Easter is an arts and crafts moment where your whole family and friends can get involved.
— Alex Guarnaschelli
Part of health is variety!
I've thrown vanilla beans into mustard. Nothing crazy or grainy, just normal dijon. It's great for duck. Smear some of that right on the duck, coupled with some roast plums, and it all comes together in that savory over sweet over savory over sweet way we all love.
Ganache is a mix of chocolate and cream. Warm cream, warm chocolate, they want to get to know each other - they're happy.
I've always been a great collector and lover of cookbooks.
I grew up in Midtown Manhattan.
Understand that nutrition plays a huge role in athletes' lives, and one of the most nutritious ways to eat is to cook your own food.
I feel like a princess with a knife. I've wanted to be an Iron Chef forever.
If I am making a spice rub or a spice mix for a braise or even just to crust a piece of fish, I'll use mustard seeds. If you soak them in a little bit of vinegar and let them get plumped and soft and then you puree them, they're delicious.
I love the whole process of making, serving, and eating hearty soups like lentil, potato leek and carrot, to name a few.
If you want to have a relationship, at some point you have to let yourself get caught.
A splash of red wine vinegar can pull things together like a pinch of salt.
Repeatedly opening the oven - or worse, taking out the turkey to baste it - slows down the momentum of cooking.
Mashed potatoes with stuff in it? That's '90s.
Freeze herbs by stem and all - don't just freeze the leaves. It's better to keep them sturdier. Put the stems and the leaves together into a plastic bag, and just wrap it up and freeze it like that.
The longer I look at something, the more my imagination churns and I can find somewhere to put it.
I really cringe at the sight of pattypan squash. So pretty and cute and having no taste or exciting texture. Dull.
It stuns me how effective children can be in their messaging, and I believe that every child should enjoy that basic right to become an adult. Getting rid of childhood cancers is one effective way to reach that goal.
Scrambled eggs are so simple, but they don't wait or taste better cold!
The best place to use vanilla beans is anywhere where they won't be mixed in with a million other flavors. Anything with dairy, yogurt, milk, cream, or eggs - any custard or flan - how can it be bad?
Sometimes I look up a recipe for chicken and tomatoes and end up cooking pork. The inspiration gets lost in translation.
I grew up in a house where I was a spectator to the sport of cooking. In that way, I just learned so much about what it really takes to make food.
I think that cakes should have touches of candy bar in order for it really to hit all those childhood notes on the keyboard.
Stuffed cherry tomatoes are satisfying without being filling and make a great alternative to bread-based starters. You can assemble these appetizers ahead of time and refrigerate them until you're ready to serve.
I learned so much from 'Iron Chef' about ingredients, about the courage to put yourself out there.
Don't be so hard on yourself. Make something simple a few times until you 'master' it and move on to the next thing. Take a cooking class! Buy a cookbook that specializes in foods or a cuisine you enjoy.
I love roasted beets with goat cheese. I am also a fruit addict.
The hardest thing for me is restraint. I see fresh beans and ramps, and I start to quiver.
Red wine vinegar has some personality as well acidity.
I've roasted a somewhat frozen turkey, and it's come out just fine.
'Iron Chef America' is so real. Imagine putting on television the whole process of making that food, the technique. It's all about technique. It doesn't even matter if you show the faces sometimes.
Fresh herbs really belong anywhere you put them.
I baked the coffee cake recipe from 'The Joy of Cooking' over and over again when I was a kid.
I love 'The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook' by Dione Lucas. A huge source of information and inspiration. The book is organized by menu, and the recipes are unusual and exciting.
I have a daughter who has taught me a lot along the way.
To make fluffy scrambled eggs, the best trick is to whisk in a splash of water and nothing else. Cream, milk, and other liquids drag the eggs down!
If it's not messy and it doesn't drip over the sides, it's not a holiday hot chocolate -it's just an average hot chocolate.
Once you make a cookbook, you live with it as your own for the rest of your life, like a yearbook.
I love it when a few simple ingredients come together on a plate, and I think, 'Wow, that's a dish.'
I think no one would dispute that 'Chopped' is a highly athletic television show.
Who doesn't love a stuffed cherry tomato?
There's a freshness to the approach of teen chefs. They're lighthearted, and they're not afraid to take risks.
I love to eat. I could make a professional sport out of it.
I didn't want to write a cheffy cookbook with dehydrated ham chips.
Every time I feel like something is missing from a dish, I think, 'Oh, I know, I'll add a pinch of dry ginger.' If it's not salt and it's not vinegar, it's probably missing dry ginger.
I don't know anyone who hasn't overcooked at least one turkey, myself included. It's easy to do.
Short ribs in the middle of a hamburger? That was pretty groundbreaking.
It's essential to make sure you have proper kitchen tools for food storage - like cling wrap, bags, and containers - because they help keep food fresher longer.
If you're making a salad of any kind, cut the herbs, stems and all, and toss them into your mixed greens salad, a Romaine salad, iceberg, Bibb - it just adds a special touch.
My most memorable meal was with my parents at Joel Robuchon's Restaurant Jamin in Paris. It was Christmas 1982, and the flavors - from cauliflower and caviar to crab and tomato - astounded me. It was the first time I remember thinking that I would like to really learn how to cook.
