Welcome to a collection of profound insights and culinary wisdom from one of the most revered figures in the world of gastronomy, Rick Stein. With a career spanning decades, Rick Stein has not only tantalized taste buds but also inspired countless individuals with his passion for food, travel, and culture. As a celebrated chef, restaurateur, and television personality, Stein’s journey has taken him to the far corners of the globe, where he has unearthed the secrets of regional cuisines and shared them with the world.
Stein’s unique blend of expertise, charm, and genuine curiosity has made him a beloved figure in the culinary world. His adventurous spirit and insatiable appetite for exploration have led him to uncover the stories behind the dishes we love, weaving together flavors, traditions, and histories into a tapestry of culinary delight. Through his numerous television series, cookbooks, and restaurants, Rick Stein has not only elevated the appreciation of food but has also fostered a deeper understanding of the cultural significance intertwined with every meal.
Below, you’ll find a curated selection of Rick Stein’s most memorable and thought-provoking quotes. Whether you’re a seasoned chef, an aspiring foodie, or simply someone who appreciates the finer things in life, these quotes are sure to inspire and ignite your passion for food, travel, and the shared experiences that unite us all.
You find if you go into a Cafe de Commerce, in any French town, you always get the same bloody salad: lots of lettuce and some meat and dressing thrown on and thats it. Rick Stein
I have met vegetable growers who offer seasonal produce grown for taste rather than the ability to survive weeks in cold storage; meat producers who rear fantastic rare-breed pork, lamb and beef; and delis that stock local produce that will never find its way into supermarkets because it is not made in bulk. Rick Stein
Cream is actually tiny globules of fat held inside delicate membranes suspended in water – just like milk, only there are more globules. Rick Stein
I fell in love when I was 21, after returning from Australia. It lasted for about two years before she dumped me. It was, in retrospect, a really wonderful thing because it made me very poetic and melancholic. Rick Stein
Most of the telly I do only has one camera and the reason you have to cook it twice is you have a close-up, so you see what is happening really close up and then you have a wide shot, which is like standing back so you see the whole fish and the kitchen and, like it or not, you have to do it twice. Rick Stein
Around Bordeaux the landscape is lush and verdant, then towards Toulouse it gets drier, sunnier and hotter. The food changes too. Rick Stein
Im not the worlds greatest sea food chef, I just like fresh fish. Rick Stein
Losing close relatives doesnt get any easier, really, but losing your parents is the big deal. Rick Stein
We all know lemon is loved by salmon, but the fish also adores the flavour and acidity of pink grapefruit. Rick Stein
My father, Eric, was bipolar and as he got older, his illness affected the family more and more. My mother was magnificent in protecting my brothers and sisters from his illness. Rick Stein
I found a great fishmonger in Southend, certainly not a place where I would have expected to find one, who specialises in skate knobs, a little nugget of meat from the head which makes for extremely agreeable eating. Rick Stein
I’m not a baker, but my patisserie is my baby. I love the idea of good-quality cakes made with top ingredients. Rick Stein
I did have a very determined idea of making money. I was quite savvy about that. And that was my most basic lesson. You do have to understand the economics. It’s pointless putting in all that work and losing money. If you’re not making a profit you’re stuffed. Rick Stein
Our seas do have fish in them. We have to change our eating habits, the type of fish we tend to go for. Pollack is fine, that type of thing. Rick Stein
Naturally, as a little boy, I did lots of naughty things. With Les, the son of the farm manager, I was always climbing on high roofs, then tumbling off, or building dangerous networks of tunnels in the hay bales. Rick Stein
My work spaces are the cookery school and all the restaurant kitchens. I eat in the restaurants a lot. Rick Stein
If you want to eat my fish, you have to come to Padstow. It’s like the Med – people want local fish in a local restaurant. I think it tastes better in Cornwall. Rick Stein
My first work space is my office in the cookery school in Padstow. It looks out over the Camel Estuary. I’m very lucky because I’ve got this office with the most fantastic view. I love looking out. There’s always boats coming and going. Rick Stein
