Biker Billy's Freeway-A-Fire Cookbook: Life's Too Short to Eat Dull Food (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With the help of a public-access TV show, a Web site and a first cookbook (Biker Billy Cooks with Fire), Hufnagle, aka Biker Billy, has achieved notoriety. This bearded motorcycle maniac who cooks spiced-up dishes in a New Jersey garage when he's not tinkering with his Harley is a strict vegetarian. Despite his experience on the road, Biker Billy is a pedestrian author. To get to the meat of these 150 or so veggie recipes, one must get past the embarrassing names of the dishes. There's Meany Rotini, Kooky Couscous, Rude Oily Pasta and the none-too-subtle Kick Asparagus Soup. A short lead-in paragraph explains the reasoning behind the seasoning for each concoction: "You'll howl like a banshee when you eat these burgers." If readers want spice, it's here in spades, though too many times the recipes are just familiar favorites with a pepper thrown in (Potato Tornado, for example, is a simple potato casserole plus a dried habanero). There is a small bounty of Asian dishes that are truly risky and creative. Nuclear Potato Salad combines habaneros, honey, peanut butter and yogurt, and Hong Kong Bean Curd is fried in butter, pepper and ginger and crowned with watercress. Such unexpected turns help compensate for a sometimes tiring ride. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

"Life's too short to eat dull food" sums up the culinary philosophy of this biker chef. His infatuation with chili peppers and vegetarianism produces an idiosyncratic cuisine that will appeal to the macho yet health-conscious cook. For all his bluster, Billy organizes his cookbook carefully. Before giving any recipes, he meticulously catalogs the ingredients he favors, giving his followers plenty of data on selecting the best bean curd, olive oil, and phyllo pastry. He also guides his charges through the bewildering array of chili peppers found in today's markets. Billy may give his recipes silly names, such as Kooky Couscous and Killer Kasha, but devotees of vegetarian cooking will find old and new favorites here, all of them spicy. Billy gives the faint of heart no quarter--even his macaroni salad sizzles with cayenne pepper. A lighthearted addition to any vegetarian cookbook collection. Mark Knoblauch

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Cookbooks; 1st edition (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688168221
• ISBN-13: 978-0688168223
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,232,476 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Hot! Hot! Hot!, July 3, 2001

By	Teantae Turner "sistert" (Columbia, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Bill Hufnagle. Burly biker. Fiery food lover. Cookbook author. Vegetarian. You might think you just fell down the rabbit hole, but after tasting his creations you`d know everything was going to be all right. His tongue-in-cheek cookbook will satisfy anyone who loves spicy foods, and vegetarians who want a change.

If you like spicy or downright hot foods, you'll get a kick out of this cookbook (pun intended). Flavors are bold and the body of recipes varied. Of course you'll find the standard hot items like stuffed jalapeno peppers and chili pie but there are lots of surprises to be found here as well.

For pasta fans, try "Mean Bean Meatballs" on top of your next plate of spaghetti. Vegetarians should try "Scrambled Beyond Belief", which uses extra-firm bean curd and chipotle peppers, for breakfast. Need an exciting side dish? Make "Devilish Pumpkin Fries" and watch everyone's eyes light up.

One of my most favorite recipes from this cookbook that I've made many times since, with and without the fire, are his "Chocolate Killer Cookies". This is a great and easy to prepare chocolate cookie recipe. I've made them with white chocolate chips as called for but found my favorite way is to use peanut butter chips instead. The recipe only makes 24 cookies and they will not last long. When using the cayenne pepper, they remind me of very good quality ginger snaps. Just enough bite to make your mouth tingle but not enough to make you stop eating.

For such an extraordinary cookbook it's a shame that there is no measurement given for how hot a recipe is. Something as simple as giving a mild, medium, or real hot rating for each recipe would be a major help. "Righteous Rotelle" had enough heat to make you sweat, while "Chipotle Cheese Soup" was just smoky and belly warming.

When making a few recipes I needed to make a few adjustments, which could be due to bad testing or differences in equipment. I shortened the boiling time for the asparagus in "Asparagus a la Dante" as in my first attempt they came out a bit limp after they where fried. Regardless, they were addictive.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cookbook regardless of a few annoyances and can hardly wait to try other recipes. Tonight though, I'm making more cookies!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars H*llfire and Salivation, April 4, 2000

By	Michael Cluff "Geek-for-Hire" (Galloway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One taste of Biker Billy's smoky "Pita Pockets in Pain" and I'm singing in his choir...

It's a great cookbook -- well-written, informative, and informal (obviously!). Meat-lovers simply won't notice that it's a vegetarian cookbook: the flavors, textures and fire make every recipe I've tried memorable.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Veg Cooking That I Love!, January 18, 2003

By A Customer

I was brought up on 'real food' (meat and potatoes), so when I started to go veg, I ran into a problem where I didn't like what's normally considered vegetarian. I began to crave food with real substance and flavor. Browsing through my favorite bookstore one day, I came across Biker Billy's cookbook and was thrilled. I was immediately attracted by the title, I mean, a veg biker? How could I go wrong?!
I've been using recipes from this book for four years now and love it. I have a young son, so I sometimes adjust the spice and fire to a level he can tolerate. I even cook for meat-eaters from this book and no one ever misses the meat!
Two thumbs up - love ya Biker Billy!