Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival Cookbook

The South Beach Wine and Food Festival seems ages away, but you don’t have to wait five months until BubbleQ (barbecue and bubbly) or the Grand Tasting’s food and beverage free-for-all. To commemorate the SoBeFest’s 10-year anniversary, Lee Schrager, Miami’s super-caterer and the man behind the four-day soiree, with Julie Mautner will release the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, $35/hardcover) on November 16. The book is 100-recipes deep of favorites from the Festival’s celebrity chefs and culinary personalities, such as Bobby Flay’s hearty Bobby Blue Burger Crunchified and David Bouley’s transcendent Bigeye Tuna Carpaccio. Drooling yet? The All-Star Sausage Steak Sandwich from Food Network’s Guy Fieri won’t disappoint any avid meat eaters, while seafood aficionados will love Emeril Lagasse’s spicy Sambal Shrimp. It also contains nine years worth of behind-the-scene stories and memories of schmoozing, boozing, and cruising through tents of your beloved foodies.

The book opens with 10 drink recipes, including Sandra Lee’s refreshing Lemon-Cucumber Cocktail. The following three chapters, “Starters and Small Plates,” “Barbecue,” and “Burgers,” highlight three of the festival’s most famous and popular events: The Best of the Best, BubbleQ, and the Burger Bash (organized by Food Network star Rachael Ray), respectively. A section on “Comfort and Casual Food” showcases hearty, satisfying yet wonderfully simple dishes. The subsequent chapter represents the highest of the haute cuisine seen at the festival, with “Main Courses” from food-world mega-stars such as Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Alain Ducasse. The final chapter of the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook provides a sweet conclusion with an impressive array of dessert recipes and contributors, including Paula Deen’s delicious Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake.

Of course, a 10-year anniversary of said gluttony fest is kind of a big deal, and it won’t go without some social media buzz. The Sobe Wine and Food team is running sweepstakes starting today until November 15 for chances to win incredible prizes from sponsors and Festival supporters as well as the grand prize—an all-inclusive trip to the 2011 Festival. All you have to do to enter is update your Twitter and Facebook status with #sobecookbook or enter the sweepstakes at www.TastingTable.com/sobe.

Like the Festival, all proceeds from the book directly benefit the Florida International University School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center. Get your copy today at www.sobefestcookbook.com.