Bobby Flay

This fantastic dessert is perfect for the cool months of late fall and winter. Cubes of tender pumpkin bread are baked in a rich custard laced with bourbon and maple syrup. Crisp apple cider is the base of a buttery caramel sauce spiced with fresh ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and star anise. Forget about serving the same-old pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and put this out instead for a new twist on two old classics. The recipe includes directions for making your own pumpkin bread to use in the pudding, but you can of course also use a loaf of pumpkin bread from your favorite bakery. Brioche or cinnamon-raisin bread would also work perfectly.

The yellow pepper mole may have lots of ingredients, but the result is a delightfully complex sauce. Golden raisins and white chocolate preserve the golden color of the roasted peppers, and while those may sound sweet, onion, garlic, and tomatillos keep the sauce savory, fresh, and never cloying. At the restaurant we give this a hint of smoked red pepper sauce and cilantro oil and garnish it with cilantro.

Even though this version of hot wings is healthier than the classic—which is deep-fried and tossed in lots of butter and hot sauce—it's every bit as tasty.

At Mesa Grill, this barbecue sauce is used as is, or as a base for some more complex sauces. The ancho and pasilla chile powders add Southwestern flavors to the traditional barbecue-sauce ingredients: tomatoes, onions, garlic, sweet molasses, and brown sugar.

This is the “house” burger at Bobby’s Burger Palace. It’s a basic burger (I like it garnished with red onion, tomato, romaine lettuce, and horseradish mustard) with CRUNCH. The crunch factor comes from a big handful of potato chips layered between the burger and the bun. Some of you may have added chips to your sandwiches as kids, and if people ever told you that you were nuts, I’m here to say that you’re not! Oozing melted cheese becomes a part of the chips and those crunchy chips become a part of the burger—delicious. I love getting a mouthful of juicy burger and salty, crispy potato chips in one bite; it’s a way to get a true contrast of textures into your cheeseburger. In fact, I make it an option to have all of the burgers at Bobby’s Burger Palace “crunchified.”

Editor's Note: This recipe was originally part of a menu by Bobby Flay for a backyard barbecue.

My good friend Eddie Rodriguez, a clothing designer (he is the Rodriguez in Wilke-Rodriguez), is my longtime guide to the wonderful world of Cuban flavor. This recipe is my tribute to him. Lime, orange, garlic, cumin, vinegar, and just the right amount of chile heat are, to me, what make Cuban food so irresistible. If you've never tasted a real Cuban mojo, the classic sauce for pork, plantains, and a lot of other staples, prepare to be blown away. I like to grill pork tenderloins, which cook fast and stay juicy. Lean pork tenderloins cook like chicken breasts. They're very simple and very tender, but you have got to get them off the grill before they overcook. As soon as they firm up, they are DONE.

Editor's Note: This recipe was originally part of a menu by Bobby Flay for a backyard barbecue. For the complete menu and Flay's tips on throwing a party, click here.

Ripe pineapple, with its plentiful natural sugars, is ideal for grilling, and it screams "tropical" like nothing else. This makes a great dessert after spicy Latin, Indian, or Caribbean food. Make sure to let the slices brown; you want lots of those caramelized, almost burnt edges. Mascarpone is a smooth Italian dairy product with a texture somewhere between whipped cream and cream cheese. It's used in tiramisù and available in many supermarkets and gourmet stores, but if you can't find it, good-quality vanilla ice cream will taste just fine.

Editor's Note: This recipe was originally part of a menu by Bobby Flay for a backyard barbecue. For the complete menu and Flay's tips on throwing a party, click here.

Corn is the perfect vegetable for grilling because it comes with a built-in protective wrapper — the cornhusk. The natural moisture in the green husks helps steam and smoke the corn until it's sweet, tender, and full of flavor. In Latin cooking, corn is often sprinkled with lime juice and fresh cheese — queso fresco — for contrast. I've combined that with the American love for butter, butter, and more butter on corn on the cob.

Editor's Note: This recipe was originally part of a menu by Bobby Flay for a backyard barbecue. For the complete menu and Flay's tips on throwing a party, click here.

I'm always on the lookout for food that can satisfy my need for CRUNCH! Jicama (pronounced HEE-kah-mah), a root vegetable, was one of my favorite discoveries on my first trip to the American Southwest; it arrived there via Mexico. Now you can buy it in many supermarkets across the country; a jicama is about the size of a grapefruit and has a thin brown skin. Crisp as a Granny Smith apple, freshly cut jicama makes perfect slaw.

Editor's Note: This recipe was originally part of a menu by Bobby Flay for a backyard barbecue. For the complete menu and Flay's tips on throwing a party, click here.

I was taught to grill oysters on one of my trips to the Pacific Northwest. This is one of those dishes where organization is imperative. Because the oysters cook for only a few minutes, you've got to have the garnishes ready before you put the shells on the grill. The mango pico de gallo and the red chile horseradish are hot and sweet on your tongue. If you think that the red chile horseradish looks too spicy, don't worry, for the sweet mango provides just the right cooling sensation. The oysters actually "pop" when they are cooked and make for a great presentation.

Editor's Note: This recipe was originally part of a menu by Bobby Flay for a backyard barbecue. For the complete menu and Flay's tips on throwing a party, click here.

Mustard is one of my favorite condiments. I like to use it for dressings, sauces, and, in this case, a glaze. Be sure to leave the skewers on the grill long enough to get the beef nice and crusty on both sides. This means you have to be patient, and remember: Don't turn them often.

Grilled bread and tomatoes give this salad wonderful toasty flavors, and the chipotle chili adds a touch of smoke.

I don't know if it's because of all the hot dogs I ate on the sidewalks of New York as a kid, but I never seem to get tired of mustard. I use it as a background flavor in a lot of my sauces, but in this one mustard is front and center. Use a whole-grain mustard, such as Pommery de Meaux from France, so that your sauce has a nice crunch from the whole seeds.