Common spices, processed foods ... really?

   Are customers now cooking dinner at home instead of going out to eat? No one is quite sure that’s the case, though certainly many are visiting restaurants less frequently than they did 18 months ago, as the financial performance of publicly traded companies makes abundantly clear.
   Now, a publishing company is pouring salt into that wound with a digital cookbook called "Insider’s Recipes: Master Edition." It’s a compendium of popular chain dishes for a very low price. Here’s the pitch from the publisher’s Web site:

   Copycat cookbooks have always been around. I remember interviewing the author of one, who was on a book tour, five or six years ago. He wasn’t a chef, as I recall, just a guy who claimed to love the food that chains served. He may have also loved a fast buck.

Yours or their brownies?

    In any event, I hadn’t thought about copycat recipes until a friend sent me the link to the cookbook itself. Upon reading a few, they appear quite sound, though I’ve yet to whip one up. Here’s the thing, though: Many resemble recipes you’d find in just about any basic cookbook.
   Applebee’s Blonde Brownies? Looks to me like a typical brownie recipe. Arby’s Barbecue Sauce? Just add ketchup and Tabasco. A stroll down memory lane with Steak & Ale’s Bourbon Street Steak? Break out Jack, lemon juice and brown sugar — and don’t forget to fire up the grill.
   Maybe these formulas are about as complicated as chain recipes get given high-volumes and high turnover. Still, it’s sad to think that many popular restaurant dishes merely boil down to a handful of common spices and processed ingredients, as this cookbook suggests.
   Someone say it ain’t so.