Top 66 Quotes & Sayings by Thomas Keller
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American chef Thomas Keller.
Last updated on September 19, 2024.
They know what my standards are. They know what I need and how to get it to me, and they know how to communicate with me if for some reason they can't get it.
Hopefully, imparting what's important to me, respect for the food and that information about the purveyors, people will realize that for a restaurant to be good, so many pieces have to come together.
In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.
But once in a while you might see me at In and Out Burger; they make the best fast food hamburgers around.
I have no formal culinary training, right.
I hope the cooks who are working for me now are getting that kind of experience so they can use what they're learning now as a foundation for a great career.
It wasn't about mechanics; it was about a feeling, wanting to give someone something, which in turn was really gratifying. That really resonated for me.
When I go out to eat, it's usually something moderate in style.
Your idea of that dish has evolved, and if you're a cook, you can start thinking in different ways about it, maybe even a different way than I think about it.
I wanted to learn everything I could about what it takes to be a great chef. It was a turning point for me.
Let's face it: if you and I have the same capabilities, the same energy, the same staff, if the only thing that's different between you and me is the products we can get, and I can get a better product than you, I'm going to be a better chef.
My childhood wasn't full of wonderful culinary memories.
We rely on our purveyors to tell us what's available and what's good.
It's one thing you aspire to: someday, you'll be able to write a book.
I wanted to write about what we were doing at the French Laundry, the recipes and the stories.
My favorite wines are Zinfandels.
The law of diminishing returns is something I really believe in.
Whether it's destiny or fate or whatever, I don't think I could do a French Laundry anywhere else.
Food should be fun.
No, it's funny, when I eat out it's not typically in the kind of restaurants people might imagine.
We go through our careers and things happen to us. Those experiences made me what I am.
The book is there for inspiration and as a foundation, the fundamentals on which to build.
Some of the recipes in the book have evolved for us. Many haven't.
Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore.
Then, as the day progresses, depending on how the product is coming in - for instance, the fish man will fax us and say black bass is great - throughout the day, we'll also make judgment calls and adapt to what's available.
A kaiseki meal is like that, very small courses over a long period of time.
I think every young cook wants to write a book.
You're getting to know who the great chefs are through their books.
I drank more wine when I wasn't working as much, to be honest.
Now the restaurants have begun to catch up with the wine-making; there are numerous great restaurants in Napa Valley, and it's wonderful because the people are there for just that: great food and great wine.
I like to drink young wines, wines which are robust and have a lot of forward fruit to them.
For me, thats one of the important things about cooking. What was good enough yesterday may not be good enough today.
Anyone can make a good roast chicken.
When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.
A cookbook must have recipes, but it shouldn't be a blueprint. It should be more inspirational; it should be a guide.
Its not about passion. Passion is something that we tend to overemphasize, that we certainly place too much importance on. Passion ebbs and flows. To me, it's about desire. If you have constant, unwavering desire to be a cook, then u'll be a great cook.
Any job worth doing is worth doing well. But to be able to do that, you have to do it over and over again.
Respect for food is respect for life, for who we are and what we do.
Cooking is not about convenience and it's not about shortcuts. Our hunger for the twenty-minute gourmet meal, for one-pot ease and prewashed, precut ingredients has severed our lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking. Take your time. Take a long time. Move slowly and deliberately and with great attention.
With passion, if you see the first asparagus of the springtime and you become passionate about it, so much the better, but three weeks later, when you’ve seen that asparagus every day now, passions have subsided. What’s going to make you treat the asparagus the same? It’s the desire.
You have to be driven. You have to be focused. You have to be aware.
I think that's the important thing - being aware of that inspiration and being able to interpret it into something that's meaningful for you.
I think that you’ve got to make something that pleases you and hope that other people feel the same way.
One of the problems with writing a cookbook is that recipes exist in the moment.
Good food is a good trend.
Repetition is the mother of perfection. If there is true perfection, it's about doing something over and over again. I truly think that if somebody does a recipe they've never done before and gets it right, they're probably more lucky than they are talented.
Food is such an important part of our lives, and sometimes we tend to diminish the importance of that, because we rely on conveniences or because our lives are so complicated. We forget about those moments that we can actually share around the table with our family, with our friends, with our loved ones.
You don't know when inspiration is going to come. But you have to be aware of what's going on around you, so that at any moment, when inspiration happens, you're ready for it and you interpret it.
I came to understand that the words executive and corporate never belong next to the word chef.
I didnt want to be encumbered by what anyone elses abilities were, their equipment or environment or their ability to get certain products.
And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!
I can make dough in a machine faster than I can make it by hand, but I want to make it by hand, because I want to remember the way it feels. It's so important for me to make it by hand - whether it's a pasta dough or a pâte brisée. You become involved in it. You become personal with it. For me it's such a wonderful way to get satisfaction and gratification when I'm cooking.
I think if you can take one or two things from a cookbook, it's successful.
Even the most astute chefs seek out the assistance of Celine Labaune, owner of Gourmet Attitude, because they know they can rely on her keen senses and deep understanding of the truffle trade.
A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.
Success is measured by the memories you create.
This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane.
It's not about perfection; it's about the joy of striving.
I guess the main source of stress for me is the stress I put on myself.
Larousse is an invaluable tool for any cook. I've used this great resource all throughout my cooking career, and of course I look forward to the new edition. New information and knowledge are always welcome.
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