Bobby Flay's Throwdown! with Stephanie Banyas and Miriam Garron

Bobby Flay's Throwdown! is a companion cookbook to Bobby's TV show on Food Network. The book offers a selection of recipes from the show as well as information about the episodes. There's also an episode guide and a introduction written by the author.

This is a great book and a great companion to the TV show. Throwdown! has been around for several seasons, but I just started watching recently. The premise of the show is quite simple. Each week, Flay competes against another cook who has a signature dish and is well known in their communities for that dish.

In the book, each "episode" is introduced with information about the competitor (along with contact information) and the food. I especially love that both recipes are represented with the winner of the Throwdown! clearly marked. There are also large, clear, appealing photographs of the completed dishes and the competitors.

I haven't tried any of the recipes yet because I can't decide which one to try first. They all look so good. Another reason I haven't made anything yet is that these recipes are not simple. If you've familiar with Flay's recipes, you'll know that he loves big, bold flavours (as do I) and uses lots of ingredients or specialty ingredients to achieve get them. After I decide which recipe to try first, I'm going to have to go shopping.

The flyleaf invites readers to make both recipes and choose a favourite or to challenge friends and family in their own throwdowns. That might be kind of fun.

The table of contents is pretty basic. It lists the Throwdown! theme (i.e. lasagna) and the page number. The index looks good and should aid in finding the recipes. It not only has the recipes under the name, but also under different categories. For Cheesecake, can also be found under "cakes". There are also some ingredient categories, such as coconut, lobster, black beans etc, under which recipes are listed.

Highly recommended. I'm definitely going to get good use out of this cookbook.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the Random House website.

For more information about the author and his other books and activities, please visit Bobby Flay's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people from The Recipe Club on Facebook for holding a giveaway and for sending me this book. For more information about "The Recipe Club", see their Facebook page or their website.

Bobby Flay's Throwdown! by Bobby Flay, Clarkson Potter/Publishers (Crown Publishing (Random House)), ©2010. ISBN 9780307719164(Hardcover), 272p.