Chef Bobby Flay looks back at the dishes that made him a star in new cookbook
NEW YORK — Bobby Flay's latest cookbook is really a sort of recipe for how Bobby Flay was made.
The chef, restaurateur and TV personality has compiled 100 of his most important dishes into a lush, beautifully photographed coffee table book he hopes will inspire home cooks.
“This is certainly my most important book to me and I think is going to be my most important book to people who consider themselves my readers,” Flay says.
“Bobby Flay: Chapter One: Iconic Recipes and Inspirations from a Groundbreaking American Chef,” has dishes from his restaurants like Mesa Grill, Bolo, Bar Americain and Gato, and his epic runs on “Iron Chef.”
“Interestingly enough, when I was going through the database of all these thousands of recipes, they popped out at me immediately,” he says.
Three dishes from Mesa Grill that stayed on its menu from the time the restaurant opened in 1991 to when it closed 26 years later — including Shrimp and Roasted Garlic Tamale — made the book. As did Steamed Baby Clams with Saffron-Tomato Broth and Scallion Croutons from Bolo and an “Iron Chef” stunner — Curried Fried Chicken with Charred Lime.
The book is broken up into just three sections — seafood, meat and vegetables — with Flay avoiding making a chronology of dishes for fear of confusing readers. All have been updated to reflect today's ingredients and techniques.
“What I want people to do is, even though it’s this beautiful sort of coffee table book, I do want them to use it either by cooking from it directly or being inspired by it,” he says.
“So when somebody says, ‘I want to cook fish tonight, I got that Bobby Flay cookbook, let me open to the fish section’ — that’s going to inspire them.”
Most illuminating are the eight essays Flay wrote that describe a career that has won four Daytime Emmys, multiple James Beard Awards and the honor of cooking a state dinner for President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Readers will learn that Flay struggled at school — although smart, he had a learning disability — and a turning point came when he was a temporary busboy leaving his last shift at the restaurant Joe Allen and the chef asked if he wanted a job in the kitchen.
"I didn’t know that I wanted to cook for a living. I was 17 years old or something. I was just like, 'Well, I don’t have anything to do today. I don’t know where my friends are, so fine. Like, where do I find an apron?’”
Flay, soon turning 60, learned he had to work with his hands to be inspired and food unlocked something in him. It is, he says, how he shares his love.
“I remember waking up one morning a handful of months after I started working, laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. And I’m like, ‘I can’t wait to go to work today,’” he recalls. “I never felt that feeling before.”
Flay hit the ground running, soon working for Jonathan Waxman at Bud's, reborn as a red-headed Irish-American New Yorker loving the food of Southwest and Mexico. As he traveled his repertoire grew — Spanish, Italian and French.
“I am always thrilled to see somebody cooking something interesting. I get inspired by it,” he says. “Let’s face it: We’re watching what everybody else is doing. I mean, you can’t just sit in a room and just come up with a brand new cuisine.”
Flay also became a Food Network star, hosting such shows as “Grillin’ & Chillin’” and “Boy Meets Grill” and competition shows like “Bobby’s Triple Threat” and “Beat Bobby Flay,” which has a new holiday-themed series this year featuring Marcus Samuelsson, Eric Adjepong and Brooke Williamson.
Not all his food became iconic, like his liberal use of Calabrian chilies. When he opened Bolo, he created what he believed would be its signature dish — a paella with duck and lobster. His staff weren't so sure, but he insisted. The New York Times critic would later rave about Bolo but said of the paella that the lobster "looks as if it fell into the dish and wonders how it is ever going to get out.”
Flay credits many people for his success, saying food is a collaborative field. Take his Lamb Shank with Toasted Orzo, Roasted Garlic and Oven-Dried Tomato. He says chef Tom Valenti was one of the first to serve lamb shanks in the city and Flay's twist was to add orzo, making a comforting winter dish. A food writer later offered a tip: toast the orzo in a dry pan to give it a nutty flavor.
“I did it and it worked and it was amazing and people loved it,” he says. “The food world is a wonderful place because it’s helmed by people who are generous with their thoughts and their experience.”
Flay loves the camaraderie of the kitchen and the challenge and is tired of hearing negativity about the restaurant business. “Listen, it gave somebody like me a life, forget about a career,” he says.
“You’ll see on shows like ‘The Bear’ and stuff like that that it’s not so much about how much gratification the customer gets. It’s more about the battle and the challenge to get through the evening and work alongside people and get something good on the plate.”