Bobby Flay's Grill It!

Bobby Flay's "Grill It!" is a nice cookbook for those of us who enjoy firing up our grills. Charcoal or gas grill? Flay accepts both and gives some hints about each. He notes at the outset that (Page vi): "Firing up the grill makes every night dinners with family or simple get-togethers with friends feel like a party or some sort of celebration." The early part of the book discusses fundamentals--direct versus indirect heat and when to use each, how to determine how hot the grill is, testing for doneness, needed gear to grill, what should be in your pantry and refrigerator. Finally, he emphasizes going to a local market/store, picking up what food seems freshest and most interesting, and going from there.

But the heart of the book is the recipes. He divides these up into types of food--vegetables, chicken, beef, seafood, etc.

At the outset, he discusses grilling veggies. I have tried one of these already--asparagus wrapped in prosciutto. Straightforward ingredients--asparagus, prosciutto, mint, parsley, garlic, etc. Grill the asparagus, after tossing it with oil and seasoning with salt and pepper. Grill until crisp-tender. Then wrap in prosciutto (8 or so stalks at a time) with the other blended ingredients. Yummy! A fine side dish for a meal.

Beef? He begins with describing how to grill steak perfectly, the base recipe, so to speak. Then, he provides variations, such as creating sauces such as horseradish or balsamic-rosemary sauces. I spent my days in graduate school in Buffalo, New York, so I was especially intrigued by his "Spicy Buffalo style burger with celery-carrot slaw and blue cheese dressing." That is, he reinvents Buffalo chicken wings as a grilled burger. I haven't tried this yet, but I sure am interested in experimenting with this when I get the chance.

In the section on chicken, he begins, once more, with a base recipe, "Perfectly grilled chicken breast." After this, a series of variations on the base recipe or other recipes entirely. What about "Apple-ginger glazed chicken"? "Sweet and sour grilled chicken"?

And on it goes. Sections on grilling pork, corn, fruit, lamb, shrimp, scallops, tuna, and so on.

As I can tell from the front material, Flay has written other grilling books. I don't know if any recipes are repeated here or not. But I can say that this set of recipes looks pretty tempting. And the few grilled dishes that I have tried thus far have not disappointed.

Since this product was purchased as a gift, in July, I have no review.
Sorry about that. Norm

Bobby Flay's Grill It!
This book is excellent and exciting to read! I like the way 'Grill-It' is organized - by food item. The recipes are easy with limited, but choice ingredients. This cookbook will motivate anyone to get out the grill and fire it up!!!

My husband loves to watch Flay's boy meets grill and we have tried several recipes. This Grill Book is along those same lines. He got it for Father's Day and spent the next hour looking through the recipes of what he can make on the grill. There is a variety of dishes that have broad appeal and definitely more than 3-4 that we would make over and over again. I'm looking forward to some great cookouts this summer.

Not a bad book. There are some very helpful hints. Lots of oil is used, though, and makes me wonder why the fat/calorie contents aren't listed. This could have been easily done, but people would be disturbed at some of the calorie counts. The answer is obvious then. Good graphics.

"MESA" is by far Flay's best cook book, but there again the calorie thing raises a red flag. "HEAT" is also a good book, as well is "FINE DINING MADNESS." Also suggested is "An Omnivore's Dilema."