cover image America’s Most Wanted Recipes at the Grill

America’s Most Wanted Recipes at the Grill

Ron Douglas. Atria, $16 trade paper (356p) ISBN 978-1-4767-3489-7

The latest in Douglas’s bestselling series of reverse engineering popular dishes at chain restaurants (America’s Most Wanted Recipes, etc) is dedicated to grill-centered fare, enabling followers to whip up pitch-perfect versions of In-N-Out Burger’s iconic Double Double or A&W’s Deluxe Grilled Chicken Sandwich in their own backyards. Organized alphabetically by restaurant, fans can simply flip to their restaurant of choice to view Douglas’s take on a handful of the chains’ signature dishes. In some cases, such as Red Lobster’s grilled rack of shrimp, the instructions are painfully simple (skewer shrimp, brush with olive oil, grill), while in others, such as Chili’s Southwestern Egg Rolls and, somewhat surprisingly, Qdoba’s three-cheese burrito, they’ll need to source a seemingly endless number of ingredients and go through multiple steps in order to achieve that unique flavor. Once readers realize how much effort it does or doesn’t take to recreate their favorite item and ask themselves questions like, “Do you really need to make your own onion rings from scratch for an DIY Angry Whopper?” they may come to the conclusion that it’s simply easier to hop in the car and go to the source. Just because you can doesn’t always mean you should. But for those who dare, this will likely strike a chord. (May)