Secret recipes revealed during pandemic

When the internet was young, I remember a widely circulated story about the fuss over a Neiman Marcus chocolate-chipcookie recipe.

As the tale goes, a woman who was charged $250 for the cookie recipe at a Neiman Marcus restaurant in Dallas — never mind that the luxury retailer didn’t sell chocolate chip cookies at the time — took revenge by sharing the recipe online. The recipe, later dubbed the Justice Cookie, made the rounds. But it was later exposed as a hoax — one of those food urban legends that was as delicious as the cookie itself.

I recalled that recipe (and the irony of Neiman Marcus’ fate as a fashion retailer) when I began to see other secret recipes shared online during the pandemic shutdown. But these were genuine recipes, straight from the source, shared as home cooks continue to hunger for familiar, comforting bites.

In most cases, such as the DoubleTree Signature Cookie Recipe, the recipes were smart publicity moves that gained valuable social-media traction. Other examples include a boatload of proprietary recipes — churros, Dole Whip, beignets, French toast and grilled cheese sandwiches — shared by Disney Parks for the mouse-eared legions who miss amusement park thrills and tastes. Chipotle’s easy-to-love guacamole and Ikea’s signature Swedish meatballs with cream sauce were shared. McDonald’s offered a recipe on constructing a Sausage McMuffin with Egg.

These revealed “secrets” made me think about restaurant recipes I wish I had in my own cooking arsenal. I’ve lost sleep over the astonishing queso dip from a Bandera restaurant (Hillstone Restaurant Group) that I first encountered in Chicago. Not a week goes by that I don’t wish I could make a salsa as good as the one served at Mi Nidito in Tucson, Ariz.

I can still taste the cheesestoked, garlic-licked salad dressing from Cattleman’s Steakhouse in Oklahoma City that has spoiled me for any other creamy steakhouse slather. And I’ve never tasted a pimento cheese as good at the one at Willa Jean’s in New Orleans. Now, those are recipe secrets I wish were revealed.

For home cooks eager to change up their cooking and baking routines during the quarantine, the slew of secret recipes is a source of inspiration and amusement. I have friends who made the chocolate chip cookie from DoubleTree and found them as delicious as any popular recipe for the classic American cookie. Who doesn’t savor a warm, freshly baked chocolate chip cookie? The DoubleTree recipe maybe tastes a smidge more exotic. It was a secret, after all.