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I wanted to learn everything I could about what it takes to be a great chef. It was a turning point for me.

Thomas Keller

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Thomas Keller
Age: 69
Born: 1955
Born: October 14
Chef
Cookbook Author
Non-Fiction Writer
Restaurateur
Camp Pendleton
Wanted
Everything
Great
Chef
Turning
Takes
Point
Learn

More quotes by Thomas Keller

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Repetition is the mother of perfection. If there is true perfection, it's about doing something over and over again. I truly think that if somebody does a recipe they've never done before and gets it right, they're probably more lucky than they are talented.
Thomas Keller
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Historically in restaurants, the service staff is awarded significantly higher wages than cooks and other staff who prepare the food on which a restaurant's reputation is based. The gap in pay is so great that it is becoming increasingly difficult for young cooks to pursue their passion at the rate of pay restaurants are able to afford.
Thomas Keller
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Even the most astute chefs seek out the assistance of Celine Labaune, owner of Gourmet Attitude, because they know they can rely on her keen senses and deep understanding of the truffle trade.
Thomas Keller
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It wasn't about mechanics it was about a feeling, wanting to give someone something, which in turn was really gratifying. That really resonated for me.
Thomas Keller
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A cookbook must have recipes, but it shouldn't be a blueprint. It should be more inspirational it should be a guide.
Thomas Keller
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We rely on our purveyors to tell us what's available and what's good.
Thomas Keller
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In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.
Thomas Keller
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Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore.
Thomas Keller
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Vegetables to me are - I don't want to say the most exciting part of cooking, but certainly a very exciting part of cooking, because they continue to change. They come into season and they go through different phases.
Thomas Keller
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I drank more wine when I wasn't working as much, to be honest.
Thomas Keller
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Let's face it: if you and I have the same capabilities, the same energy, the same staff, if the only thing that's different between you and me is the products we can get, and I can get a better product than you, I'm going to be a better chef.
Thomas Keller
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I like to drink young wines, wines which are robust and have a lot of forward fruit to them.
Thomas Keller
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A kaiseki meal is like that, very small courses over a long period of time.
Thomas Keller
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They know what my standards are. They know what I need and how to get it to me, and they know how to communicate with me if for some reason they can't get it.
Thomas Keller
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We go through our careers and things happen to us. Those experiences made me what I am.
Thomas Keller
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My childhood wasn't full of wonderful culinary memories.
Thomas Keller
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Whether it's destiny or fate or whatever, I don't think I could do a French Laundry anywhere else.
Thomas Keller
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I wanted to write about what we were doing at the French Laundry, the recipes and the stories.
Thomas Keller
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I wonder if I love the communal act of eating so much because throughout my childhood, with four older brothers and a mom who worked in the restaurant business, I spent a lot of time fending for myself, eating alone - and recognizing how eating together made all the difference.
Thomas Keller
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This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane.
Thomas Keller