Top 100 Yotam Ottolenghi Quotes
#1. I have an intense dislike of doctrines, because you will always end up eating your words.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#2. Take your average couscous salad, and it's almost always a sloppy mush, no matter how much attention has gone into getting flavours in there.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#3. Yogurt sauce, as you may have noticed by now, is a regular presence in my recipes - that's because it has the ability to round up so many flavours and textures like no other component does.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#4. Barley and mushroom is a soothing combination. It's mainly a textural thing, with the barley both gently breaking and enhancing the mushroomy gloopiness.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#5. Speaking as someone who didn't go through the U.K. school system, with all the culinary baggage that entails, I am inordinately fond of custard in any shape or form.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#6. One of the troubles with food is that people take themselves too seriously. This is why I'm very happy for people to change my recipes, alter them, replace one ingredient for another.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#7. The only way reliably to gauge the heat of any particular chilli is to cut it in half, so exposing the core and membranes, and to dab the cut surface on your tongue.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#8. Many ingredients are called 'earthy,' but none comes as close to fitting the bill as buckwheat. I'm mildly obsessed with the stuff.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#9. Pasta with melted cheese is the one thing I could eat over and over again.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#10. Manouri is a Greek ewes' milk cheese that's light in colour and texture. It's fresh and milky, and goes well with other subtle flavours.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#12. I used to love fine dining, but I lost my appetite for it to a degree because sometimes it is too much about the effort and too little about the result.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#13. The range of ingredients available to home cooks has expanded dramatically. People are incorporating herbs and spices like lemongrass, smoked Mexican chile, sumac, and za'atar mix.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#14. Eating ready-made meals is about being very passive, and actively cooking is something that nothing compares to.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#15. Fresh egg pasta is traditionally served in the north of Italy with butter, cream and rich meat sauces, whereas dried pasta is more at home with the tomato- and olive oil-based ones of the south.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#16. Most British cheeses are now vegetarian and are labelled accordingly. However, French and Italian manufacturers still tend to use rennet.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#17. I have a terrible tendency to lick my fingers when I cook. So much so that I got a telling off from my pastry teacher years ago, who said it would hinder my prospects.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#18. In certain European cuisines, vegetables are cooked a long time. I take the term 'al dente' and use it for vegetables.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#19. Some days, just occasionally, when I've had just one too many chickpeas, drizzles of olive oil or chunks of feta, I crave a return to the sushi-filled joints of Tokyo.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#20. Hardly any of my most memorable meals have been eaten in a restaurant, and definitely none in one of those fancy marble-floored, polished-silver establishments.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#21. Dried porcini add a substantial, deep flavour to otherwise more neutral vegetables. I use them in risottos, mashed roots and winter soups.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#22. Braising eggs in a flavoursome, aromatic sauce is all the rage. It is warming and comforting, ideal for the morning when you are not normally up for a great culinary challenge.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#24. Most fish require a short cooking time, but cephalopods are the exception to this fishy rule. As with some cuts of larger land beasts, the longer they're cooked, the more tender they get.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#25. For people who think of chicken as the meat choice of those-who-don't-really-like-meat, brining a bird will be a revelation.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#26. I do support people eating more vegetables. It's a good thing to do.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#27. I always pan-fry sprouts - it retains texture and enhances flavour.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#28. Buttermilk's palate-cleansing tartness is one reason it's used a lot in southern India, where meals often end with a small bowl of the stuff served with plain rice and pickles.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#30. How can something that's 95% water be so divisive? Alone among vegetables, the poor, innocent stick of celery elicits the most vicious attacks.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#31. TV chefs are not responsible for people's consumption of fibre; this is not our job.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#32. Sorrel adds a unique grassy sharpness to salads and dressings, but it can be hard to come by.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#35. I've been accused of having very long ingredient lists, and I guess there's some truth in that.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#37. Urfa chillies are a Turkish variety that are mild on heat but big on aroma. They're sweet, smoky, a lovely dark red, and go with just about anything.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#38. Almost every culture has its own variation on chicken soup, and rightly so - it's one of the most gratifying dishes on the face of the Earth.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#39. Miso makes a soup loaded with flavour that saves you the hassle of making stock.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#40. Most of my recipes start life in the domestic kitchen, and even those that start out in the restaurant kitchen have to go through the domestic kitchen.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#41. Fish cakes are perceived as being quite British, and they're always a bit brown and a little dull.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#42. Many people struggle to make hummus that lives up to their expectations at home, and recreating a favourite brand or the stuff from your local deli is almost impossible.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#43. Most pumpkin dishes involve scooping out the seeds, cutting off the skin, and chopping up the flesh before cooking.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#44. Like all rice, black rice is great at absorbing flavours, but it's just as happy to act as a satiny bed for a poached egg, say, if you want to keep things simple.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#46. Infants have around 30,000 tastebuds, only about a third of which survive into adulthood, so a child's sensitivity towards extremes of sweet, sour and bitter flavours is heightened.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#47. On many occasions, an informal buffet and casual seating offer a little more intimacy than a loud gathering around a big table.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#48. Steaming maintains some of the aubergine flesh's texture, which doesn't happen if you cook it in any other way.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#50. The way to entice people into cooking is to cook delicious things.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#51. The combination of lentils with rice or bulgur is the absolute height of Levantine comfort food. I could eat it every day.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#52. As for pineapple, it's far more versatile than you might think, and certainly merits wider use than in Hawaiian pizzas and pina coladas and on cheesy cocktail sticks.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#53. A lemon, boiled whole and blitzed, makes a useful base for all sorts of dressings.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#54. When it comes to the battle of the molluscs, cephalopods win tentacles down.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#55. I always preferred my father's pasta the next day, when he'd put it in a hot oven with heaps of extra cheese. It would emerge slightly burned and very crisp on top.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#56. I get great pleasure from stuffed foods, from an apple strudel to a vegetable samosa, from a whole roasted bird with a sweet and savoury stuffing to a vine leaf filled with rice and spices.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#57. Leeks, like other oniony things, reach a certain peak when fried. It's the subtle sweetness that suddenly becomes evident and works so well with their creamy texture.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#58. Call me tacky, but I love the union of sweet and sour, even in some now-unloved Oriental dishes incorporating pineapple and ketchup.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#59. Greek yogurt with some olive oil stirred in can transform many dishes.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#60. When it comes to cooking pasta, the first essential is to make sure you have a big enough pot: it needs room to roll in the water while cooking.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#61. Custard is controversial: what makes it a custard, how best to cook it and, crucially, is it to be eaten or put in a pie and thrown?
