Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2
Page 18
● MAKES I LARGE PANCAKE.
TIDBITS
You can substitute ⅔ cup half and-half for the ⅓ cup heavy cream and ⅓ cup whole milk, but I found that using the cream and milk separately makes for a fluffier texture and better clone.
ORIGINAL PANCAKE HOUSE GERMAN PANCAKE
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Oven baked. Dusted with powdered sugar, served with lemon and butter.”
It was in 1953 when Les Highet and Erma Huenke opened their first Original Pancake House in Portland, Oregon, using traditional pancake recipes handed down through the generations. Now, with over 100 restaurants in 25 states, this breakfast chain is generating a huge cult following. That’s probably because many of the authentic ethnic pancake recipes can’t be found at IHOP, and this is a clone recipe for one of them. The German pancake is baked at a high temperature in a skillet, where it puffs up radically in the oven, then settles down as it comes out. It’s dusted with powdered sugar, and served with whipped butter and lemon wedges on the side. Delicious. You can also apply maple syrup, if that’s your thing. A cast-iron skillet seems to work best for this recipe (just as they used back in the day), but you can get away with nonstick, if that’s all you’ve got. If that’s the case, you should know that the pancake will morph more radically in a nonstick pan and practically overflow the skillet—especially if it isn’t a deep one. Even so, once you get it out of the oven it will shrink back down and taste just as amazing.
3 large eggs
⅓ cup whole milk
⅓ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup oIl-purpose flour
1 tablespoon melted butter
(salted)
GARNISH
powdered sugar
SERVE WITH
lemon wedges
butter
maple syrup
1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer Mix in milk, cream, sugar, salt and vanilla. Mix until sugar is dissolved. Sift in flour and mix until smooth. Let batter rest for about 10 minutes.
3. Coat the bottom of a 9- or 10-inch oven-safe skillet (cast-iron is best) with melted butter Pour batter into the pan, and bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until golden brown on top and dark brown around the edges. Pancake will rise substantially while cooking. Remove the pancake from the oven and let it sit for about a minute. Loosen the pancake around the edge with a spatula, then slide it out of the pan onto a plate. Dust with powdered sugar, and serve with lemon wedges, butter and syrup on the side.
• MAKES I LARGE PANCAKE.
TIDBITS
You can substitute ⅔ cup half-and-half for the ⅓ cup heavy cream and ⅓ cup whole milk, but I found that using the cream and milk separately makes for a fluffier texture and better clone.
OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE HONEY WHEAT BUSHMAN BREAD
Along with your meal at this huge national steakhouse chain, comes a freshly baked loaf of dark, sweet bread, served on its own cutting board with soft whipped butter One distinctive feature of the bread is its color. How does the bread get so dark? Even though this recipe includes molasses and cocoa, these ingredients alone will not give the bread its dark chocolate brown color. Usually commercially produced breads that are this dark—such as pumpernickel or dark bran muffins—contain caramel color, an ingredient often used in the industry to darken foods. Since your local supermarket will not likely have this mostly commercial ingredient, we’ll create the brown coloring from a mixture of three food colorings—red, yellow and blue. If you decide to leave the color out, just add an additional I tablespoon of warm water to the recipe. If you have a bread machine, you can use it for kneading the bread (you’ll find the order in which to add the ingredients to your machine in Tidbits). Then, to finish the bread, divide and roll the dough in cornmeal, and bake on a sheet pan in your home oven.
DOUGH
1 ¼ cups warm water
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2¼ teaspoons (I pkg.) yeast
2 cups bread flour
1¾ cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
I teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, softened
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons molasses
COLORING
1 ¼ teaspoons red food coloring
I teaspoon yellow food
colonng
I teaspoon blue food coloring
cornmeal for dusting
1. Mix sugar with warm water, then dissolve the yeast in the solution. In five minutes the solution will begin to foam as the yeast begins its gassy dance party.
2. While the yeast is waking up, mix the flours, cocoa, and salt in a large bowl. Mix butter into the dry mixture with your hands. Make an impression in the middle of the dry mixture. Add the honey and molasses into the well. Mix the food coloring with the yeast solution, then pour the solution into the well. Stir from the middle bringing the dry mixture into the wet stuff, slowly at first, then quickly as you incorporate all the ingredients. You will eventually have to use your hands to combine everything. Knead the dough for 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface, then roll the dough into a ball and place it into a covered bowl in a warm place for 1 to 1½ hours or until it has doubled in size.
