Do you really want to make risotto to order when you have eight guests sitting there? No. It won't work. Most cookbooks won't tell you that. They will say make it and it will come out perfectly. They should tell you you're probably going to screw it up the first 10 times you make it.

I lurched away from the table after a few hours feeling like Elvis in Vegas - fat, drugged, and completely out of it.

A good, stinky French cheese or a good Stilton. These are things I really, really love. Dessert I can obviously live without.

Just because we are not Italian, does not mean we cannot appreciate Michelangelo, it is the same with cuisine.

I'm not impressed by any cooks who can brag about a filet mignon. A guy who can take the neck of a shank or can use tripe to make into something delicious is really interesting to me; that's impressive.

I wish I could play bass like Larry Graham or Bootsy Collins. My God, I'd give up just about everything else for that.

We learn as professionals by repetition, by getting it wrong, getting yelled at and doing it again.