by Wilbur, Todd
3. To cook the chicken, preheat a skillet or griddle pan over medium heat. Pound your chicken with a kitchen mallet so that it has a uniform thickness of about ½ inch (it will plump a bit as you cook it), then trim any excess meat away that would hang off the sandwich. Rub each chicken breast with some canola oil, then sprinkle each breast with salt and a pinch of pepper Grill chicken breast fillets for 4 to 6 minutes per side until done.
4. As your chicken cooks, spread a little melted butter on the faces of your two hamburger buns and toast the faces of the buns on another skillet or griddle set to medium heat until light brown.
5. Build each sandwich by first spreading some of the sweet hickory spread on the face of the bottom bun.
6. Tear a leaf of green leaf lettuce to fit on the bottom bun.
7. Arrange two tomato slices on the lettuce on each sandwich.
8. Stack the grilled chicken breast on the tomato slices.
9. Place a slice of Cheddar on the chicken breast on each sandwich.
10. Stack a handful of crunchy onion rings on the sandwich, then top the sandwich off with the crown bun. Serve with a small bowl of barbecue sauce on the side.
• MAKES 2 SANDWICHES.
TIDBITS
You can skip step #2 by using the canned French’s French Fried Onions. A small can will be plenty.
DENNY’S CLUB SANDWICH
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Thinly sliced turkey, crisp bacon, lettuce and tomato on toasted white bread.”
Get out your toothpicks, because you’ll have a hard time keeping the slices of this triple-decker sandwich from falling apart when slicing the only way you slice a true club sandwich: from corner to corner. This trusty, old-fashioned club sandwich recipe seems like it’s been around forever, and yet this sandwich is still one of the top choices from Denny’s for lunch. One day you’ll find yourself with some white bread, sliced turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo, and you’ll realize you’re just a Top Secret Recipe away from the secret stacking order to making the perfect club sandwich.
3 slices toasted white bread
4½ teaspoons mayonnaise
3 ounces sliced turkey breast
(deli-sliced)
2 iceberg lettuce leaves
2 to 3 slices cooked bacon
2 tomato slices
1. . Spread about 1½ teaspoons mayonnaise on one side of each toasted white bread slice.
2. Arrange the turkey breast on one slice of toast.
3. Tear or fold one iceberg lettuce leaf to fit on the sliced turkey.
4. Stack on another slice of toast with the mayo side facing up.
5. Break 2 or 3 slices of cooked bacon to fit on top of the second slice of toast.
6. Tear or fold the second lettuce leaf to fit on top of bacon.
7. Arrange the two tomato slices to fit on the lettuce.
8. Top off the sandwich with the last piece of toast turned with the mayo-coated side facing down.
9. Pierce the sandwich with four toothpicks between the corners, so that when the sandwich is sliced twice from corner to corner with a serrated knife, the toothpicks wind up in the center of each of the four slices.
• MAKES I SANDWICH.
HARD ROCK CAFE HOMEMADE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
Give this simple soup clone a shot and I guarantee you’ll never again want to eat chicken soup from a can. The recipe is a breeze since you use pre-cut chicken fillets—rather than cutting up a whole chicken—and you don’t have to create a stock from scratch. Swanson sells a 32-ounce carton of chicken broth that’s the perfect amount (4 cups) for this recipe.
I pound skinless chicken breast
fillets
I pound skinless chicken thigh
fillets
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
I tablespoon butter
I cup diced onion (about ½ of a
medium onion)
I cup diced carrot (about
2 medium carrots, peeled)
½ cup diced celery (about
1 stalk)
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
I teaspoon salt
I teaspoon freshly ground black
pepper
I teaspoon minced fresh parsley
3 cups wide egg noodles (dry)
GARNISH
minced fresh parsley
1. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken breasts and thighs for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned on both sides and cooked through. Remove chicken from the skillet to a cutting board to cool a bit.
2. Reduce heat to medium/low, add butter to skillet then toss in onion, carrot and celery. Slowly cook the veggies (sweat them) for 10 minutes, stirring often, or until carrots are beginning to soften.
3. Chop the chicken, then dump all of it, plus the veggies, chicken broth, water, salt, pepper and I teaspoon parsley into a large soup pot. Bring soup to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add noodles and simmer for an additional 15 minutes or until noodles are soft. Serve with a pinch of minced fresh parsley sprinkled on top.
• MAKES 8 SERVINGS.
