Bobby Flay's Grilling For Life

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Maybe it's the red hair or the grin, but when I think of Bobby Flay, somehow The Incredibles' Buddy (AKA "IncrediBoy") keeps coming to mind (though the words that I hear are those of "Syndrome"): "It's bigger. It's badder. And, Ladies and Gentlemen... it's finally ready." So, here it is: Bobby's newest grilling cookbook. "Sure it was difficult, but you were worth it." Do we need another book on grilling from grill master Bobby Flay? Sure! I love grilled meats and sea food. Bobby Flay's new book, Grilling For Life (Simon & Schuster May 2005) is a continuation of a theme he has taken up in two previous books, Boy Gets Grill and Boy Meets Grill, not to mention his Food Network shows, Boy Meets Grill and BBQ with Bobby Flay. With a new restaurant, Bar Americaine, that opened in New York last month, Bobby is busy -- so new, the restaurant is not even listed on his website. (On top of it, Bobby met and married his Girl -- see previous article). Grilling makes sense to Bobby, who believes in eating light and the recipes in this book come with a handy nutritional analysis at the bottom of each recipe. Grilling certainly can be a fast way to cook, once you get your grill lit and Grilling for Life has recommendations on technique, the use of a chimney starter and all the accouterments. A chapter follows on spices that includes a handy guide to chiles and chile powder and a heat scale. The recipes in the book are mostly approachable, fun dishes that use plenty of fresh spices, peppers and snappy dressings. Bobby loves sauces, vinaigrettes, relishes and pestos. Check out Grilled Sea Scallops with Avocado Vinaigrette and Jalepeno Pesto (pp. 84-85) or Grilled Chicken Tenders with Spicy Chipotle Sauce and Blue Cheese-Yogurt Sauce (pp. 130-1), Bobby's version of Buffalo Chicken Wings. At the end of the book is a handy Mix and Match chapter (pp.193-4) in which he suggests which of the many sauces can go with Fish, Chicken and Turkey and Beef and Pork. There are some good color photos of finished dishes and B&W that show Bobby firing up a chimney starter, but other are wasted –- Bobby pouring on sauce on a dish that doesn't match the recipe. One recipe calls for first boiling sweet potatoes, then making a warm dressing on the stove and finally grilling the sweet potatoes, slicing them, and then pouring on the dressing. It all sounds good, but it's a lot of work for Grilled German Sweet Potato Salad (p. 43) -- why not roast the potatoes on the grill and avoid the boiling? At the end of the book, Bobby offers some fun desserts from the grill, including Grilled Apricots with Bitter Sweet Chocolate and Almonds (p. 186) and Grilled Figs with Vanilla-Orange Creme Fraiche and Toasted Pistachios (pp. 190-191). This may be my favorite cookbook of Bobby's grilling series. And the timing of the release is great: Summer 2005 is just firing up. Looks like I'm armed and ready for a fun, hot summer. Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Super chefs: Bobby Flay Previous reviews: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks --> back to superchefblog