Few words send shivers down one’s spine more than the word “hacked,” with visions of hours talking to tech support, then more hours spent changing passwords, all adding up to one colossal headache.
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For Todd Wilbur, author of “Hack That Dish” (Simon & Schuster, $24), “hacking” means using his undercover culinary spycraft techniques to uncover your favorite restaurant’s classic dishes.
“There’s a special thrill to be found in snooping into the mysterious formulas behind iconic dishes and sharing them with friends and family (or keeping them to yourself!),” he writes.
Long to make Crumbl’s semi-sweet chocolate chunk cookies, Chipotle’s chicken al pastor, Portillo’s famous chocolate cake, California Pizza Kitchen’s carne asada pizza or Maggiano’s Italian meatballs? Wilbur unlocks these secrets with 101 tried and true copycat recipes you can make at home — no reservations needed!
“Food hacking isn’t just a culinary skill,” he notes, “it’s an occasionally observed adventure filled with trial, error, and moments of triumph that make you feel like a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Julia Child. One day you’re a spy peering into an open kitchen; the next day, you’re a lab tech dissecting layers of lasagna or analyzing grill marks. And the day after that, you’re a chemist testing the effects of different leaveners in a chocolate chip cookie.”
Author of a dozen cookbooks in the “Top Secret Recipes” series with 5 million books in print, now with his latest cookbook Wilbur, a self-described “food spy,” shares his secret tips and tricks for decoding your own restaurant favorites in your own kitchen.
Case in point: The Cheesecake Factory’s chicken piccata. Wilbur ordered the dish to go and questioned the server about the sauce. She mentioned garlic and shallots along with the obvious lemon, wine, butter and cream. But when he strained the sauce at home, no garlic and shallots were left. He tested the recipe without them, and the sauce tasted flat. They must have been added during cooking, and were strained out “after contributing their goodness to the sauce,” he deduced, producing a much tastier version.
“Small clues most people don’t notice can reveal key details you can use to make your recipes great,” he explained.
The Cheesecake Factory has its roots in Detroit in the 1940s, when Evelyn Overton found a cheesecake recipe in a local newspaper. So popular was the cake that she decided to open a small bakery, but gave it up when her children came along, continuing to bake in her basement kitchen, selling them to restaurants. When the family moved to Los Angeles, they opened The Cheesecake Factory Bakery, again selling Evelyn’s cheesecakes to restaurants throughout L.A. In 1978, son David opened a restaurant in Beverly Hills. The initial menu offered salads and sandwiches and 10 varieties of cheesecakes.
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Today, The Cheesecake Factory operates more than 215 locations in the US, plus more than 30 international locations, offering more than 250 menu options and up to 40 cheesecake varieties. The Brea location opened in 2004.
Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.
CHICKEN PICCATA
From “Hack That Dish” by Todd Wilbur
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients:
Sauce:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, divided
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons minced shallot
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup cremini (baby portobella) mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
Chicken:
• Vegetable oil
• 2 (10 ounce) chicken breast fillets
• Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Serving:
1/4 pound uncooked angel hair pasta
1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
6-8 half-wheel slices lemon
Method:
1. Lemon sauce: Melt 2 tablespoons butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and shallot; cook 2 minutes. Don’t let garlic brown. Add wine and chicken broth; cook until volume is reduced by half, 5-6 minutes. Strain sauce to remove garlic and shallot; add liquid back to pan over medium–low heat.
2. Add remaining butter to pan, 1 tablespoon at a time. When butter has melted, add heavy cream, lemon juice, sugar, and salt. When sauce begins to bubble, reduce heat to low; cook slowly 10-12 minutes until thickened. Turn off heat and cover.
3. Chicken: Pour about 1/4-inch vegetable oil into large sauté pan over medium heat. Slice each fillet into 3 thinner cutlets, then pound a bit thinner with kitchen mallet. Sprinkle each cutlet with salt and pepper to taste. Measure flour onto a plate; then press each fillet into flour for light coating on both sides.
4. Sauté chicken over medium–high heat 1 1/2–2 minutes per side until lightly brown around edges.
5. Prepare pasta al dente according to package directions.
6. Melt butter in sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, a couple of pinches salt and pepper, and cook just until lightly brown, about 4 minutes. Add mushrooms and capers; reduce heat to medium-low to heat it back up.
7. Divide pasta onto 2 serving plates, using thongs to twirl it into tall piles. Arrange 3 chicken cutlets on each plate next to pasta. When sauce is hot, spoon over chicken on each plate. Garnish with parsley and 3-4 lemon slices.
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