Metropolitian Cooking & Entertaining Show – Bobby Flay

Last weekend I attended the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show in West Palm Beach. On Saturday, I went to Bobby Flay’s cooking demo. He started with a Grilled Lobster Cocktail with coconut milk dressing. He gave a lot of great tips on how to grill lobster without overcooking it. The dish looked delicious. Then, he made a Spanish spiced ribeye with sherry vinaigrette and ended with a homemade butterscotch pudding.

Not only is Bobby Flay a terrific chef, but he is really funny. His presentation was not only informative, but very entertaining. After seeing him in person, it is easy to see why he is so popular. The chefs on the Food Network not only have to cook well, they have to be able to entertain an audience.

He also shared some juicy tidbits about Iron Chef. Someone in the audience asked him when he really finds out the secret ingredient and he said right when you see it on TV, as the lid is lifted. He did say, however, that they have about 5 minutes until everything is ready and they start cooking so they have time to make a game plan. That is something that I was always curious about because on TV, once the secret ingredient is revealed, it appears that both teams start cooking immediately. I always wondered how all the sous chefs knew what to do.

I sat in the sixth row for Bobby’s cooking demo so I had a great seat. I could really watch him cook and I could even smell the food. Unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky ones that got to taste it.

Then after the demo, I had tickets to his book signing. Let me tell you, he is really cute in person. I have never attended a book signing before and they really have it down to a science. You wait in line forever only to have about 5 seconds to get a book signed and take a picture. I know, some people would probably stand there all day so they have to keep the line moving. But, it was great because I did get to meet Bobby.

I highly recommend his latest book, Grill It. The receipes for the dishes above are in the book. His new book, Burgers, Shakes and Fries comes out in a few weeks. I will be looking forward to it.