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" I'd like to see 'Top Chef: Amateur'. Sometimes we have an amateur chef on the show and they just can't cut it against the pros but there are some great stories there. "
Tom Colicchio
Top
Chef
Sometimes
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" 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
" 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
" 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
" There's a food revolution going on throughout the country. And it doesn't matter if you're down south, up north in Maine, if you're out west in Portland or Seattle. "
Tom Colicchio
You
Country
Down
" 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
" 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
" 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
" 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
" I think the patterns are set very early when the kids are young. But at the same time, there are some flavors kids just don't like. "
Tom Colicchio
Patterns
Early
Think
" I hate okra and grated mountain yam for the same reason. They're both slimy. "
Tom Colicchio
Both
Same
Reason
" I'm not a fan of grilling meat, since that tends to dry it out, and I find grill marks leave a bitter taste. A good steak house will offer different options for preparation, and I would ask them to broil or pan-roast the steak and finish it with butter. It ends up a dark chocolate color and stays very juicy. "
Tom Colicchio
Chocolate
Color
Good
" We are not really privy to all that crazy stuff that goes on in the show. I go to work, eat, and talk about food. The wild things happen when we aren't around. I expected Top Chef to last three or four seasons and we are now shooting season ten. "
Tom Colicchio
Three
Food
Seasons
" Many of them have accomplished a lot before they ever get to 'Top Chef' although they're not well known. The show just provides them with a platform. There's just one winner and on some seasons you can get numerous chefs that are really good. Even if they don't win, they're all talented. "
Tom Colicchio
Winner
Chef
You
" Every chef should have an understanding of pastries or desserts. "
Tom Colicchio
Should
Every
Chef
" Every season we try to do something new. And not for gimmicks. We feel the show has to evolve and keep changing. "
Tom Colicchio
Changing
Season
Show
" I remember at The Quilted Giraffe, when I was when working there to try out for the sous-chef position. I really wanted it, and the woman working the line next to me kept messing up and making me look bad. The last day of my kitchen trail, I just said to her very quietly, 'Do me a favor and get out of my way, because I want this job.' "
Tom Colicchio
Day
Remember
Me
" My chefs don't apply for 'Top Chef'. They all know that there is no way. At the end of the process I look at the resumes of the last 25 options just to make sure they've never worked for me before. "
Tom Colicchio
Me
Process
Look
" My son, before he went to school, he'd eat pretty much everything. Then as soon as he went to school, he got some peer pressure, and other kids would say, 'Oh, you're gonna eat that. That's horrible. That's disgusting.' "
Tom Colicchio
Eat
You
School
" One of the first jobs I ever had was opening clams in a seafood restaurant, so I'm pretty quick at it. "
Tom Colicchio
Opening
Jobs
Restaurant
" 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
" 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
" I don't know too many parents that want to feed their kids soda, but high-fructose corn syrup is cheap. The price of soda in 20 years has gone down 40 percent while the price of whole foods, fruits and vegetables, has gone up 40 percent and obesity goes up right along that curve. "
Tom Colicchio
Down
Want
Corn
" 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 have very good knife skills. I learned to butcher on my second job - I was 18 years old. Every other day we would break down six legs of veal. "
Tom Colicchio
Good
Down
Day
" 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
" Recipes tell you nothing. Learning techniques is the key. "
Tom Colicchio
Learning
Nothing
You
" 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
" I know nothing about hip-hop... There's only so many times you can grab your crotch and prance around stage. I'm gonna get slammed now for this. "
Tom Colicchio
You
Hip-Hop
Now
" 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