Experiences with Disney recipes?

[McGoofy]

First of all, I want to thank Intercot for saving my tonga toast that our family enjoyed for breakfast this morning. I will explain that in a minute. Has anyone here used the "Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs" cook book? We bought ours at the World of Disney in Downtown Disney. I chose that particular cookbook because it had many of my favorite recipes from various Disney World restaurants. However, now I am not so pleased with my cookbook.

Please keep in mind that in every instance that I am about to share I followed the recipe to the letter--no cheating, no substituting, etc...I did exactly what the book said to do and secondly, I am normally a pretty good cook!

The first recipe that I made was the Victoria and Albert's tiramisu. It came out nothing like it. It was like a bowl of rum soup.

Next up was the pot roast from Liberty Tree Tavern. It smelled so good cooking, that we decided to call 2 of our friends and see if they wanted to come over after church Sunday afternoon. The next day our friends came over. I had put the roast back in the oven to re-heat it. When the gravy was boiling, my DH pulled the roast out and tried to cut it. It was hard as a rock and a very raw pink inside. I was sooooo embarrassed. The cooking time in the book was way off. I stuck the roast in the crock pot (which was not instructed in the cookbook) and it cooked the rest of the day. By time we went to bed, it was good and tender. We had the roast for dinner the next day. The gravy and vegetables were delicious and the beef was fall-apart tender, but only because I did my own thing and cooked it in the crockpot. So please note, if you make that recipe, cook the roast MUCH MUCH longer than the hour that the book calls for!

Strike 3 was discovered this morning. However, Intercot saved me before disaster happened. I wanted to try the recipe for Tonga Toast. We were in the grocery store last night, and I wanted to make sure that I had all of the ingredients. My husband pulled out his wireless and connected to Intercot while we were in the grocery store. This morning as I was getting stuff together to make it, my husband said, "Where do the eggs, milk, and vanilla come in?" I looked at the recipe in the book and none of that was ever mentioned in the recipe. I went to Intercot's Tonga Toast recipe and realized that is what you dip the bread in before you fry it. Had I followed the book, I would have probably just had burnt toast for breakfast!! However, I am pleased to say that by following the Intercot directions we had wonderful tonga toast and it was just as good as what we had at Kona Cafe!

Now I do have to mention that I have had 2 good recipes turn out from the cook book. They are the meatloaf from Prime Time 50's Cafe and the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup from Le Cellier.

My question here (after all of that) is this...what are your experiences with the Disney cookbook and/or Intercot recipes listed on Intercot? I am about ready to throw my Disney cookbook in the trash. My husband says it's worth the drive to go down there and let them do the cooking for us!

[Cinderelley]

I love the recipes on Intercot. I've never tried the cookbook.

[auntfrannie]

The first recipe that I made was the Victoria and Albert's tiramisu. It came out nothing like it. It was like a bowl of rum soup.

Actually, that sounds quite tasty to me! I think might have discovered a new recipe!!!

[SBETigg]

I have a pretty old version of the cookbook and everything has come out fine, no problems. This was from before Le Cellier was a steakhouse. It was cafeteria style, and no cheese soup recipe. So maybe directions were more accurate back then.

But we did have a poster make the cheese soup a while ago and it came out a disaster. We had a thread debating the recipe and I ended up getting it from WDW and posting the corrected version (which was never updated at Info Central).

[LibertyTreeGal]

Oh my, that's just awful!

I have had good experiences with the recipes listed here and elsewhere on the net. If I were you, I'd always doublecheck on the net after those disasters.

Personally, I didn't have any idea anyone would make a pot roast without a crock pot.... of course, before crock pots they would have had to use something else....

But hey, the recipe for the French Toast Loaf from Main Street Bakery you can find here is awesome!

[Strmchsr]

Doing the recipie exactly as written in the book has been kind of hit and miss. DW and I love to cook and so just experiment until we get it just right. it usually doesn't take much. Just a tweak here or there (except in the case of the Chedder Cheese Soup disaster). Mostly I think the book is pretty accurate, though I believe the recipes here on Intercot may be slightly more on the money.

