Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2

Recipes Excerpted from Todd Wilbur’s new book
“Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2: More Amazing Clones of Famous Dishes from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains”

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Top Secret Recipes
version of
P. F. Chang's 
Chicken in Soothing Lettuce Wraps

Menu Description: "Quickly-cooked spiced chicken served with cool lettuce cups."

Throw in a few initials with a little twist on the last part, and you have the name of Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang's Chinese bistro creation, P.F. Chang's. Since the first location opened in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1993, over 124 new ones have sprouted up across the country -- in more than 33 states. No matter the location, it's this dish that gets first raves. Like the very-dead McDonald's McD.L.T. hamburger, which disappeared around the time the first P.F. Chang's opened, the contrasting textures of the cool crispy lettuce and the hot meat filling come together in your mouth for a tasty oral dance party. According to waiters, those little dark bits in the chicken filling mix are "black mushrooms," and there's a good chance your local supermarket doesn't stock them. But a great alternative can be found in the Asian food section -- canned straw mushrooms. Just remember to chop the chicken, water chestnuts and mushrooms up real good for the final sauté. Slip this filling into a lettuce cup, fold it up like a taco, add a little "special sauce," get down tonight.

Special Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
 
1 tablespoon Chinese hot mustard powder (see Tidbits)
2 teaspoons water
1 to 3 teaspoons garlic chili paste
 
Stir Fry Sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
 
1 cup fried maifun rice sticks (see Tidbits)
 
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 skinless chicken breast fillets
1 cup minced water chestnuts
2/3 cup canned straw mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 clove)
 
4 to 5 sliced iceberg lettuce cups

1. Make the special sauce (for spooning over your lettuce wraps) by dissolving the 1/4 cup sugar in 1/2 cup water in a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons ketchup, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve the lettuce wraps. Combine the 2 teaspoons water with the Chinese hot mustard and set this aside as well. Eventually you will add your desired measurement of Chinese mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over your lettuce wraps. In the restaurant chain, skilled master craftsmen prepare the sauce at your table the same way, depending on your desired heat level. We'll talk more about that later.
2. To prepare the filling for your lettuce wraps, bring 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Sauté the chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done. Remove chicken from the pan to cool. Keep the oil in the pan and keep the pan hot.
3. As the chicken cools be sure your water chestnuts and mushrooms have been minced to about the size of small peas.
4. Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.
5. When you can handle the chicken, hack it up with a sharp knife so that no piece is bigger than a dime. With the wok or pan still on high heat, add an additional tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the chicken, garlic, water chestnuts and black mushrooms to the pan. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and sauté the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it onto into a dish lined with a bed of fried rice noodles (maifun).
6. Serve chicken with a side of lettuce cups. Make these lettuce cups by slicing the top off of a head of iceberg lettuce right through the middle of the head. Pull your lettuce cups off of the outside of this slice.
7. Make the special sauce at the table by adding your desired number of mustard and chili sauce to the special sauce blend: 1 teaspoon mustard and chili sauce for mild, 2 teaspoons each for medium and 3 teaspoons of each for hot. Stir well.
8. Assemble lettuce wraps by spooning filling into a lettuce cup, adding special sauce over the top, folding the sucker up like a taco, then munching down upon it with reckless abandon.

Serves 2 to 3 as an appetizer.

Tidbits: Follow the directions on the package for frying the maifun (rice sticks) -- usually by pouring 2 inches of vegetable oil into a pan and heating to around 400 degrees. Add maifun, a little at a time, and when it floats to the top remove it to a paper towel. This expansive crisping process is actually quite exciting. Rather than powdered Chinese hot mustard, you can instead use the kind that comes already prepared in the bottle so that you don't have to add water. Your choice.

Top Secret Recipes
version of
Outback Steakhouse
Kookaburra Wings

Menu Description: "Known as Buffalo chicken wings here in the States."

