Claire Saffitz Quotes

I can do basics, but I'm not a proper cook. I can do a roast. I can stick a chicken in the oven with vegetables.

Cooking is about presenting flavors and other aspects of food in a way that makes best use of them and makes an engaging, satisfying meal. Taste necessarily comes into it along with technique. Some ingredients require cooking, cleaning or otherwise denaturing them, some are fine as they are.

One really interesting thing for me was learning about kitchen etiquette, and the differences between an Indian kitchen and a French one. They're different in atmosphere, and also in how chefs maneuver within them.

The only thing that counts is if you know how to prepare your ingredients. Even if with the best and freshest ingredients in the world, if your dish is tasteless or burnt, it's ruined.

I've been making sushi for 38 years, and I'm still learning. You have to consider the size and color of the ingredients, how much salt and vinegar to use and how the seasons affect the fattiness of the fish.

I can't cook, but I have a nice book of menus... and I can plate and set the table.

Finishing food is about the tiny touches. In the last seconds you can change everything.

If you talk about sous-vide, then you have to talk about food safety, and microbiology, and heat.

The visual aspect of a dish is so important; the shapes and colors and overall design have to strike the right mood and convey the right idea.

I consider myself a good layman's cook. Ninety percent of the time, I'm successful with what I set out to make, and I can improvise. Yes, I own a mandoline. Yes, we have a Vitamix.

I think more people should worry about where they store things in the fridge. I don't think people are on top of separating raw and cooked ingredients.

From the time I start prep to serving the food at the table, I like for the whole thing to be beautiful.

I learned that things taste better on pretty plates.

I'm not a cook and I always stick everything in the freezer and then I leave things out, saying 'if it's good today it will be good tomorrow.'

I am not a cook at all. It wasn't difficult to play a chef because it was not about knowing recipes. I just had to look comfortable in the kitchen.

As chefs, especially pastry chefs, your creativity plays such an important part in your daily work. We truly do have a blank canvas to work with every time we create a new dish.

Never eat anything out of a bowl in a bar... If it isn't in a package, don't eat it.

Jellies are to cold cookery what consommes and stock are to hot. If anything, the former are perhaps more important: for a cold entree - however perfect it may be in itself - is nothing without its accompanying jelly.

I was in culinary school for a little while, but it was just too hard to cut weight and cook at the same time.

Cooking is physical; it's easier to learn than playing golf. You chop food, you pan fry it - what else is there to it?

I'm funny with food, even if it's vegan. I like it well well, well, well done. I don't want anything there that reminds me of blood. I get mine extra well done. That way, when I look at it, I'm like, 'Okay, cool.'

When anybody is just starting the process of cooking, I always say it takes practice, and nobody got to be a great cook on their first try.

There are only three questions that matter in the kitchen if you're cooking and not baking. The first is how good are your ingredients; the second is how much salt to add; and the third is how long to cook whatever it is you're cooking - the question of doneness.

It is not difficult now to make good food because we have sophisticated equipment and refined ingredients. Being innovative also helps you. It sets you apart from other chefs. But taste is king.

The nature of food processing had changed substantially in America. Much of it owed to corresponding changes in food packaging and the logistics for faster shipping. The scope of outbreak from foodborne illness no longer has a clear geographic boundary.