 174
Pumpkin Spice Latte, Starbucks,
and Waffles, Roscoe’s, 225–227 Chili’s Original Chili, 76–77 233–234
Wei Better Orange Chicken, Pei Chipotle Carnitas, 78–79 Dulce De Leche Caramel, IHOP, 104
Wei, 208–209 Chocolate Frosty, Wendy’s, 267–268
Chicken and Waffles, Roscoe’s,
225–227
Cinnamon Crunch Bagel, Panera
Bread, 201–203
Ee
Chicken Fingerz, Zaxby’s, 278–279 Cinnamon Crunch Scone, Panera Egg
Chicken Margherita, Olive Garden, Bread, 204–205 Bacon & Gruyere Sous Vide Egg
157–158 Cinnamon Drops, Panera Bread, Bites, Starbucks, 235–237
Chicken Noodle Soup, Chick-fil-A, 202, 205 Egg White & Roasted Red Pepper
70–71 Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, Sous Vide Egg Bites, Starbucks,
Chicken Parmigiana, Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory, 56–57 237–239
159–160 Citrus-Mustard Sauce, Bahama Egg White & Roasted Red Pepper
Chicken Piccata, Olive Garden, Breeze, 21 Sous Vide Egg Bites, Starbucks,
161–162 237–239
Cocktail Sauce, Melting Pot, 141
Chicken Pot Pie, KFC, 112–113 Einstein Bros. Bagels Twice-Baked
Coconut Shrimp, Bahama Breeze,
Hash Brown, 86–88
Chicken Sandwich, Popeyes, 215– 20–21
217 English Muffins, Thomas’, 258–260
Coconut-Pineapple Ice Cream, P.F.
Chick-fil-A Chang’s, 178
Chicken Noodle Soup, 70–71 Cookies Ff
Mac & Cheese, 72–73 Fortune, Panda Express, 188–190 Fig Newtons, Nabisco, 147–149
Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Sauce, Shortbread, Knott’s Berry Farm, Fortune Cookies, Panda Express,
74–75 124–126 188–190
Chili Vera’s Lemon Cookies, Fried Pickles, Cheesecake Factory,
American Coney Island Chili Maggiano’s, 137–138 61

