Book Club Review for July 2017: “Brunch at Bobby’s”

Dorlana Vann ♦ July 27, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

July 2017 Theme: Brunch

Book Club Set Up:

Each member of our group (women ages 24-49) draws a month and a genre/theme. Whosever month it is, gets to choose a book in their category and host the meeting.

The group has approximately 3 weeks to read the book and then we get together for themed food & to discuss the book.

Quick Book Summary (from Amazon): September 29, 2015 –   Brunch at Bobby’s 140 recipes for the best part of the weekend. By Bobby Flay with Stephanie Banyas and Sally Jackson. At long last, Bobby Flay shares his simplest, most sought-after recipes—while still delivering his signature intense flavors.

This Month’s Meeting:

For July, we all got together for brunch, of course. We prepared/cooked our chosen recipes, gobbled it up, and then rated each one on a scale of 1-5. Overall, we thought the cookbook was great and gave the book a rating of 4 stars out of 5.

The group’s favorite Dishes:

All of the following dishes received at least 4 stars.

*Lemon Ricotta fritters:

Cook: I would make these again. Easy to prepare, but they had to be fried.

Tasters: They were light, fluffy, and not overly sweet.

*Caramelized Onion, Spinach, and Gruyere Strata:  

Cook: There was a lot of prep work but I would cook this again for a special occasion. The cheese was also expensive ($15.00) but really good.

Tasters: Lots of flavor, yummy crispy parts. (Even the non-egg fans of the group thought it was good.)

*Shoofly muffins:

Cook: Easy to make; I would make this again.

Tasters: They had a nice crunchy/soft combo. Tasted like gingerbread, even though no ginger was added.

*Strawberries filled with “Clotted” Cream:

Cook: Simple to make and delicious.

Tasters: Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!

*Browned Butter Banana Bread:

Cook: Fairy easy to make, but I did over-brown the butter the first time.

Tasters: Really good, moist, and loved the addition of the blueberries.

Average and/or Mixed Reviews Dishes:

No one really hated any of the food, and most of the recipes were simple to make but the taste was average. All three of the mimosas we made ended up here.

*Strawberry Jam: Mixed reviews. The majority liked the jam, but some thought it was too sweet.

*Open-faced Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches: Not much flavor for how much work went into it. The radishes were a nice addition.

*Silver Dollar Buttermilk Pancakes with Bourbon Molasses Butter: Taste like pancakes. (I thought the butter was real good.) Overall, average scores (mostly 3s) but the cook would make these again.

*Watermelon Margarita Mimosa: Yech, tart, not worth all the preparation. But someone did like the strong watermelon flavor.

*La Fraise: A bit of work and not very pretty. This mimosa received mixed reviews. (2 people gave it 4 stars.)

*Tangerine-gin Fizz: Also received mixed reviews. Easiest and prettiest drink out of the three drinks. Recommended only if you like gin.

Thoughts about the Book from the book club members:

I love it when recipe books have pictures. (Brunch at Bobby’s does.)

I thought that sometimes Bobby Flay wrote down all the steps to a recipe and then thought about how he could make it more complicated. “Can I add a vanilla bean to this recipe? Yes! This is a good network recipe now.” But that’s okay.

I like it when recipes/cookbooks give a substitute option for ingredients. (Brunch at Bobby’s does not.) Like for the vanilla bean. It would have been helpful, if he would have said how much vanilla extract to substitute.

The recipes were approachable but upscale.

Loved the pictures.

Some of the food seemed weird with strange combos.

This cookbook was worth the purchase; I will be trying more of the recipes soon.

The recipes weren’t too hard to make – just the ingredients were too booshie.

The book had a good range of different breakfast options.

The drinks were kind of a bust.

Bottom Line:

You should Brunch at Bobby’s!

Love and Laughter,

Dorlana