Yotam Ottolenghi
#62. The teaching thing, the one where I have to impart my knowledge, is probably what comes the least naturally to me because I'm an absorber of things.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#63. Date syrup is a natural sweetener that has wonderful richness and treacly depth; I drizzle it over semolina porridge.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#64. Shimeji are those odd-looking clusters of small mushrooms you often find in so-called 'exotic' selections at the supermarket. They have an appealing firmness that is retained during light cooking.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#65. I adore recipes that make use of one cut of meat or a whole animal to create a complex dish, loaded with flavour.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#66. Tagliatelle comes from the word tagliare, meaning 'to cut.' Tagliolini are simply thinly cut tagliatelle.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#67. The combination of olive oil, garlic and lemon juice lifts the spirits in winter.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#68. Chickpeas are one of my favourite things to serve with chorizo or lamb meatballs; they also work brilliantly as the quiet partner in a vibrant alphonso mango salad.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#69. The Guardian's 'Word of Mouth' blog bridges the gap between blogging and serious food journalism.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#71. For my money, celery hasn't got a mean bit of fibre in its body, and we all need to start being much nicer to it.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#72. Pot barley takes longer to cook than pearl, but an overnight soak in water will speed things along. It's a robust grain that, if overcooked, won't collapse but will become more tender.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#73. The unlikely combination of potatoes and pasta does appear in some Italian recipes.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#74. Fusion food as a concept is kind of trying to quite consciously fuse things that are sometimes quite contradictory, sometimes quite far apart, to see if they'd work.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#75. Chefs don't use white pepper just to avoid spoiling the whiteness of pommes puree or bechamel. It has a more peppery aroma, with sharpness and sweetness, too.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#76. If the British Isles had an official vegetable, it would have to be the potato.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#78. The tang of tamarind is a great way both to flavour and lighten up slow-cooked savoury dishes.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#79. Scamorza, an Italian curd cheese often labelled 'smoked mozzarella,' melts fantastically well.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#80. The difference between a bland tomato and great one is immense, much like the difference between a standard, sliced white bread and a crusty, aromatic sourdough.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#81. The taste of any simple tomato-based salad is dependent on the quality of the tomatoes.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#82. Breakfast is always the best time for something juicy, sweet and fresh - it just feels like the right way to open the day. There's no right way, though, when it comes to choosing the fruit.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#83. Like parents, cooks shouldn't have favourites, but some recipes inevitably shine more than others.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#84. I now understand how varied the world of cultivated rice is; that rice can play the lead or be a sidekick; that brown rice is as valuable as white; and that short-grain rice is the bee's knees.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#85. A quick shallow fry is a great way to transform leftovers, and no more so than in the case of risotto.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#86. Every era has its own list of ingredients that are considered exotic and then, 15 years later, they're not.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#87. There is nothing like a good old recipe. If it has lasted, then it is good.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#88. As with lemon juice, the more sorrel you use, the more it has to be balanced with something sweet, starchy or creamy - it's a yin-yang approach to cooking that I find rather calming.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#89. I love the way soft white cheese such as ricotta or the creamier mascarpone reflect the milieu in which an animal has been raised.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#90. I have had to come to terms with the fact that I am hooked on Twitter. Not good.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#91. Going out for a meal, especially for young urbanites, is less about socialising over enjoyable food than about enjoying food as a way to socialise.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#92. Swiss chard is undervalued in Britain. It's a great substitute for spinach and keeps its shape well.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#94. Middle Eastern cuisine has the same depth of ingredients and processes as other cuisines. They just haven't had as much exposure.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#95. The kitchen is tough. It's one of the last bastions in civilized culture that sets out to crush the spirit.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#96. A well-made salad must have a certain uniformity; it should make perfect sense for those ingredients to share a bowl.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#97. I'm a firm believer that the world should be your oyster when you're cooking. People should open themselves to other cuisines - there are a lot of hidden secrets all over the world.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#98. Like brown rice, black rice is unmilled, and it is the dark outer husk that makes it so nutty and chewy. It's also why it takes longer to cook than many other rices.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#100. Tiny quails may not seem as impressive as a mammoth turkey, but there is something refreshing about a spread of individual birds on the Christmas table.
Yotam Ottolenghi
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