Restaurant Recipe Secrets!

Posts Tagged ‘Item’

Macaroni Grill Restaurant Recipes Revealed – Copycat Your Favorite Macaroni Grill Menu Item

If you want to know how to copycat your favorite Macaroni Grill recipes, read on!

We all know that things are not going so well on the economic front. As a result, we are all looking for ways to cut back. But we are human, and I know personally there are very few things I am willing to go without. I’m not so stubborn, however, to know that I can have the same things, just in a more cost efficient manner. I will admit that one of my weaknesses is going out to eat. There is just something about the Seafood Alfredo at one of the restaurants down the road that makes me crave it at the strangest times. If I could make it at home, I wouldn’t be held back by cost, or time, or even having to leave the house.

Something like Seafood Alfredo is pretty common, and you can find recipes online for it fairly quickly. But it isn’t the same as the Alfredo at the restaurant. Alfredo sauce is pretty much Alfredo sauce, but the extra little spices and the combination of seafood they use is what makes it special. Check the internet to see if someone has posted the recipe for your favorite restaurant. Sometimes all it takes is one disgruntled employee to spill secrets.

Failing that, treat yourself to dinner out. But don’t just order, eat and leave. You are on a mission. Mention to your server that the Alfredo sauce tastes a little different from the Alfredo sauce you make and you would love to know what they use for that extra bit of flavor. The server might know, and be able to tell you. Ask nicely enough, and they may even try to find out from the cooks. You can even ask to see the chef. If you are going to use this tactic, make sure you don’t go during busy hours. Go when there is a lull in customers, and you have a better chance of having that one on one.

A lot of the ingredients you can figure out just by dissecting your meal. If you know they use shrimp, scallops, mussels, lobster, and crab, you can take that information and make yourself a reasonable facsimile of the dinner at home. Try to figure out how they cooked the seafood. Did they grill the scallops? Are the mussels soaked in a garlic wine sauce? Don’t be afraid to take notes. People won’t even notice what you are doing.

Once you have that information, you can then start to make it at home. It may take a few tries to get it perfect, but you will eventually be able to make your favorite dish at home.

To get you started, here is a recipe to duplicate Macaroni Grill’s Shrimp Portofino:

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup melted butter
16 large shrimp, cleaned and de-veined
16 medium mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cloves fresh garlic, crushed, peeled, and minced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (fresh is better for the taste)
1 jar marinated artichoke hearts (drain before using)
4 slices lemon
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (don’t use dried parsley)

Saute the mushrooms and garlic in butter until just about tender. Add the shrimp and saute until shrimp is cooked (not translucent – but don’t overcook), about 3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (except the lemon and fresh parsley) and heat thoroughly.

Serve over pasta of your choice. Garnish with lemon slices and fresh parsley.

Bookmark to:

Cracker Barrel Restaurant Recipes – How to Copycat Your Favorite Cracker Barrel Menu Item

If you want to copy your favorite Cracker Barrel recipe, this will get you started!

Chefs always make it look so easy! They grab a handful of this, a bit of that, a pinch of this and a dash of that. They fling it in a pan; flip it around a few times, slide it onto a plate, add a little garnish, and voila – dinner is served. Can it really be that easy? Well you have decided to give find out for yourself.

After eating at your favorite restaurant for years, you have developed a comfortable relationship with the wait staff. You have discussed many of the items on the menu with them, and now you have decided to try to replicate one for yourself. To date, however, your attempts have failed. Your version of the dish is not awful; it is just not nearly as tasty. Something is missing, but you just cannot tell what it is.

For one thing, the whole preparation process is not nearly as easy for you as it is when the chef does it, but you are getting better at that. You have been over the ingredient list several times, and more than a couple of the waiters have recited the ingredients for you. Do they leave something out on purpose? You’ll find it! If there is a secret ingredient, it’s just a matter of time before you stumble onto it.

So, one morning you are listening to a story on the radio, and they are discussing a new proposed law requiring restaurants to list the caloric value of each meal on their menu. The radio host comments that no one would ever eat out again; because, “Can you imagine the number of calories in that stick of butter that goes into every dish?” Then it hits you! It’s the butter! That’s what makes everything taste so good! It’s been the butter all along.

Now as you savor each melt in your mouth bite of your restaurant recreation it occurs to you that even though you have accurately recreated this dish, maybe it really did taste a little better before you knew how many calories it actually contained!

To get you started, here is a copycat version of the Cracker Barrel Fried Apple recipe:

Ingredients needed:

* 6 large tart apples, (Granny Smith preferred)
* 1 ts lemon juice (fresh is better)
* 1/4 c bacon drippings
* 1/4 c brown sugar; packed firm
* 1/8 ts salt
* 1/8 ts nutmeg
* 1 ts cinnamon

Instructions:

Peel and core the apples. Slice apples into eighths. In a large non-stick skillet, render bacon drippings. Place the apples evenly over the bottom of the skillet. Sprinkle with lemon juice, brown sugar, and salt (in that order). Cover skillet and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, or until apples become tender and juicy. Uncover skillet, then sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir mixture well. Simmer for a few minutes until the pan juices begin to thicken. Serve hot!

Find more great Cracker Barrel recipes at Cracker Barrel Restaurant Recipes!

Bookmark to: