Great Cooking Favors The Prepared Hands.

Probably A Mistake, You Know, That People Make In America, To Think That All Great Chefs Are A Male... I'm Still The Only Male In The Family Who Went Into That Business.

Most People Who Came Here Came For Economic Reasons Or Sometimes For Religious Or Political Reasons. I Didn't Have Any Of This. I Came Here, I Liked It, I Stayed. So I'm A Pure American - Even More Than People Who Are Born Here - Because I Did It By Choice As An Adult.

You Have No Choice As A Professional Chef: You Have To Repeat, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat Until It Becomes Part Of Yourself. I Certainly Don't Cook The Same Way I Did 40 Years Ago, But The Technique Remains. And That's What The Student Needs To Learn: The Technique.

When I Left To Go Into Apprenticeship In 1949, It Was Only Four Years After The War, And People Don't Realize, We Still Had Tickets For Butter, Meat And So Forth In France Until 1947. It's Not Like The End Of The War, Everything Was Plentiful - It Wasn't.

When You Become A Good Cook, You Become A Good Craftsman, First. You Repeat And Repeat And Repeat Until Your Hands Know How To Move Without Thinking About It.