Bobby Flay isn't always in the kitchen. The Beat Bobby Flay and Bobby's Triple Threat host also spends ample time writing down his recipes to share with the world — and, lucky for us, that includes Bobby Flay: Chapter One.

Digging Into Bobby Flay: Chapter One

Bobby Flay: Chapter One is one of Bobby's most iconic cookbooks to date. The culinary powerhouse was so passionate about this project that he texted Food Network Obsessed host Jaymee Sire to ask to come on the podcast and discuss the book ahead of publication.

When Jaymee asked him why this book was so monumental for Bobby, he was quick to share.

“Well, I mean, first of all, this is my first big coffee table book,” he began. “This book has heft to it, you know what I'm saying? … It feels substantial, and it is substantial. There's a hundred recipes in here that are, you know, a hundred of my most important recipes of my career, based on restaurants."

Bobby Flay: Chapter One provides feasts for the stomach — and for the eyes. The top-rated cookbook is handsome enough to sit on a coffee table or leave out on your kitchen counter between meals. The cover features four vibrant dishes embossed against an inky background — and that’s just a taste of the imagery to come. The book includes 100 of Bobby's most pivotal recipes from his career, complete with striking full-page photographs of each dish, courtesy of photographer Johnny Miller.

“Every single recipe has a full-page color photo. It is a gorgeous book,” Bobby said. “I don't want it to just go up on a shelf among the rest. I want it to be part of their furniture. That's the goal.”

“That's so interesting because you kind of just described it as a coffee table book, but is it a cookbook or is it a memoir? Is it both?” Jaymee inquired.

“It's definitely a cookbook,” Bobby responded. “But I've written a bunch of essays to give the book itself some real texture as a whole, but also to kind of talk about the recipes and why they're important to me.

“There's essays about every single restaurant I've ever owned, some of the shows that I've done as well. And you get a really sort of behind-the-scenes of how my career has kind of, you know, been part of my entire life up until this point.

“And, you know, the title of the book, Chapter One, I mean, it's supposed to be thought-evoking, right? I mean, that's the whole point. And the bottom line is, it's like, OK, this is what I've done up until now. But I'm just getting started.”

Recipe Selection

“Well, as you mentioned, you've already done so much in your career,” Jaymee began. “What was the process like, you know, curating which of these moments, which recipes were going to make it into the book?

“Yeah, I mean, a hundred recipes is a lot of recipes, but for the body of my work in terms of recipes, it's very small,” he said. “I have thousands of recipes in my Dropbox, in my sort of library of recipes. So these hundred — it was hard to pick the hundred — but these hundred are really important to me. And I've updated them for today's cooking, because some of them have been around for a couple of decades, actually, you know? And, so, like everything, everything needs a little touch-up.”

The Ingredients for Success

Bobby’s secret ingredient for success? Working with the right people. “I do want to say that I assembled what I consider a real dream team here,” he said.

Bobby sought out the help of three powerhouses to bring this project to life: world-class photographer Johnny Miller, designer Su Barber and food stylist Susan Spungen. And to convince them to work with him, he did what any world-renowned chef would do — he cooked for them.

“Because I hadn't worked with all three of them, I brought them all together before we started, like about a month or two before we started,” he shared. “I brought them to my house, and I cooked them all lunch. And we sat around and we ate my food and we talked. We had some wine for about three hours.

“I had this incredibly important project that I've been looking forward to basically my entire career,” he continued. “And I was like, ‘I am not going to let this fail. I'm not going to I'm not going to be unhappy with this product.’ So, what do I do? I use the tool that's the most important thing to me, which is my cooking. And I cook for everybody to get them in the right place and get them into the right mind frame.”

And to no one’s surprise, Bobby’s home-cooked meal sealed the deal.

“We all got each other excited about the other one to work on this thing. And there is something about an energy that creates and produces a work like this that you can't put your finger on. And every single one of them said to me at the end of the lunch, nobody's ever done this before.

“Together, we kind of, you know, made this sort of art come to life. It's a real team effort.”

Location, Location, Location

Bobby’s hometown of New York City, and some of his most cherished eateries there, serve as inspiring backdrops throughout the book. One of those places being J.G. Melon.

“I'm a native New Yorker. And so I wanted this to be … I wanted this to feel like my home … J.G. Melon opened in 1974 when I was eight years old — and I've been going there ever since.

“It's my cheeseburger. It's my go-to cheeseburger. Always has been my entire life. You know, J.G. Melon was definitely the catalyst for me opening Bobby's Burgers. You know, it's like there's something about that burger that is just so crave-able.

“That burger alone made me a burger guy like that. Like my go-to thing when I'm craving something is a cheeseburger. It's because of J.G. Melon. So, J.G. Melon has an amazing, you know, it's been an amazing part of my life.”

Another locale? Wolfgang’s Steakhouse.

“I spent a lot of time there on Sunday nights when I wanted a New York City-style meal. It's not the most intricate meal in the world. It's very simple. It's porterhouse steak, creamed spinach, some crusty German potatoes, maybe some shrimp cocktail, maybe a martini or a glass of wine. It's a perfect meal. I mean, that's something that never goes out of style. I love the place, all of the people that work there. It's really terrific.”

Take a Seat at Bobby's Table

You don’t need to throw on your apron to enjoy Bobby’s flavors at home. Head to Bobby’s Burgers and sink your teeth into one of his expertly crafted cheeseburgers, sandwiches, shakes and sides.

And be sure to make a reservation at Brasserie B Parisian Steakhouse during your next Vegas getaway. Bobby’s go-to brunch item on the menu? “Eggs Royale, which is basically smoked salmon Benedict with salmon caviar.”