Contributors
Every quote on the site is attached to one of these names, with a source.
- Pro Chef
Anthony Bourdain
Chef and writer whose Kitchen Confidential reset the public's view of restaurant cooking.
- Pro Chef
Antonio Carluccio
Italian chef and broadcaster known for his evangelism of regional Italian technique.
- Pro Chef
Bobby Flay
American chef. His standard answer to steak doneness is a heavy cast-iron pan and unflinching heat.
- Pro Chef
Claire Saffitz
Pastry chef and author of Dessert Person.
- Food Writer
David Leite
Wrote the 2008 New York Times piece that established the 36-hour rest as canonical.
- Pro Chef
Debbi Fields
Founder of Mrs. Fields. The chain's reputation rests on a small number of formal choices about chip-to-dough ratio.
- Cookbook Author
Elizabeth David
British food writer whose Italian Food (1954) introduced postwar Britain to Mediterranean cooking.
- Pro Chef
Giorgio Locatelli
London-based Italian chef-patron. Author of Made in Italy.
- Pro Chef
Gordon Ramsay
Restaurateur. His soft-scramble method (off-and-on heat, crème fraîche to stop) is widely copied.
- Pro Chef
Gualtiero Marchesi
Founding figure of modern Italian fine dining. His saffron risotto with gold leaf is a cultural artifact.
- Pro Chef
Heston Blumenthal
Chef-patron of The Fat Duck. Known for treating breakfast eggs as a temperature problem.
- Cookbook Author
Ina Garten
Author of the Barefoot Contessa series. Generous with butter, conservative about technique.
- Food Writer
J. Kenji López-Alt
Author of The Food Lab. Known for testing every variable until the technique gives up its reasoning.
- Pro Chef
Jacques Torres
Pastry chef whose chocolate-chip cookie formula seeded the NYT 36-hour cookie.
- Cookbook Author
Julia Child
Author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The double-boiler scrambled egg is hers in spirit.
- Food Writer
Katie Parla
Rome-based food writer and historian. Author of Tasting Rome.
- Cookbook Author
Lidia Bastianich
Restaurateur and author whose risotto teaching is anchored in northern Italian home tradition.
- Pro Chef
Luciano Monosilio
Roman chef widely credited with refining the modern carbonara emulsion at Pipero, Rome.
- Cookbook Author
Marcella Hazan
Italian-American cookbook author whose Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking shaped a generation of home cooks.
- Pro Chef
Massimo Bottura
Chef-patron of Osteria Francescana, Modena. Has been known to spend 30 minutes mantecating.
- Food Writer
Michael Ruhlman
Author of Ratio. Reads recipes as proportions, not instructions.
- Food Scientist
Nathan Myhrvold
Lead author of Modernist Cuisine. Treats the steak crust as a Maillard-reaction surface area problem.
- Cookbook Author
Nigel Slater
British food writer whose work foregrounds the cook over the recipe.
- Home Cook
Stanley Tucci
Actor, director, and obsessive home cook whose Italian travelogues take a forgiving line on tradition.
- Pro Chef
Thomas Keller
Chef-patron of The French Laundry. His basting technique at the end of cook is widely taught.