A Bearnaise sauce is simply an egg yolk, a shallot, a little tarragon vinegar, and butter, but it takes years of practice for the result to be perfect.
If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony.
As far as cuisine is concerned one must read everything, see everything, hear everything, try everything, observe everything, in order to retain in the end, just a little bit.
The duty of a good Cuisinier is to transmit to the next generation everything he has learned and experienced.
In all professions without doubt, but certainly in cooking one is a student all his life.
Every morning the cuisinier must start again at zero, with nothing on the stove. That is what real cuisine is all about.
Success is the sum of a lot of small things done correctly.
Perfection is lots of little things done well.
There are many people who claim to be good cooks; just as there are many people who, after having repainted the garden gate take themselves to be painters.
I’m not hard to please, I’m content with the very best.
A good apprentice cook must be as polite with the dishwasher as with the chef.
A good meal must be as harmonious as a symphony and as well-constructed as a Norman cathedral.
Cooking is for capturing the taste of the food and then enhancing it, as a composer may take a theme and then delight us with his variations.
Before judging a thin man, one must get some information. Perhaps he was once fat.
In the orchestra of a great kitchen, the sauce chef is a soloist.
If he is thin, I will probably dine poorly. If he is both thin and sad, the only hope is in flight.
Cuisine is not invariable like a Codex formula. But one must guard against tampering with the essential bases.