I think human beings thrive on communication, and pubs and restaurants are a great way of communicating, a great way of enjoying each other. Rick Stein
Cooking in Japan is regarded as an art, like music or painting. Every dish has a reason, including the garnishes. This is cuisine with philosophy, and the apparent simplicity belies centuries of culture. Rick Stein
Lunch is a problem because my office is above our chip shop – everything is fried in proper beef dripping. It smells so good that by 12 o’clock it’s hard not to think very lovingly of fish and chips. Rick Stein
Communities such as Auchmithie, Sandend, and even Wick once thrived on herring fishing. But it led me to ruminate on the likely fate for most of our coasts – with the decline of fishing many of the coastal communities are destined to become charming but lifeless exhibits of past endeavour. Rick Stein
I eat out a lot, so being at home is just great. I usually make a chicken rice recipe that I picked up in Thailand years ago. The chicken has to be boiled before adding in chillies, ginger, soy and white pepper. Then you make a kind of pilaf. Its delicious. Rick Stein
The first day in Tokyo was disorientating – all neon, gadgets and extreme politeness – but I was surprised to find that I have a lot in common with the Japanese because they’re bonkers about food. Rick Stein
Its such a diverse culture with Chinese, Indian, Malay Eurasian and all points in between so wherever you go in Malaysia youve got fascinating food. Rick Stein
A lot of my customers wouldnt go to a McDonalds but we are all after the same thing in this business: pleasing the customer. I dont know why people get so aerated about it. I like McDonalds. Rick Stein
As far as filming for TV goes, I like to go where the food is definitely of interest to British people. Rick Stein
There is something wonderful about the way you glaze a fruit cake, nonchalantly drop some orange on as a topping, dust the sugar on top of a sponge cake or fan the apples on a tart. Rick Stein
I regard Chinese seafood cookery as among the best in the world. Rick Stein
I suppose I’ve got a restlessness about me which is only alleviated by travel and I like being on the road. Rick Stein
I always could cook. Mostly it was down to osmosis. I spent so much time in the kitchen with my mum as a kid. She was always talking to me about what she was doing. Rick Stein
My childhood was idyllic to begin with. We lived on a farm in Oxfordshire and my mum used its produce in the kitchen. She made plain, English-style food, cooked exceptionally – it’s what I’ve based my career on. Rick Stein
On the surface, our lives seemed idyllic. My four siblings and I grew up on a 150-acre farm in Oxfordshire, and spent every holiday at our other house on the Cornish coast. Rick Stein
This is what London’s all about for me: good local restaurants. It’s what makes a civilised city. For me, as a country boy, it’s a real pleasure being able to walk to a restaurant. It seems very sophisticated, somehow. Rick Stein
I do think there is continuing sense in people buying recipe books from somebody they trust. Rick Stein
I love fish soup. Its a deeply satisfying dish. You can use almost any fish for this apart from the oily ones. Rick Stein
I’ve always been pushy as far as the business goes. Rick Stein
There was a fantastic old shack I used to go to. It didn’t look much from the outside but this man was selling the best stuff ever. He’d just take the catch and cook it up with butter, lemon and salt and then bung some chips with it and it was delicious. Rick Stein
Unless its Michelin-starred food, people wont pay top dollar for top food so its hard to do good old-fashioned French cooking and get people to pay for it. Rick Stein
The fish auctions at Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Scrabster and Kinlochbervie are bustling and successful, with good landings of fish from the north all the way to Norway. Rick Stein
Wherever I go I’m always looking for recipes and ideas. Rick Stein
I remember taking a timer into a pastry exam at college, and the examiner had never seen that before, but I was adamant about precision: getting it just right and paying attention to detail. Rick Stein
I particularly like writing on planes. You’ve got nothing else to do but concentrate. Rick Stein
My father Eric had a magnetic presence. He was about 6ft 4in, with dark hair and pale blue eyes – and very attractive to women. Rick Stein
If a recipe is good, I’m not going to mess with it, but they are recipes I’ve spent quite a bit of time getting right. You can use the internet. I use it as well, I keep forgetting, for example, how many eggs are in a Yorkshire pudding. Rick Stein
