by Wilbur, Todd
3. Make the batter by beating the egg yolks. Stir in the ice water Measure the flour and baking soda into a sifter, and sift the mixture into the ice water and egg yolk. Stir with a large spoon, but don’t mix it too well. You should still have many visible lumps in the batter.
4. Slice the sandwich in half from corner to corner Dip one half of the sandwich in the batter, while holding it together with your fingers (the batter will hold the sandwich together in the shortening). Coat the sandwich well, but let any excess batter fall off. Drop the battered sandwich half into the oil. If your pan or fryer can fit the other half of the sandwich, batter that piece and drop it into the fryer as well. If your fryer is small, you may only be able to fry only one half at a time. Fry the sandwich for 6 to 8 minutes, turning it over halfway through cooking time. It should be golden brown when done.
5. Remove the sandwich halves to paper towels to drain. When you can touch the sandwich, slice each half in half making four pieces. Dust the sandwich with powdered sugar and serve it with a small bowl of raspberry preserves.
• MAKES I SANDWICH.
BUFFALO WILD WINGS BUFFALO WINGS AND SAUCES
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Here they are in all their lip-smacking, award-winning glory: Buffalo, New York—style chicken wings spun in your favorite signature sauce.”
Since Buffalo, New York, was too far away, Jim Disbrow and Scott Lowery satisfied their overwhelming craving in 1981 by opening a spicy chicken wing restaurant close to home in Kent, Ohio. With signature sauces and a festive atmosphere, the chain has now evolved from a college campus sports bar with wings to a family restaurant with over 300 units. While frying chicken wings is no real secret—simply drop them in hot shortening for about 10 minutes—the delicious spicy sauces make the wings special. There are 12 varieties of sauce available to coat your crispy chicken parts at the chain, and three of the traditional hot sauces are cloned here. These sauces are very thick, almost like dressing or dip, so we’ll use an emulsifying technique that will ensure a creamy final product where the oil won’t separate from the other ingredients. These are clones for the most popular sauces: Spicy Garlic, Medium, and Hot. I’ve also added another big seller, Caribbean Jerk, to the list, followed by the cooking and coating technique for the wings. The first three sauce recipes might look the same at first glance, but each has slight variations. The bottom line is that you can make your sauce hotter or milder by adjusting the level of cayenne pepper. You can find Frank’s pepper sauce by the other hot sauces at the market. If you can’t find that brand, you can also use Crystal brand Louisiana hot sauce.
SPICY GARLIC WING SAUCE
I cup Frank’s cayenne pepper
sauce
cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
I teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon coarse ground black
pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
I egg yolk
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
MEDIUM WING SAUCE
I cup Frank’s cayenne pepper
sauce
cup vegetable oil
I teaspoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
⅛ teaspoon coarse ground black
pepper
I egg yolk
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
HOT WING SAUCE
I cup Frank’s cayenne pepper
sauce
cup cup vegetable oil
I teaspoon granulated sugar
I ½ teaspoons cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
⅛ teaspoon coarse ground black
pepper
I egg yolk
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1. Combine all ingredients except egg yolk, water and cornstarch for the sauce of your choice in a small saucepan. Heat sauce over medium heat until boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and allow it to cool, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
2. While the sauce cools, vigorously whisk egg yolk with 2 teaspoons water in a medium bowl for about 2 minutes or until color is pale yellow. Whisk in cornstarch until dissolved.
3. Drizzle the hot sauce mixture into the egg yolk mixture in a steady stream while rapidly whisking. This will create a thick, creamy emulsion that will prevent the oil from separating. Cover the sauce and chill it until it’s needed.
• MAKES ½ CUPS.
CARIBBEAN JERK SAUCE
The chain sells each of its 12 signature sauces in the restaurant because many of them work great as a baste or side sauce for a variety of home cooked masterpieces. This sauce is a favorite for that reason (ranking at the top of the list with Spicy Garlic as the chain’s best-seller), so I thought it would be a useful clone that doesn’t require you to fill up the fryer to make chicken wings. You can use this sauce on grilled chicken, pork, ribs, salmon or anything you can think of that would benefit from the sweet, sour and spicy flavors that come from an island-style baste.
3 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons minced green onion
(white and light green parts
only)
1 cup water
¾ cup ketchup
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons dark
brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons Frank’s cayenne
pepper sauce
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon onion powder
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
⅛ teaspoon rubbed sage
1. Melt margarine over medium/low heat. Add minced green onions and cook for 5 minutes. You just want to sweat the onions to soften them up. You’re not looking to brown them.
