Yotam Ottolenghi Quotes

Undercook swordfish, and you get rubber. Overcook it, and you lose the fat and succulence.

The only thing you can do to make catfish edible is fry them.

I don't show just anyone how to crust a sea bass. That's sacred information.

I cook a great fish, a great salmon. I grill it, get the skin nice and crispy.

Most fish require a short cooking time, but cephalopods are the exception to this fishy rule. As with some cuts of larger land beasts, the longer they're cooked, the more tender they get.

It's always a good idea to chill your crab cake mixture for a few hours, or even overnight, before frying because they'll hold together better.

Always deep fry in a nonreactive, heavy pot with high sides, like an enameled Dutch oven. A heavy pot ensures even heating which means more even cooking.

I don't overcook, because you lose what's good in the food.

[Vincent Price] taught me how to cook fish in my dishwasher.

My mom said the two most important kitchen utensils are attached to your arms... you cannot mix up meatballs with a wooden spoon, get in there, get your fingers dirty!

It's so important that you don't put the stuffing in the bird, where in order for the stuffing to get cooked you have to overcook the turkey. It's better to do it on the side.

Poaching white fish in moderately hot oil guarantees soft-textured flesh and allows you to prepare a sauce calmly, without the usual panic about overcooking the fish.

When it comes to cooking pasta, the first essential is to make sure you have a big enough pot: it needs room to roll in the water while cooking.

This sounds like a brag, but I know how to make good fried rice. I learned in college. There are two secrets - take the rice after you cook it and let it get cold in the fridge. Then cook the egg like you're making a fried egg and just before it's done, dump the rice and veg on it and swirl it around.

In certain European cuisines, vegetables are cooked a long time. I take the term 'al dente' and use it for vegetables.

After being cooked, ling cod tends to bleed out some moisture, so, before serving, let it rest a few moments on a plate. Once the moisture has been released, you can carefully pick up the fillet with a slotted spatula and transfer it to another plate for saucing. This way, you won't sog out your beautiful sauce.

I do not believe in eating fish hot. People always insist on hot fish, but that leaves it dried out.

I do a mean beef Wellington. Gordon Ramsay's is a phenomenal recipe. But that's a lot of prep. The secret to wrap it in Parma ham before wrapping in pastry. I'm so pro smuggling more meat in.

The secret is to cook the aubergines the day before and let them dry of all the oil they drank in cooking. When you cook aubergine, they eat a lot of oil. It can be very heavy.

Never crowd a pan with too many mushrooms. They give off an enormous amount of moisture. And there's nothing worse than a braised mushroom, other than a lot of braised mushrooms.

Ling cod is a mild-flavored and somewhat delicate fish that takes well to poaching, braising and pan-roasting.

Stuffed vine leaves tend to burn and/or stick when you cook them. To avoid this, use a heavy based pan lined with a few layers of second-rate leaves.

Steaming is a great way to cook any firm fleshed fish, but it's often overlooked by the home cook.

Basting is evil. Basting does nothing for the meat. Why? Skin. Skin is designed to keep stuff out of the bird, so basting just lets heat out of the oven. That means the turkey will take longer to cook... so don't touch that door!

There's a point of no return when you're cooking tomatoes. A little too much heat, a little too long in the pot, and you lose that sense of fresh ripeness that makes tomatoes so great.