Top 40 Johnny Iuzzini Quotes

The inspiring thing is that people are often more experimental with their desserts than other courses. It allows me to be more creative and excite people.

Desserts are last, but don’t let them be least.

I’m very much half city and half country boy.

TV has taken a crazy turn, especially in the industry of food, where everything is either a competition show or a sort of reality show. We’ve lost the kind of shows that are, like, ‘Here’s how you do this,’ like the old Julia Child shows.

The true mark of professionalism is the ability to respect everyone else for their styles and always find something positive in every dining experience and highlight it in your thoughts and words.

Whenever a chef cooks for his own ego rather than his guests, he/she set themselves up for ridicule and failure. In the end, it’s the service industry. Our goal is to make our guests happy through our cooking.

Adding salt to desserts helps to balance and pronounce flavors. Almost all of my desserts have salt in them. They don’t taste salty per se, but if I gave you two of the same item – one with salt and one without – side by side, you would realize something was missing.

If I can’t do something and excel at it and do it well, I have a tendency to give up on it really easy.

We never really know what people are capable of until the only person they can rely on is themselves.

Plain sugar cookies, no matter how well they are made, are a bit boring to me.

Chocolate is the go-to ingredient for many people. It is the thing people crave when they are happy and celebrate; it is also the go-to ingredient for many people when we are sad or depressed. It makes us feel better.

Part of what makes a great chef is the ability to adapt, cook, and to taste. A great chef will use all their food knowledge, food memories, and senses to work with each ingredient and apply themselves to the dish they are creating.

I was an amusement and water park fiend as a kid growing up. I loved them. My brothers and I would go whenever we could. We liked all the super steep/fast slides and flumes where you would get completely soaked. Our absolute favorite was the tubes, though.

At one point, in one of the kitchens where I worked, I was the only American pastry cook. They treated me poorly. ‘You’re stupid. You’re American. You don’t get it.’ They’d speak French all day. At one point, my boss said to me, ‘You learn French or get out right away.’

There’s always time to date.

I am classically trained in French pastry, but I am American and have a natural curiosity and playfulness that comes through in my cooking. I like to present flavors that people are familiar with in unique combinations and forms that may surprise them.

I have pictures of me feeding deer and possums with baby bottles. I am such an animal lover.

I really loved traveling the U.S. and seeing regional differences within the same country and how the same ingredients are used in very different ways. I love how the ‘old guard’ of cuisine are still pioneering so much of the direction of food today.

Everyone has days when things can go wrong. That doesn’t make you a bad pastry chef – that makes you human.

The biggest fear in my life is being mediocre.

My dad said, ‘If you want to go out with girls and go out with your friends, get a job.’ I found one at the local country club as a pot washer in the kitchen.

I love biscuits. I have a real thing for a biscuits, and if it’s not made right, I’m gonna come down hard on somebody.

Baking is about multi-tasking. If you are organized and prepared, that’s half the battle.

If you would ask me some of the ingredients that people are surprised by that could appear on my menu are such things as bleu cheese, vegetables like parsnips and rutabaga, bacon, pork fat, fois gras, truffles, and olives.

I drink at least a couple of espressos every day and love the flavor of coffee.

Cooking is about imbibing different cultures and putting them in a plate on the table.

I can’t even kill a lobster without saying a Hail Mary for it.

Just because you love to cook and you are good at in your home environment doesn’t necessarily mean that you are cut out for competition. It is a different animal and requires you to approach cooking in a very different way.

As most people will tell you, the best pies have the best crusts. It has to be tender, flaky, and full of flavor. That is the key to a great pie.

It’s funny, you know, growing up, you are always introduced to people as your uncle this or your aunt that or your cousin this. By the time I was in my 20s, I had no idea who I actually was or wasn’t related to. It’s kind of a running joke in the family.

I actually have a pig collection in my cabin: all types of old wood hand-carved pigs that my mom started for me as a housewarming gift.

I see myself as half country boy and half city boy, so I need both to balance me out. I couldn’t spend all of my time in either place.

I want to do more TV and more books. I want to have my hand in different projects. I’m way too hyper; I’m just one of those people who has to have a lot going on.

First and foremost, food needs to be delicious. It should pop and explode with flavor. Food should please all the senses.

I am a sugar freak.

A pastry chef’s lifespan in a restaurant is limited. You have to open a bakery or pastry shop. There’s only so far you can go in a restaurant.

Daniel Boulud told me at a young age, ‘Whatever happens to you in your career, you’re going to be great – be humble. Just be humble.’ And I think about that daily. Like, whatever happens to me, whatever awards we win as a team or whatever else, just be humble.

I didn’t come from a wealthy family. My dad told us if we wanted spending money, we had to earn it. So I developed an early work ethic.

If you take everything personally and to heart, it will tear you apart. Take criticism, learn, adjust, and move on.

Every few years, I change my look for the simple reason that I get bored. If you Google Image me, you will see so many different looks: long hair, short hair, clean shaven, beard, etc.