HARD ROCK CAFE BAR-B-QUE BEANS
If you like baked beans you’ll go nuts over this clone recipe from the world’s first theme restaurant chain. It’s really easy to make too, since you just stir the ingredients into a covered casserole dish, and bake for an hour and a half. This makes the dish handy if transporting to another location for a party or potluck, since you can fill the dish, cover it, then pop it into the oven once you arrive. The only element that may give you pause is the pulled pork from the recipe that follows (on page 164) for Hard Rock Cafe Pig Sandwich. It’s an effortless addition if you’ve got some of that pork on hand. If not, just leave that ingredient out. Or you could add a couple tablespoons crumbled cooked bacon. Either way the beans will still come out great as a nosh-worthy side dish or solo snack.
2 15-ounce cans pinto beans
(with liquid)
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
½ cup ketchup
cup white vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons diced onion
I teaspoon prepared mustard
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon coarse ground black
pepper
½ cup shredded pork (from recipe
on page 164)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pour entire contents of the can of pinto beans into a casserole dish (with a lid).
3. Dissolve the cornstarch in a small bowl with the 2 tablespoons of water Add this solution to the beans and stir.
4. Add the remaining ingredients to the dish, stir well and cover
5. Bake for 90 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Stir every 30 minutes. After removing the beans from the oven, let the beans cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
• SERVES 6 TO 8 AS A SIDE DISH.
HARD ROCK CAFE COLESLAW
Smashing a guitar and hanging it on the wall will not give you the true Hard Rock Cafe experience unless you then eat a sandwich with this coleslaw served on the side. You have to be patient, though, since it’s not something you can enjoy right away. Good coleslaw needs a little time to chill in the cool box—24 hours at least. The cabbage needs a chance to get it together with the other ingredients before rocking out at the gig inside your mouth.
1 cups mayonnaise
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons
granulated sugar
2 tablespoons milk
dash salt
8 cups chopped cabbage
(I head)
½ cup shredded carrot
1. Combine all ingredients except the cabbage and carrots in a large bowl and blend until smooth with an electric mixer.
2. Add cabbage and carrots and toss well.
3. Cover and chill overn
ight in the refrigerator. The flavors fully develop after 24 to 48 hours.
• SERVES 6 TO 8 AS A SIDE DISH.
HARD ROCK CAFE PIG SANDWICH
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Select pork, hickory-smoked then hand-pulled, so it’s tender and juicy. ‘An old Southern delicacy’ with our famous vinegar-based bar-b-que sauce. Served with fries, ranch beans and homemade coleslaw.”
Take a big honkin’ bite out of one of these and you’ll soon know why it’s the Hard Rock Cafe’s most popular sandwich. The pork is hickory smoked for 10 hours, but since we’re impatient hungry people here, we’ll cut that cooking time down to under 4 hours using a covered grill and carefully arranged charcoal. Just sprinkle wet hickory chips over the hot charcoal arranged around the inside edge of a grill (such as a round Weber), and let the smoking begin. You can certainly use an actual smoker if you’ve got one, and go the full 10 hours with this puppy. But while you’re still waiting for your sandwiches, the rest of us will have already dragged our full, round bellies over to the couch for a nap. By the way, you should try to make your marinated cabbage a day ahead of time so it has time to soak up the flavors.
MARINATED CABBAGE
2 tablespoons white vinegar
I tablespoon granulated sugar
4 cups thinly sliced cabbage
4 cups hickory smoking chips
RUB
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon ground sage
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne
pepper
I boneless pork loin roast (3 to 4
pounds)
vegetable oil
SAUCE
2 15-ounce cans tomato puree
1 cup apple cider vinegar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon liquid hickory smoke
I clove garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon coarse ground black
pepper
8 kaiser rolls
1. Make the marinated cabbage at least one day prior to building your sandwiches. Like coleslaw, this garnish needs some time to develop in the fridge. Combine the vinegar and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the cabbage, stir, cover the bowl and store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the sandwiches.
2. Put the wood chips in a bowl and cover with water. Let the wood soak for at least I hour. Light the charcoal after it has been arranged around the inside edge of your grill. You don’t want coals directly under your pork. When the coals are hot, drain the water from the wood chips and sprinkle the chips over the top of the coals. You should now have smoke.
3. Combine the ingredients for the rub in a small bowl and mix well.
4. Rub some vegetable oil over the surface of the pork roast. Sprinkle the rub over the entire surface of the roast.
5. Place the roast in the center of your grill and put the lid on. Let the pork cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature of the roast reaches 170 degrees.
