Food Network Favorites: Recipes from Our All-Star Chefs [Paperback]

I love to cook. I am an excellent cook. I am also a huge fan of the Food Network. I am not in the least bit however, a fan of this cookbook. The one and only redeeming part of this cookbook is the interesting short little interviews at the beginning of each different chef's section. Apart from that, the recipes were not worth the paper they were printed on. Why? Well, unless you are a dedicated seafood nut, then the majority of these recipes will not be to your taste. No less than 80 percent of the recipes in this collection are fish based. Finally, although I am impressed with what all these talented folks can do, I do not personally need recipes that I cannot ever fathom using. How about some down home normal recipes with a wee bit of flair? Being a foody, I am desperately disappointed in this cookbook and glad that I bought it on ebay cheaply. I will certainly be re-selling it today!

Food Network Favorites is a collection of 10 recipes each from 11 Food Network stars and 10 recipes from the Food Network Kitchens. The 10 featured chefs are Alton Brown, Bobby Flay, Dave Lieberan, Emeril Lagasse, Giada DeLaurentiis, Mario Batali, Michael Chiarello, Paula Deen, Rachel Ray, Tyler Florence, and Wolfgang Puck. At the beginning of each chef's section, there is a one page Q&A consisting of personal questions such as "What's in your fridge?", "How has fame changed your life?" and "What three ingredients can't you live without?". Each chef generally answers 5 questions.

I think the chefs that have recipes in this book were, for the most part, well selected. As I flipped through I thought that some of the actual recipes from the chefs were a strange choice to be put in here but, the 121 recipes featured are overall a nice varied collection.

Beuatiful color photos are scattered throughout the book - on average, a picture of a recipe can be found every 3 or 4 pages. Throughout the book there are also various quotes from that particular sections' star chef on anything from the dish on that page to where a chef gets his or her inspiration for new recipes.

On almost every recipe page, you can find a "Note From The Kitchens" - a little 'fun fact' about the dish or an ingredient in it. There are also a bunch of "Kitchen Tip"s near recipes that are helpful when cooking. Some are obvious, but others can really come in handy.

I was pleasently surprised that Dave Leibermen was included in the selection of chefs. I haven't tried any of his recipes from this book yet, but I will. I've seen a few of his shows when they're on, and I really like his recipes from there so far. I haven't seen Wolfgang Puck on Food Network for a while, but most of his recipes in this book look scrumptious. I like how this book includes recipes from older Food Network stars as well as those who are newer and still rising.

Also, "Food Network will be donating half of its receipts from the first printing of this book to our chef's favorite charities"

I checked this book out from the library to preview before I decided whether or not I should buy it. I really like it - it's organized, photographed wonderfully, and has a lot of great recipes. I suggest you do the same thing I did - check it out first at your library or just flip through it in a local book store first if you can - that way you can decide if you like it enough to pay for a copy. After I try some more recipes out and return it to the library I'll see if I'm going to buy one for myself. Enjoy :)

Or I should say I used to. I bought this one without really looking inside because I had had such good experiences in the past with FN books. I haven't made one recipe out of this book. I was also dismayed to find repeat recipes found in the other cookbooks by the same chefs (I already owned)! It was like a compilation of a few recipes from already published cookbooks.

If you want a good FN cookbook...buy the one that the people behind the scenes put together...it's called Food Network Kitchens Cookbook. It's much better than the celebrity chef compilation.