Several years ago, the Food Network ran a short-lived game show whose name I can’t recall. Several contestants were given the name of a dish prepared by a celebrity chef, who made it, and a fork. Their task was to name all the ingredients in the recipe. #1 contestant would name an ingredient and if correct, would get a chance to name a second. If incorrect, he would collect a strike and #2 would get a chance. Three strikes, you’re out. Whoever correctly named the most ingredients won the round.
To make it tricksier, the chefs were encouraged to use unusual ingredients. If it were a sweet pudding, for example, the first person would naturally say "Sugar!" which almost always resulted in a strike. It would turn out to be molasses or honey or even agave syrup that was used to sweeten the dish. (Of course, if the recipe was by Bobby Flay, the first person had an unfair advantage, because you could always guess "chipotle peppers" and be correct no matter what the dish was. Even cake!)
I was pretty good at this game.
So a couple of weeks ago, when plf515 mentioned In one of his What Have You Got to Learn? or Teach? diaries that he would like to know how to construct recipes for dishes he had tasted in a restaurant, I said Sure, I'll do a diary on it. Herewith the Copycat Recipe Edition of What's For Dinner?
First: A note about copyright restrictions: It is NOT illegal to reverse-engineer a recipe. You can't copy something out of Frank Stitt's Southern Table, for instance, and publish it as your own creation. But if you go to Stitt's restaurant, Highlands Bar and Grill, fall in love with the Steamed Mussel and Fennel Soup, and go home and figure out how to make something like it, then you have not violated the chef's copyright, even if you write down your own version. (If I were going to include my version in a cookbook, however, I'd call it "inspired by" and give credit to the original.)
Being able to do this is somewhat like playing music by ear. You have to know your instrument and how to get specific notes out of it so that you can duplicate the sounds you've heard. In the same way, the more you know about basic cooking, about flavors and how to combine them and what they taste like when combined, the easier it will be to reverse-engineer someone else's recipe. I have been lucky in this regard: not only do I like to cook, for most of the 1990s I was an editor for a publishing company who did books similar to Cooking Light Annual Recipes. I had a full set of test kitchens to play in, plus had access to an enormous library of cookbooks published within the last 50 or 60 years. It was a terrific education, but you can do the same thing at home with a little dedication.
How to Reverse-Engineer a Recipe
1. Make note of the name of the dish
Unless you are eating the "Blue Plate Special" or "Chef's Favorite Appetizers," in which case the name won't help at all. If it sounds like something particular to the house, like "Maui Luau Shrimp and Salmon," make note of the menu description as well: " Skewered jumbo shrimp and fresh salmon fire-grilled, then brushed with our sweet and spicy glaze, served over wild rice pilaf with grilled pineapple." (If the waiter sees that you are taking notes, give him a conspiratorial look, lean over and whisper, "I'm an undercover restaurant critic. Don't tell anyone.")
2. Note any unusual flavors, spices, or textures as you eat
This is where a well-trained palate comes in handy. Is that oregano or tarragon in the chicken dish? Tumeric? Cinnamon or nutmeg? Onion, leek, or shallot? Hm, looks like a green pepper in there -- is it mild (probably Anaheim) or spicy (maybe jalapeño?) Rice: short-grain or long? Fragrant like basmati or just plain?
3. Once you are home, research similar recipes
If you aren't familiar with the basics of how to prepare dishes like the one you are interested in, take a look at some similar recipes and see what needs to be changed. For instance, with a quick Google search I found a recipe for curried mussel and fennel soup which, with some tweaking, could serve as a basic blueprint for a soup similar to that one at Highlands. Start by removing the curry spices, then examine your memory (and your notes, if you took them) and add whatever is unique to the restaurant soup. Tomato? Basil? Oops, need to leave out the cream.
Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can even find the exact recipe somewhere online. My son loved the Chicken Marsala at Macaroni Grill and asked me if I could duplicate it. Fifteen minutes later, I had the recipe itself, posted in a food forum by a disgruntled former employee. (That post was later removed, but I already had the recipe. Bwahaha.) A Google search on "copycat recipe" will turn up a number of sites (some free, some require a paid membership) that post these sorts of recipes. Test them first -- sometimes an important ingredient is intentionally omitted.
Several books that I have found extremely useful in this kind of endeavor aren't recipe books at all -- they cover just this topic of basic how-to-make-a-generic-sauce-or-casserole-or-soup. All are out of print, but good used copies can be found cheaply. I've linked to Amazon, but if you'd rather not patronize them, try Addall or Powell's instead.
* Frieda Arkin, The Complete Book of Kitchen Wisdom: An A to Z Treasury of Food & Cooking Lore, Helpful Hints & Practical Pointers (1993)
* Polly Clingerman, The Kitchen Companion (1995)
* Helen Worth, Cooking Without Recipes: An exciting cooking course with 300 recipe patterns that will change even beginners into creative cooks (1985)
I especially recommend the third book by Helen Worth.
4. Test and taste
Now comes the fun part! Once you've found a similar way to make your recipe and noted any finagling you'll need to do, make a small batch (in case it's beyond redemption, you won't have wasted much in the way of ingredients) and taste-test it. Compare it to your memory. What does it need -- less basil? Something a little tart, like maybe a splash of vinegar or citrus juice? More garlic? (I'm bad about starting out with too little garlic because I am always afraid it will overwhelm everything.) If it's an easy fix, like vinegar or pepper, go ahead and add a tiny bit at a time, keeping approximate track of how much you add, until it tastes right. Then add that note to your evolving recipe. Otherwise, note what there's too much of and if the texture needs to be adjusted: Potatoes too lumpy. Sauce not thick enough. Needs more mushrooms.
If you get confused, which can easily happen when you are starting out, the worst may happen... you'll have to go back to the restaurant and eat it again. Then come home with your memory fresh, make another small batch with the new amendments, and see how it goes this time. I usually go through three or four iterations before I get it exactly the way I want.
So there you have it. It's a fairly simple process. And imagine how impressed your guests will be when you invite them for dinner and set before them a dish of Malai Kofta or Chicken & Shrimp Scaloppine just like their favorite restaurant's.
On second thought, maybe not. They'll be at your house for free dinner once a week.
At least make them do the dishes.