Wolfgang Puck Quotes

Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors - it's how you combine them that sets you apart.

What I don't like is breakfast in the morning. I have a double-espresso cappuccino, but no food.

For me, cooking is an expression of the land where you are and the culture of that place.

When you have made as many mistakes as I have, then you can be as good as me.

You can eat an omelet at midnight, at lunchtime, all day long. It's perfect for every occasion.

Only you can judge your life. You have to live up to your own expectations.

A chef is a mixture maybe of artistry and craft. You have to learn the craft really to get there.

A good chef has to be a manager, a businessman and a great cook. To marry all three together is sometimes difficult.

I learn more from the one restaurant that didn't work than from all the ones that were successes.

Restaurants are like having children: its fun to make them, maybe, but then you have them for good and bad. You are going to have to raise them and if something goes wrong when they are 30 years old, they will still be your little boy.

I think the time of the formal dinners is over.

The most important thing for me is to really buy the best ingredient.

I like the Japanese knives, I like French knives. Whatever's sharp.

Omelets are about technique. Now, different people make it different ways, but, if you're a chef in Europe, an omelet has to be cooked on the outside, with just a simmer of color, and the inside has to be soft. It should be cooked like a steak - medium rare.

Prep things in advance so that you don't have to cook everything at the last moment.

I want to teach [people] the secret of great visual presentation. Your stomach sees the food first, and I want to help them match food flavor profiles with the aesthetics of everything.

Don't go and cook Indian food if you never cooked Indian food, you know?

Now everybody thinks that once you do Top Chef, then 13 weeks later you're a chef. Nobody wants to learn to cook anymore.

To me, an airplane is a great place to diet.

There is no value with just one restaurant or with one person. The brand has to be bigger than the person.

It is so nice to talk to someone that has a passion for food and family.

When you meet someone, ask about what hobby they have, not what they do. People always ask me about cooking, but I prefer to talk about tennis or boxing.

One of the things I've found now, not just for television, but in the restaurant, is that you have many anxious chefs, who know how to cook twenty recipes really well, but they don't have a good foundation for other things.

It was a revolution, but now it is an evolution. People know more ingredients, people know more techniques, and people look for more ingredients they've never looked for before. In the '80s, you couldn't find raw tuna in any restaurant that wasn't Japanese. Now, you can't find any restaurant without it or sashimi.

I grew up in Austria, and for me real comfort food is Wiener Schnitzel. Wiener Schnitzel and mashed potatoes because it reminds me of my youth... It reminds me when I grow up and it feels very comforting.

I like to be firm. But it is easier to be nice than to be nasty.

I grew up so poor in Austria that we never took a vacation with my family.

It is going to have healthy food and exercise mixed together. With smaller portions, and more exercise, you live a better life.

Television in the '80s was very limited. There was no Food Network.

For me, I don't expect to have a really amazing meal each time I dine out. Having a good meal with your loved ones - that's what makes the experience.

Most seasonings are based on family tradition.

A lot of chefs are traditional and do it very well. But the ones who are the most successful are the ones who change things. That is why someone like Heston Blumenthal is a genius.

For example, you can eat a Caesar salad and say, "Wow, I ate so healthy today." You forget there was a quarter-cup of oil in there, and all the calories are from fat. So it's better if you eat a grilled chicken breast, some steamed brown rice, and a little salad with balsamic vinegar on top.

Stay away from iodized table salt. It's just bad and doesn't help food taste good.

It's easier being a judge than a competitor. As a judge, you don't have any risks. That makes it much more enjoyable.

I want to help build their basic food terminology.

The only way to teach people how to truly do it and do it the right way, is to get those ingredients and kitchen tools in front of them and in their hands to use.

I think it's really important to keep on staying motivated.

A lot of restaurants serve good food, but they don't have very good service.

I want to give people a basic education, and to help them think for themselves when it comes to food.

The food could taste amazing; however, if you present a plate of misfortunate looking food...you would really question yourself about whether or not you should eat it.

It's an interesting thing, Top Chef. Some of the contestants will make you one great dish, and then make you something on the next show that will make you say, "Is that the same person?"

I have two young boys, and my wife is at home. Most of the time, I will cook the food, and we'll eat together.

Food television opened the eyes, and palates, of our guests. They became more adventurous.

Television in the '80s was very limited. There was no Food Network. When I opened Spago, I had the kitchen in the dining hall. It was probably the first restaurant to do so. The dining scene became more casual. All these cooking shows have transformed our profession one-hundred percent.

I won't quit my day job. I like restaurants. I don't do a lot of television, either, even though people come to me with projects all the time. I have to spend time in the kitchen.

America has undergone a total food and wine revolution.

I've discussed this with many doctors, and it is just so imperative that people learn how to properly cook food to get those vital nutrients out of them.

I think the most important thing when you are in a competition and you have, let's say, ingredients you have to use make something you did already because none of the judges, you know, probably had it in our lifetime, so I think do something you feel confident with, not something completely new where you are not sure how many hours or how many minutes you have to cook it or if the seasoning is right or if the combinations of spices and herbs are right.

I fell in love with food because of my mother. So, I will definitely be sharing and expanding more recipes from my culture (as well as many other cultures), and will be sharing recipes that I have experienced from my whole culinary life.