Frozen Vanilla Custard, Shake 103–104 Maggiano’s
Shack, 230–231 Red Velvet Pancakes, 105–106 Beef Tenderloin Medallions, 135–
136
Gg Jj Vera’s Lemon Cookies, 137–138
Malasadas, Leonard’s Bakery, 132–
Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Olive Jet-Puffed Marshmallows, Kraft, 134
Garden, 165–166 130–131
Maple Bacon Chicken Sandwich,
Garlic Parmesan Wings, Wingstop, Jolly Rancher Hard Candy, 107–109 Wendy’s, 265–266
272–273
Maple Glaze, Wendys, 266
Georgia Gold Honey Mustard BBQ
Chicken, KFC, 116–117 Kk Marinara Sauce, Rao’s Homemade,
223–224
Ginger Plum Sauce, Melting Pot, KFC
143 Marshmallows, Jet-Puffed, Kraft,
Chicken Pot Pie, 112–113 130–131
Gold Peanuts & Pretzels, Hershey’s,
93–94 Georgia Gold Honey Mustard Mayochup, Heinz, 92
BBQ Chicken, 116–117
Gorgonzola Port Sauce, Melting Mayonnaise, Spicy, Popeyes, 218
Pot, 144 Nashville Hot Chicken, 118–119
Melting Pot
Green Goddess Sauce, Melting Pot, Extra Crispy Tenders, 114–115
Cocktail Sauce, 141
145 Kind Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt,
120–122 Coq Au Vin Fondue, 139–140
Green Tomatillo Sauce, Taco Bell,
254–255 King’s Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Curry Sauce, 142
Grilled Adobo Chicken, Qdoba, Sweet Rolls, 122–124 Ginger Plum Sauce, 143
221–222 Knott’s Berry Farm Shortbread Gorgonzola Port Sauce, 144
Cookies, 124–126 Green Goddess Sauce, 145
Hh Kozy Shack Teriyaki Sauce, 146
Rice Pudding, 126–127 Mexican Churro Pancakes, IHOP,
Hard Candy, Jolly Rancher, 107–
109 Tapioca Pudding, 128–129 101–102
Hash Brown, Twice-Baked, Einstein Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows, Mexican Tres Leches Pancakes,
Bros. Bagels, 86–88 130–131 IHOP, 103–104
Hattie B’s Nashville Hot Chicken, Monkey Bread Pizooke, BJ’s
89–91 Ll Restaurant and Brewhouse,
31–33
Hearty 9-Grain Pancakes, Denny’s,
Lemon Pepper Wings, Wingstop, Monte Cristo, Cheddar’s, 54–55
84–85
274–275
Heinz Mayochup, 92 Movie Theater Butter Popcorn,
Leonard’s Bakery Malasadas, 132– Orville Redenbacher’s, 169–171
Hershey’s Gold Peanuts & Pretzels, 134
93–94 Muffins
Blueberry, Costco (Kirkland)’,
Honey Sesame Chicken Breast,
Panda Express, 184–186 Mm 80–81
Honey Sriracha Brussels Sprouts, Mac & Cheese, Chick-fil-A, 72–73 English, Thomas’, 258–260
BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse,
29–30
Honey Walnut Shrimp, Panda
Express, 186–188
Hooters
Daytona Beach Style Wings,
95–96
Original Style Wings, 97–98
Hostess Powdered Donettes,
99–100
Hot Butterscotch Brandy Sauce,
Bahama Breeze, 23
Hot Chili Seasoning, Wendy’s, 263–
264
Ii
Iced Lemon Loaf Cake (Improved),
Starbucks, 240–241
IHOP
Mexican Churro Pancakes, 101–
102
Mexican Tres Leches Pancakes,