3. When the dough has doubled, separate it into 6 even portions. Roll each dough portion into logs that are 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. Pour cornmeal onto your rolling surface. Moisten your hands then rub water onto each dough log and roll it in the cornmeal. Arrange the rolled dough on a baking sheet and cover it with plastic wrap. Set the dough in a warm spot to rise for another hour or so until the loaves have doubled in size.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the dough and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes in the hot oven. When the bread is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve the bread with a sharp bread knife and butter on the side. If you want whipped butter, like you get at the restaurant, just use an electric mixer on high speed to whip some butter until it’s fluffy.
• MAKES 6 SMALL LOAVES.
TIDBITS
If you’d like to use a bread machine to knead the dough, just add the ingredients in the following order: Mix the food coloring with the water, then add the colored water to the bread pan followed by the flours, sugar, salt, butter, cocoa, honey, molasses, and yeast. Set the machine to knead and walk away. When the dough’s done kneading and rising, go to step #3 of this recipe and take it from there.
OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE GRILLED SHRIMP ON THE BARBIE
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Seasoned and served with Outback’s own Remoulode sauce.”
This recipe makes the same size appetizer serving that you get in the restaurant. That’s only 6 shrimp—enough for me, but what are you guys having? Thank goodness the remoulade sauce and the shrimp seasoning formulas yield enough for more, so you can grill up to a pound of shrimp with this cool clone. You can often find bags of frozen shrimp that have been peeled, but with the tails left on. Those are perfect for this recipe.
REMOULADE SAUCE
¾ cup mayonnaise
5 teaspoons stone ground
mustard
4 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons minced celery
2 teaspoons minced green pepper
2 teaspoons minced onion
2 teaspoons sauerkraut
1 teaspoon white vinegar
½ teaspoon paprika
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
minced fresh parsley
SHRIMP SEASONING
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon ground black
pepper
¼ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon granulated
sugar
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
dash ground allspice
&
nbsp; 6 large shrimp (2 1 to 25 per
pound), thawed if frozen
fresh lemon juice
I tablespoon butter, melted
minced fresh parsley
1. Preheat your grill to high heat.
2. Make the remoulade sauce by mixing the ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover and chill this sauce until you are ready to use it.
3. Prepare the shrimp seasoning by mixing the spices together in a small bowl.
4. Remove the shell from the shrimp. Keep the last segment of the shell and the tall. Remove the black vein that runs down the back of the shrimp. Stick a skewer through the middle of each shrimp. Push them together on the skewer so that they are “spooning” each other,
5. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the cuddling shrimp.
6. Brush melted butter generously over the top of the shrimp.
7. Sprinkle a bit of the seasoning on next. Don’t use a heavy coating of seasoning
8. Place the shrimp onto your hot grill with the seasoning side down. Brush some more butter over the other side of the shrimp followed by another light sprinkle of seasoning.
9. After 3 minutes or so the face-down side of the shrimp should be browned and showing some light charring. Flip the shrimp over and grill for an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until browned on the other side.
10. Remove the shrimp from the grill and slide them off the skewer onto a slice of garlic butter coated bread (see Tidbits). Sprinkle with a pinch of fresh parsley.
• MAKES 1 TO 2 SERVINGS.
TIDBITS
It is best to use a clone for the Bushman Bread (on page 269) as a bed for your shrimp. Just slice an inch-thick piece off through the middle of the bread. This will give you a slice that is about 8 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide. Crush a clove of garlic and mix it with your leftover melted butter. Brush this garlic butter on both sides of the bread and toast it until lightly brown. If you don’t feel up to making the bread, you can use any bread you might have around that is in the shape of a hoagie roll. Or you may just wish to serve the shrimp on its own without the bread bed.
OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE KOOKABURRA WINGS
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Known as Buffalo chicken wings here in the States.”
