Top 918 Quotes & Sayings by Famous Chefs - Page 3

Great cooking is about being inspired by the simple things around you - fresh markets, various spices. It doesn't necessarily have to look fancy.

Man has survived and prospered for more than 150,000 years on this planet without the help of use-by dates.

You're only as good as your last dish.

The kitchen is a sacred space.

A cook is creative, marrying ingredients in the way a poet marries words.

What keeps me motivated is not the food itself but all the bonds and memories the food represents.

The smell of coffee cooking was a reason for growing up, because children were never allowed to have it and nothing haunted the nostrils all the way out to the barn as did the aroma of boiling coffee.

I always say this to the young chefs and mean it: The customer is excited, he says you are an artist, but we are not, just craftspeople with a little talent. If the chef is an artist, he doesn’t succeed. Why? Because he is inspired today but not tomorrow. We cannot do that.

I do not believe in guilt, moderation or dull pencils.

I am Massimo Bottura. I close my eyes and I want to understand where I am, cooking is about emotion, it's about culture, it's about love, it's about memory.

Without garlic I simply would not care to live.

With more exposure comes more recognition. I can honestly say I wouldn't have gotten a lot of things had no one seen me on "Top Chef", win or not. It cast a very wide net for me. And fortunately in a great way. I love that I have been able to cook side by side with so many of my idols.

After eating chocolate you feel godlike, as though you can conquer enemies, lead armies, entice lovers.

The best way to learn to cook is to do some serious eating.

The most powerful social media... it is not the internet, it is not Facebook - it is food. This connects all human beings.

I used to love the way everyone talked about food as if it were one of the most important things in life. And, of course, it is. Without it we would die. Each of us eats about one thousand meals each year. It is my belief that we should try and make as many of these meals as we can truly memorable.

I've been making pizza dough lately. And I'm pretty sure the calzone was invented when a pizza got stuck on the peel.

My two rules of cooking: keep it fresh and keep it simple.

You shouldn't fear failure. You should fear succeeding at the wrong thing. I may fail, but I'm failing at the right thing.

First, knife skills. Then, knowing how to control heat. Most important is choosing the right product .. the rest is simple.

Recently I have done some circles that are almost that large and I've come all the way around after walking for an hour and I have hit the other side exactly. I mean exactly the right spot which is very strange. Believe me it's very, very strange.

Never trust a skinny cook.

People make their own luck.

I have often wondered who was the first person to realize that eating an artichoke was a good idea.

I am sure vegetarians must also account for a lot of gases. Look how many beans they eat.

I have not drawn a very rosy picture of the magician. I did not intend to do so. To the novice entering the life and promising himself ease, indolence, and wealth, I should say, Don't!

If your version of pub food is microwaving a pie and some baked beans, then yeah, it's really complicated cooking. But if it's just about getting the best out of simple ingredients, then it's not.

No matter how bad you may feel, get up, show up, dress up, and never, ever give up.

Respect the old, but seek out the new.

It's a good thing that dumplings are small because Lee Anne's goodies will make your willpower vanish as you reach for 'just one more'.

The cuisine, it is all about putting generosity before rigour and pleasure before lucidity.

If I could go back and give myself advice, it would be to embrace failure.

There's one thing my old man taught me and it's the best thing he taught me. It wasn't education at college or university – it was commonsense.

In today's world, when many of yesterday's fashionable habits are today's misdemeanors, we should rejoice that a chocolate dessert can bring so much innocent pleasure.

My way of communicating love and interest in people is through cooking. I grew up in an environment where food was really celebrated, and that gave me the message: food makes people happy.

Helen Tse tells a gripping tale of struggle, laughter, love and food that marks Sweet Mandarin as a must read book. It is not only an immigrant account of life but also a universal touching story of survival that will move your soul as well.

I have a problem with the new cooks: you all are more cultured, you cook better....but you're lazier.

Chef Matt Accarrino has the best pasta in San Francisco, and Shelley Lindgren is one of my favorite sommeliers. Their attention to detail in the service, food, and amazing wines will blow anyone away.

With such a perishable, expensive and important product buying truffles can be a leap of faith for a chef. Working with Céline over the past two years has taken away any of that stress. The level of quality and consistency with her truffles is unsurpassed. Most importantly the quality and loyalty of her service makes me feel that she is looking out for me and my guests interests in giving me an honest assessment of the markets fluctuations.

The more you take away the less there is to hide behind and that's when the true talent comes out.

Perfect food is born of perfect order.

Everyone in this world is dealt a different hand - some better, some worse than others - but what's more important is how you play that hand. This is what builds character. And with great character comes great reward.

We are selling dreams. We are merchants of happiness.

There's nothing like a home-cooked meal - nothing! When people ask me what the best restaurant in L.A. is, I say, 'Uh, my house.' It's more intimate. Food can connect people in a forever sort of way.

Chefs have always been leaders, but now, because of social media and the evolution of the chef identity, we have a voice that expands beyond cooking.

I learned that things taste better on pretty plates.

A home is a place where a pot of fresh soup simmers gently on the hob, filling the kitchen with soft aromas . . . and filling your heart, and later your tummy, with joy.

If I'm feeling nostalgic, the first thing I do is open a packet of spaghetti, olive oil in a pan, garlic, a little bit of chili, a sprinkle of fresh parsley, and that's it. It reminds me of my mum.

If you think big, then it's going to be big.

Disability is the inability to see ability.

I'm probably a bit romantic about it, but I think we humans miss having contact with fire. We need it.

Do not be afraid of simplicity. If you have a cold chicken for supper, why cover it with a tasteless white sauce which makes it look like a pretentious dish on the buffet table at some fance dress ball?

No, when I worked as an accountant I was falling asleep waiting for 5 o'clock.

I loved growing up in Washington, but I have been a diehard, 100 percent 49ers fan since I was 11.

I always loved to cook and entertain but I realized I had the chance to be successful with something that I am passionate about.

What is more refreshing than salads when your appetite seems to have deserted you, or even after a capacious dinner — the nice, fresh, green, and crisp salad, full of life and health, which seems to invigorate the, palate and dispose the masticating powers to a much longer duration.

I lived in Cuba - I was there for one year in the 1950s. We built the famous nightclub, which is still there, Tropicana, and a restaurant, Montecatini, that I opened is still there. I was there when the U.S. ambassador said everyone must leave because Castro was arriving the next morning.

I would try doing a dish 30 different ways.

Fusion food as a concept is kind of trying to quite consciously fuse things that are sometimes quite contradictory, sometimes quite far apart, to see if they'd work.

I'm not making art, I'm making sushi.