American Recipes - copycat cookbooks

[cook5000]

Hi all, I have recently returned from a trip out to FL and was blown away by some of the meals I had out. I'm home now and have tried to cook some of those wonderful meals at home.

Do these copy cat recipe cookbooks really work?

I would be grateful for any replies especially from those who have tried such a book.

Many Thanks

Cookie

 

[Nyeer]

I am sorry, I didn't understand the question.

 

[cook5000]

American Cookbook - Sorry this forum wont let me post a link ..

Basically - Its a copy cat cook book.

 

[Wyogal]

There are several out there that give recipes for things like Almond Joy candy bars, KFC, biscuits from red Lobster, etc.
copycat cookbooks - Google Search

 

[Nyeer]

I have "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 1 and 2, by Todd Wilbur" and prepared some of the recipes, those work quite well, but I had never heard of the site you mencioned, I think it is worth trying.

 

[Cookbook Shop]

By looking at the ingredients of a copycat cookbook I have "More Top Secret Recipes" (1994) by Todd Wilbur, I can surmise that the recipes are similar or "in the same family", not real clones. In order to clone it, ingredients would have to be exact. For example:

For BAILEY'S IRISH CREAM the recipe calls for,

1 c. light cream
One 14 oz can eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1-2/3 c. Irish Whiskey
1 t. instant coffee
2 T Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. almond extract

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender set on high speed for 30 seconds.

2. Bottle in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. The liquor will keep for at least 2 months if kept cool. Be sure to shake the bottle well before serving. Makes 4 cups.

The rest of the story:
Bailey's launched its Irish Cream Liquor in 1974, after years of development. The cream liquor is based on an old Irish recipe using all-natural ingredients, including cream that is produced just for the Bailey's company. In fact because the product line has become so successful, Bailey's accounts for one-third of Ireland's entire milk production. More than 4000 farmers supply the 40 million gallons of milk used annually in producing cream for the liquor. Bailey's now ranks number one among all liquor brands in the world.

Cindy

 

[cook5000]

Milk!

Cindy those milk facts are amazing! Thats some Milk. Apparently a third of Shropshire's milk is used in the manufacture of those fruit corner yoghurts, Muller I think the name is !

Thanks for all your replies, its a pity you couldnt see the site I am asking about ..

I'll give the book a go I think ..

 

[cook5000]

Incidentally, does anyone have a favourite American restaurant?

 

[Nyeer]

Yes, I entered the site, interesting, but I was not interested in buying anything.

 

[Wyogal]

There's a free one circulating on the internet, download

 

[Michael in FtW]

I have found that copycat recipes fall somewhere between they actually got the recipe from the restaurant to I wonder if the person who wrote the recipe had ever actually tasted what they were trying to duplicate. Best you can do is read the recipe and see if it sounds like what you ate ...

 

[GrillingFool]

I find copycat recipes to be a great starting point, usually.
From there I can often tweak ingredients to where I am happy.

I admit I took home soup from a restaurant once and played CSI with it..
soup ingredients forensics, LOL!

Currently, I have an ingredient list from some potato salad from (egads) Walmart
stuck to my kitchen cabinet. Eventually I will go to experimenting based on the list.
Pity they can just list "spices".

 

[thymeless]

I've seen the copycat one in circulation and my experience with online ebooks for cooking is poor quality recipes that weren't really tried, tested and tweaked but just assembled.

The Top Secret Recipe books are of pretty good quality in the results and I would recommend that. I enjoy my copies.

If you want free, the forum at The Secret Recipe Forum is of interest though quality varies.

 

[bigdaddy3k]

cook5000, where are you hailing from?

 

[Cookbook Shop]

Such good input from everyone. I am enjoying reading the posts! Regarding clone recipes, I've tried my hand at duplicating two coleslaw recipes from two different restaurants and was quite successful even improved on them by adding more more of an ingredient (green olives in a Cajun olive slaw). Michael in FtW, mentioned reading the recipe to see if it sounded like what you ate. Not everyone can do that. It just occurred to me that perhaps those of us who can do that, make up the largest percent of cookbook lovers. After all what a delicious pastime to read a recipe and visualize it and even have an idea of what it tastes like by the ingredient list! Cindy