The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it… If you’re convinced that cooking is drudgery, you’re never going to be good at it, and you might as well warm up something frozen. James Beard More Quotes by James Beard More Quotes From James Beard When you cook, you never stop learning. James Beard never-stop-learning cooks fascination Like the theater, offering food and hospitality to people is a matter of showmanship, and no matter how simple the performance, unless you do it well, with love and originality, you have a flop on your hands. James Beard offering simple hands If I had to narrow my choice of meats down to one for the rest of my life, I am quite certain that meat would be pork. James Beard pork meat choices There is absolutely no substitute for the best. Good food cannot be made of inferior ingredients masked with high flavor. It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing. James Beard flavor waste use The only thing that will make a souffle fall is if it knows you're afraid of it. James Beard souffle beard fall The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it. James Beard cooking secret firsts Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts. James Beard beard bread food Too few people understand a really good sandwich. James Beard sandwiches people I don't like gourmet cooking or 'this' cooking or 'that' cooking. I like good cooking. James Beard gourmet home-cooking food I’m going to break one of the rules of the trade here. I’m going to tell you some of the secrets of improvisation. Just remember—it’s always a good idea to follow the directions exactly the first time you try a recipe. But from then on, you’re on your own. James Beard secret trying ideas A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch. James Beard drinking food thinking Nothing is quite as intoxicating as the smell of bacon frying in the morning, save perhaps the smell of coffee brewing. James Beard smell coffee morning Good bread and good butter go together. They are one of the perfect marriages in gastronomy, and they never fail to cheer me. James Beard cheer perfect together I'm really enamored of the potato in all its guises. James Beard enamored guise potatoes Hands are our earliest tools. Cooking starts with the hands which are so sensitive that when they touch something they transmit messages to your brain about texture and temperature. James Beard cooking brain hands Goodness, how much there is to learn about food! James Beard goodness I believe that if ever I had to practice cannibalism, I might manage if there were enough tarragon around. James Beard adversity food believe Grilling, broiling, barbecuing - whatever you want to call it - is an art, not just a matter of building a pyre and throwing on a piece of meat as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach. James Beard sacrifice food art I have had, in my time, memorable meals of scrambled eggs with fresh truffles, scrambled eggs with caviar and other glamorous things, but to me, there are few things as magnificent as scrambled eggs, pure and simple, perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. James Beard eggs simple memorable When I walk into a market I may see a different cut of meat or an unusual vegetable and think, ‘I wonder how it would be if I took the recipe for that sauce I had in Provence and put the two together?’ So I go home and try it out. Sometimes my idea is a success and sometimes it is a flop, but that is how recipes are born. There really are not recipes, only millions of variations sparked by someone’s imagination and desire to be a little creative and different. American cooking is built, after all, on variations of old recipes from around the world. James Beard cutting home thinking
