I found that the recipes in most - in all - the books I had were really not adequate. They didn't tell you enough... I won't do anything unless I'm told why I'm doing it. So I felt that we needed fuller explanations so that if you followed one of those recipes, it should turn out exactly right.

I always give my bird a generous butter massage before I put it in the oven. Why? Because I think the chicken likes it -- and, more important, I like to give it.

If you're in a good profession, it's hard to get bored, because you're never finished - there will always be work you haven't done.

Cooking may be a creative art, but it's also a wonderful full-time hobby.

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.

The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken.

It's hard to imagine a civilization without onions; in one form or another their flavor blends into almost everything in the meal except the desert.