Thomas Keller Quotations

It wasn't about mechanics; it was about a feeling, wanting to give someone something, which in turn was really gratifying. That really resonated for me.

We go through our careers and things happen to us. Those experiences made me what I am.

Let's face it: if you and I have the same capabilities, the same energy, the same staff, if the only thing that's different between you and me is the products we can get, and I can get a better product than you, I'm going to be a better chef.

Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore.

I wanted to learn everything I could about what it takes to be a great chef. It was a turning point for me.

A kaiseki meal is like that, very small courses over a long period of time.

Hopefully, imparting what's important to me, respect for the food and that information about the purveyors, people will realize that for a restaurant to be good, so many pieces have to come together.

Whether it's destiny or fate or whatever, I don't think I could do a French Laundry anywhere else.

In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.

But once in a while you might see me at In and Out Burger; they make the best fast food hamburgers around.

The book is there for inspiration and as a foundation, the fundamentals on which to build.

My childhood wasn't full of wonderful culinary memories.

The law of diminishing returns is something I really believe in.

I like to drink young wines, wines which are robust and have a lot of forward fruit to them.

I wanted to write about what we were doing at the French Laundry, the recipes and the stories.

It's one thing you aspire to: someday, you'll be able to write a book.

We rely on our purveyors to tell us what's available and what's good.

You're getting to know who the great chefs are through their books.

Then, as the day progresses, depending on how the product is coming in - for instance, the fish man will fax us and say black bass is great - throughout the day, we'll also make judgment calls and adapt to what's available.

Now the restaurants have begun to catch up with the wine-making; there are numerous great restaurants in Napa Valley, and it's wonderful because the people are there for just that: great food and great wine.

I drank more wine when I wasn't working as much, to be honest.

I think every young cook wants to write a book.

They know what my standards are. They know what I need and how to get it to me, and they know how to communicate with me if for some reason they can't get it.

I hope the cooks who are working for me now are getting that kind of experience so they can use what they're learning now as a foundation for a great career.

When I go out to eat, it's usually something moderate in style.

Some of the recipes in the book have evolved for us. Many haven't.

No, it's funny, when I eat out it's not typically in the kind of restaurants people might imagine.

Your idea of that dish has evolved, and if you're a cook, you can start thinking in different ways about it, maybe even a different way than I think about it.

ultimately, the system proved instrumental in fostering an undeniably unified restaurant staff.

I am a perfect example of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps: My mom raised six kids by herself.

But the project, from beginning to end, was a little over two years, from the time we wrote the proposal to its publication.

For me, that's one of the important things about cooking. What was good enough yesterday may not be good enough today.

We make sure we know the kitchen inside and out, where everything is. We get sort of crazy making sure everything goes off without a hitch.

Restaurants like the French Laundry can be very intimidating for a lot of people.

People love the idea of the chef coming to them. But it's an extraordinary undertaking to do these parties. To replicate what we do in the restaurants in someone's home - the precision, the perfection - is a huge challenge and extremely time-consuming.

We realized the imbalance of earnings and that a change needed to occur in order to provide everyone in the restaurant an opportunity to pursue their dreams,

Well, it took me twenty-seven years, as long as I've been cooking.

It's nice to have the restaurants close by. It makes them easier to control and keep an eye on.

I hope I'm retired by 2012. If force-feeding a duck is cruel, then packing chickens in a cage is cruel, and then the veal and the beef. We are all going to be vegetarians soon if they have their way. We should probably start converting now.

This has suddenly become the thing that everybody wants.

And it just becomes like a little rack of lamb, ... A rack of rabbit.

The final menu is printed at four o'clock. Up until that point, we can make changes.

I didnt want to be encumbered by what anyone elses abilities were, their equipment or environment or their ability to get certain products.

My favorite wines are Zinfandels.

Historically in restaurants, the service staff is awarded significantly higher wages than cooks and other staff who prepare the food on which a restaurant's reputation is based. The gap in pay is so great that it is becoming increasingly difficult for young cooks to pursue their passion at the rate of pay restaurants are able to afford.

I came to understand that the words executive and corporate never belong next to the word chef.

I guess the main source of stress for me is the stress I put on myself.

I wonder if I love the communal act of eating so much because throughout my childhood, with four older brothers and a mom who worked in the restaurant business, I spent a lot of time fending for myself, eating alone - and recognizing how eating together made all the difference.

I believe Fernand Point is one of the last true gourmands of the 20th century. His ruminations are extraordinary and thought-provoking. He has been an inspiration for legions of chefs.

I think if you can take one or two things from a cookbook, it's successful.

Vegetables to me are - I don't want to say the most exciting part of cooking, but certainly a very exciting part of cooking, because they continue to change. They come into season and they go through different phases.

I don't think you could have a 7 with a manual. But I can't see having a BMW sports sedan without a manual.

One of the problems with writing a cookbook is that recipes exist in the moment.

Anyone can make a good roast chicken.

Good food is a good trend.

Larousse is an invaluable tool for any cook. I've used this great resource all throughout my cooking career, and of course I look forward to the new edition. New information and knowledge are always welcome.

I can make dough in a machine faster than I can make it by hand, but I want to make it by hand, because I want to remember the way it feels. It's so important for me to make it by hand - whether it's a pasta dough or a pâte brisée. You become involved in it. You become personal with it. For me it's such a wonderful way to get satisfaction and gratification when I'm cooking.

The media builds you up, and then it tears you down.

With passion, if you see the first asparagus of the springtime and you become passionate about it, so much the better, but three weeks later, when you’ve seen that asparagus every day now, passions have subsided. What’s going to make you treat the asparagus the same? It’s the desire.

I think that you’ve got to make something that pleases you and hope that other people feel the same way.

Even the most astute chefs seek out the assistance of Celine Labaune, owner of Gourmet Attitude, because they know they can rely on her keen senses and deep understanding of the truffle trade.

I have no formal culinary training, right.

I think that's the important thing - being aware of that inspiration and being able to interpret it into something that's meaningful for you.

And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!

You have to be driven. You have to be focused. You have to be aware.

Repetition is the mother of perfection. If there is true perfection, it's about doing something over and over again. I truly think that if somebody does a recipe they've never done before and gets it right, they're probably more lucky than they are talented.

Cooking is not about convenience and it's not about shortcuts. Our hunger for the twenty-minute gourmet meal, for one-pot ease and prewashed, precut ingredients has severed our lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking. Take your time. Take a long time. Move slowly and deliberately and with great attention.

A cookbook must have recipes, but it shouldn't be a blueprint. It should be more inspirational; it should be a guide.

You don't know when inspiration is going to come. But you have to be aware of what's going on around you, so that at any moment, when inspiration happens, you're ready for it and you interpret it.

For me, thats one of the important things about cooking. What was good enough yesterday may not be good enough today.

It's not about perfection; it's about the joy of striving.

Respect for food is respect for life, for who we are and what we do.

Success is measured by the memories you create.

Food is such an important part of our lives, and sometimes we tend to diminish the importance of that, because we rely on conveniences or because our lives are so complicated. We forget about those moments that we can actually share around the table with our family, with our friends, with our loved ones.

Any job worth doing is worth doing well. But to be able to do that, you have to do it over and over again.

This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane.

Its not about passion. Passion is something that we tend to overemphasize, that we certainly place too much importance on. Passion ebbs and flows. To me, it's about desire. If you have constant, unwavering desire to be a cook, then u'll be a great cook.

When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.

A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.