I had D minuses in chemistry and all of the sciences, and now I'm known as a molecular gastronomist.

Most smoked salts are made with liquid smoke, which is a condensate, but really, really good smoked salt is literally smoked.

My father would always tell me that creativity didn't matter at the diner. When I was probably 14 or 15, I would put - I mean, it was a no-nonsense place - but I would try to put a sprig of parsley or orange curl on the omelets, or something like that. He'd be like "Don't do that!"

Food can be expressive and therefore food can be art.

It's not really the life of cooking that's hard - it's what you make of it and what level you push yourself to.

If I had one piece of advice for people - if they are cooking from the Alinea cookbook, the Betty Crocker cookbook or the back of the box - read through the entire recipe first before reaching for any ingredients, and then read again and execute the directions.

Anything that could ever prevent me from achieving a goal, I put in a box, tape it up, throw it over my shoulder. You aim for a goal and attain it. Then you look to the next one.