6. As the pork cooks, make the sauce by combining the ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Let the sauce simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, then cover and remove from heat. Set this aside until your pork is ready.
7. When the pork is done, remove it from the grill and let it sit to cool for 15 to 20 minutes or until you can handle it. Now you want to tear the meat along the grain, making bite-size strips of shredded pork.
8. Put the shredded pork into a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 cups of the sauce to the pan and stir Keep the rest of the sauce for later to serve on the side. Cook the pork for 15 minutes or until it is heated through.
9. Grill the faces of the rolls and stack about I cup of pork onto the bottom half of each roll. Add a rounded tablespoon of marinated cabbage on top of the pork, add a tablespoon or so of extra sauce on top of that, then cap off each sandwich with the top half of the roll. Serve with clones for the Hard Rock’s coleslaw (page 163) and baked beans (page 160) on the side, if desired.
• MAKES 8 SANDWICHES.
HOUSTON’S CHICAGO-STYLE SPINACH DIP
These days just about every casual dining chain has its version of this appetizer: spinach and artichoke hearts mixed with cheese and spices, served up hot with chips or crackers for dipping. Making the rounds over the years, I’ve tried many of them, and most formulas are nearly identical. That is, except for this one. Houston’s makes their spinach dip special by using a blend of sour cream, Monterey Jack cheese and Parmigiano-Reggiano—the ultimate Parmesan cheese. Parmigiano-Reggiano is born in Italy and is usually aged nearly twice as long as other, more common Parmesan cheeses. That ingredient makes the big difference in this dip. So hunt down some of this special Parm at your well-stocked market or gourmet store, and you’ll find out why Houston’s spinach dip has been one of the most requested recipe clones at TSR Central.
One 12-ounce box frozen
chopped spinach, thawed
½ cup chopped canned artichoke
hearts (not marinated)
1 tablespoon chopped white onion
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup sour cream
1 ¼ cups shredded Monterey Jack
cheese
⅓ cup grated Parmigiano-
Reggiano cheese
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
ON THE SIDE
Corn tortilla chips
1. Mix together the spinach, chopped artichoke hearts, and onion in a microwave-safe glass or ceramic bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then cut a small slit in the center of the wrap so that the steam can sneak out. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Keep spinach covered while you prepare the cream sauce.
2. Combine cream, sour cream, Jack cheese, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and garlic salt in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Heat this up slowly for about 10 minutes or until the sauce reaches a simmer and thickens. Just don’t let the mixture boil.
3. Add the spinach mixture to the sauce and continue to heat over medium/low. Cook for about 10 more minutes or until mixture reaches a thick dip-like consistency. Pour into a bowl and serve with tortilla chips for dipping (or crackers, bread, whatever you want).
• MAKES 2 CUPS.
HOUSTON’S HONEY-LIME VINAIGRETTE
This 38-unit casual dining chain may be small compared to many of the other chains whose food I’ve cloned, but Houston’s has a huge following of loyal customers throughout the country. I know this because for many years the restaurant sat at the top of my “most requested clones” list. I was finally ready to take on the challenge, but since there are no Houston’s where I live in Las Vegas, it required a road trip—this time to Orange County, California. A couple plane rides, a bit of driving, some walking and a stumble or two later, I had a cooler full of Houston’s goodies secured safely back at the underground lab. After a few hours of chopping and mixing this simple sweet-and-sour salad slather from Houston’s was cracked.
cup vegetable oil
¼ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons Grey Poupon Dijon
mustard
I tablespoon chopped fresh
cilantro
2½ teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 ½ teaspoons minced red bell
pepper
I teaspoon minced onion
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black
pepper
pinch salt
1. Combine all ingredients in a small glass or ceramic bowl. Stir well.
2. Heat dressing in the microwave on high for I to 1½ minutes or until mixture begins to bubble. Remove dressing from microwave and whisk for I minute. This will emulsify the dressing and it should begin to thicken as it cools.
3. Cover and chill for 2 hours before se
rving.
• MAKES I CUP.
HOUSTON’S COLESLAW
It’s not your typical coleslaw. The sweet pickle relish and green onion is a nice touch, and all that parsley really sets this dish apart from any other coleslaw I’ve tried. If you like coleslaw and you’ve never had this version at the restaurant, I encourage you to give this one a go.
¾ cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
8 cups chopped green cabbage
(I head)
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
½ cup chopped green onion
(green part only)
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
½ teaspoon celery seed