I am driven by ingredients. My Italian heritage and French training inevitably poke through as well, guiding my techniques.
— Alex Guarnaschelli
My last meal on Earth? The obvious answer is a plate of my mother's scrambled eggs.
I like all of McClure's pickles, but my personal favorites are the spicy ones.
I love using hummus as centerpiece and then making different containers of vegetables for fun dipping.
I like to take a day off and enjoy fast food for what it is. I have to say that in New York, I'm really partial about taco trucks. I mean, I really can't handle it. There is something about catching all those ingredients piled on top of each other: it puts me in a tizzy. I love it. I'm kind of a taco truck junkie.
People don't take enough advantage of the refrigerator door.
There's not enough time in each day to really focus enough attention on any one thing, but I'm doing my best. I have a great group of people who support me, and I don't sleep a lot. It's like I'm on a constantly spinning merry-go-round, and every day, I'm wondering when it will stop so I can get off. I love what I do, so that helps a lot.
I like food to be really simple but have a lot of technique all the same.
We have to get out there and explain that imperfect tastes just as good.
You have to be disciplined about being in the kitchen.
I used to run track in high school and was unexceptional in every way.
Having students was so inspiring.
I have to be honest and say that I never really feel like there's one person that I really want to cook for. I just want my food to always get better and always be evolving and for there to always be movement in what I make. I would say I strive for that more than anything else.
Dione Lucas has been obscured by larger-than-life personalities like Julia Child, but she had it going on. She is like the horse that came in second place, whose name we can't remember. It takes more than just one horse to make a race.
I love watching a single pork chop seasoned with garlic and shallots cook and see the fat bubble around it.
I didn't harbor a huge desire to become a chef until I graduated from college.
I find myself hoping I can get on a TV show, and then people from Oklahoma will come to my restaurant. Then I'll be able to make enough money to open my own place.
Buying food from farmers and people that I know adds that human element that I love.
I feel very passionate about maintaining the same level of standard and respect for the food as an Iron Chef myself.
My mom, ever the Italian, made braised chicken with tomato.
Make dinner with the goal of stretching it out for lunch in the back of your mind. Making more of one thing is cheaper than buying more varied ingredients for each meal.
I've had the privilege of having a lot of amazing people cook for me.
People in professional kitchens may love what they do, but sometimes it's just something that puts food on the table.
I'm interested in food and sharing my passion with a community of like-minded people. All of the celebrity stuff that comes along with that is just an incidental byproduct of being able to do what I love for a living.
I shop at the market, and that informs what I make.
Americans will not buy irregular-looking or oddly shaped vegetables!
I try to sit still for about 15 minutes each morning without making lists or running in overdrive.
I exercise at a great gym and do dance classes mixed with some calisthenics. I really enjoy that because it reminds me of '80s aerobics. It's fun! I also bike ride, or sometimes I swim. Because I stand a lot, I don't really like to walk long distances. Running or jogging is out of the question.
You have a shelf-life on TV.
I like Bobby Flay's attitude and his approach towards food. I think he's just passionate and very honest. I find him very honest about food and cooking and ingredients and I admire that because I think that it's easy to get away from that for various reasons.
I know that some people use lavender, incense, and cake as sedatives, but for me, a 'nose bath' in an old book just does something.
I really love muscle cars. I don't think people might realize that about me. I really want to go to an auto auction and blow my life savings on a Camaro. They have such design around them, such panache.
Walnuts are so rich. I also love that you can chew them for five minutes. Then I eat a couple of golden raisins as a palate cleanser because they are really tart, and then more walnuts. It's a great snack for me.
Food is ever-changing and ever moving forward and getting more and more complex.
One of the most practical utensils I can't live without is my 'Joyce Chen' Scissors. They cut with precision.
I think I will never stop having mentors.
Make a stir-fried rice dish with some cut-up chicken and any vegetables folded into the rice for a 'one pot' meal lunch that has it all - protein, starch and vegetables.
A homemade hamburger can be a real treat.
As a chef, a mom, and a member of Team No Kid Hungry, I believe that every child deserves three meals a day, every day.
When we talk about chefs, we often talk about their love of food or their passion for it, but cooking is also about making a living; it's a job.
When we eat something at a restaurant, however simple it may look, there's something in it that makes you think, 'Well, I couldn't quite do this from home.'
I watched 'Iron Chef ' for years, and I thought, 'That's playing for the New York Yankees.' I made that my version of being Derek Jeter, and I worked really, really hard to win that.
To me, 'Chopped' is a great platform for championing great causes.
I think unadulterated products and smaller portion sizes mean consumption of less food overall. Portion is everything. The first time I bought a scoop of ice cream in Paris, they weighed the ice cream on a scale before putting it on the cone. It was so small, it fell into the cone as she handed it to me.
Every once in a while, I want to get up and cook.
I think that 'celebrity' and 'chef' should be a permanent oxymoron.
I wouldn't call being a chef gratifying in a lot of ways. It's an act of love.
My mom is a self-taught home cook, so books that offer guidelines on how to organize menus are critical to 'cook from the book' people like her.
I didn't cook that much as a kid. My mother was cooking, and I was her helper. We made dishes together.
It's amazing how meaty cauliflower can be.
