Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook

​"Where do you find a cookbook that has Ferran Adriá and Paula Deen?" asks Lee Brian Schrager, the Festival creator. "When do you see a recipe book with Alain Ducasse and Rachel Ray? So we have that pop culture and we have the great chefs. The book has something for everyone."

The man has a point: This is a stunning cookbook featuring an amazing array of great chefs both local and worldwide. There are 100 recipes from 100 chefs and food personalities who have defined the first decade of the hottest gastronomic get-together in the country. The recipes are relevant to what's going on in today's food world, the photos are brilliant, the behind-the-scenes stories and interviews are...well, I haven't read those yet, but they should help to create an "all-access tour" of the event dubbed "Foodstock".

The subtitle is Recipes and Behind-the-Scenes Stories from America's Hottest Chefs. The book bounces from Martha Stewart's Lobster Roll to Spike Mendelsohn's Toasted Marshmallow Shake; from Alice Water's simple Avocado and Grapefruit Salad to Mark Miller's Cinnamon-Brined Lamb Loin with Southwest Polenta and Sweet Mint Corn. Recipes by local chefs such as Allen Susser, Norman Van Aken, Michelle Bernstein, Michael Schwartz, and Hedy Goldsmith are likewise highlighted. The foreword is by Anthony Bourdain.

​The book is $35, a steal for 100 recipes this good. Plus the money goes towards helping FIU School of Hospitality and Southern Wines & Spirits Beverage Management Center, which in turn helps prepare students for careers in the F&B world, which in turn should, at least in theory, lead to us all receiving better service next time we're dining at a Hyatt Regency. But I digress.

Lee wrote the book with Julie Mautner, a founding editor of Food Arts. He will be at the Miami Book Fair International this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. to discuss the book and the Festival, among other things.

256 pages
Published by Clarkson Potter; 1 edition (November 16, 2010)
Amazon Rank: #7,585 in Books (not bad considering it isn't yet officially released)
Even better: Already #3 in the Books about Cooking, Food & Wine category