Daniel Boulud Quotes

Bad food is made without pride, by cooks who have no pride, and no love. Bad food is made by chefs who are indifferent, or who are trying to be everything to everybody, who are trying to please everyone... Bad food is fake food... food that shows fear and lack of confidence in people's ability to discern or to make decisions about their lives.

It's not that hard to make good food.

What makes a good deli is a place that, one, is generally family-owned or owned by individuals that care. Delis that are owned by large corporations tend not to have that same soul. And two, delis that make as much of their food from scratch as possible.

Simple ingredients, treated with respect... put them together and you will always have a great dish.

Keep it simple in the kitchen. If you use quality ingredients, you don't need anything fancy to make food delicious: just a knife, a cutting board, and some good nonstick cookware, and you're set.

A lot of people think Japanese food is difficult, a lot of work. But you don't have to buy the knife I have. You don't have to train as long as I have. You can do my cooking in your kitchen.

People came to my parents' parties because they were going to have fun and, if lucky, our mother would belly dance. What they didn't know was that the hostess made sure every morsel placed in front of them was pure and without anything artificial, no matter what the cost.

I like to cook with the philosophy of using great ingredients and not altering them too much.

Those places I don't understand, just doing bad food. It takes some doing. Making good pasta is so much easier than making bad stuff. It actually takes quite an effort to make poor linguine pomodora.

There's no way I'm going to stand up for bad ingredients. We love seasonal ingredients. It's a false dichotomy to say that modern cooking is at odds with that, but some people want to have a great ingredient and no technique.

Italian food is all about ingredients and it's not fussy and it's not fancy.

If I'm a great artisan of the kitchen, it's because I don't buy my sauces.

I'm a rather crude cook.

Chipotle was going to incorporate all the things I had learned at the Culinary Institute and Stars and really elevate typical fast food.

Efficiency is key to a successful kitchen. Clean your station as you go. Make yourself aerodynamic. Buy the best. Taste ingredients as you go.

For me, the good food starts with good product.

Your recipe, darling, is so tasty, and you sure can stir your pot.

Bill Blass came in all the time, and I would make him roast chicken with spring potatoes and spring porcini with spring onion. And baby artichokes. And never, ever did he find a better chicken. Norman Parkinson, one of the greatest photographers alive, came every lunch to Le Cirque. And every time he would clean up his plate with his bread and then he would take his marker and write on the plate how much he loved the food. I think at Le Cirque I learned how to make real food, which is what people crave, not just gimmicky things on a plate.

I'd hate to not enjoy food.

The more things you make from scratch, the less expensive and usually healthier and tastier.

Cooking well, with love, is an art.

My cooking style is really simple. Not a lot of ingredients, but all good quality, so you don't have to do that much to them.

We have tacos and burritos and things that sound Mexican. But to me, it's about great-tasting food in an atmosphere sympathetic to the food, prepared freshly and served to the customer in a way that's customizable.

When you taste something delicious, ask for the recipe! Or offer to trade a recipe!

All of my dishes kind of have the same thing going on - I'm always going to give you the same things that I grew up with or that my mom used to make. I'm not going to use nitrogen in my tacos.