I am particularly fond of Malaysian food but strangely its not that well known in Britain. Rick Stein
I like to have a few staff round for a glass of wine although if I’m feeding people I try and leave my glass alone, as it doesn’t improve my cooking. Rick Stein
It’s no surprise that cream gives pleasure. It feels great when you eat it, and it makes you feel great, too. I read somewhere that cream increases the amount of serotonin you produce in your brain – serotonin being the chemical that makes you feel warm and comfortable inside. Rick Stein
I do have some guilty pleasures. I’m very keen on mayonnaise, so that’s a shame, as I’m always battling with my weight. But I do love a plate of langoustine or lobster with dollops of mayonnaise. Rick Stein
The Turks are fantastic barbecuers. They have these long barbecue pits called Mangals. The food smells wonderful and has a smoky, charcoaly taste. Rick Stein
I dont think Ill ever stop working, its what I do even though I dont have to – thats one of the pleasures of having your own business. Rick Stein
In the early 70s I was offered a job on a newspaper. At the last minute the offer was withdrawn because there was a strike on. I bought a nightclub and turned it into a restaurant instead. Rick Stein
I was brought up on a farm in Oxford but my parents always had a flat in London, and we’d go to pretty smart restaurants, so it’s always seemed important to eat well. Rick Stein
Divorce is horrible, no matter who instigates it. It’s very traumatic. Rick Stein
On the whole Im a good companion, I like travelling, I dont mind airports or planes, I quite like it – theres always a sense of excitement. Rick Stein
My grandparents were born in England but spoke German and had a German name. Rick Stein
Once youve got a name, whatever you do is news. If your marriage breaks up of course its big news but even if you have a row with the planners it makes the nationals. Rick Stein
Writing doesn’t come easily to me. Rick Stein
I find that the heat from chilli counteracts hunger pangs, which I believe is why it’s so popular in the developing world, so I have a very spicy Vietnamese pho for breakfast. Rick Stein
On the whole, my dad was a hero, its just that it got really difficult in his depressive phases, very introspective. And I think he took it out on me really. Rick Stein
We have all these restaurants and the worry is that they have to deliver the same quality. Rick Stein
You might say that Britain is a world leader in cream. No other country makes the range of creams we have, and I’m not talking about any low-fat, no-fat nonsense. There’s single, double, extra-thick, whipping, sour and clotted. To those, I suppose we can add crme frache from France, mascarpone from Italy and smetana from eastern Europe. Rick Stein
We did a dish called seafood thermidor, which was, essentially, a glorified fish pie. It’s great because you don’t use much fish in it. It’s all sauce and potatoes, but people loved it! It kept us afloat. Rick Stein
One thing I don’t like is those three-star kitchens where they force the cooks to do exactly the same thing again and again. There has to be an element of chance in cookery. Rick Stein
To me theres nothing nicer than a pan-fried sole and some fresh salad, keep it simple. Rick Stein
I always put on a couple of kilos every time I film a programme. You cant really tuck into a dish and then just leave it. Rick Stein
Im too keen for people to like me. If I didnt care so much, I would be more decisive. I spend a lot of time concerning myself with what other people will think of my actions, which makes me very indecisive. Rick Stein
Its difficult to tell, isnt it, whether you are naturally a person that likes hard work and does things, or whether you feel youve got to prove something? Rick Stein
I’ve never worked in anyone else’s kitchen, but at college there was a guy called Tom Chivers who was a great chef and I learned a lot from him. Rick Stein
I would quite like to do something on Ireland about the culture, James Joyce, Yeats, persuade Seamus Heaney to have a chat and do some cooking. Rick Stein
Ive been lucky with my stepkids. They were little when we met so theyve always accepted me. Having a stepfamily is so much more common these days and its nice to report I dont have a lot of problems. Rick Stein
In my eyes, baking and pastry-making is like a science – all the measuring of quantities and temperatures. Rick Stein
I always had a slight problem in that my older brother is extremely bright. He’s a neurophysiologist and a don at Magdalen College, and I always felt I was stupid because I couldn’t get anything like the same results as him. Rick Stein
