Craig Claiborne Quotes

I think anybody can cook if they take the time.

Many excellent cooks are spoilt by going into the arts.

I don't know if I am a good cook, but I am a dedicated cook.

I don't have any specialties. Anything I cook, I just make it special.

You don’t spring into good cooking naked. You have to have some training. You have to learn how to eat.

First of all, I can't really claim to be a great chef.

It's very hard to be an innovator at the highest level in any discipline. For some chefs it's merely about combining ingredients, but that's something you can do with your eyes closed.

I am very, very proud of my ability as a cook.

The art of the cuisine, when fully mastered, is the one human capability of which only good things can be said.

I feel like there's a lot of tasks in cooking that I want to master, that I want to do better.

You can't fake being able to cook well.

Food's delicate. You have to handle it with finesse. You can't just be a big ogre.

I've never been a great cook.

If you're picky, you have to learn about cooking.

I'm a terrible cook, but I make very good lobster salad.

I loved the minute I realized I was good at cooking. Like, I had a moment - I made a roasted chicken, and I remember watching people's faces as they ate it, and I thought at that time, 'Oh, I am good at this.'

Anytime I prepare a meal for my family, I am putting all of my time, effort, energy, and love into it.

I don't barbeque myself because that would involve me cooking. And whereas I can, I'm not a very good cook.

Part of being a really good chef or cook is being able to fix disasters.

Cooking is not effortless. To get a recipe that feels effortless is really hard.

Cooking well, with love, is an art.

Once learnt, this business of cooking was to prove an ever growing burden. It scarcely bears thinking about, the time and labour that man and womankind has devoted to the preparation of dishes that are to melt and vanish in a moment like smoke or a dream, like a shadow, and as a post that hastes by, and the air closes behind them, afterwards no sign where they went is to be found.

The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it… If you’re convinced that cooking is drudgery, you’re never going to be good at it, and you might as well warm up something frozen.

The way you make an omelet reveals your character.

Cooking is at once one of the simplest and most gratifying of the arts, but to cook well one must love and respect food.