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<< Back to Top Secret Recipes TV Appearances
Today Show
July 1993 |
NBC Studios, Rockefeller Plaza.
I meet Katie Couric for the first time in the hallway as I'm preparing the food for the taste tests. I tell her I've got a little surprise for her at the end of the show. She tells me she's looking forward to the segment and warns me that she's gonna be hard to fool. Turns out she was right.
I meet Stone Phillips for the first time just before the segment starts. We small talk just a few moments in the break and, boom, we're on. On the air he asks me some of the typical questions about the book: "Why did you write this book?" "How did you come up with the recipes?" and the one he's asking in this shot here, "Why the hell aren't you fat?" Okay, he didn't say "hell."
Katie, with blindfold ready, comes out and introduces herself. At that point I had no idea that I'd soon have my fingers in her mouth.
We start the taste test with Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink. I love this recipe, 'cause it's so easy to make -- a little water, some nonfat dry milk, some Nestle' Quik -- and hard to tell the phony from the real thing. I hand her the fake Yoo-Hoo first, then the real thing. After a gulp from each glass it takes her just a few seconds to guess that the second one is the real one, and...she's right. Stone points out that I'm 0 for 1. Too bad he points that out because, frankly, it doesn't get any better. Buckle up.
Next I get to try the Cracker Jack on her. After she says she's a big Cracker Jack fan, I'm a bit concerned. I know that this is a good clone but just to be sure she doesn't feel the imperfections in the candy coating of my version, I decide to feed her. She chews, she chews, she thinks, she guesses: "The first one is the real thing." Yep, Katie has nailed another one. And I'm left with the consolation prize: "But I do like yours better," Katie says. I'll take it.
Finally we get to my last chance at fooling Katie, and it's with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Once again I decide to feed her myself. Deep down, I know I'm gonna get nailed on this one. I know that you can easily tell the difference between the two from texture and consistency. The real Reese's is so perfectly manufactured, the chocolate is smooth and firm, the edges are cleanly molded and the size is uniform.
I shove the cloned Reese's into her mouth first, and then the real one (photo 1). As expected, Katie guesses that number two is the real deal and I'm defeated once again. Not only does she guess right on every test, she goes on to pour salt in my open, festering sores. As she removes her blindfold she tells me that she likes the real Reese's better. Ouch.
The taste tests are over, thank God. As we continue to chat about stuff like how these recipes are not actually the real recipes for the products, just a way to make something that tastes like these products at home with everyday store-bought ingredients Katie jokes, "Todd, I think you need a hobby, bud."
Then it was time for us to do a little demonstration and quickly build some home-cloned Twinkies. We gotta work real fast, 'cause we were running out of time. I hand a pre-baked Twinkie clone to Stone and show him how to poke some holes in the bottom of the cake for the filling. Instead of a pastry bag, I use this contraption that looks like a caulking gun. It's pretty handy. It can fill Twinkies, and repair the tub.
I let Stone fill the Twinkie himself, and, well, it was...ah...yeah (photo 5).
Now we're getting the "wrap it up" signal from the floor director. Just as we're about to close it up I hurriedly reach down for my special Katie surprise. What is it? Here's the deal: I was told by the segment producer that Katie Couric's favorite candy is Mary Jane's. It's a chewy, peanut butter filled taffy-like, penny candy that's been around forever. And it took just about that long to perfect. I must've made 3 dozen batches of the sticky stuff, before I finally got it right. Then I packed about a dozen of the bite-size candies into a Tupperware container filled with cornstarch so they wouldn't stick together, and went off to New York.
But wouldn't you know, it being a hot Summer day and with all of the jostling about from the travel, those little pieces of candy became one large, tacky chunk (photo 8). I spent the night before the show in my hotel room performing microsurgery on the gooey glob. After all that, I was able to save only one piece for Katie. All that work for this?! And then we only had enough time for me to show it to her on the air. She never even got to taste the thing until we were off camera, in a break.
So let me just take this opportunity to tell you now...when she did taste it she loved it and said it tasted just like the real thing. Really. I swear. Ah, who cares.
Anyway, that recipe is in "More Top Secret Recipes" under the heading "Obscure Recipes that No One will Ever Try." And be warned: It doesn't travel well.
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