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" Every chef should have an understanding of pastries or desserts. "
Tom Colicchio
Should
Every
Chef
Related Quotes:
" As a chef, I had started working with groups like Share Our Strength and various local food banks in New York, raising money for hunger-related issues. And not only me, but the entire restaurant industry has been very focused on this issue. "
Tom Colicchio
Money
New York
Chef
" I know how to make sausage, and now that I've seen how laws are made, I'll stick with sausage. "
Tom Colicchio
Stick
Laws
Now
" Making ribs in Texas isn't that unusual a choice for 'Top Chef'. We played the stereotypes everywhere we go. It's not only in Texas. We do it in New York; we did it in San Francisco. Listen if we shoot it in Seattle you know we're going to be throwing salmon somewhere. "
Tom Colicchio
Chef
Stereotypes
New York
" A couple of months ago, I was down in Florida for the Food and Wine Festival. And this journalist grabbed me and said, 'How does it feel to be a TV guy? You're no longer in the restaurant business.' And I laughed. I asked him, 'How long do you think it takes me to do a season?' He said, 'Well, 200 days.' And I was like, '200 days? Try 20!' "
Tom Colicchio
Think
Long
Food
" A lot of professions happen to be male-dominated because women drop out at a certain point. It's unfortunate. "
Tom Colicchio
Drop
Happen
Out
" I don't have a Facebook page and I don't think I will but Twitter for me is a way to take control of the message. Kind of wrestle it back. It's something I'm enjoying. "
Tom Colicchio
Page
Me
Kind
" I want to feed my kid something that is real and not processed. It's hard to do. People are working and busy. The question is: Is it worth it? Is it worth stopping at the farm stand or supermarket to buy fresh ingredients? "
Tom Colicchio
Farm
Stand
People
" It's funny how I use social media because I don't use it to promote my restaurants that much. I use it for social issues and I think that's what it's for. I do a few things - I mess around with music a lot because that's a passion of mine. If something strikes me and I want to share it, I do. "
Tom Colicchio
Social Media
Music
Me
" It's my belief that cooking is a craft. I think that you can push it into the realm of art, but it starts with craft. It starts with an understanding of materials. It starts with an understanding of where foods are grown. "
Tom Colicchio
You
Art
Understanding
" 'Chef' doesn't mean that you're the best cook, it simply means 'boss.' "
Tom Colicchio
Cook
Boss
Chef
" I can't deliver lines, but I can talk about food all night long. "
Tom Colicchio
I Can
Food
Talk
" Hunger is a political issue, and there are several things politically that are keeping people hungry - not funding food stamps adequately, not funding school lunches adequately. So there is a political solution to the problem of hunger. "
Tom Colicchio
People
Problem
School
" This is what people don't understand: obesity is a symptom of poverty. It's not a lifestyle choice where people are just eating and not exercising. It's because kids - and this is the problem with school lunch right now - are getting sugar, fat, empty calories - lots of calories - but no nutrition. "
Tom Colicchio
People
School
Problem
" If you're dining with someone who wants the same cut, it's always better to get a 16-ounce steak and split it than to order two eight-ounce steaks. The longer something cooks, the more flavor it develops, so you'll get a better taste with a bigger piece of meat. "
Tom Colicchio
You
Always
Better
" I can't deal with a lot of spice but I have to eat it. I pay the price - I'm on medication for heartburn, so that's how I deal with it. "
Tom Colicchio
Pay
Spice
Deal
" I started cooking 30-something years ago. When I was 14, 15, I was a short-order cook in a snack bar. That was at a place called the Gran Centurions. It was an Italian-American swim club my parents belonged to. "
Tom Colicchio
Cooking
Parents
Swim
" There's the issue of hunger, and there's an issue of if you're going to cut out food programs. We should be focusing on healthy food. Right now, fruits and vegetables are very expensive. So what can we do on the policy side to bring the cost of fruits and vegetables down? "
Tom Colicchio
Now
You
Down
" In an ideal world for me, school lunch would be free for everybody. "
Tom Colicchio
School
Lunch
Ideal
" Sometimes these challenges naturally select more chefs that can think on their feet very quickly. There are chefs I know who won't put things on the menu unless they've tried it four or five times. So you just naturally select a certain kind of chef, people who maybe don't win a bunch of challenges but they hang around. "
Tom Colicchio
People
Win
Chef
" You have to know the classics if you want to cook modern food. "
Tom Colicchio
Cook
Food
Know
" So you can say, 'Get Big Government out of here, and don't tell me what to eat,' but when kids are going to school, and they're being fed junk, we're pretty much telling them what to eat, and we're telling them junk is OK. "
Tom Colicchio
You
Eat
Government
" You hit a certain age and - especially because of TV - the young cooks coming up say, 'You're a sellout, because you're doing something other than what you should be doing.' 'Top Chef' is a double-edged sword for me: There's a whole group of people who will not come to the restaurants because they assume I'm not in them anymore, all I do is TV. "
Tom Colicchio
Chef
Age
People
" I travel around and hear from so many kids. Their parents say they were always very picky but they watch the show and they want to try stuff. The show is entertainment, but I think it has done so much for the public perception of what food can be. "
Tom Colicchio
Think
Travel
Parents
" Buy the best you can find or afford and don't over manipulate it. If I cook a scallop, the best praise you can give me is that it tastes like a scallop. "
Tom Colicchio
Me
Best
You
" If I'm doing an event, if it's a charity event, where it's a walk-around event, where I gotta put a thousand small plates out in the course of a four-hour event, I gotta make sure I can do something that I know I can produce, that's going to be consistent and good all night long. "
Tom Colicchio
Know
Good
Charity
" I have kind of a weird technique with zucchini. I cut it into small cubes; sweat it in olive oil, adding just a little oil at time so it crisps. Then I cover it with boiling water, not stock, which really brings out the flavor of the zucchini, add lemon, thyme, and serve it with burrata and a fried zucchini flower. "
Tom Colicchio
Flower
Weird
Water
" When I was 26, 27 years old I was running a kitchen in New York, and I was a raving lunatic. The older you get, you figure out you don't need to do that. You realize at a certain point, there's a certain gravity to what you say and what you do. If that's not enough, all the yelling in the world is not going to matter. "
Tom Colicchio
Kitchen
You
Enough
" Even cooking at home, the difference between my wife cooking and me cooking is major. When my wife cooks, the kitchen looks like a disaster. When I cook it's completely clean and organized and it doesn't look like anyone has been cooking in there. "
Tom Colicchio
Kitchen
Look
Me
" You want to be the baddest guy in the kitchen and you want the person next to you to know it. "
Tom Colicchio
Guy
Kitchen
Person
" I think steak is the ultimate comfort food, and if you're going out for one, that isn't the time to scrimp on calories or quality. "
Tom Colicchio
Think
Time
Comfort