No, Outback Steakhouse is not the country’s largest importer of Australian woodland kingfisher wings. Despite the name, these tasty wings don’t come from the wild birds also known as kookaburras. Instead, this appetizer is made the old fashioned way—with good ol’ American chickens. And as with the traditional recipe, these wings are coated with Louisiana hot sauce; but it’s the breading that makes them unique. This clone recipe uses a secret blend of powdered cheese sprinkles and spices. Kraft powdered cheese can be found near the Kraft Parmesan cheese or near the macaroni and cheese kits in your supermarket. If you can’t track it down, use Molly McButter cheese sprinkles. If you can’t find that, get a box of macaroni and cheese (it’s cheap) and use the cheese from inside there. Keep the leftover macaroni noodles for a pasta recipe later
10 chicken wing drumettes (see Tidbits)
6 to 10 cups vegetable shortening or oil (amount required by your fryer)
WING COATING
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Kraft Macaroni &
Cheese cheddar cheese
topping (or Molly McButter
cheese sprinkles)
1¼ teaspoons salt
I teaspoon chili powder
¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
⅛ teaspoon ground cumin
dash ground cloves
2 tablespoons Crystal brand
Louisiana hot sauce
I teaspoon water
ON THE SIDE
bleu cheese dressing
celery sticks
1. Preheat shortening (you may also use vegetable or canola oil) to 375 degrees.
2. Make the spiced breading for your wings by combining the wing coating ingredients (flour through cloves) in a medium bowl. Stir well.
3. Dip each wing, one at a time into the breading. Give each one a light coating of the stuff. Arrange the breaded wings on a plate and let them sit uncovered in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
4. When the shortening or oil is hot, lower the wings into it. Fry for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the wings are brown.
5. While the wings are frying, mix the hot sauce and water together in a small bowl.
6. When the wings are done, drain them for a moment on paper towels or a rack. Drop the hot wings into a large plastic container with a lid. Pour the sauce over the wings. Cover the container and gently shake it to coat the wings with sauce.
7. Use tongs to remove the wings from the container. Arrange them on a plate with bleu cheese dressing and celery sticks on the side.
• MAKES 2 TO 3 SERVINGS AS AN APPETIZER.
TIDBITS
There are two types of frozen chicken wings out there—the giant party wings that come with a couple dozen pieces per bag, and the smaller wings with nearly twice the number per bag. These smaller wings are what the restaurant uses and what you should use for this recipe. Because of the size of the bigger wings, they just don’t fry up as well.
Also, you should know that most restaurants use shortening for frying. That’s what I suggest you use if you want your wings closer to the real thing.
OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE BLEU CHEESE DRESSING
If you’ve had the Kookaburra Wings from Outback, then you’ve tasted the chain’s thick and creamy bleu cheese dressing served up on the side. Use this stuff when you need an excellent dipping sauce for your next batch of wings, or just pour it over a salad and dive in.
I cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons buttermilk or whole
milk
I tablespoon crumbled bleu
cheese
⅛ teaspoon coarse ground black
pepper
⅛ teaspoon onion powder
⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
1. Mix all ingredients together by hand in a small bowl until smooth.
2. Cover and chill for 30 minutes before serving.
• MAKES I CUP.
OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE CAESAR SALAD DRESSING
You can’t buy it in the stores, but now you can make it from scratch in mere minutes. Best of all, this dressing keeps for a couple weeks in the fridge in a covered container... if it’s even around that long.
I cup mayonnaise
¼ cup egg substitute
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
I tablespoon anchovy paste
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon coarse ground
pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes,
crushed fine
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat ingredients for about 30 seconds.
2. Cover bowl and chill for several hours so that flavors can develop.
• MAKES APPROXIMATELY 2 CUPS.
OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE HONEY MUSTARD SALAD DRESSING
Outback makes their sauces and salad dressings from scratch every day following master formulas in a corporate cookbook. Now you’ve got a secret recipe of your own that will easily duplicate the taste of their hugely popular house honey mustard recipe. You’ll need just three basic ingredients and about two minutes of free time to make it,
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons Grey Poupon Dijon
mustard
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and chill to store.
• MAKES ¾ CUP.
OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE RANCH SALAD DRESSING
&nb
sp; This always-popular growing restaurant chain makes a tasty version of creamy ranch dressing for its house and Queensland salads. To get the same unique flavor and creaminess of the original at home, mates, you’ll need one teaspoon of Hidden Valley Ranch instant salad dressing mix swimming in there with the mayo and buttermilk and other spices. Since there’s three teaspoons of dressing mix per packet, you’ll now be able to make three batches of dressing with one envelope of dressing mix.