No, Outback Steakhouse is not the country's largest importer of Australian woodland kingfisher wings. Despite the name, these tasty wings don't come from the wild birds also known as kookaburras. Instead, this appetizer is made the old fashioned way -- with good ol' American chickens. And as with the traditional recipe, these wings are coated with Louisiana hot sauce; but it's the breading that makes them unique. This clone recipe uses a secret blend of powdered cheese sprinkles and spices. Kraft powdered cheese can be found near the Kraft Parmesan cheese or near the macaroni and cheese kits in your supermarket. If you can't track it down, use Molly McButter cheese sprinkles. If you can't find that, get a box of macaroni and cheese (it's cheap) and use the cheese from inside there. Keep the leftover macaroni noodles for a pasta recipe later.

10 chicken wing drumettes (see tidbits)
6 to 10 cups shortening or vegetable oil (amount required by your fryer)

Wing coating
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Kraft Macaroni & Cheese cheddar cheese topping (or Molly McButter cheese sprinkles)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
dash ground clove

2 tablespoons Crystal Louisiana hot sauce
1 teaspoon water

On the Side
bleu cheese dressing
celery sticks

1. Preheat shortening (you may also use vegetable or canola oil) to 375 degrees F.
2. Make the spiced breading for your wings by combining the wing coating ingredients (flour through clove) in a medium bowl. Stir well.
3. Dip each wing, one at a time into the breading. Give each one a light coating of the stuff. Arrange the breaded wings on a plate and let them sit uncovered in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
4. When the shortening or oil is hot, lower the wings into it. Fry for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the wings are brown.
5. While the wings are frying, mix the hot sauce and water together in a small bowl.
6. When the wings are done, drain them for a moment on paper towels or a rack. Drop the hot wings into a large plastic container with a lid. Pour the sauce over the wings. Cover the container and gently shake it to coat the wings with sauce.
7. Use tongs to remove the wings from the container. Arrange them on a plate with bleu cheese dressing and celery sticks on the side.

Makes 2 to 3 servings as an appetizer.

Tidbits: There are two types of frozen chicken wings out there -- the giant party wings that come with a couple dozen pieces per bag, and the smaller wings with nearly twice the number per bag. These smaller wings are what the restaurant uses and what you should use for this recipe. Because of the size of the bigger wings, they just don't fry up as well.
Also, you should know that most restaurants use shortening for frying. That's what I suggest you use if you want your wings closer to the real thing.

Top Secret Recipes
version of
Duncan Hines®
Moist Deluxe® Yellow Cake Mix

So, you need to make some buttery yellow cake, but you don't have any mix in the pantry. Or perhaps you love the moist and delicious cake made from a box, but aren't a big fan of all the monosyllabic preservatives and thickeners that come along for the ride. Well, here is the TSR way to make homemade yellow cake mix using basic baking ingredients (You'll find imitation butter flavoring near the vanilla extract in your market.). You can store the cloned mix in a sealed container for several weeks in a cabinet until you need it. When you want to make the cake, simply add water, oil, and eggs to the mix in the exact measurements required by the original; pour the batter in a pan and pop it in the oven.

3 cups cake flour
2 cups baker's sugar (superfine sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
½ cup shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons imitation butter flavoring
10 drops yellow food coloring

To make cake:
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine.
2. Combine shortening, vanilla, butter flavoring, and food coloring with an electric mixer in a small bowl. Spoon shortening mixture into dry ingredients and beat well with the electric mixer on medium speed. Mix until no chunks of shortening are visible. The mixture should resemble cornmeal. This is your cake mix, which you can keep in a sealed container for several months until you are ready to make the cake.
3. To make the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the sides and bottom of two 9-inch baking pans or one 13 x 9-inch pan. Lightly flour the greased pans.
4. Blend dry cake mix (from step #1) with water, oil and eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 more minutes. 
5. Pour batter into pans and bake for 30 to 33 minutes for 9-inch pans, and 35 to 38 minutes for 13 x 9-inch pan. You can also make cupcakes with the mix. They take 19 to 22 minutes.