I come from a family of farmers on both sides of my family. Eric Ripert More Quotes by Eric Ripert More Quotes From Eric Ripert When I started to work in Paris in fine dining, the passion really kicked in, and I knew that I would not, for the rest of my life, do anything else. Eric Ripert paris passion dining It was my first day working at Tour d'Argent, a famous restaurant in Paris, in 1982, and they were celebrating their 400th anniversary. I am in the fish station and after many mistakes, including cutting myself after 30 seconds in that kitchen, the chef said, "Make a Hollandaise sauce with 32 yolks." It takes me forever to separate the yolks from the whites, and I put them in a bowl and try to go close to the stove, but the stove is way too hot for me. Eric Ripert paris cutting mistake When I realized, "Hm, I'm not that good at all. It will take me weeks, maybe months, to master the 32 yolks." When I did, it was a turning point in my career. Eric Ripert week careers months I had a passion for cooking, and I was a very bad student. Eric Ripert passion cooking students Just walking in the kitchen (and we have three kitchens at Le Bernardin), I exercise quite a lot. I also walk in Central Park for 50 minutes from my house to Le Bernardin every day, rain, shine, snow. Eric Ripert central-park exercise rain My mother and my grandmother would make an apple tart in different styles, and I had one per day. Every day I would eat one full apple tart. Eric Ripert apples style mother I have more eating memories than cooking memories and many memories of being in the kitchen - I was always attracted to the kitchen - but nobody ever wanted me to touch anything. Eric Ripert kitchen cooking memories I have very vivid memories of being a young child. My mother would create dinner as for us, and when she would bake, she would leave some dough for me. I would roll the dough into little sticks while she was cooking the apple tart of whatever. I was looking through the window of the oven and flipping the light, and then my bread would come out, and it was inedible, of course. Eric Ripert mother memories children I'm very bad, but I like to dance. Eric Ripert Today, because I want to be gentle on my back, I listen to jazz. Eric Ripert jazz want today In New York there used to be some very good clubs with amazing sound systems. Techno was part of the process. Eric Ripert clubs new-york sound I am an audiophile. It's almost like a virus. I'm completely crazy about the quality of sound. It's interesting and painful at the same time; you have to really spend a lot of money on the equipment. Eric Ripert quality crazy interesting Fast food is both evil and genius. Because of it we can feed a large number of people fairly decently at an affordable price. However, all the artificial flavors and artificial ingredients in some of their products are unacceptable. And it's designed so you can eat fast so you get back to work more quickly. Not good. Eric Ripert evil numbers people California is lucky, the East Coast is lucky because we get great seafood and a lot of produce from Florida, locally in good weather, but in the winter we have to buy it. Eric Ripert florida winter weather Money is not necessarily, although it helps a lot for happiness, it’s not necessarily the best way to be happy, to be rich, you know. Eric Ripert rich helping way I don't follow the food trends. Eric Ripert trends When you are 25, 30, you know, you have no responsibility, no mortgage, no kids, no retirement to think about, nothing. Eric Ripert responsibility retirement kids Everybody wants to support his own region and economy and farming. If we can preserve the land and if we can preserve the ocean, we all know, deep inside that we're doing the right thing. Eric Ripert deep know support ocean Having sharp, great knives will enable you to cook very precisely. Knife skills are essential in cooking. Eric Ripert will great you cooking I don't think I have an obsession, however I do eat chocolate every day. Eric Ripert every-day day think chocolate