Top 102 Quotes & Sayings by Rick Stein - Page 2

I dont think Ill ever stop working, its what I do even though I dont have to - thats one of the pleasures of having your own business.

Communities such as Auchmithie, Sandend, and even Wick once thrived on herring fishing. But it led me to ruminate on the likely fate for most of our coasts - with the decline of fishing many of the coastal communities are destined to become charming but lifeless exhibits of past endeavour.

My boys are Cornish because they were all born there, but Im quite happy just to be an admirer.

I always put on a couple of kilos every time I film a programme. You cant really tuck into a dish and then just leave it.

I've never worked in anyone else's kitchen, but at college there was a guy called Tom Chivers who was a great chef and I learned a lot from him.

I consider myself to be quite shy, funnily enough. I don't find it easy to get the words out.

If a recipe is good, I'm not going to mess with it, but they are recipes I've spent quite a bit of time getting right. You can use the internet. I use it as well, I keep forgetting, for example, how many eggs are in a Yorkshire pudding.

Ive been lucky with my stepkids. They were little when we met so theyve always accepted me. Having a stepfamily is so much more common these days and its nice to report I dont have a lot of problems.

I think human beings thrive on communication, and pubs and restaurants are a great way of communicating, a great way of enjoying each other.

I like to have fish and salad - mackerel, Dover sole or gurnard, and I usually pan-fry it or use the barbecue. I make salad with avocados, tomato, lettuce and spring onions, with an olive oil and red wine dressing.

My childhood was idyllic to begin with. We lived on a farm in Oxfordshire and my mum used its produce in the kitchen. She made plain, English-style food, cooked exceptionally - it's what I've based my career on.

Most of the telly I do only has one camera and the reason you have to cook it twice is you have a close-up, so you see what is happening really close up and then you have a wide shot, which is like standing back so you see the whole fish and the kitchen and, like it or not, you have to do it twice.

Every time I buy produce from one of my food heroes I never fail to get a thrill. The meat, for example, from Lishmans of Ilkley makes you realise why great roast beef and Yorkshire pudding depends so much on a quality butcher like David Lishman.

There was a fantastic old shack I used to go to. It didn't look much from the outside but this man was selling the best stuff ever. He'd just take the catch and cook it up with butter, lemon and salt and then bung some chips with it and it was delicious.

I particularly like writing on planes. You've got nothing else to do but concentrate.

Its difficult to tell, isnt it, whether you are naturally a person that likes hard work and does things, or whether you feel youve got to prove something?

Writing doesn't come easily to me.

Im too keen for people to like me. If I didnt care so much, I would be more decisive. I spend a lot of time concerning myself with what other people will think of my actions, which makes me very indecisive.

In the early 70s I was offered a job on a newspaper. At the last minute the offer was withdrawn because there was a strike on. I bought a nightclub and turned it into a restaurant instead.

The fish auctions at Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Scrabster and Kinlochbervie are bustling and successful, with good landings of fish from the north all the way to Norway.

Divorce is horrible, no matter who instigates it. It's very traumatic.

I guess its the same with all children really, they have this sort of pathetic longing to be like their parents were.

I left England when I was 19 for two years travelling on my own and since then I've always had an urge to go abroad.

I like to have a few staff round for a glass of wine although if I'm feeding people I try and leave my glass alone, as it doesn't improve my cooking.

The fact is I never intended to be a chef. After Oxford University I had this weird idea of running a nightclub.

Lunch is a problem because my office is above our chip shop - everything is fried in proper beef dripping. It smells so good that by 12 o'clock it's hard not to think very lovingly of fish and chips.

One of the reasons for opening the fish and chip shop is that if you want, you can spend less money.

There is something wonderful about the way you glaze a fruit cake, nonchalantly drop some orange on as a topping, dust the sugar on top of a sponge cake or fan the apples on a tart.

My father Eric had a magnetic presence. He was about 6ft 4in, with dark hair and pale blue eyes - and very attractive to women.

Losing close relatives doesnt get any easier, really, but losing your parents is the big deal.

You find if you go into a Cafe de Commerce, in any French town, you always get the same bloody salad: lots of lettuce and some meat and dressing thrown on and thats it.

Im not the worlds greatest sea food chef, I just like fresh fish.

Cream is actually tiny globules of fat held inside delicate membranes suspended in water - just like milk, only there are more globules.

I love fish soup. Its a deeply satisfying dish. You can use almost any fish for this apart from the oily ones.

Its such a diverse culture with Chinese, Indian, Malay Eurasian and all points in between so wherever you go in Malaysia youve got fascinating food.

I do have some guilty pleasures. I'm very keen on mayonnaise, so that's a shame, as I'm always battling with my weight. But I do love a plate of langoustine or lobster with dollops of mayonnaise.

Once youve got a name, whatever you do is news. If your marriage breaks up of course its big news but even if you have a row with the planners it makes the nationals.

The Turks are fantastic barbecuers. They have these long barbecue pits called Mangals. The food smells wonderful and has a smoky, charcoaly taste.

I have met vegetable growers who offer seasonal produce grown for taste rather than the ability to survive weeks in cold storage; meat producers who rear fantastic rare-breed pork, lamb and beef; and delis that stock local produce that will never find its way into supermarkets because it is not made in bulk.

I regard Chinese seafood cookery as among the best in the world.

The bully mind is not capable of loving or respecting others nor can it love or respect itself. Life's subtleties and the means of survival require its pretense of both these qualities.

I love the Chinese words for greeting: not strictly 'Hello' but 'Have you eaten yet?