Have you successfully duplicated a restaurant recipe?
Did you have a copy of the original recipe or use your best guesstimate of the ingredients? How many attempts before you achieved success? Have you tried any of those "copy-cat" recipes from online sources?
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11 Comments:
I make it a hobbie to copy dishes at home that I have eaten at restaurants that I really enjoy. Most of the time I'm successful in getting very close and other times I can find a recipe online or in a cookbook that is the very same recipe. It's not always easy, but a fun process.
jonfoxx at 1:38PM on 12/06/07
I copy them as well one of my trademark lines is if I can taste it I can make it. Around here the first one I copied that was a huge hit was fajitas. We ate them out once in the late 80's. Then I went home and duplicated it.
Over the years (near 20 of them) I have changed my seasoning, herbs and method of cooking. I now think my fajitas are better than any we ever had at a restaurant. More like carne adada steak.
I always read copykat recipes. I bought Todd Wilbur's Top Secret recipes when it first came out. On this blog I have with hte help of you fine assembly talked about cloning food I have eaten some where else.
When I went to NC we ate at Big Ed's in Raleigh and I went home hell bent on cloning the hotcake there. Which I did.
I love challenges.
JerzeeTomato at 2:11PM on 12/06/07
Yes! And I could not believe my husband and I managed. The ricotta gnocchis with sausage fennel ragu from Lupa. We used an online recipe. The Lupa ones are better but ours are pretty good. The only problem we have is that where we live good ricotta is very hard to come by and there is no goat curd which the recipe calls for, so we use Spanish goat cheese which is usually the tastiest available and they taste more goat cheese than ricotta-like, but they are still wonderful and the ragu is fabulous. The delicious aroma in the kitchen is very special!
cristi at 2:17PM on 12/06/07
My husband would be super happy if I could make chicken parmesan from Olive Garden. I've tried a few times, but there's always something not quite right -- usually the texture of the chicken breading!
misseditor at 3:00PM on 12/06/07
JT---I'd like to spend some time with you in your kitchen...you sound like a talented food lover!
JEP at 5:49PM on 12/06/07
There is a particular restaurant here in New Orleans that serves roasted corn grits with green onions and a ton of butter. I have:
A. Duplicated the recipe with great success
B. Reduced the amount of calories/fat by a billion percent (the original amounts of butter and cream I've seen for this recipe on the web, which vary by site, are a little too much, IMO)
Misseditor: have you tried a combination of panko and regular breadcrumbs? Maybe that would help with that crispy texture.
kmnola at 6:50PM on 12/06/07
I love trying to reproduce an enjoyable meal.
Keo's Restaurant in Waikiki (Hawaii) makes this wonderful dish called Evil Jungle Prince. It's a happy concoction of basil, coconut milk, veggies (with shrimp or chicken thrown in for good measure). How could you not love something with that name? Back on the "mainland" I was missing Hawaii and tried to make the dish. I found recipes online but something was missing. I played with it a few times and finally produced something that was, if not very similar, at least delicious on it's own! I've made it spicier than the restaurant serves it but I like it that way.
Acme Instant Food at 9:30PM on 12/06/07
I unwittingly duplicated a chicken-fried steak recipe from Threadgill's in Austin. I didn't know it until I was at Threadgill's and ordered one of their famous chicken-fried steaks. It tasted exactly like mine!
1stmakearoux at 8:28AM on 12/07/07
Acme- Funny you should mention food from Hawaii. Last week I had such a craving for saimin. I went to four markets here in upstate NY to find the right ingredients for the dashi, and it turned out "pretty good." Thing is, you can't turn around in Hawaii without bumping into a big pile of char siu pork. No such luck in Albany. I used ham instead. I guess my version took care of the craving, but it was not the real thing. With a few more adjustments, it should be up to snuff.
Kerosena at 9:51AM on 12/07/07
I know it's a chain....but I love the hashbrown casserole at Cracker Barrel. The first time I tried it, I knew I had to duplicate it at home. It took me a couple of tries, but I did it.
Like Jerzee, I am blessed to have the type of palate that can pick out flavors in the food I eat...my mom always tests me on the ingredients of dishes she enjoys when we eat out at a restaurant together.
mepolo at 10:10AM on 12/07/07
I managed to duplicate the recipe for those seasonal minty fudge brownies they sell at Starbucks. I posted about the process on my website.
DaveFaris at 7:56PM on 12/07/07