Quote

If people take the trouble to cook, you should take the trouble to eat.

A cookbook is not like being an author. It's writing down recipes; it's not writing.

I am a cookbook fanatic.

Too many books are full of recipes that aren't doable at home. They are purely aspirational. They are quite frightening, even for me.

A big thing that gets people in trouble in the kitchen is not reading the recipe from start to finish before you cook it. Before you start anything, read through the entire recipe once.

I think every young cook wants to write a book.

I'm going to book-and-author dinners, and I'm the author!

Taking dishes straight off the restaurant's menu and putting them into a cookbook doesn't work, because as a chef you have your own vision of what your food is, but you can't always explain it. Or you can't pick recipes that best illustrate who and where you are and what you're doing. And if the recipes don't work, you don't have a book.

Making books is hard work. Some books are, of course, more demanding than others.

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.