The main thing is to have a gutsy approach and use your head.

Be a fearless cook! Try out new ideas and new recipes, but always buy the freshest and finest ingredients, whatever they may be. Furnish your kitchen with the most solid and workmanlike equipment you can find. Keep your knives ever sharp and - toujours bon appetit!

...nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should.

I think careful cooking is love, don't you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who's close to you is about as nice a valentine as you can give.

If you're afraid of butter, use cream.

Noncooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.

The shellfish thing is very scary. You have to know the people you buy from and exactly where their wholesalers are getting the fish from.