Recipe Variation Quotes

I have been cooking with preserved lemon for years, using it left, right and centre, but I am still far from reaching my limit.

My recipes aren't classic recipes; they're all fusion recipes inspired by all the places I've been to.

It's the ingredients you choose (Chorizo? Sure! Rye bread? Why not?) that will make your stuffing stand out.

When I walk into a market I may see a different cut of meat or an unusual vegetable and think, ‘I wonder how it would be if I took the recipe for that sauce I had in Provence and put the two together?’ So I go home and try it out. Sometimes my idea is a success and sometimes it is a flop, but that is how recipes are born. There really are not recipes, only millions of variations sparked by someone’s imagination and desire to be a little creative and different. American cooking is built, after all, on variations of old recipes from around the world.

I love a good challenge of looking with new eyes at a tried and true recipe in my recipe Rolodex.

I make gazpacho with a little bit of bread, so it's thicker, and I like it to be more tomato- and green pepper-based. Everyone has their own preferences, of course. But I think my gazpacho is the best.

After all these years of cooking and writing recipes, I am still amazed every time I notice how even the minutest of variation in technique can make a spectacular difference.

You can give the same recipe to ten cooks, and some make it come alive, and some make a flat souffle. A system doesn't guarantee anything.

My dad cooks beef in Guinness, I don't know why he does that, he adds chocolate to his spaghetti Bolognese too, I'm scared about doing that, it would like chocolate Bolognese if I did it, he likes to make it look rich that's why, so yes, my dad experiments but I don't.

I always have homemade chicken stock in the refrigerator. I'll reduce it, maybe add a little cream and a few shallots. Before you know it, eureka! It's the best.

When I make a recipe for the first time and it's fabulous, I know I'm in trouble because I don't know exactly what I did, and I can't replicate it.

It's like a kitchen, acting. Put a chef in a kitchen and they will have different recipes. Whatever your recipe, what works for you won't work for another.

I love chicken. But, like a lot of chefs and cooks, I get tired of preparing it the same way.

In Spain, we mainly use red plum tomatoes, but it is always fun to experiment. Try using a mix of colors or substitute green tomatoes for plum next time you make a tomato dish.