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
Chris Bianco
Chef-owner of Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix. Built his reputation on flour, water, salt, and restraint.
- Pro Chef
Claire Saffitz
Pastry chef and author of Dessert Person.
- Cookbook Author
Claudia Roden
Cairo-born food writer. Her work on Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking is the long reference for the region.
- Food Writer
Daniel Gritzer
Editorial director of Serious Eats. Develops recipes by testing every variable side by side.
- Pro Chef
David Chang
Founder of Momofuku. Built a career on the question of what restaurant technique survives translation to home.
- 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.
- Food Writer
Felicity Cloake
Guardian columnist whose 'How to cook the perfect…' series adjudicates classic recipes by comparing published versions.
- Food Writer
Fuchsia Dunlop
British writer and the first non-Chinese student to train at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine.
- 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.
- Cookbook Author
Grace Young
Author of Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge. Custodian of wok cooking in the diaspora.
- 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.
- Pro Chef
Judy Rodgers
Late chef of Zuni Cafe, San Francisco. Her dry-brined roast chicken with bread salad is a modern American touchstone.
- 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
Ken Forkish
Founder of Ken's Artisan in Portland. Author of Flour Water Salt Yeast and The Elements of Pizza.
- 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.
- Pro Chef
Michael Solomonov
Chef-owner of Zahav, Philadelphia. His hummus tehina recipe redefined the dish in American restaurants.
- 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.
- Cookbook Author
Nigella Lawson
British food writer and broadcaster. Author of How to Eat. Cooks for pleasure first, orthodoxy second.
- Cookbook Author
Peter Reinhart
Baker and educator. Author of The Bread Baker's Apprentice; a foundational text on fermentation for home cooks.
- Cookbook Author
Samin Nosrat
Author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Trained at Chez Panisse; writes about cooking as a set of fundamentals, not recipes.
- 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.
- Pro Chef
Yotam Ottolenghi
London-based chef-restaurateur. Author of Jerusalem and Plenty. Treats hummus as a technical exercise.