Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 (22 page)

BOOK: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2
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GARNISH
powdered sugar
butter
ON THE SIDE
maple syrup
1. . Whisk together eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
2. Heat a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium/low heat. When the pan is hot, add I tablespoon of butter If butter smokes, your pan is too hot, turn down the heat.
3. Drop each bread slice into the batter for about 30 seconds per side. Let some of the batter drip off then drop the bread into the buttered pan. Cook each battered bread slice for 1½ to 2 minutes per side or until golden brown. Add more butter to the pan as needed to cook all the French toast.
4. Serve three slices of French toast per plate. Dust each serving with a little powdered sugar (tap it through a strainer), and include some maple syrup on the side.
• MAKES 2 SERVINGS.
DENNY’S BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICH
MENU DESCRIPTION:
“A seasoned, grilled chicken breast topped with Cheddar cheese and a stack of thin cnsp onion rings on a sesame seed bun with lettuce, tomato and a sweet hickory spread, Served with a side of BBQ sauce.”
 
With 1,527 restaurants across the country, Denny’s is on top as America’s largest full-service family restaurant chain. Sure, the chain’s famous for its Grand Slam Breakfasts, but Denny’s menu is filled with tasty choices for grub way past breakfast time. One such item is this chicken sandwich built with grilled chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, Cheddar cheese, crispy onion rings, and a secret sweet hickory spread. That hickory spread is one of the ingredients that makes this sandwich special. So the clone is here, and it requires an ingredient called hickory salt. You can find this blend of salt and hickory flavoring in the spice section from Spice Islands under the name “Old Hickory Smoked Salt.” If you can’t find that stuff, just substitute with ⅛ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon liquid hickory smoke. For even more flavor, Denny’s serves the sandwich with a small dish of barbecue sauce that tastes remarkably similar to Bull’s-Eye Original, so that’s what we’ll use. While homemade crunchy onion rings are the way to go for a true clone, you can certainly shortcut this step by using the canned French’s French Fried Onions found in practically every supermarket.
SWEET HICKORY SPREAD
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup minced onion
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup molasses
¼ cup water
2 tablespoon white vinegar
⅛ teaspoon hickory salt
CRUNCHY ONION RINGS (SEE TIDBITS)
1 cup thinly sliced onion,
separated into rings
I cup milk
I cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups canola oil
2 skinless chicken breast fillets
vegetable oil
salt
ground black pepper
2 sesame seed hamburger buns
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 leaves green leaf lettuce
4 tomato slices
2 slices Cheddar cheese
ON THE SIDE
Bull’s-Eye Original Barbecue Sauce
1. Prepare sweet hickory spread by melting 3 tablespoons butter over medium/low heat. Add I cup minced onion and saute for 7 to 10 minutes or until the onions start to brown. Add 2 teaspoons flour and stir until the flour is mixed in. Let this cook for a minute or two, then add molasses, water, vinegar, and hickory salt. Simmer sauce for 3 to 4 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat and cover
2. Make the crunchy onion rings by pouring milk into a large bowl. Combine flour, salt, and black pepper in another bowl. Dip onions in flour mixture first, then into milk and back into flour. Arrange all of the coated rings to a plate to rest while you heat up 2 cups canola oil in a large saucepan over medium/low heat (you can also use a deep fryer for this step, just use the amount of oil required by the fryer manufacturer and set the temperature to 375 degrees). Test the oil by dropping in a pinch of flour. It should bubble. When the oil is hot, fry a handful of onion rings at a time in the oil until golden brown (3 to 5 minutes). Drain them on paper towels. (See Tidbits.)
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.

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