Cooking and Food Software Books

I love this book for the meals it has inspired. With a few exceptions, the proportions are pretty strange in this book. Everything must be tasted and tested for consistency, texture, and flavor.

The photos are gorgeous, and with some tweaking all of the recipes I've tried have been absolutely mind-blowing!

We have tried many recipes from this book, and haven't been pleased with any of them. They turn out OK, but I expected more complex flavors and better textures from Bobby Flay recipes. I know people who have eaten at his restaurant in New York and were very impressed, so obviously he isn't publishing his best recipes. I wouldn't buy another of his cookbooks.

Catch Bobby's show for a month, visit his web site and print a few recipes and you'll have this book already. No need to purchase, nothing new or exciting in here just a few of his vinagrettes, sauces and spiced up main courses. This book was a waste of my money. I had hoped he'd discuss technique and not just cram the book full of recipes I'd already seen him create on the show.

The first cookbook by Chef Bobby Flay. Here is an wonderful book that shows what an excellent Southwestern-style chef he is.

This book contains explanations to some of his ingredients, as well as techniques to use, when using an ingredient, for example, using yellow tomatoes versus red tomatoes. He, also, adds resources where you can find some of his hard-to-find ingredients. This is a definite plus, as a lot of the chiles are hard-to-find in my area, but so worth the effort, because once you assemble the recipe, it is SO delicious! You just can't believe it.

I tried a few of these recipes on my husband, who has a distinct taste that is hard to please, to say the least, and he has loved each recipe I have made from this book. Favorites of ours are the Pan Seared New York Steak with Chipotle Butter, Caesar Salad with Red Chile Croutons and the Peach & Blueberry Cobbler!

In addition to writing cookbooks, Bobby Flay hosts three television shows on the Food Network: "Food Nation with Bobby Flay", "Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay" and "Grillin' and Chillin'".

"Food Nation" is a tour of the United States in the least likely spots, where Bobby Flay explores the cuisine of that area. Spots visited have been the Pennsylvania Dutch country, Kentucky, Nashville and Boston.

"Hot Off the Grill" shows Bobby Flay assemble meals with some volunteers that may be like the more average at-home cook, showing me, how easy these dishes really are to prepare.

"Grillin' and Chillin'" has only been on during barbecue season (that I have noticed), but shows Bobby Flay with Jack McDavid, a real southern cook. Together they barbecue huge spreads all on the grill!

Bobby Flay also has his own line of spice and condiments. A wide assortment from dry rubs, drink mixes, infused oils and spice blends. These are available to purchase at his "Mesa Grill" web site: www.mesagrill.com

Also, he owns and works at two restaurants in New York City: "Mesa Grill" (Southwestern cuisine) and "Bolo" (Contemporary Spanish cuisine).

I thoroughly enjoyed this cookbook and would highly recommend it!

I've been a fan of Bobby Flay's cooking shows on TV for a few years. He makes cooking a way to have fun and socialize while not taking away from the true art of cooking. So, after eyeing this book on the shelves for a few months, my sweet wife ordered it for me online.

This book is a winner! In it you'll find many fresh applications of the wonderful flavors of the southwest. For the most part, the recipes are straightforward and easy to follow. It's amazing how far you can go with just a few basic ingredients (Chile, corn, onion, garlic, etc.) In addition to learning lots of specific recipes, Bobby also gives you a great feeling for how to improvise and come up with your own bold creations. I just cooked my first few recipes from the book (New Mexico BBQ Salmon, chipotle buttered roasted corn), and they came out great!

P.S. As an extra bonus, the book is filled with lots of beautiful color photos of the dishes. It's all very artistic.

I received this book in excellent condition. It arrived one day earlier than expected, which was great. I would definitely order again from this vendor and I actually am placing another order today.

The print quality of this book is awful. It is barely readable.

0 Stars!The Book of Yields: Accuracy in Food Costing and Purchasing

This is an excellent book for any chef or food and beverage manager looking to save time while maintaining accuracy of food cost work sheets. Contains a lot of food yield tables as well as many excellent examples of worksheets that you can use. Money well spent to save time.

We have used this guide as a base reference for making drink recipes for the past 4 very successful years. Our best selling drinks are from recipes in this book. I would recommend the book to any new coffee shop owner, unless you're a Starbuck's (aka Mcdonalds espresso bar)

I'm not sure why the first reviewer was so disgruntled with this book. I am a long time coffee lover and brewer. I have served many kinds of coffee/espresso drinks to many people and recieved rave reviews. This book is highly entertaining. The Author teaches you about the "coffee culture" of Seattle and fills page after page with tidbits of trivia that coffee fans will find thoroughly entertaining. I am an avid reader, but also very selective and had no trouble reading this book straight through. For those of you who've stood at the coffee bar and asked,"What's the difference between a cappuccino and a macchiato?" this book will clear the air. He diagrams and plainly explains the exact makeup of each titled coffee drink. He even covers techniques for "decorating" the coffee before you serve it. There is a chapter of 123 pages of nothing but espresso drink recipes (incorporating liquers and flavored syrups) and Italian sodas. Each are listed alphabetically by their name (and some very creative ones, I might add). Also, each page contains between 7 and 8 recipes. If you love to try new things, this will give you tons of ideas. The next part of the book is filled with more creative ideas, brewing tips, trivia of coffee and how it's taken throughout the world and information on brewing with a variety of different private and commercial machines. Altogether, this is an excellent book. I believe it deserves more than 5 stars, but that's all they gave me.

This is one of the worst guides that I have in my collection of specialty coffee books. I rarely pull this book off of the shelf because it is just so poorly laid out. Some of the beverage recipes are good but for the most part I thought that this book was a waste of my time and money. Most syrup manufacturers will give you free recipes that are much better than the ones presented in this text. There are so many other well-written texts on the subject that if I knew then what I know now I would have skipped purchasing this book and saved my money for one of the better guides.

We have used this guide as a base reference for making drink recipes for the past 4 very successful years. Our best selling drinks are from recipes in this book. I would recommend the book to any new coffee shop owner, unless you're a Starbuck's (aka Mcdonalds espresso bar)

for anyone attempting to learn about espresso drinks, go somewhere else. This book will insure that you perpetuate the practice of making lousy coffee which has become quite popular in this country. There are some very well informed books out there, and this is not one of them. Save this one for the starbucks crowd.

I felt this product was not satisfactory because it informed from a biased viewpoint. The solutions given by the author do not cover many routes to a solution, just what works for them. For instance, Macintosh and Unix systems are not covered in the computer section, just Windows. The advantages of knowing other solutions can save money for a potential business owner!

This software is so poorly designed that it can not be used effectively. There are no tools or editing features and the accesses for menues or menu items is extremely limited. In short, the item is a waste of one's money. There is no way I could recommend it to anyone.