| As restaurants have become more sophisticated | | | | recipes is a gamble, but you're only investing a little |
| about their menu offerings, more and more home | | | | time--and sometimes you can get lucky. |
| cooks are being tempted to try to duplicate their | | | | 4. Go to the bookstore and look for one of the |
| favorite eatery's tastiest dishes in their own kitchens. | | | | several compilations of top-secret and most-wanted |
| Finding favorite restaurant recipes can be a chore, | | | | restaurant recipes that have been published in recent |
| but by no means an impossible one. All of the | | | | years. Most of these are quite good, and the recipes |
| following have worked for me: | | | | appear to be authentic. The only drawback is that |
| 1. Ask the restaurant for the recipe. This is most | | | | restaurants--and their top recipes--come and go, and |
| direct way, and works more often than you would | | | | printed books might not be timely enough to include |
| think, so don't be shy. Ask your waiter to ask the | | | | that newest hot dish that you and your family are |
| cook. If that fails, ask the restaurant's manager. You'll | | | | hankering to make. |
| find that local, independent restaurants are more | | | | 5. Download a secret recipes e-book from the |
| likely to be happy to give you their recipes than are | | | | Internet. There are several of these available, and |
| the chain establishments, but it never hurts to ask. | | | | the ones I've checked out do a great job of telling |
| The most they can do is say no. | | | | you how to clone the best recipes from the all the |
| 2. Write to the restaurant's headquarters, if its' part | | | | major restaurant chains. They are also inexpensive, |
| of a chain. In my experience, you will receive a | | | | considering the work that must have gone into them |
| politely written turn-down about three-quarters of | | | | to find and test all those recipes. Their biggest |
| the time--but one-fourth of your requests may strike | | | | advantage is that,being in digital form, they can be |
| culinary gold! | | | | (and are!) updated frequently.--so you're practically |
| 3. Search the Internet for your favorite recipe. There | | | | guaranteed that your favorite recipe, no matter how |
| are chat boards out there where people share | | | | new, will be found within. |
| restaurant copycat recipes. The main problem is that | | | | There may be other ways to get hold of your |
| you can't know which are for real and which are not. | | | | favorite restaurant recipes. These five are the ones |
| You'll frequently come across recipes claimed to be | | | | that I know. If one doesn't work for you, try |
| exact restaurant clones, but that never turn out | | | | another. You will succeed. |
| quite right. So, fishing the Internet for restaurant | | | | |