Nn Red Velvet, IHOP, 105–106
Panda Express
Qq
Nabisco Fig Newtons, 147–149 Beijing Beef, 182–183 Qdoba
Nacho Fries, Taco Bell, 250–251 Fortune Cookies, 188–190 Grilled Adobo Chicken, 221–222
Nashville Hot Chicken, Hattie B’s, Honey Sesame Chicken Breast, Tortilla Soup, 219–220
89–91 184–186
Nashville Hot Chicken, KFC, 118–
119
Honey Walnut Shrimp, 186–188 Rr
Panera Bread
Nothing Bundt Cakes White Raisin Butterscotch Sauce, Bahama
Chocolate Raspberry Cake, 150– Autumn Squash Soup, 191–192 Breeze, 25
153 Baked Potato Soup, 193–194 Rao’s Homemade Marinara Sauce,
Nuts Blueberry Scone, 206–207 223–224
Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt, Cinnamon Crunch Bagel, 201– Red Velvet Pancakes, IHOP, 105–106
Kind, 120–122 203 Rice
Gold Peanuts & Pretzels, Cinnamon Crunch Scone, 204– Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice,
Hershey’s, 93–94 205 Panera Bread, 195–196
Hershey’s Gold Peanuts & Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Dirty, Bojangles’, 40–41
Pretzels, 93–94 Soup, 195–196
Pudding, Kozy Shack, 126–127
Honey Walnut Shrimp, Panda Turkey Chili, 197–198
Express, 186–188 Rolls, Texas Roadhouse, 256–258
Vegetarian Summer Corn
Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, 225–
Chowder, 199–200
Oo Pei Wei Wei Better Orange Chicken,
227
Rum Cake, Bahama Breeze, 24–26
208–209
Olive Garden Rum Sauce, Bahama Breeze, 25
Petite Vanilla Bean Scones,
Braised Beef Bolognese, 154–156 Starbucks, 242–243 Extra Crispy Tenders, KFC, 114–115
Chicken Margherita, 157–158 P.F. Chang’s Banana Spring Rolls,
Chicken Parmigiana, 159–160 179–181 Ss
Chicken Piccata, 161–162 Pie, Chicken Pot, KFC, 112–113
Sandwich
Garlic Mashed Potatoes, 165–166 Pizzeria Uno Chicago Deep Dish
Pizza, 210–212 Chicken, Popeyes, 215–217
Stuffed Chicken Marsala, 163–
164 Popcorn Maple Bacon Chicken, Wendy’s,
265–266
Warm Apple Crostata, 166–168 Caramel, Popcornopolis, 213–214
Monte Cristo, Cheddar’s, 54–55
Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake, Movie Theater Butter, Orville
Cheesecake Factory, 62–65 Redenbacher’s, 169–171 Pork Belly Sliders, Cheesecake
Factory, 60–61
Original Hard Candies, Werther’s, Popcornopolis Caramel Popcorn,
270–271 213–214 Santa Fe Spinach Dip, Cheddar’s,
52–53
Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, Popeyes
King’s Hawaiian, 122–124 Sauce
Chicken Sandwich, 213–214
Original Hot Wings, Wingstop, Bo’s Special, Bojangles’, 42–43
Spicy Mayonnaise, 218
276–277 Cheese, Taco Bell, 251
Pork Belly Sliders, Cheesecake
Original Style Wings, Hooters, Factory, 60–61 Citrus-Mustard, Bahama Breeze,
97–98 21
Potato
Orville Redenbacher’s Movie Cocktail, Melting Pot, 141
Theater Butter Popcorn, 169–171 Baked Potato Soup, Outback
Steakhouse, 172–173 Creamy Jalapeño, Taco Bell, 247
Outback Steakhouse
Baked Potato Soup, Panera Bread, Curry, Melting Pot, 142
Bacon Bourbon Salmon, 175–176 193–194 Diablo, Taco Bell, 252–253
Baked Potato Soup, 172–173 Garlic Mashed, Olive Garden, Dipping, Swiss Chalet, 244–245
Chili Lime Corn, 174 165–166
Ginger Plum, Melting Pot, 143
Toowoomba Steak, 177–178 Nacho Fries, Taco Bell, 250–251
Gorgonzola Port, Melting Pot, 144
Twice-Baked Hash Brown,
Green Goddess, Melting Pot, 145
Pp Einstein Bros. Bagels, 86–88
Powdered Donettes, Hostess, Green Tomatillo, Taco Bell, 254–
Painkiller, Cheddar’s, 50–51 99–100 255
Pancakes Pudding Hot Butterscotch Brandy, Banana
Bread Supreme, Bahama
Buttermilk, Denny’s, 82–83 Rice, Kozy Shack, 126–127 Breeze, 23
Buttermilk, IHOP, 102 Tapioca, Kozy Shack, 128–129 Hot Wing, Hooters, 98
Cinnamon Roll, Cheesecake Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake, Marinara, Rao’s Homemade,
Factory, 56–57 Cheesecake Factory, 66–69 223–224
Hearty 9-Grain, Denny’s, 84–85 Pumpkin Spice Latte, Starbucks, Medium Wing, Hooters, 98
Mexican Churro, IHOP, 101–102 233–234

Raisin Butterscotch, Bahama Cheeseburger, Cheesecake Sauce, Bahama Breeze, 25
Breeze, 25 Factory, 58–59 Sauce, IHOP, 104
Rum, Bahama Breeze, 25 Sriracha Sauce, P.F. Chang’s, 178
Spicy, Cheesecake Factory, 61 Buffalo Sauce, California Pizza Vegetables
Sriracha Buffalo, California Pizza Kitchen, 47
Autumn Squash, Panera Bread,
Kitchen, 48–49 Honey Sriracha Brussels 191–192
Sweet & Spicy Sriracha, Chick- Sprouts, BJ’s Restaurant and
Brewhouse, 30 Carl’s Jr. Fried Zucchini, 48–49
fil-A, 74–75
Sweet & Spicy Sauce, Chick-fil-A, Honey Sriracha Brussels
Teriyaki, Melting Pot, 146 Sprouts, BJ’s Restaurant and
74–75
Vanilla, IHOP, 104 Brewhouse, 30
Starbucks
Vanilla, P.F. Chang’s, 178 Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower,
Bacon & Gruyere Sous Vide Egg California Pizza Kitchen,
Zax, Zaxby’s, 279 Bites, 235–237 46–47
Scone Egg White & Roasted Red Pepper Vegetarian Summer Corn Chowder,
Blueberry, Panera Bread, 206– Sous Vide Egg Bites, 237–239 Panera Bread, 199–200
207 Iced Lemon Loaf Cake Vera’s Lemon Cookies, Maggiano’s,
Cinnamon Crunch, Panera (Improved), 240–241 137–138
Bread, 204–205 Petite Vanilla Bean Scones, 242–
243
Petite Vanilla Bean, Starbucks,
242–243 Pumpkin Spice Latte, 233–234
Ww
Seasoning Stuffed Chicken Marsala, Olive Waffles, and Chicken, Roscoe’s,
Cajun, Bojangles’, 41 Garden, 163–164 225–227
Hot Chili, Wendy’s, 263–264 Super Sour Spray Candy, Warheads, Warheads Super Sour Spray Candy,
261–262 261–262
ShackBurger, Shake Shack, 228–
229 Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Sauce, Warm Apple Crostata, Olive Garden,
Chick-fil-A, 74–75 166–168
Shake Shack
Sweet Sriracha Crema, BJ’s Wei Better Orange Chicken, Pei Wei,
Frozen Vanilla Custard, 230–231 Restaurant and Brewhouse, 30 208–209
ShackBurger, 228–229 Swiss Chalet Dipping Sauce, 244– Wendy’s
Vanilla Milkshake, 232 245 Chocolate Frosty, 267–268
Shakes, 268–269 Hot Chili Seasoning, 263–264
Chocolate Frosty, Wendy’s, 267– Tt Maple Bacon Chicken Sandwich,
268 265–266
Taco Bell
Vanilla Milkshake, Shake Shack, Vanilla Frosty, 268–269
232 Breakfast Crunchwrap, 246–247
Werther’s Original Hard Candies,
Shortbread Cookies, Knott’s Berry Chalupa Supreme, 248–249 270–271
Farm, 124–126 Diablo Sauce, 252–253 White Chocolate Raspberry Cake,
Shrimp Green Tomatillo Sauce, 254–255 Nothing Bundt Cakes, 150–153
Coconut Shrimp, Bahama Breeze, Nacho Fries, 250–251 Wingstop
20–21
Tapioca Pudding, Kozy Shack, 128– Garlic Parmesan Wings, 272–273
Honey Walnut Shrimp, Panda 129
Express, 186–188 Lemon Pepper Wings, 274–275
Teriyaki Sauce, Melting Pot, 146 Original Hot Wings, 276–277
Soup
Texas Roadhouse Rolls, 256–258
Autumn Squash, Panera Bread,
191–192 Thomas’ English Muffins, 258–260
Zz
Baked Potato, Outback Toowoomba Steak, Outback
Steakhouse, 172–173 Steakhouse, 177–178 Zax Sauce, Zaxby’s, 279
Baked Potato, Panera Bread, 193– Tortilla Soup, Qdoba, 219–220 Zaxby’s
194 Turkey Chili, Panera Bread, 197–198 Chicken Fingerz, 278–279
Chicken Noodle, Chick-fil-A, Twice-Baked Hash Brown, Einstein Zax Sauce, 279
70–71 Bros. Bagels, 86–88 Zucchini, Fried, Carl’s Jr/, 48–49
Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice,
Panera Bread, 195–196
Tortilla, Qdoba, 219–220
Vv
Vegetarian Summer Corn Vanilla
Chowder, Panera Bread, 199– Frosty, Wendy’s, 268–269
200 Frozen Vanilla Custard, Shake
Spicy Mayonnaise, Popeyes, 218 Shack, 230–231
Spread, Cinnamon, IHOP, 102 Milkshake, Shake Shack, 232
Spring Rolls Petite Vanilla Bean Scones,
Banana, P.F. Chang’s, 179–181 Starbucks, 242–243

