Quotes By Mario Batali

When you taste things in the right order, sometimes they taste so much different than if you taste them out of order. Not that there's a right order, like by rule, but just like in a thoughtful way that makes sense.

I really want to be a rock star.

Protein has been intensely over-represented on the plate. Now, the garden should be the main drag for main courses.

The Hamptons are usually filled with what I had hoped to leave behind in New York City.

Twelve-piece cookware sets for ninety-nine bucks are routinely hawked on late-night TV - often by friends of mine. But with a mere five pieces, you can do whatever you like - slay the dragon and then cook its tenderloin in the style of the duke of Wellington, if you want to.

I like cast iron coated with enamel for longevity and forgiveness if I happen to take my eyes off the prize while pouring Chianti.

To eat the boiled head of a pig sliced like salami is very strange. It may seem cutting edge, but it's actually a lot older than any of the other traditional salami.

Everyone makes pesto in a food processor. But the texture is better with a mortar and pestle, and it's just as fast.

I put hibiscus flower in every cup of tea I have. It's sweet, sexy, and cleansing.

I was at a party, and some squiggly looking dude with a bow tie came up and said, 'How'd you like to be on TV?' Turns out he was the programming guy at the Food Network. They had me come into the office, and I did a 'Ready, Set, Cook' with Emeril Lagasse, I believe.

The Gulf Coast has the potential to create a culinary raw ingredient paradise that smart cooks can capitalize on.

The kitchen really is the castle itself. This is where we spend our happiest moments and where we find the joy of being a family.

You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook's year. I get more excited by that than anything else.

Are we Darwinists - where we live and let live? Or are we nurturing as a society? There has to be a standard of living that we decide to support.

Day-old bread? Sadly, in America a lot of day-old bread just becomes nasty. Italian day-old bread, not having any preservatives in it, just becomes harder and it doesn't taste old. What I would warn people about is getting bread that's loaded with other things in it, because it starts to taste old.

The passion of the Italian or the Italian-American population is endless for food and lore and everything about it.

Bologna is the best city in Italy for food and has the least number of tourists. With its medieval beauty, it has it all.

You have to be generous if you want to spend your time making someone else dinner. Even if you're charging, you're still giving.

If you're going to buy pasta, you should buy dry pasta. If you're going to make it you can make the real thing, but you shouldn't buy fresh pasta.

Close your eyes and place your finger on a map. Wherever it lands, that's the theme of the evening. So many times we settle for routine dishes. This forces you to try new cuisines.

Although the skills aren't hard to learn, finding the happiness and finding the satisfaction and finding fulfillment in continuously serving somebody else something good to eat, is what makes a really good restaurant.

My wife Susi and my kids quite simply are the most fun of all my friends.

I got some media coverage for using the tail, the ear, the oink.

Finishing food is about the tiny touches. In the last seconds you can change everything.

I can teach a chimp how to make linguini and clams. I can't teach a chimp to dream about it and think about how great it is.

Working at the Food Bank with my kids is an eye-opener. The face of hunger isn't the bum on the street drinking Sterno; it's the working poor. They don't look any different, they don't behave any differently, they're not really any less educated. They are incredibly less privileged, and that's it.

Look at cookbooks with your kids and ask them what sounds good.

My family makes these vinegars - out of everything from grapes to peaches and cherries. We go through the whole process with the giant vat and drainer, label them, and give them as Christmas presents.