2. Remove the pan from the heat, and whisk in the remaining ingredients. Put the pan back on the stove and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until the sauce darkens and thickens. Cover sauce, then cool and chill until it’s needed.
• MAKES 2 cups.
WINGS
20 chicken wing pieces
6 to 12 cups vegetable shortening
ON THE SIDE
celery sticks
1. Heat shortening in your fryer to 350 degrees.
2. Drop the wings into the shortening and fry for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the wings are turning light brown. Remove wings to a rack or paper towels to drain for 1 minute.
3. Put the wings into a plastic container with a lid. Add ¼ cup to ⅓ cup of your sauce of choice to the container, put the lid on and give it a good shake. Pour wings out onto a plate and add celery on the side. Oh, and get the napkins ready.
• SERVES 2 TO 4 AS AN APPETIZER.
CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN CALIFORNIA COSMO
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Our Original! Featuring Ciroc Snap Frost vodka, an all grope vodka, combined with red grope juice and accented with the sweet orange flavor of Cointreau and frozen red seedless grapes.”
While other vodkas are made from potatoes, wheat, molasses, corn, or rye, Ciroc is the first vodka to be distilled from late harvest French grapes. These super sweet grapes and the 5-step distilling process makes this vodka unique and extra smooth, with a subtle fruity flavor that goes great with grape juice and the orange flav
or of Cointreau. Plan ahead for this drink by piercing three red seedless grapes on a toothpick and popping them into the freezer for at least an hour. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll have a dozen or so of these garnishes sitting in a small bag in the freezer ready to go when guests show up for happy hour.
1 ¼ ounces Ciroc Vodka
½ ounce Cointreau
2 ounces red grape juice
GARNISH
3 red seedless grapes on a toothpick, frozen
1. Fill an 8-ounce martini glass with ice to chill the glass.
2. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
3. Measure Ciroc Vodka, Cointreau and grape juice into the shaker. Cover and shake vigorously.
4. Dump the ice out of the martini glass, and strain the cocktail into the glass.
5. Garnish with three grapes that have been pierced onto a toothpick and frozen. Serve it up, or sip it yourself.
• MAKES I COCKTAIL.
CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN THAI CRUNCH SALAD
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Shredded napa cabbage, chilled grilled chicken breast, julienne cucumbers, edamame, crispy wontons, peanuts, cilantro, julienne carrots, red cabbage and scallions tossed with a lime-cilantro dressing. Topped with crispy rice sticks and Thai peanut dressing.”
Plan ahead for this amazing salad clone by first grilling the chicken, then chilling it, and preparing the cilantro-lime dressing and the peanut sauce in advance. The menu description says that the salad is topped with “crispy rice sticks,” but upon close inspection I determined they are actually crispy bean threads, cooked in a flash when dropped into hot oil for a few seconds. The crispy wontons are made from frying thinly sliced wonton wrappers in the same hot oil, For the edamame (soybeans), look in the frozen food section, and if they’re still in their pods, be sure to take them out before measuring and tossing them into the salad. Once you’ve got everything chilled and chopped, building each dish is a breeze, and you’ll have four huge dinner-size salads that will each be enough for a meal.
LIME-CILANTRO DRESSING
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup rice vinegar
½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
¼ cup minced red bell pepper
¼ cup honey
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 cloves garlic
dash salt
dash ground black pepper
SPICY PEANUT SAUCE
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
6 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1tablespoon chili sauce
(or chili-garlic sauce)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
½teaspoon minced ginger
½ cup water
2 to 3 cups vegetable oil or
vegetable shortening
8 wonton wrappers
I handful bean threads
4 small skinless chicken breast
fillets
I cup cooked edamame
1 cup unsalted peanuts
12 cups chopped napa cabbage,
chopped (I large head)
2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
2 cups shredded or julienned
carrot
I cup julienned cucumber
4 green onions, chopped
(green part only)
1. Make lime-cilantro dressing by combining all ingredients in a blender on high speed for 20 seconds, or until cilantro is chopped fine but not entirely pureed. Cover and chill.
2. Make spicy peanut sauce by combining all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium/low heat. Heat until sauce is hot, but not boiling, and sugar is dissolved. Pour mixture into a blender and blend for about 20 seconds. Cover and chill.
