Biker Billy Cooks with Fire: Robust Recipes from America's Most Outrageous Television Chef

I was so surprised to find out that Biker Billy actually had a cookbook out. I bought it, when I was pregnant, more as a novelty, but opened it up and saw a very interesting person in Biker Billy.

His cookbook is vegetarian. So, if you are looking for meat, it's not here. Also, which I knew from the TV show, he uses a lot of hot peppers. AND, as his name implies, he loves to ride motorcycles.

I sampled a few of the recipes and definitely fell in love with this cookbook. My favorites are: "Kiss of the Devil Cocoa", "Hot Garbanzo Bean Patties" (AKA Falafel) and "Hot Hummus".

A great thing about this book is that he explains the peppers he is using, and how hot they are. He also lists some resources where you can purchase these peppers.

Another thing, he even talks about motorcycle safety, as motorcycle riding is one of his favorite past-times.

If you keep your eye open, you can even see him on other shows. I saw him once on Next Door With Katie Brown (it used to be on Lifetime TV). It was hysterical to see them together. She is so wide-eyed midwestern, cute and innocent, and here is Biker Billy tossing in all these peppers and she is looking shocked, but pleasantly!

Would I recommend this book? Sure! It's a great book!


A great entry into cooking with peppers   June 21, 2000
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

Cooking hot and spicy food is always a challenge; one man's endorphin rush is another man's journey into culinary hell.

Still, Biker Billy, no stranger to hot peppers of every variety and intensity, manages to create some of the most tasty--and mind you, HOT--dishes known to man. The best of them he's compiled into this book.

I've made several of the dishes in here (my personal favorite is Gingerbread Bikers from Hell), and the results, as seen on various friends and members of my family, are always mixed. The hotheads are always remarkably pleased; the rest will gamely take a taste and then stare at the rest of us like we have horns growing out of our heads.

If you've ever seen Biker Billy's show, you know he's a vegetarian; an OVERWEIGHT vegetarian. This is sort of hard to do, but you'll notice that while Mr. Hufnagle eschews meat, he's not shy about using cow by-products like cheese and butter. (In spicy cooking, except for Asian food, dairy is almost required; it tends to lessen the fire in peppers, and when you're dealing with habaneros and the like, dairy is a MUST. Asian cooking is another story.) That said, as long as you're not cooking with fire every day of the week, this book will provide you with some fantastic meat-free meals that will surprise you with all the flavors that the peppers help to bring out.

Biker Billy makes preparation a breeze with easy-to-understand directions, and the fun-to-read filler around the recipes proves Mr. Hufnagle to be a fine author, too. So order this book now, and the next time some unwanted visiting relative expects you to serve him blueberry pancakes, you can put a little surprise in there for him!

Now, can somebody get this guy a show on the Food Network, please?


Possibly the best cookbook of the many I own   August 13, 1999
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

When I first saw this book in a store, I thought it was a grill cookbook. I read the back, saw that it was devoted to hot n' spicy cooking, and bought it on a whim. I found it to be perhaps the best cookbook I own. I usually feel that a meal isn't complete without meat, but these recipes are so flavorful and interesting that I don't miss it. The recipes range from simple to exotic and all are, in my experience, exceptional. I have recommended this book to many friends, most of whom have bought more copies to give to friends. I wholeheartedly recommend Kiss of the Devil Hot Cocoa, Blueberry Pancakes from Hell, Black Bean Burritos, and Hot Potato Corn Chowder. Trust me, they're all unique and exceptional. Thanks, Mr. Hufnagle, for sharing these recipes! Hope for a follow-up soon! ALLRIGHT!!!


EXCELLENT!!!!!   June 5, 1999
 6 out of 8 found this review helpful

BETTER THAN I COULD EVER IMAGINE! EXCELLENT TASTY RECIPES. THE ONLY COOKBOOK I'VE EVER SAT AN READ AS A BOOK.