{"id":10229,"date":"2026-05-28T18:03:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=10229"},"modified":"2026-05-28T18:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:03:06","slug":"cooking-with-judy-hacking-meals-to-enjoy-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=10229","title":{"rendered":"Cooking with Judy: Hacking meals to enjoy at home"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Few words send shivers down one\u2019s spine more than the word \u201chacked,\u201d with visions of hours talking to tech support, then more hours spent changing passwords, all adding up to one colossal headache.<\/p>\n

Read more Anaheim Hills briefs: Get ready for the Fancy Nancy Teddy Bear Birthday Bash<\/a><\/p>\n

For Todd Wilbur, author of \u201cHack That Dish\u201d (Simon & Schuster, $24), \u201chacking\u201d means using his undercover culinary spycraft techniques to uncover your favorite restaurant\u2019s classic dishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s 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!),\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n

Long to make Crumbl\u2019s semi-sweet chocolate chunk cookies, Chipotle\u2019s chicken al pastor, Portillo\u2019s famous chocolate cake, California Pizza Kitchen\u2019s carne asada pizza or Maggiano\u2019s Italian meatballs? Wilbur unlocks these secrets with 101 tried and true copycat recipes you can make at home \u2014 no reservations needed!<\/p>\n

\u201cFood hacking isn\u2019t just a culinary skill,\u201d he notes, \u201cit\u2019s 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\u2019re a spy peering into an open kitchen; the next day, you\u2019re a lab tech dissecting layers of lasagna or analyzing grill marks. And the day after that, you\u2019re a chemist testing the effects of different leaveners in a chocolate chip cookie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Author of a dozen cookbooks in the \u201cTop Secret Recipes\u201d series with 5 million books in print, now with his latest cookbook Wilbur, a self-described \u201cfood spy,\u201d shares his secret tips and tricks for decoding your own restaurant favorites in your own kitchen.<\/p>\n

Case in point: The Cheesecake Factory\u2019s 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 \u201cafter contributing their goodness to the sauce,\u201d he deduced, producing a much tastier version.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall clues most people don\u2019t notice can reveal key details you can use to make your recipes great,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Read more Happy, who taught researchers that elephants can recognize themselves, is euthanized at Bronx Zoo<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Fullerton\u2019s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of \u201cCooking Jewish\u201d and \u201cThe Perfect Passover Cookbook.\u201d Her website is cookingjewish.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

CHICKEN PICCATA<\/h3>\n

From \u201cHack That Dish\u201d by Todd Wilbur<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Yield: 2 servings<\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sauce:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 1\/2 cup unsalted butter, divided<\/p>\n

\u2022 2 teaspoons minced garlic<\/p>\n

\u2022 2 teaspoons minced shallot<\/p>\n

\u2022 1\/4 cup dry white wine<\/p>\n

\u2022 1\/4 cup chicken broth<\/p>\n

\u2022 2\/3 cup heavy cream<\/p>\n

\u2022 3 tablespoons lemon juice<\/p>\n

\u2022 1 teaspoon granulated sugar<\/p>\n

\u2022 1\/4 teaspoon salt<\/p>\n

\u2022 1 tablespoon unsalted butter<\/p>\n

\u2022 1 cup cremini (baby portobella) mushrooms, sliced<\/p>\n

\u2022 2 tablespoons capers, drained<\/p>\n

Chicken:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Vegetable oil<\/p>\n

\u2022 2 (10 ounce) chicken breast fillets<\/p>\n

\u2022 Salt and ground black pepper, to taste<\/p>\n

\u2022 1\/2 cup all-purpose flour<\/p>\n

Serving:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1\/4 pound uncooked angel hair pasta<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley<\/p>\n

6-8 half-wheel slices lemon<\/p>\n

Method:<\/p>\n

1. Lemon sauce: Melt 2 tablespoons butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and shallot; cook 2 minutes. Don\u2019t 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\u2013low heat.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

3. Chicken: Pour about 1\/4-inch vegetable oil into large saut\u00e9 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.<\/p>\n

4. Saut\u00e9 chicken over medium\u2013high heat 1 1\/2\u20132 minutes per side until lightly brown around edges.<\/p>\n

5. Prepare pasta al dente according to package directions.<\/p>\n

6. Melt butter in saut\u00e9 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Read more The Minneapolis immigration crackdown ended months ago. For these little kids, trauma remains<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fullerton\u2019s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of \u201cCooking Jewish\u201d and \u201cThe Perfect Passover Cookbook.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion-columnist","category-represents-the-opinion-of-the-author-who-is-either-a-paid-columnist-or-an-unpaid-guest-columnist"],"yoast_head":"\nCooking with Judy: Hacking meals to enjoy at home - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=10229\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cooking with Judy: Hacking meals to enjoy at home - 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