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 BeardRead
Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.
Interpretation
Good bread is a simple yet profound source of satisfaction and joy in food.
In this quote, James Beard emphasizes the fundamental comfort and pleasure that comes from quality bread, suggesting that it is not only a basic necessity but also a source of immense satisfaction when paired with something as simple as fresh butter. This highlights the idea that sometimes the most basic pleasures in life can provide the greatest joy, elevating everyday eating to the level of a feast.
In practice
During a family gathering where everyone shares their favorite dishes.
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.
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.
Food is our common ground, a universal experience.
A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch.
I've seen zero evidence of any nation on Earth other than Mexico even remotely having the slightest clue what Mexican food is about or even come close to reproducing it. It is perhaps the most misunderstood country and cuisine on Earth.
When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.
I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make.
All of the people who work in the kitchen with me go out into the forests and on to the beach. It's a part of their job. If you work with me you will often be starting your day in the forest or on the shore because I believe foraging will shape you as a chef.
The centuries last passed have also given the taste important extension; the discovery of sugar, and its different preparations, of alcoholic liquors, of wine, ices, vanilla, tea and coffee, have given us flavors hitherto unknown.
To butcher a pork shoulder is to be forcibly reminded that this is the shoulder of a large mammal, made up of distinct groups of muscles with a purpose quite apart from feeding me. The work itself gives me a keener interest in the story of the hog: where it came from and how it found its way to my kitchen.
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