Top 50 Alex Guarnaschelli Quotes

Repeatedly opening the oven – or worse, taking out the turkey to baste it – slows down the momentum of cooking.

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.

Ganache is a mix of chocolate and cream. Warm cream, warm chocolate, they want to get to know each other – they’re happy.

I feel like a princess with a knife. I’ve wanted to be an Iron Chef forever.

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?

Scrambled eggs are so simple, but they don’t wait or taste better cold!

The longer I look at something, the more my imagination churns and I can find somewhere to put it.

I wouldn’t call being a chef gratifying in a lot of ways. It’s an act of love.

People don’t take enough advantage of the refrigerator door.

If you want to have a relationship, at some point you have to let yourself get caught.

I think we love bacon because it has all the qualities of an amazing sensory experience. When we cook it, the sizzling sound is so appetizing, the aroma is maddening, the crunch of the texture is so gratifying and the taste delivers every time.

It’s amazing the relationships you forge in a kitchen. When you cooperate in an environment that’s hot. Where there’s a lot of knives. You’re trusting your well-being with someone you’ve never before met or known.

I feel very passionate about maintaining the same level of standard and respect for the food as an Iron Chef myself.

I didn’t cook that much as a kid. My mother was cooking, and I was her helper. We made dishes together.

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.

‘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.

I love to eat. I could make a professional sport out of it.

It’s amazing how meaty cauliflower can be.

I really cringe at the sight of pattypan squash. So pretty and cute and having no taste or exciting texture. Dull.

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 don’t know anyone who hasn’t overcooked at least one turkey, myself included. It’s easy to do.

I love watching a single pork chop seasoned with garlic and shallots cook and see the fat bubble around it.

I think no one would dispute that ‘Chopped’ is a highly athletic television show.

Sometimes I look up a recipe for chicken and tomatoes and end up cooking pork. The inspiration gets lost in translation.

You have a shelf-life on TV.

Short ribs in the middle of a hamburger? That was pretty groundbreaking.

Food is ever-changing and ever moving forward and getting more and more complex.

I used to sleep with the phone right by my pillow but I’m getting better. Now it sits on the table a few feet away.

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.

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.

The hardest thing for me is restraint. I see fresh beans and ramps, and I start to quiver.

I try to sit still for about 15 minutes each morning without making lists or running in overdrive.

I grew up in Midtown Manhattan.

I think I will never stop having mentors.

I love roasted beets with goat cheese. I am also a fruit addict.

Easter is an arts and crafts moment where your whole family and friends can get involved.

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.

There’s a freshness to the approach of teen chefs. They’re lighthearted, and they’re not afraid to take risks.

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.

Who doesn’t love a stuffed cherry tomato?

I like all of McClure’s pickles, but my personal favorites are the spicy ones.

My father always said, ‘If you love what you do, you won’t mind slogging through it for several hours a day.’

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.

My mom, ever the Italian, made braised chicken with tomato.

Red wine vinegar has some personality as well acidity.

A homemade hamburger can be a real treat.

People in professional kitchens may love what they do, but sometimes it’s just something that puts food on the table.

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.’

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 it when a few simple ingredients come together on a plate, and I think, ‘Wow, that’s a dish.’