[McGoofy]

A cast member one time told me that they are not allowed to give out the recipe exactly as they make it in the restaurants, so I'm guessing the recipes do get tweaked a little. However, cooking times??? Come on...we can be a little more accurate with that now can't we????

And to Liberty Tree Gal...this is the first time I haven't used my crockpot to cook a roast (initially)!!! I know for next time!!! I would definitely use the recipe for the gravy and vegetables though.

As for the cheddar cheese soup disaster, I am unaware of what happened there. Mine came out fine. I will say this though, you have to use the Moosehead Canadian beer to get the same flavor. The first time I made it I didn't use that, and it didn't taste the same.

[disneymom2000]

I tried a Beef Stroganoff recipe but it was terrible. First I am not a gourmet cook, so I had to really work at the "reduction" (of course first I had to find out what that meant). I had quite a bit left over when the meal was completed cooking.
Anyway, it did not come out like the meal I had at Disney. I followed the instructions exactly and then went over it again to see what I did wrong but couldn't find a problem.

[WonderlandsMostWanted]

I have a few Disney cookbooks I've recently acquired on e-bay, but haven't tried anything yet... I'll keep you posted.

From what you're describing happened to the Tiramisu, I have 2 possible thoughts.
A) Is the city you live in at a high elevation by any chance? Elevation can play a big role in the way deserts set up.
B) Marscarpone cheese can be touchy to deal with, as can the heavy cream, and especially when mixed. There can be a small window for when it is properly beaten and in the perfect "firmness" stage. Even 30 seconds on either side of that window could mean the diffence between a nice smooth desert and soup.

Tiramisu in particular is one dish I always prefer to purchase premade from someon with more practice in finding that window!

[snifflesmcg]

I often wondered about the Disney recipes online. I guess if you do your own tweaking, it might come out more "Disneylike". Thanks for posting this.

[McGoofy]

From what you're describing happened to the Tiramisu, I have 2 possible thoughts.
A) Is the city you live in at a high elevation by any chance? Elevation can play a big role in the way deserts set up.
B) Marscarpone cheese can be touchy to deal with, as can the heavy cream, and especially when mixed. There can be a small window for when it is properly beaten and in the perfect "firmness" stage. Even 30 seconds on either side of that window could mean the diffence between a nice smooth desert and soup.

:

I definitely know that elevation was not the problem. I live about 30 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean. We are about as close to sea level as you can get! That was a good thought though. The second idea could have been the problem. It was in no way even close to firm. I don't know what happened, but I won't attempt that again.

The roast was definitely just a time issue, so that can be corrected and the tonga toast problem was that the Disney book left out ingredients. That could have been a major problem!! I would have never known that if I hadn't seen the different recipe on Intercot. Now I am wondering how many other recipes in the book need to be adjusted?

[WonderlandsMostWanted]

You know, I have that cookbook here, "Cooking with Mickey and the Chefs of Walt Disney World Resort" copyright 1998 and I can't for the life of me find the Tonga Toast or the Pot Roast recipe in it anywhere.

I did find the Patriot Pot Roast recipe for the LTT in another book, "Cooking with Mickey Around Our World" which calls for 1 1/2 pounds pre-cooked bottom round roast.

Other than that, maybe we have different editions of the cookbook?

LOL, now I'm going to be dwelling on this!

Sorry your recipes didn't turn out the way you'd hoped, that's always disappointing. As others have mentioned, sometimes there's a bit of experimentation involved before you get it down.

Also, if you do feel the urge to attempt the tiramisu again, try a few things:
-Leave the Marscarpone cheese and the heavy cream in the fridge right up until you need to use them.
-Use a metal, glass or porcelin mixing bowl to mik the cheese and cream. Before you start making your desert, put that bowl in the fridge for a few hours so it's well chilled before you mix. As with any dairy product, the cooler it is, the firmer it tends to be and the easier to work with.

