I probably use my chef’s knives more than any other tool in the kitchen. I’m not married to a particular brand, because they all work, they all have sharp blades.
One thing you don’t want to do as a host is be running around all evening. Do as much as you can ahead of time, so all you have to do is grill the main ingredients.
I think people are intimidated by grilling .. maybe it’s the flame, maybe it’s the big grills, maybe they’ve had some bad childhood experiences .. but I think that grilling is actually the easiest technique in cooking.
If my daughter wants to get into this business, I would support that decision. She’s going to have a hard time not being in it. She loves food and she’s around it all the time.
One of the things that happens in my house on the holidays is after dessert, we sit down to a very ambitious men-versus-women game of Trivial Pursuit. It’s brutal. And there’s a trophy.
I looked at it as a job. My first job was at Joe Allen’s, and I remember there was a photo over the bar of the Triple Dead Heat from the 1944 Carter Handicap.
I don’t like to dump the dressing on top of the greens. Instead, I pour it against the side of the bowl – using only enough to glaze the leaves – then toss.
There are so many great things about this business. Almost everybody is on the same team. It is all for one-friendly competitiveness. No one is out to hurt anyone.