My boys are Cornish because they were all born there, but Im quite happy just to be an admirer. Rick Stein
Going to Goa was a rite of passage for me, because it’s where I learnt that you could mix fish with really strong flavours. Rick Stein
Its challenging getting people to pay the right money to eat really good food and finding great people to work for you. Rick Stein
Ive definitely got a sense of not being very good at stuff. Its sort of absurd because, you know, Ive done really quite well for myself, but I still really doubt myself. Its just the way I am. Rick Stein
I guess its the same with all children really, they have this sort of pathetic longing to be like their parents were. Rick Stein
My wife is always telling me that because we zip across the globe so much, we cant really keep a dog. But if youre a dog lover, its a pretty essential part of your life. Rick Stein
I like to have fish and salad – mackerel, Dover sole or gurnard, and I usually pan-fry it or use the barbecue. I make salad with avocados, tomato, lettuce and spring onions, with an olive oil and red wine dressing. Rick Stein
I consider myself to be quite shy, funnily enough. I don’t find it easy to get the words out. Rick Stein
If you are used to eating well as a child, you will end up probably being quite serious about what you eat as an adult, so I feel very blessed with that. Rick Stein
I enjoy mending leaking pipes and dodgy plugs, as it helps me to unwind when my mind is on something else. Im pretty good at it – no one has ever been harmed by one of my repairs. Rick Stein
Every time I buy produce from one of my food heroes I never fail to get a thrill. The meat, for example, from Lishmans of Ilkley makes you realise why great roast beef and Yorkshire pudding depends so much on a quality butcher like David Lishman. Rick Stein
Food is a great thing to be enthusiastic about, its not hurting anybody. Rick Stein
As a child, I was embarrassed by my dads effusive episodes, but I suppose I got used to living with someone who was intermittently sad. Rick Stein
Add a teaspoon of single cream, say, to a sauce just before serving to give it a touch of extra smoothness and depth. You also need single cream to float on top of Irish coffee. And you should probably use the finest unpasteurised double cream to make syllabub. Rick Stein
I think, for me, I just keep feeling the need to prove yourself, and thats probably from having a slightly overpowering father. Rick Stein
People feel very strongly about restaurants if theyre involved in them. It tends to take over your life for good and bad. Rick Stein
The fact is I never intended to be a chef. After Oxford University I had this weird idea of running a nightclub. Rick Stein
The South Coast is not teeming with fish any more; there are no fleets of trawlers left. Small local boats land their fish daily and often sell it at the back of the beach, a scenario repeated all the way from West Bay to Whitstable. Rick Stein
In Australia you’re not allowed to go down to the beach and eat anything from the rocks. You just can’t do it – help yourself to mussels and things like that because there’s hardly any left and the government has now legislated against it. Rick Stein
I left England when I was 19 for two years travelling on my own and since then I’ve always had an urge to go abroad. Rick Stein
It’s nice to see some fresh herrings on the fish stand. Rick Stein
I fished with my dad and my mum was a great cook, although I didnt help out in the kitchen. It was similar with my three boys and my ex-wife Jill. Rick Stein
One of the reasons for opening the fish and chip shop is that if you want, you can spend less money. Rick Stein
When I started out in the early 1970s French cooking was really my only serious influence. For the first 10 years of having the seafood restaurant open I went to France, and particularly Brittany, to pick up ideas. Rick Stein
I find people interesting and I love regional accents. I love the Norfolk accent actually but I haven’t heard much as I’ve only just arrived but I shall go out and find it. Rick Stein
South-east Asian salads are a great balance of salty, sweet-sour and spicy. Its important to have both pork and seafood, but you can vary the seafood from prawns and squid to crab meat or even small pieces of firm fish such as monkfish, John Dory or gurnard. Rick Stein
People want to go out and eat, theres no question about that. Its not something thats just going to go because of Covid. Its heartening the way people have come back to restaurants. Rick Stein