The unbeatable Bobby Flay shares his kitchen secrets in new cookbook

Chef Bobby Flay is everywhere. The 29th play of his amusement conscionable started, coinciding with the merchandise of his caller cookbook, his Thanksgiving paper precocious popped up successful the Williams-Sonoma email blast and each Tuesday helium hosts a podcast with his girl called “Always Hungry.”

You amended get up beauteous aboriginal successful the greeting to “Beat Bobby Flay,” the rubric of his amusement and caller cookbook. The Food Network superstar rises astatine 5:30 each time to enactment retired due to the fact that helium believes staying successful signifier helps him execute astatine his highest successful the room — and he’s got the way grounds to beryllium it.

In circular 1 of “Beat Bobby Flay,” 2 chefs vie for the accidental to situation him. In circular 2, our leader wins 70 percent of the time. And that’s shooting 2 shows a time successful marathons of 100 episodes.

Dude has ever been driven. At 8 years aged helium asked for an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas. Dad thought helium ought to get a G.I. Joe. But the kid badgered Santa truthful overmuch helium got both. His folks couldn’t cognize his cooking would pb to fame and luck but someway small Bobby indispensable person sensed it.

Seems he’s ever been assured successful his talent, with the swagger of an East Coast rapper minus the arrogance, which mightiness explicate his off-the-charts popularity. Born and raised successful New York City, helium dropped retired of schoolhouse astatine 17 and started moving astatine a pizza joint, astatine Baskin-Robbins and past astatine celeb hangout Joe Allen Restaurant successful Manhattan, wherever Flay’s begetter was a partner. Allen recognized Flay’s talent. He paid the young man’s tuition astatine the French Culinary Institute.

Aside from a abbreviated stint astatine the American Stock Exchange, Flay’s been connected the culinary accelerated track: James Beard awards, Emmys, archetypal culinary prima connected the Hollywood Walk of Fame — the database goes on. Always competitive, helium bushed Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto astatine his ain crippled successful a rematch betwixt the 2 successful Japan.

Today, Flay owns dozens of  restaurants, including Amalfi successful Las Vegas, Gato successful New York, and Bobby’s Burger Palace, with 19 U.S. locations. His nett worthy connected the tell-all websites? Around $30 million.

Now comes “Beat Bobby Flay,” a cookbook book chock afloat of advice, similar 10 tips called “In It To Win It!” and recipes divulging his “arsenal” of stocks, sauces, doughs and more. He fundamentally spells retired precisely however his opponents tin summation implicit vantage implicit him.

We caught up with Flay to find retired however the publication came unneurotic and wherefore helium decided to springiness distant truthful galore of his room secrets.

Q.  Your caller publication is simply a cheat expanse connected winning the show. Why are you being truthful generous to your competitors?

A. I created the amusement based connected 2 things I emotion to do, which is hanging retired with my friends and cooking. Obviously it’s a competition, truthful there’s winning and losing, but to me, that’s not the astir important thing.

Q. Really?

A. The astir important happening is to springiness immoderate radical who person ne'er had a signifier earlier a accidental to amusement what they’re capable to do, and there’s immoderate affable contention wrong it. But it’s fun! I mean, it’s not beingness oregon death, we’re cooking food.

Q. The book’s sharply designed and your penning tin beryllium LOL funny. You privation to springiness a shout-out to your team?

A. I person an astonishing photographer, and past I person radical that assistance maine cod the recipes. This is simply a precise antithetic publication than I’ve done before. Because they’re done connected the fly, to interruption down the recipes for the cookbook, we had to spell backmost and ticker the tapes.

Q. How did you find the time?

A. I’ve written 16 books now. So, penning is portion of what I bash connected a daily, weekly, monthly basis. Like, I’ll  person to constitute 12 headnotes by adjacent week, truthful I enactment myself connected a schedule.

Q. Deadlines! When bash you write?

A. I’m decidedly a greeting person. I bash my champion enactment earlier noon.

Q. Back to the photography, it’s glorious.

A. That was done astatine my house. It was a grueling schedule, doing possibly 15 shots a day. And there’s a batch of prep that goes into that process: the styling, cooking each the food, past shooting. The lensman is Ed Anderson and I’ve utilized him connected my past 5 books oregon something. He’s truly terrific.

Q. There are tons of tricks successful this publication and immoderate surprises. The Thai-Style Chicken is skewered aft it’s cooked truthful you’re not looking at  burnt skewers. And the recipes are not ever the winners. How was that decided?

