For something nearing 15 years now author Todd Wilbur has released a series of cookbooks under the titles of "Top Secret Recipes" which feature clone recipes of famous restaurant and other mass-produced foods. Everything from Twinkies to McDonald's Quarter Pounder has been reproduced in some form by Todd and those recipes that I've tried are pretty good and spot on.
Todd has operated a website during this time which also offers occasional updates with a new "cracked" recipe though I believe now retrieving these new recipes requires payment.
Anyway, Todd has now got a new TV series on CMT that purports to be him cracking a new recipe under a time crunch.
In short, the show smells of BS and leaves a lot to be desired. It lays out its premise that Todd has a certain amount of time to "crack" a recipe and he uses his usual methods to do so, usually after accepting the challenge from some official with the company whose recipe he's trying to crack.
In previous interviews Todd has said one of the ways he gets a starting point is by asking a server or someone at the restaurant about what's in the food under allergen or other health concerns, usually this gives him some idea of where to begin on his clone recipe.
In one of Todd's first books, again printed over a decade ago, he clones the recipe of KFC chicken, in the clone recipe he dismisses the claim of "11 herbs and spices" and instead simply settles on salt, pepper and MSG. The key to recipe being to pressure-fry it. (Something that's virtually impossible to do at home these days.)
The premiere episode purports to have Todd taking on the challenge of KFC's chicken. And the whole thing reeks of bullshit. First Todd has a meeting with an official with KFC who shows Todd the "vault" where the recipe is supposedly kept -the combination for the vault only known by two people and a batch of the chicken is made up in a KFC HQ test kitchen. Here a cook in the kitchen "accidentally" "leaves behind" a protective glove. Todd takes this glove intending to have it analyzed to see what spices may be on it.
Todd then dons a hidden camera and a couple of disguises to do some recon work at a KFC restaurant location to get some hints on what's in the food/what kind of chicken is used. Again, this reeks slightly of manufactured-ness. Todd then one night rummages through a KFC dumpster to see what evidence he can fine (he finds a box the chicken came in, discovering the chicken is injected/brined.)
The glove was "overnighted" to a "dedicated lab tech" who discovers a certain spice on it, Todd visits a close personal friend/co-worker of Colonel Sanders and the two "meditate" to see if the co-worker can remember any of the ingredients off the recipe she's claims to have handled at one point.
He then goes to a place that makes KFC's pressure fryers where the operator of the company won't sell one but is willing to let Todd borrow one and during their meeting he lets a ingredient of the recipe out.
After a few test batches, tweaking with the fryer and so on Todd, at the last minute, produces a "clone recipe" of the chicken and a taste-test is performed using officials with KFC. If Todd's clone fools them he'll win "free KFC chicken for life" at their restaurants. (Sort of a silly prize considering he can make the stuff all on his own, but whatever.)
He doesn't win but the panel claims that his clone was very close.
The whole episode just felt very manufactured and fake and terribly scripted. The "premise" of everything I didn't buy nor did I buy into the "clues" and leads Todd got along the way. To top it all off the viewer isn't given the final recipe in the show -though it is available through the show's website.
Given Todd's penchant for being able to come up with good clones for the recipes this could've been a good series but it's very buried in shtick, manufactured "drama" during the process and and just a lot of BS. And then we're not even given the recipe for the featured item.
I'll likely give the show one or two more episodes to see if it improves and all of this was just "first episode jitters" but I was disappointed to say the least.
Todd has operated a website during this time which also offers occasional updates with a new "cracked" recipe though I believe now retrieving these new recipes requires payment.
Anyway, Todd has now got a new TV series on CMT that purports to be him cracking a new recipe under a time crunch.
In short, the show smells of BS and leaves a lot to be desired. It lays out its premise that Todd has a certain amount of time to "crack" a recipe and he uses his usual methods to do so, usually after accepting the challenge from some official with the company whose recipe he's trying to crack.
In previous interviews Todd has said one of the ways he gets a starting point is by asking a server or someone at the restaurant about what's in the food under allergen or other health concerns, usually this gives him some idea of where to begin on his clone recipe.
In one of Todd's first books, again printed over a decade ago, he clones the recipe of KFC chicken, in the clone recipe he dismisses the claim of "11 herbs and spices" and instead simply settles on salt, pepper and MSG. The key to recipe being to pressure-fry it. (Something that's virtually impossible to do at home these days.)
The premiere episode purports to have Todd taking on the challenge of KFC's chicken. And the whole thing reeks of bullshit. First Todd has a meeting with an official with KFC who shows Todd the "vault" where the recipe is supposedly kept -the combination for the vault only known by two people and a batch of the chicken is made up in a KFC HQ test kitchen. Here a cook in the kitchen "accidentally" "leaves behind" a protective glove. Todd takes this glove intending to have it analyzed to see what spices may be on it.
Todd then dons a hidden camera and a couple of disguises to do some recon work at a KFC restaurant location to get some hints on what's in the food/what kind of chicken is used. Again, this reeks slightly of manufactured-ness. Todd then one night rummages through a KFC dumpster to see what evidence he can fine (he finds a box the chicken came in, discovering the chicken is injected/brined.)
The glove was "overnighted" to a "dedicated lab tech" who discovers a certain spice on it, Todd visits a close personal friend/co-worker of Colonel Sanders and the two "meditate" to see if the co-worker can remember any of the ingredients off the recipe she's claims to have handled at one point.
He then goes to a place that makes KFC's pressure fryers where the operator of the company won't sell one but is willing to let Todd borrow one and during their meeting he lets a ingredient of the recipe out.
After a few test batches, tweaking with the fryer and so on Todd, at the last minute, produces a "clone recipe" of the chicken and a taste-test is performed using officials with KFC. If Todd's clone fools them he'll win "free KFC chicken for life" at their restaurants. (Sort of a silly prize considering he can make the stuff all on his own, but whatever.)
He doesn't win but the panel claims that his clone was very close.
The whole episode just felt very manufactured and fake and terribly scripted. The "premise" of everything I didn't buy nor did I buy into the "clues" and leads Todd got along the way. To top it all off the viewer isn't given the final recipe in the show -though it is available through the show's website.
Given Todd's penchant for being able to come up with good clones for the recipes this could've been a good series but it's very buried in shtick, manufactured "drama" during the process and and just a lot of BS. And then we're not even given the recipe for the featured item.
I'll likely give the show one or two more episodes to see if it improves and all of this was just "first episode jitters" but I was disappointed to say the least.