3. Flatten chicken breasts by covering them with plastic wrap and pounding them thin with a kitchen mallet. Rub oil on each breast, sprinkle each with a little salt and pepper, and grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until done. Wrap and chill the cooked chicken.
4. Make crispy wontons by heating 2 cups of vegetable shortening or oil in a medium saucepan to 375 degrees. Slice a stack of 8 wonton wrappers into ¼-inch wide strips. Slice those strips in half. Fry them in hot oil for about 30 seconds or until light brown. Drain on paper towels.
5. Fry a big handful of beans threads in hot oil for about 10 seconds or until they float to the top of the oil. Drain on paper towels.
6. Cook edamame following the directions on the package. If the soybeans are in the pods, remove them and chill the beans after they have cooked.
7. Toast the peanuts by heating them up in a skillet over medium/ low heat for 3 to 4 minutes or just until they start to brown. Immediately remove them from the heat so that they don’t burn.
8. Now you’re ready to build the salads. For each serving, combine 3 cups napa cabbage, ½ cup red cabbage, ½ cup carrot, ¼ cup cucumber, ¼ cup edamame, ¼ cup toasted peanuts, ¼ cup crispy wontons, and a couple tablespoons of chopped green onion in a large bowl. Thinly slice a cold chicken breast into bite-size pieces and add it to the salad. Pour 4 to 5 tablespoons of cilantro-lime dressing over the salad and toss well.
9. Carefully pour tossed salad onto a serving plate. Sprinkle about ½ cup crispy bean threads on top of the salad.
10. Spoon spicy peanut sauce into a squirt bottle and squirt the sauce in a sweeping motion over the top of the salad. Repeat for remaining servings.
• MAKES 4 LARGE SALADS.
CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN CALIFORNIA CLUB PIZZA
MENU DESCRIPTION: ‘Applewood smoked bacon, grilled chicken and Mozzarella cheese, hearth baked, then topped with Roma tomatoes, chilled chopped lettuce tossed in mayonnaise and fresh sliced avocados.”
There’s no better way to clone the great pizzas from this creative chain than to start with dough made from scratch. And since the only way to re-create commercial-style pizza dough is to use the same slow-rising technique the pros use, you’re going to have to plan ahead at least 24 hours. This is the length of time it will take for the gluten in the flour to work its magic while resting comfortably in your refrigerator. And, if you’ve got the patience, I think 48 hours is even better. Once the dough is ready to go, you should bake your pizzas—this recipe makes two—on a preheated pizza stone in your oven. If you don’t already have one, you can find one of the round or rectangular stones in just about any house-ware store. This cooking method is the absolute best way to produce an evenly baked finished product with a texture and taste that mirrors the amazing pies CPK whips out of rocket-hot brick pizza ovens.
PIZZA DOUGH
¾ cup worm water
(105 to 115 degrees)
1½ teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
I ¾ cups bread flour
I teaspoon salt
2 chicken breasts, pounded thin
olive oil cooking spray
2 cups shredded mozzarella
cheese
½ cup cooked thick bacon,
crumbled (about 6 slices)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups chopped iceberg lettuce
1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 large roma tomatoes, sliced into
8 slices each
1 avocado, sliced into 16 slices
1. Make the pizza dough by dissolving yeast and granulated sugar in ¾ cup warm water in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes or until it gets foamy on top.
2. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a depression in the flour and pour the yeast mixture and oil into it. Stir the liquid gradually drawing more flour into it, until you can form the dough into a ball. Use your hands to knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes, or until the texture of the dough is smooth. Coat dough with oil, cover it and let it sit in a warm spot for 1 to 2 hou
rs or until it doubles in size. Punch down the dough, cover it again and let it sit for 24 to 48 hours in your fridge.
3. Cover chicken breasts and pound them to about ½-inch thick with a kitchen mallet. Spray chicken liberally with olive oil cooking spray (or rub with olive oil), then sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Grill the chicken on a preheated grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until it’s done. You can also saute chicken in a skillet on your stove for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done. Cool and chop chicken into ½-inch cubes.
4. When it gets close to pizza time, remove the dough from the refrigerator. It needs to warm up for about 2 hours before you use it. Also, place a pizza stone in your oven and crank the temperature up to 500 degrees.
5. Assemble each pizza by dividing the dough in half and rolling one half into a 10-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Place the dough onto a pizza pan or a pizza peel that will be used to slide the dough onto the hot pizza stone. Be sure to flour the pan or pizza peel liberally with flour so that the assembled pizza will slide off easily