Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook: Explosive Flavors from the Southwestern Kitchen

This is one of my new favorites. The results have been extremely good. Some recipes are relatively fast to make while the super tasty duck taco recipe involves making 3 different sauces. However, once some of the sauces are made, they can be frozen and used in other recipes shortening the cooking time. Some of the green sauces work really well on salads. The ingredients are authentic and readily available in my home town of Houston. The use of blue cornmeal in pancakes give a great text and flavor boost along with visual appeal. The green pea soup green chile soup is excellent, but it appears that the mint-cumin crema calls for way too much cumin, especially compared to other version of the cumin crema in the book. Although some recipes take some effort, the results are worth and will impress your dinner guests. I'm working my way through the various recipes.

I had never heard of Bobby Flay, and regret not knowing about the restaurant on our Vegas trips. We planned a week of dinners from this cookbook, and so far, each recipe has been wonderful and bursting with flavor. You do have to plan on spending some time with the recipes. We have spent an average of 2 hours a night creating each meal (with side dishes), but they have been worth every second. This cookbook is quickly becoming our favorite and we would recommend it to anyone that doesn't mind spending a little extra time creating a memorable meal.

Having been a customer at the Mesa Grill, I was anxious to read the book and see if I could do some of the food at home. Each recipe has a small note written by the author giving some background or suggestion about it. Each of the dishes have detailed and easy to follow instructions so anyone can prepare them and have it come out like they should. The only problem someone might have is if they do not have access to some ingredients in their local area, but a creative cook can subsititute. A VERY GOOD BOOK, WELL WRITTEN.

Being a Bobby Flay fan (I've had great experiences at all of his NYC restaurants and love Iron Chef/Boy Meets Grill), I knew I wanted this cookbook the minute it came out. But the moment I flipped through the pages, my expectations were totally exceeded--beautiful, full-page color photos incite you with every recipe (prompting a determined "I want to make that!), and tons of useful southwestern-cooking tips/tricks are spread throughout, including a chile pepper guide and tons of sauce/relish preparations. It seems like almost every recipe in here is either a dish at Mesa Grill or something Flay has created for Iron Chef America, and once you're finished making any recipe, this becomes obvious just because it's all so delicious! I've made probably around 20 of the recipes in this cookbook, and each time the result was simple; completely cleaned plates all around the table. This includes Thanksgiving, where I made an all-Flay meal for about 15 people, complete with his maple and ancho-glazed roast turkey with a roasted garlic/cilantro gravy and a mango cranberry relish, sweet potato gratin, green onion smashed potatoes, and the gorgonzola, apple and toasted walnut salad with a spicy orange vinaigrette. All was a huge hit. Whether or not you're a Bobby Flay "fan," perse, I would do yourself a favor and pick up this cookbook--you will learn tons about American cooking, Mexican cooking, and the orchestration of flavors (Flay's signature seems to be the balance of sweet and spicy--you will first taste the sweet elements, then your tongue will dance with heat). Not to mention all the great sauces, glazes, rubs and reductions that are dabbled throughout--there is even a fantastic margarita section, giving you everything from the "classic," to a pink cactus-pear version, to my favorite, a pineapple-chile margarita. Good Stuff!!!!!!

I just finished the Thanksgiving turkey on the Big Green Egg and it was wonderful. So was the Mango Cranberry Relish. I have tried three dishes so far and they were great. You may have to do some searching for ingredients