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Ted Allen Quotes

Powerful Ted Allen for Daily Growth

I like to have friends in the kitchen and make a big mess and use every pot in the kitchen.

- Ted Allen

Big, Like, Use, Pot

I'm a home cook and love to read about food, but I'm not trained as a chef. I'm just really into cooking and passionate about it.

- Ted Allen

Love, Read, Trained, Chef

I cook everything. I love Mediterranean cooking, I love Asian cooking. I do lots of Japanese noodles.

- Ted Allen

Love, Mediterranean, Lots, Asian

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they cook for other people is to think that it has to be fancy and elaborate. This results in enormous expense and nine days of labor, plus you end up trying to assemble a croquembouche in front of your guests and everyone's experiencing flop sweat.

- Ted Allen

Other, Nine, Elaborate, Guests

Planning a dinner party in a way that you're actually capable of getting it done without panicking is important. It's bad hospitality for the host to be freaked out.

- Ted Allen

Bad, Capable, Freaked, Dinner Party

One of the smartest things you can do on 'Chopped' is to take one of those ingredients and make a pickle out of it, because almost every dish benefits from that. I'm feeling like those intuitions are becoming more natural.

- Ted Allen

Benefits, Becoming, Almost, Pickle

It's a 12-hour cooking class for me on the set of 'Chopped.' You'd think I'd get sick of it, but it's a source of endless interest to me. The only thing I don't like about it is it's a long day and my feet hurt. Otherwise, I love it.

- Ted Allen

Love, Feet, Long Day, Hurt

I had a really good time with Martha Stewart, who also is somebody I really admire a lot. I've learned a lot from her and I think all of America has, about attention to detail and using fresh ingredients and making things beautiful and special.

- Ted Allen

Admire, I Think, Martha, None

I'm in a loft and the kitchen is in the very center of the apartment. The whole place revolves around it.

- Ted Allen

Center, Very, Loft, Revolves

My place in Chicago is a 105 year old house, but I really like contemporary spaces too, so it's refreshing and fun to be in a space where you can do contemporary things.

- Ted Allen

Year, Old, Like, Old House

People who hardly ever cook at all, suddenly at the holidays, feel like it's their responsibility to not only cook dinner for large groups of people suddenly, but to serve things that are fussy or fancy or formal. And I don't think that's what anybody really wants, especially if you're not good at it.

- Ted Allen

Fancy, Feel, Anybody, Large Groups

For me, the kitchen is the most special room in the house. It's a place for adventure - not drudgery, but discovery, sharing and showing off with friends, trying new ideas.

- Ted Allen

Ideas, New, New Ideas, Drudgery

I'm really trying to respond to the foods that are in the stores and just pulling the things that are the very best and cook what looks beautiful and is seasonal. That's the way to go. I love going to the grocery store and the market. None of it's drudgery for me. Washing dishes is the drudgery.

- Ted Allen

Love, Very, Foods, Drudgery

To me, the kitchen is a place of adventure and entirely fun, not drudgery. I can't think of anything better to do with family and friends than to be together to create something.

- Ted Allen

Friends, Think, Entirely, Drudgery

I had a little epiphany when I was a writer at 'Chicago' magazine. I sat down to dinner at the Ritz-Carlton. Somebody poured a white dessert wine with chocolate cake. It was a wine I would never have expected to make sense. The idea of any wine tasting fabulous with chocolate cake was fascinating to me.

- Ted Allen

Idea, Had, Poured, Dessert

My whole problem is that all of my favorite things at Thanksgiving are the starches, and everyone is trying to go low-carb this year, even a green vegetable has carbs in it.

- Ted Allen

Green, Year, Everyone, Favorite Things

It's okay if you finish cooking something easy after your guests arrive - some dishes must be prepared a la minute, as chefs say. Just remember to keep talking.

- Ted Allen

Some, Prepared, Your, La

The best way to learn is live, in person, cooking, feeling, smelling and tasting, but TV is the second-best thing to that; it's a halfway facsimile.

- Ted Allen

Learn, Best Way, TV, Tasting

I really have a great deal of humility in that department, and a great deal of respect for people who spend their lives learning how to make these amazing preparations.

- Ted Allen

Humility, Deal, Lives, Department

Cooking for people is an enormously significant expression of generosity and soulfulness, and entertaining is a way to be both generous and creative. You're sharing your life with people. Of course, it's also an expression of your own need for approval and applause. Nothing wrong with that.

- Ted Allen

Own, Entertaining, Your, Applause

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is a form of service journalism. To be successful, I think it has to be a combination of a good story, it has to be funny, and it also needs to be packed with useful information.

- Ted Allen

Think, Needs, Queer, Journalism

When the idea of 'Chopped' surfaced, it was originally meant to be taped at some guy's mansion with him and his crazy Chihuahua. A stuffy fellow in a tuxedo was to host, and the losing chef's dish was then fed to the dog! I am not kidding, I saw it! I think it is genius! Twisted, but genius!

- Ted Allen

Some, I Think, Fed, Meant To Be

I think what I do differently from a lot of TV chefs is that I break down barriers and make fine food more accessible to the regular person, who might be intimidated. I try hard, particularly with wine, to make it not intimidating. It's sort of a teaching job.

- Ted Allen

I Think, TV, Accessible, Wine

However, I was a restaurant critic at Chicago magazine before I worked at Esquire, and I've been a really enthusiastic home cook for a long time. It's just something I'm passionate about.

- Ted Allen

Passionate, Been, However, Just Something

What I bring to the table is a huge enthusiasm and love for this stuff.

- Ted Allen

Love, Enthusiasm, Bring, Table

Believe me, I understand the need for easy and speedy. After a 12-hour day of shooting 'Chopped,' say, I'm talking stir-fry, spaghetti, heck, peanut-butter sandwiches. But that's not about the joy of food. That's survival.

- Ted Allen

Shooting, Spaghetti, Speedy, Chopped

I've always hoped 'Chopped' would telegraph our enormous affection and love and admiration for chefs and food, but at the same time, we are inflicting extraordinary cruelty on them.

- Ted Allen

Love, Always, Cruelty, Chopped

The world is full of people who would like nothing better than to spend six hours on a golf course. I would rather be chopping shallots.

- Ted Allen

Like, Hours, Six, Chopping

Jay Leno is not a guy who likes change. He eats the same food every day.

- Ted Allen

Change, Every Day, Jay, None

Cooking allows you to have travels, adventures and journeys without going anywhere. The running joke between my partner and me is that I'm not really concerned about how long it takes, or how much I destroy the kitchen, because I just have such a good time doing it.

- Ted Allen

Doing, Concerned, Journeys, Kitchen

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