Rupert Friend Quotes

I think people make it too systematic in a way, like it's a chemistry formula. Food is not like that; food is very forgiving. Connecting and making do with a lot of the food elements can be fun and exciting.

You don't have to stick with these recipes. They're guides. As I say, they're a way in. Have fun with them. It's an easier way to cook in a busy life, once you get the hang of it.

It was improv that really helped me start coming up with recipes and just believe in my instincts. That's why the first recipe I made up was 'I Ain't Chicken Chicken' because I finally felt bold and fearless in the kitchen, which was an entirely new feeling for me.

I love to cook. My dad's a really excellent cook and his style is: Look in the fridge and make whatever there is with whatever ingredients you have and I like cooking like that, too.

I'm yet to attack French cooking, you know, where it's intense, following recipes and stuff. I'm more of a 'make it up' kind of thing.

No rules. Don't be afraid to do whatever you want. Cooking doesn't have to have rules. I don't like it that way.

I never cook from cookbooks.

I try not to do anything by formula.

What has impressed me the most about the Italians whose tables we've sat at is that they are traditional cooks but also outrageously innovative. These people are wild improvisers.

I'll read a recipe but then decide, 'Well, it's sort of like this, then.' Or I'll go to the fridge and think, 'I'll see what I can put together,' and I'll combine beetroot and sausage and prawns with goat's cheese sprinkled on top and think, 'I like that they're all slightly pink. It looks fine and... actually, it is fine.'

I love the idea of cooking, but I don't like using recipe books, so I'll put a mish-mash together, and it might be amazing by total accident, or it will be a catastrophe.

I'm a very improvisational cook. I sort of like to make things up as I go along. I'm quite creative in the kitchen.

I never learned to cook, so I've got no rules. I'll put things together just because I think they belong together.

A cookery book should be there for inspiration. Recipes should be a guideline, and they shouldn't be cast in stone.

Cooking is an observation-based process that you can't do if you're so completely focused on a recipe.

The 'Maverick Chef' is one concept that I would really want to do again because I am traveling from country to country taking from what is in that country that is iconic, special, funky, weird and doing it my way. That is something I really enjoy.

There's no set way to do anything. Sometimes you have to go outside the box; sometimes you can do things the standard way. Like, you don't have to have a beat to write a song: sometimes you can write lyrics without the music.

Spaghetti is good with ranch, and spaghetti is good with sugar. You put all of that together and make a sandwich out of it, and you get greatness. People shouldn't judge unless they try it.

I have a friend who only buttons the bottom button of his suit jacket, which you're not supposed to do. 'Supposed to do.' But it's his thing, and it's his personal style, and it's like you've got to honor that. People can do whatever they want.

Finding exciting ways to use leftovers is what we all struggle with. There's one simple thing that you can do to transform them: Stock your pantry.

Cooking is one of the most zen things - you have to be there.

I think my heritage makes me very open to try things, taking on different flavours, mixing it all up. I find that exciting.

It never occurred to me that artists, of all people, have to be reminded that instinct is more important than tradition, but in our industry, people seem to forget that sometimes.

As a kid we would eat moussaka with mash. We had a real fusion of two cultures that no-one has dared to fuse since.

I honestly feel the term 'molecular gastronomy' is mostly misunderstood. It is not a style of cooking. Rather, it is a philosophy which encourages chefs to be more creative.