A. There wasn’t truly immoderate benignant of agelong decision-making. We conscionable wanted to amusement a clump of antithetic cuisines, a clump of antithetic chefs. I’ve done implicit 500 episodes. Clearly we’re not going to beryllium capable to enactment 1,000 dishes successful my book. And truthful we had to commencement somewhere.

Q. I’m successful awe of your enactment with chilies. The cascabels successful the pudding for the Spiced Chocolate Cream Pies were fruity, not excessively spicy. The blend of ancho, guajillo, chipotle and New Mexico powders successful the Vegetable Chili added depth. Where did you larn astir the antithetic personalities of the chilies and however not to pain our palates? 

A. I’ve been cooking Southwestern nutrient for decades, fundamentally my full career. There’s nary substitute for acquisition erstwhile it comes to chili peppers.

Q. Nerd level burger question: What’s the woody with scooping retired the mediate of the bun? Is it to support it from getting soggy?

A. No, no, no, no, no. That’s a large question.That’s due to the fact that I privation the ratio of breadstuff to burger to beryllium correct, arsenic opposed to letting the bun get successful the mode of the spirit of the burger itself.

Q. On to much cook stuff: one of our section chefs who won “Cutthroat Kitchen” went connected your show. She lost, but had precocious praise for however BBF runs. Do you get a transcript of the competitor’s look up of time?

A. No, I don’t. The producers cognize what it is due to the fact that they person to marque definite that they person nutrient acceptable for that recipe. They archer maine the crockery and that’s erstwhile I determine what I’m going to do. We person tons of ingredients, astir of the clip I tin propulsion from the pantry. But sometimes, if determination is thing we don’t have, we virtually person radical waiting successful stores to get a telephone telephone and bring it backmost successful 5 oregon 10 minutes. After I get challenged, it’s astir a 10- oregon 15-minute interruption wherever we person to crook the cameras astir and person each the ingredients acceptable to go. The timer goes disconnected and it’s 45 minutes of consecutive cooking.

Q. I’ve work determination are astatine slightest 200 ingredients in the pantry and I judge it due to the fact that erstwhile my niece was a gofer connected “BBQ Brawl” successful Austin she said they got to raid it aft the acceptable struck. 

A. We don’t privation that nutrient to spell to waste, truthful we springiness it to the staff. I emotion it excessively due to the fact that I’m ever looking for spices I don’t person astatine home.

Q. Tell america astir immoderate of your personage contestants. You’ve had Marcus Samuelsson, Anne Burrell, Alex Guarnaschelli and others.

A. People cognize them the champion due to the fact that they’re portion of the Food Network family. So it’s ever fun. Usually they don’t privation to compete. They privation to justice oregon co-host, which I get. They’re like, “We don’t privation to enactment that hard.” But listen, they bring their champion crippled and they privation to bushed maine and they really person a precise bully grounds against me. They’re truthful focused.

Q. Any anecdotes?

A. Anne is astir apt the astir competitory and she is simply a large cook, a large chef. She went up against me, she picked cheesecake, and she knows desserts aren’t my No. 1 strength. So she was truly astute astir it. She bushed maine handily.

Q. That recipe’s successful the book! So, what’s next? 

A. We’ve conscionable opened a caller edifice successful Las Vegas called Amalfi which is each astir my existent obsession with Italy and that’s gone really, truly well. And I’m penning a publication based connected my Sunday dinners with my girl Sophie.

Q. Is she successful the industry?

A. No, she’s a broadcast writer for ABC. The book’s astir location cooking basically. So I’ve been moving connected that publication arsenic this 1 is coming out.

Q. Lastly, you’ve travel truthful far, from the lad with the Easy-Bake Oven to millionaire TV star.  What bash you privation to beryllium champion remembered for?

A. I privation to beryllium champion remembered for helping Americans deliberation astir however to provender their families. I’m truly arrogant of the information that I’ve been an power connected however America eats implicit the past 2 oregon 3 decades. During the pandemic, I got a batch of notes from radical saying convey you truthful overmuch for being determination for us. We’re each astatine location trying to fig retired however to provender our families based connected recipes oregon videos oregon whatever. I got truly bully notes astir however adjuvant that’s been.

‘Beat Bobby Flay’

Author: Bobby Flay with Stephanie Banyas and Sally Jackson

Publisher: Clarkson Potter

Price: $32.50.  Available astatine Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Powells.com, IndieBound.org.