Marcey Hall

Marcey Hall, best selling author of Home Cooking For Beginners, casts her experienced eyes over yet another range of cooking books that are available. This month : Copycat Recipe books.

Marcey lives in Rockford, Illinois with her husband John and their youngest son, Darren. Marcey and John had built a small local restaurant chain together where Marcey worked in and managed the culinary side of the business before they sold up and went into semi-retirement in 2002.

After finishing her book, Marcey took up the role on part-time basis as a menu consultant for a number of restaurant chains in Illinois and still takes great enjoyment from her work. We're really thankful that Marcey can spare us her time.

If you've been looking for a copycat recipe book - then let Marcey Hall help you decide the best to buy

Updated: 6 March, 2010

Sizzling Chicken

Sizzling Chicken From Americas Most Wanted Recipes

You're sitting at a table about to start on your main meal of TGI Fridays own Sizzling Chicken and Cheese. Your curious as to how it will complement the Zuppa Toscana Soup from Olive Garden that you had for starters.

You look around your dininng table and see your family enjoying their dinner, not knowing the difference between the real thing and this three course meal you've prepared yourself and in your own kitchen. You only hope that after the chicken you have enough room for the Cheesecake Factories Oreo.


Welcome to the world of the copycat recipe.

The copycat recipe is a curious thing indeed. Whole empires have been built upon the closely guarded recipe which the major restaurant chains have hidden so well. Hidden so well, that is, until now of course.

Recent surveys have shown that the average American Family eats out 3 times a week. That's 156 times a year. Everybody loves to do it but given the prices we can pay at the restaurants, it can mount up to 1000s of dollars. Imagine how much we could save if we could cook the same meals at home for a fraction of the cost?

A number of books have come into my possesion this week claiming to have broken through the secrecy surrounding this curious type of recipe and they come with the claim that the meals we order from our favourite restaurant have been back-engineerd and their core ingredients found.

Of the books I've looked at and experimented with, I found only two of them which delivered what they promised and you can read my review on both of these books below and be sure to read my recommendation at the bottom.

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Americas Most Wanted RecipesThe first thing that struck me about Americas Most Wanted Recipes is the sheer voulume of high quality and type of recipe that you receive - and I'm not just talking about the two volume America's Most Wanted Recipes which are substantial in themselves.

Volumes I & II contain some 200 different recipes from restaurants that we all know .. from Taco Bell, through Boston Market to KFC and McDonalds. If you have a favourite restaurant meal then you can be sure to find the recipe inside.

Americas Most Wanted Recipes is the original Copycat Recipe book and the six years of research can easily be seen in the depth and variaty of recipes.

As a bonus to Volumes I & II author Ron Douglas, who in August 2008 featured on Fox News with his books, also gives you a lifetime access to the continually updated Recipe Secrets archive which contains a further 300 Copycat Recipe for you. There are another 6 general cooking books thrown in to make up a bumper package of recipes that will keep you busy in the kitchen for years to come.

The proof is in the eating, as they say, and you'll be really hard pressed to tell the difference between what dishes come as a result of this book and the real thing that you would find in the relevent restaurant which could ultimately save you $1000s in restaurant visits which, lets face it, is amazing value.

Copy Cat CookbookThe Copy Cat Cookbook is very similar in content and format to Americas Most Wanted Recipes which is hardly surprising given that most that have followed since Ron Douglas produced the original have cloned his winning formulae - although I'm not 100% sure that the quality of results is the same.

One thing you can be certain of, however, is the sheer volume of recipes that Copy Cat gives the purchaser - some 2000 in total when we include the bonus books that Divine Recipes add to the offer (the vast majority of these are not of the copycat variaty though).

I did mention above about not being convinced with some of the dishes I tried. Please don't get me wrong - you'd have to be a real connoisseur to truly note the differences, but I did find one or two that didn't wholely convince. In saying that, you will find many beautiful dishes both in the actual Copy Cat and the extras that come bundled.

Overall, the Copy Cat Cookbook would be a good purchase as a general cookbook rather than a Copycat Recipe book due to the sheer number of extra recipes - yes, it delivers on what it says on the cover but the vast majority of recipes you receive are not what this review is about.

The Copycat Recipe book Marcey Recommends is ...

Americas Most Wanted RecipesI just have to recommend Americas Most Wanted Recipes as all other books in this genre are merely imitations of the original. The work and effort that Ron Douglas and his team have put into the research of these recipes is immense and should be congratulated.

With access to 500 genuine Copycat Recipe you and your family could save 1000s of dollars over the course of a year if, like me, you eat out often. Access to the meals at home shouldn't be used as an excuse to not dine out, of course, but knowing you can mix and match different restaurant dishes to your hearts content and dine on them when you wish at a fraction of the cost is a winner for me.

With the addition of 6 extra cookbooks which come bundled with Americas Most Wanted Recipes, the entire package represents amazing value at only $29.97. If your wanting to cook what your favourite restaurant keeps hidden and learn the secrets of the top chefs - then Americas Most Wanted Recipes is a must have.


Buy Americas Most Wanted Recipes Here