FWPL: Bobby Flay's THROWDOWN!

A famous chef walks into an eatery and says, "Hey, prepare your signature dish and let's see if I can make a variation worth televising." That, in essence, is the concept behind Throwdown! the Food Network reality show that premiered in 2006, the fifth of seven Flay vehicles to appear on the network. This companion volume is one part recap and one part cookbook. For true fans of the show, Flay recounts each episode in his trademark cocky prose ("I heat things up with Jamaican jerk jockey Nigel Spence") and in doing so provides a tasty travelogue of eateries, from Asian dumplings at the Good Fork in Brooklyn, N.Y., to chile cheeseburgers at the Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio, Tex. Whether by accident or by design, his cook-off lineup is a treasure trove of comfort food. Meatloaf, mac 'n' cheese, wings, lasagna, cupcakes, and matzo ball soup are all in the battle: 51 items in total, with Flay and a competing chef each providing their own recipe, for a total of 102 recipes. The author has never met a dish that he didn't want to sauce, and this proclivity is much in evidence, including a black pepper vinegar sauce over pulled pork and a balsamic glaze over a roasted vegetable meatloaf.

Bobby Flay's Throwdown! /
by Flay, Bobby, Banyas, Stephanie, Garron, Miriam., Food Network (Firm)
	New York : Clarkson Potter, c2010. Edition: 1st ed. Description: 272 p. : col. ill. ; 27 cm. Notes: Includes index. "More than 100 recipes from Food Network's ultimate cooking challenge."

FWPL: The Cadillac Bar in Nuevo Laredo

I love the surprises that the Fort Worth Public Library affords me on a daily basis. Case in point, the last cookbook I picked up (I always judge books by their covers) completely blew me away with an entire chapter about Frozen Margaritas and the Cadillac Bar in Nuevo Laredo. In days of yore when border towns were the perfect weekend getaway for Texicans wishing to augment their purchasing power, The Cadillac Bar provided a perfect place where your body would give out long before your wallet. The back bar mirror claimed that the Sazerac and the Ramos Gin Fizz were invented there yet the menu's heavy reliance upon New Orleans fare (shrimp creole, frog's legs, and crab Newburg) belied original owner Mayo Bessan's time served as a New Orleans waiter. It has been a few years since I have visited Nuevo Laredo ( I don't own any Kevlar) but it certainly did stir the memories and awaken my longing for some shots of plata.


The Tex-Mex grill and backyard barbacoa cookbook /by Walsh, Robb, 1952-




Beginning Tex-Mex cooks will enjoy the introduction to grills, tools you'll need, fuels, starting a fire, how to tell when it's done, and grill seasoning. In addition to lists like "Five Cool Mariachi Requests," "Top 10 Texas Microbrewery Beers," and "Houston's Top 5 Taco Trucks," Walsh (The Tex-Mex Cookbook) shares a large selection of salsas, rubs, margaritas, fajitas, tacos, burgers, and guacamole. Adventurous tailgaters are sure to enjoy Atomic Deer Turds, with jalapeno peppers, cheese, and venison sausage. With a chili glossary and online resources. Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal Review

Chili-heads and grill jockeys are likely already familiar with Texas food writer and James Beard Award-winner Walsh, author of volumes (like Legends of Texas Barbecue) that have become textbooks of outdoor cooking. His latest, a kind of sequel to 2004's Tex-Mex Cookbook, is no exception. As in previous volumes, Walsh begins each chapter with a compulsively readable narrative overview of a particular style, region or dish (margaritas, tailgating, taco trucks, fajitas, etc.), followed by a number of recipes illustrating the possibilities of each. Walsh keeps the formula fresh by rolling up his sleeves and digging deep for the secrets of fajita steak (including trips to the butcher and the meat fabricator), the origins of the taco truck phenomenon, and the delicacy that is Texas-style barbacoa-at its purest, barbecued cattle head-with infectious curiosity and enthusiasm. Walsh's prose is balanced with smoky, classic Tex-Mex recipes begging for a turn: the classic bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dog; the Tortaburger, a hybrid of the traditional Mexican sandwich that serves a beef patty on Telera bread with fried eggs and refried beans on top; and the must-try Beef Short Ribs in Ancho-Molasses Sauce. Those looking for variety will find it in Ancho-Root Beer Hot Wings and Grapefruit Chicken Fajitas, Chile Grilled Pineapple, and condiments like Grilled Tomato Hot Sauce and Texas Red Grapefruit Salsa. (May) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
Publisher Weekly

Review

I Love Me Some BOURDAIN at the FORT WORTH PUBLIC LIBRARY

Medium raw : a bloody valentine to the world of food and the people who cook /
by Bourdain, Anthony
	New York : Ecco Press, 2010. Edition: 1st ed. Description: xviii, 281 p. ; 24 cm. Summary: Tracking his own strange and unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-traveling professional eater and drinker, and even to fatherhood, Bourdain takes no prisoners as he dissects what he's seen, pausing along the way for a series of confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food.

FWPL - Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition



A brilliant, authoritative, and fascinating history of America's most puzzling era, the years 1920 to 1933, when the U.S. Constitution was amended to restrict one of America's favorite pastimes: drinking alcoholic beverages. From its start, America has been awash in drink. The sailing vessel that brought John Winthrop to the shores of the New World in 1630 carried more beer than water. By the 1820s, liquor flowed so plentifully it was cheaper than tea. That Americans would ever agree to relinquish their booze was as improbable as it was astonishing.