[McGoofy]

You know, I have that cookbook here, "Cooking with Mickey and the Chefs of Walt Disney World Resort" copyright 1998 and I can't for the life of me find the Tonga Toast or the Pot Roast recipe in it anywhere.

I did find the Patriot Pot Roast recipe for the LTT in another book, "Cooking with Mickey Around Our World" which calls for 1 1/2 pounds pre-cooked bottom round roast.

Other than that, maybe we have different editions of the cookbook?

LOL, now I'm going to be dwelling on this!

Sorry your recipes didn't turn out the way you'd hoped, that's always disappointing. As others have mentioned, sometimes there's a bit of experimentation involved before you get it down.

Also, if you do feel the urge to attempt the tiramisu again, try a few things:
-Leave the Marscarpone cheese and the heavy cream in the fridge right up until you need to use them.
-Use a metal, glass or porcelin mixing bowl to mik the cheese and cream. Before you start making your desert, put that bowl in the fridge for a few hours so it's well chilled before you mix. As with any dairy product, the cooler it is, the firmer it tends to be and the easier to work with.

I will put your mind at rest. I have the 2004 edition. The recipe for New England Pot Roast is on page 5, and it just says "3 pounds boneless beef shoulder roast." Then in the cooking instructions it tells you to brown the meat on all sides. Then you add the meat to the vegetable/gravy mixture and bake for an hour "or until meat is fork tender." (They neglected to mention that would be SEVERAL hours later!) Perhaps in the 2004 edition they accidentally left out the word "pre-cooked" just like on the tonga toast recipe on page 32 where they left out the eggs, milk, and vanilla!!

Also, thank you for the tiramisu tips!

On a different note...I am either a very brave, stupid, or stubborn person...not sure which, but I tried another Disney recipe for dinner tonight. I think it's probably the stubborn part because I was determined to have something turn out right eventually!

Anyhow, I got the Penne Bolognese recipe off of Intercot today. That turned out scrumptious! However, I did choose to tweak that just a bit. Instead of Italian sausage, I used sundried tomato turkey sausage links, sliced them up, and cooked them in the olive oil and butter. I also added fresh garlic to that mix, which is not called for. Then for the broth, I added one cup of heavy cream, which again is not called for. Finally, the last change that I made was that I added black olives in at the end. My family said that I could make that again!

[offwego]

You know, I have that cookbook here, "Cooking with Mickey and the Chefs of Walt Disney World Resort" copyright 1998 and I can't for the life of me find the Tonga Toast or the Pot Roast recipe in it anywhere.:

Does your book have a receipe for a chicken pasta dish from crystal palace in it? If so could you pm it to me or post it? My DH decided not to buy this book (we have a later one) and he so misses this dish. I'd really appreciate it.

[TBY2225]

Tara,

The Penna Bolognese sounds great. I might have to try that next. Sorry again to hear of your mishaps with the cookbook. Now I am not so sure I want to buy one next trip!

[dolphinmickey9170]

I wanted to buy one of the cook books at the Yankee Trader in MK, but I didn't, I guess I'm glad now. But stubborn, like you, I would keep trying....don't give up.

Can someone post a link to the recipes, please.

[WonderlandsMostWanted]

Does your book have a receipe for a chicken pasta dish from crystal palace in it? If so could you pm it to me or post it? My DH decided not to buy this book (we have a later one) and he so misses this dish. I'd really appreciate it.

The Chicken Caesar Pasta?

[DawsonAR]

I have both of the current cookbooks. I have tried several dishes and all have been good. Some were not exactly as they are at Disney, but good nonetheless.

[bleukarma]

I've made the Canadian Cheddar Cheese soup from Intercot recipe and it came out good! I did a few tweaking here and there but it still came out good anyway. I actually served it with Easter dinner and it was a hit!

I wish someone would find out the recipe for the tomato soup at Raglan Road! It's so yummy!!!!!!

[luvdiznee]

I have 2 Disney cookbooks, and have tried recipes out of both of them. I've had great success. Especially with the Ohana Chicken Wings...