AMERICA’S BEST
COPYCAT RECIPES
For more than thirty years Todd Wilbur has been ob-
sessed with re-creating the country’s most iconic
brand-name foods at home. Now his super-sleuthing
taste buds are back to work in his 12th Top Secret
Recipes cookbook packed with 125 more delectable
discoveries to feed your soul. The New York Times
bestselling author reveals how to make homegrown
clones of the foods that make you drool from your
favorite chains and brands including Starbucks, KFC,
Panera Bread, and Shake Shack. With these simple
hacks for popular packaged products and legendary
restaurant dishes even novice cooks can copy the in-
comparable tastes of their favorite famous foods.
MAKE HOME VERSIONS OF:

Popeyes ® Chicken Sandwich Panda Express ® Beijing Beef Rao’s Homemade ® Marinara Sauce
Bush’s ® Baked Beans American Coney Island ® Chili Dogs Jolly Rancher ® Hard Candy
Texas Roadhouse ® Rolls Pizzeria Uno ® Deep Dish Pizza Olive Garden® Braised Beef Bolognese
Chick-fil-A ® Mac & Cheese Chipotle ® Carnitas Pei Wei ® Wei Better Orange Chicken
Wingstop ® Lemon Pepper Wings Panera Bread ® Cinnamon Crunch Scone KFC ® Nashville Hot Chicken
AND 110 MORE DELICIOUS DUPLICATES

FROM SNACK AND APPETIZERS TO ENTRÉES AND DESSERTS
[Wilbur’s] problem isn’t that the recipes he’s devised

aren’t good enough, it’s that they’re too good.
—ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
COVER DESIGN: JEN MONTGOMERY
288 COVER AND BACK PHOTOGRAPH: ANTHONY MAIR

TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM
TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

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As close as you can get to the original recipes.

The recipes are easy to follow and…by preparing

[Wilbur’s] recipes use everyday supermarket

Having this dude on her show must have really

Many of [Wilbur’s] dishy imitations come, like a

Copyright © 2021 by Todd Wilbur

Photographs © 2021 by Todd Wilbur

ISBN: 978-1-7348384-1-1 (ebook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Printed in the United States of America

Designed by Jen Montgomery

Pages 281-282 constitute an extension of this copyright page.

Top Secret Recipes is a registered trademark of Todd Wilbur.

INTRODUCTION 011 Monkey Bread

006 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

Hattie B’s ® Mexican Tres Leches

Heinz ® Jj Kozy Shack ®

Hard Candy 107 Tapioca Pudding 128

007 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

008 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

Qdoba ® Nacho Fries 250

Grilled Adobo Green Tomatillo Sauce 254

Rao’s Homemade ® Thomas’ ®

009 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

You’ve probably had a similar experience. A sig-

011 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

After several days in the lab frying multiple chicken

012 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

013 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

Getting in! About to tour the

014 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

015 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

CUSTOMIZATION: With these recipes you have

016 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

FUN/CURIOSITY/ADULATION: Cloning famous

From the very beginning, my goal has always been

017 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

018 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

8 natural-casing beef hot dogs

019 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

020 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

½ teaspoon lemon juice for the breading step.

1 pound jumbo shrimp (21–25),

9 Serve the shrimp with the citrus-mustard sauce on the side

021 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

022 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

1 cup light brown sugar

023 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

0 24 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

2 Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an

1 cup light brown sugar

025 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

026 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

Barney’s Beanery CLASSIC CHILI

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3 Heat 2 cups of the water until boiling in the microwave or

028 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse

ACTIVE PREP: sweet sriracha crema.”

029 TOP SECRET RECIPES UNLEASHED • TOPSECRETRECIPES.COM

3 Fill a deep fryer, large saucepan, or Dutch oven with enough

5 Fry the Brussels sprouts in batches for 2 to 3 minutes or until