Monday, September 14, 2009

The Great American Taste Test

This was so much fun! Today is the day for The Great American Taste Test, sponsored by Atria Books, to celebrate the book: America's Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from Your Family's Favorite Restaurants by Ron Douglas. The author has been on television quite a bit recently, he worked for years to put together this cookbook that is filled with recipes that duplicate dishes that you order in your favorite restaurants.

When I got my copy, I immediately looked to see if my favorite restaurant dish was included. Guess what? IT WAS! I love P.F. Chang's Chicken-Lettuce Wrap...I always order it when I go there (which is not very often, unfortunately). So I was excited to see if I could make my favorite thing at home with my limited cooking skills.

I got everything together and sent my hubby out to get the real thing. (It is quite a trip to the closest PF Chang's, so I had plenty of time). The recipe was easy to follow, even though there were quite a lot of ingredients, some that I am not used to cooking with. The result was indistinguishable from the original...and I got to eat my favorite thing in my own home. I can't wait to try some of the other recipes in the book, I think Red Lobster's Cheddar Cheese Biscuits might be next...

America's Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from Your Family's Favorite Restaurants is published by Atria Books. ISBN 978-1-4391-4706-1

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have the feeling that I'd screw these recipes up and be diappointed in the end result.

The Tome Traveller said...

I thought so too! I'm not a very good cook and my kitchen is a bit small and hard to work in. But the recipe instructions were clear and easy to follow. I'm always worried that my lack of ability will mess things up (it has happened plenty of times!) It was a nice surprise when it turned out right!

bermudaonion said...

We were pleased with the recipe we cooked from this book too. It was lots of fun comparing the 2 dishes.

kalea_kane said...

This sounds awesome, Carol! I have so many faves that I would love to find. I'll be looking for this. It sounds awesome. I love cookbooks like this and we are always trying to come up with ways to make certain foods we try elsewhere. :)

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Oh, you have my mouth watering! I am so going to get this book!

Zibilee said...

The cheddar cheese biscuits are the one recipe that I had been hoping would be included! I am so excited to see that they are! I am glad that you had fun with your comparison and that now you can make some of your favorites at home. I am definitely getting my hands on a copy of this book as soon as I can.

caite said...

I read the table of comments on an Amazon review and this book is missing two critical recipes, Chi Chi's corn cake and Cracker Barrel's hash brown casserole.

Without those (which I found long ago, elsewhere) this look is useless to me...lol

Susan said...

I had a great time with this challenge. I went a little crazy and made three of the recipes. Believe it or not, they all tasted as good, as as a friend who tasted one with me said, better than the original. How can that be? Well, depending on the restaurant, what is served to you as hot and fresh might have been premade and frozen. Also, you never know when the cook will have a heavy hand with the salt, etc.

mrsshukra said...

I'm going to look for this book, thanks for posting about this!

Charles said...

Unfortunately this book is entirely plagairized from other books, and from recipes posted on the internet years ago. No one should support authors who misrepresent their "work."

Ladytink_534 said...

Oh I want this lol! It drives hubby crazy but I would MUCH rather eat out than fix anything (can you blame me since I married the pickiest eater alive?) but I don't think I would mind with some of these recipes!

Libby's Library said...

I think that I must have this book:-)


Thoughts from an Evil Overlord

Thank you!!

Thank you to Beth at Beth Fish Reads and to The Blogger Guide for helping me to customize my template and to Andrea at The Little Bookworm for improving my header!!

About Me

My photo
New Hampshire, United States
Bibliophile, Anglophile, Traveller... I have been an avid reader all of my life, since I took the Dr. Seuss Dictionary away from my Mom when I was less than a year old because I wanted to read it myself. In college, where I earned my degree in English Literature, I was often asked "What are you going to do with it?" Now I finally have the answer to that question!!! Being employed as a Flight Attendant for twenty years has given me a lot of life experience and, better still, a lot of time to read. I love to travel for fun, too.