Guy Fieri Food: Cookin' It, Livin' It, Lovin' It
For his very first cookbook, dynamic celebrity chef Guy Fieri has conjured up a cookbook that is as energetic and fun as he is. Filled with whimsical illustrations, photographs that leap off the page, and poignant stories about his family and first restaurant, this is a cookbook you can really dive into and either read and go along for the wild ride, or cook from.
I wish I had had kids because I would have a ball making meals for and with them from this book. It is family cooking, only fun-style. It's not lasagna night, it is Dirty Bird Sketti night. It is not rice pudding for dessert, it's S'more Pizza! See what I mean?!
Action hero on the television translates well into this cookbook, designed to exquisitely match his persona and style of cooking. From the over the top layout, to the recipe titles, fonts, to stories about his childhood---all convey the spirit and personality of the chef in a superb way---one of the best matches I have seen in any cookbook. There is no doubt in your mind whose cookbook this is!
I loved the story called "From France to Flambe Captain", how he first became enamored with restaurant cooking when he watched two guys cooking table-side with flambe carts. I heard the identical story years ago from a three star chef in England, who said he had been walking by a fancy restaurant one day in Lyon, France and saw through the window a waiter cooking from a flambe cart--and knew then he was in love with the theater and elegance of it all.
What kind of food is in the cookbook? Guy Fieri food. A little Italian, a little Mexican, influences from old France and New Orleans. Whatever he is in love with in terms of flavor he makes. He takes it all and makes it his. Love that.
Guy Fieri's Maui Onion Straws
Makes 4 cups
Ingredients:
1 quart Canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fine sea salt
2 teaspoons paprika
3 cups 1/8 inch slices (cut into half moons, not rings) Vidalia onions
Method:
1. In a medium heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil to 350 degrees F.
2. Whisk together the eggs and milk in a medium bowl. Mix the flour, cayenne, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and salt in another bowl.
3. Soak the onions in the egg-milk mixture for 10 minutes. Shake the excess liquid from 4 or 5 onion slices at a time and dredge them in the flour mixture. Add them to the oil and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining onion slices.
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