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Cooking at home is on the rise and with good reason—what could be more satisfying than making a dish for friends or family and having them be totally blown away? That’s the kind of food you’ll find in this book. Tyler doesn’t focus on one style of cuisine; he’s a fan of things that taste good whether they are American classics, Italian dishes both new and old, or the Asian flavors that have swept the country like a tornado. Need an excuse to weed out your pantry and toss those tired old spices? Tyler will help you stock your shelves so you’re ready for almost anything. Think how diversified your pantry will be with Asian ingredients like Chinese black vinegar, sesame oil, Latin chile peppers, and Italian products like Arborio rice and polenta.

This is food anyone—even a chef—needs in his repertoire. I know which ones I’ll be making first. When was the last time you had a great Chicken Cacciatore, a dish that makes the whole neighborhood smell good, with roasted peppers and tomatoes, with that cutting natural saltiness of capers and anchovies (a great place to sneak in the anchovies on your friends). Thick Pork Chops with Spiced Apples and Raisins reminds me of my childhood, and I know my mother would be happy with this rendition. And what’s better than Cold Fried Chicken? This is the first time I have come across a recipe that actually suggests frying the chicken and letting it chill in the refrigerator—even though we all know that’s why we fry chicken in the first place. (It’s kind of like roasting the turkey on Thanksgiving Day so we can have sandwiches the following afternoon.) And after seeing Tyler’s classic recipe for cheesecake, this New York end-of-the-meal icon will be making a return engagement to my table sooner rather than later.

Tyler’s style is straightforward, savory, and smart and his recipes are always clear and concise. Use him as your guide in the kitchen and you will be happy—even your four-year-old will be content! With Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen in hand, you can delete the numbers “911” from your culinary speed dial.

Enjoy Tyler’s cuisine. I have and I know you will, too.

Bobby Flay

I’ve been cooking professionally in one capacity or another for almost fifteen years, cutting my teeth in restaurants in my home state of South Carolina and later in New York City. Working in restaurants, it was exciting having access to the priciest and most intriguing ingredients—not to mention plenty of kitchen staff to assist with the prep work and cleanup—and I loved dreaming up elaborate presentations that made my customers sit up and take notice.

So it was something of a wake-up call when I started taping my shows for Food Network. While traveling and cooking with people all over the country, I found that home cooks weren’t really interested in recreating my feats of culinary virtuosity at home; in fact, they all said the same thing: Give us real food with simple ingredients that we can enjoy with family and friends. My viewers gave me the ultimate problem to solve, and I like to think that the solution is in the pages that follow.

Don’t get me wrong—none of these recipes is in any way a compromise or “dumbing down” of more sophisticated food. Simple food doesn’t have to be so basic that it is boring. To the contrary, it’s often been my experience that many of the cleanest, best flavors are very simple ones. What I have steered clear of are those productions that start out as an exciting cooking project, and end up taking an entire day to create, leaving you with an empty wallet and a sink filled with pots. Investing that kind of time is frustrating and really takes the fun out of cooking. Cooking should be inspirational because the ingredients are fresh, the flavors are amazing, and the final result looks beautiful. The recipes I’ve collected here are for the kind of meals you want to have again and again, whether the number at your table is two or twenty (or two hundred!). No esoteric cooking equipment