Thomas Keller Quotes

We rely on our purveyors to tell us what's available and what's good.

If you don't use good ingredients, the outcome is never going to be excellent. But if you buy the freshest ingredients that are in season, at their peak, and you cook with them, you can't really go wrong.

The rule I use is, If it doesn't come out of the ground looking the way it looks when you eat it, be careful.

A good chef has to be a manager, a businessman and a great cook. To marry all three together is sometimes difficult.

I kind of think of engineering like the chefs at a restaurant. Nobody's going to deny chefs are integrally important, but there's also so many other people who contribute to a great meal.

I cook every day.

Meat and poultry is safe. It's safer than it's probably ever been.

Nothing remains great without a capacity to change and to accommodate the conditions of a changing world.

We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.

As you get older, stuff starts to wear down. I can't play four basketball games a week anymore. It takes me three days to recover from one. I'm a little older, a little scrappier. So now I do yoga instead. And whatever else happens in the day, I'm set up in the best way possible. I feel great. I'm so flexible.

Society is like a large piece of frozen water; and skating well is the great art of social life.

Everyone could use instructions on every aspect of cooking: pantry, storage, refrigeration, cooking, what to buy. Everyone that I come into contact with could use help.

Good asparagus needs minimal treatment and is best eaten with few other ingredients.

I wanted to learn everything I could about what it takes to be a great chef. It was a turning point for me.

I don't turn my nose up at anything. If it's a great part, it's a great part. I'd love to do a box-office hit.

The 1,000 tasting portions were to be served over a period of six hours, starting at noon, so we would have to prep those another way, to keep them as fresh as possible.

There has been no great surprise, no sudden revelation. I knew pretty much what I was getting into. What I've learned is that a restaurant can be as much of an art as you want it to be, but it has to be a successful business first.

In their search for quality, people seem to be looking for permanency in a time of change.

Most cornmeal producers don't tell you when their cornmeal was milled, which makes it difficult to know how long the product has been sitting in the store before you bought it.

The difference between a bland tomato and great one is immense, much like the difference between a standard, sliced white bread and a crusty, aromatic sourdough.

It helps immerse yourself in what you potentially want to do. Being involved, learning firsthand and observing the craft and absorbing all you can, makes it easier to define what you want. It will also ultimately make you a better Chef. Culinary school, or even a single class, is a great bet too.

I used to think that each phase of life was the end. But now that my view on life is more or less fixed, I believe that change is a great thing. In fact, it's the only real absolute in the world.

If you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And that's exactly what I did.

I started in the restaurant business at the age of 19 as a waitress. I loved the atmosphere and the camaraderie of the restaurant business. I loved not having to go to an office. I loved making people happy.

Ya gots to work with what you gots to work with.