I want it to be exact. I donÕt want to make it
better; I donÕt want to make it worse.Ó
Todd Wilbur, cookbook author
Todd WilburÕs second career started with a chain letter — one of those Òsend this to five friendsÓ deals that claimed to contain the secret recipe for Mrs. FieldsÕ famous chocolate chip cookies. ¶ The recipe, and the attached story (something about an old woman being suckered into spending $250 for the instructions), were bogus, but they got Wilbur thinking. What if you could come up with the ÒsecretÓ recipe for popular dishes made by chains such as McDonaldÕs, ApplebeeÕs and KFC? How hard could it really be?
The Clone Cook
Wilbur started with the Mrs. Fields hoax, eventually coming up with a recipe that was a variation on the Nestl? Tollhouse classic and tasted remarkably close to Debbie FieldsÕ moneymaker. Then he moved on to more savory exploits. For his second recipe, he reverse-engineered the Big Mac. That special sauce? ItÕs basically Thousand Island dressing.
A former TV news reporter, Wilbur now works full-time cloning recipes for his cookbooks, which are for sale on QVC and have been featured on ÒOprahÓ and ÒLive With Regis and Kelly.Ó HeÕs neither chef nor innovator; heÕs a casual-dining cloner, and success means tasting just like the real thing.
ÒI want it to be exact,Ó Wilbur says as he gets to work on recreating a batch of couscous salad from HoustonÕs, a chain of restaurants. ÒI donÕt want to make it better; I donÕt want to make it worse. I donÕt want to make it less fat. I donÕt want to do anything to it except exactly duplicate it.Ó
So far, the Summerlin resident has exactly duplicated enough recipes for nine cookbooks. His 10th, 17 recipes shy of completion, should be out in September. The book will be called ÒTop Secret Restaurant Recipes 3.Ó ÒAlternate title: ÔThe Greatest Cookbook Ever Written,Õ Ó Wilbur jokes.
Since publishing his first in 1993, Wilbur has sold close to 5 million copies of his cookbooks, all of which tackle well-known recipes from fast-food or casual-dining chains and break them down for cooks to re-create at home. His 1,000th recipe — the one most requested by visitors to his Web site — was Olive GardenÕs chicken and gnocchi soup. Flipping through the pages of his books is like looking at a greatest-hits menu from chain restaurants: Buffalo Wild WingsÕ Caribbean jerk sauce, the Cheesecake FactoryÕs Bang-Bang Chicken and Shrimp, ChiliÕs lettuce wraps, KFCÕs biscuits.
Of course, some recipes take longer to crack than others. Recently, WilburÕs been struggling with MastroÕs butter cake. ÒI know itÕs tons of butter and cake. I think itÕs more butter than cake,Ó he muses. After attempting it 16 times — and taste-testing his handiwork — WilburÕs stomach couldnÕt take another trial, but he swears the recipe will be in his next book.
And Wilbur has all kinds of tricks for figuring out what goes into the dishes that people crave. Sometimes he asks for a seat at the bar or near the kitchen, so he can watch how desserts or dishes are assembled. Other times he claims to be a strict vegetarian or vegan, so he can find out if a dish contains chicken broth or animal fat. When Oprah Winfrey challenged him to create the Jack DanielÕs grill glaze from T.G.I. FridayÕs before appearing on her show, Wilbur faked an allergy so the restaurant would give him a list of the ingredients.
ThereÕs something detectivelike about cloning a recipe. You might even imagine a megachain getting its feathers ruffled by some guy out in Las Vegas telling everyone whatÕs really in their special sauce. But none of the restaurants WilburÕs mimicked has paid much attention to his exploits, except KFC, which sponsored one of WilburÕs book tours.
Regardless, he keeps playing investigator, hunting for clues and putting the pieces together until heÕs completed a culinary puzzle that tastes fresh off the line.
ÒI found this niche that made (cooking) fun and different and a game. And thatÕs what I like — games,Ó Wilbur says. ÒI havenÕt gone through Dumpsters yet, but IÕm not above that.Ó
This is a version of a story that appears in the current issue of Las Vegas Weekly, a sister publication of the Sun.
sarah.feldberg@lasvesgassun.com / 948-7801
Copyright 2010 Las Vegas Sun
