The truth is that since the first book, I have wanted to emulate Benjamin Franklin and put together a healthy, wealthy and wise trilogy and so healthy was 'The 4-Hour Body,' wealthy was 'The 4-Hour Workweek' and then wise is 'The 4-Hour Chef.'
You have to be confident in who you are and what you're doing. Of course, you try to evolve. I would never tell you, 'Today is the best I will ever be.' I'm always trying to be a better chef, a better dad, a better person.
I did a big thing with Ritz Crackers - great cracker. Am I now the Ritz chef? No! Do I think the cracker has a lot of diversity and appeal? Yeah! Does it mean that's my foundation of cooking? No!
Every chef has his treats. By that, I mean bits and pieces from things you're working on - crusty little cake trimmings, ends from a brisket, collars from a salmon, scraps. But they're snacks to me, and I eat them right off the cutting board - maybe too much.
I do have a chef, but I still go out. Sometimes I can still blend in, and sometimes I get a little bombarded. It's the best of both worlds.
I grew up in San Diego with immigrant parents, before the food blogs, before this kind of celebrity chef culture we know now.
I decided to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time - go get a chef and a nutritionist - and I brought them on board.
Yeah, I worked with a chef when I first got into the league. We did all my blood work and found out exactly what I'm sensitive to, what I'm deficient in, what my body needs. I had to cut out a lot of things - chicken, tuna, wheat, and soy.
There's a bond among a kitchen staff, I think. You spend more time with your chef in the kitchen than you do with your own family.
I've tried my hardest to bribe my chef, but my team have been clever and hired someone who not only is not bribeable but who chases me round the house and makes sure I eat what he's cooked, and he lays out my vitamin pills and supplements in front of me so I can't 'forget' to take them.
I am the most unselfish chef in Britain today.
I'm not much of a chef, so people keep buying me cookery books to broaden my culinary horizons, but I've not got far past shepherd's pie yet.
When I wrote my cookbook, 'I Love Crab Cakes,' I asked some of my best chef buddies to contribute recipes.
Ever since I read 'Kitchen Confidential,' I saw a little light bulb go off. Being a chef is like being on a pirate ship; it's not like 'Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?' or whatever my impression was as I was growing up.
Movies like 'Chef' are not really box-office monsters in the summertime and don't really fit into Hollywood's business model any longer. Even if 'Chef' is successful, it will be successful in the context of what it is. There's a limited upside to a film that's so small, but there's also limited exposure for the people who backed me.
Even if the chef has a good business head, his focus should be behind kitchen doors. A business partner should take care of everything in front of the kitchen doors.
I don't have any interest in being a chef without being on the business side of things, or vice versa, because if you don't make money at the end of the month, you're going out of business.
A chef and a restaurateur are different jobs: One is about pleasing people with what's on the plate; the other is about understanding the market. I'm a chef, but I think I'm a savvy businessperson, too.
I remember the first time eating my chef's Caesar salad. It was just like one of those moments in the movie theater when everything gets quiet.
Generally a chef's book is like a calling card or a portfolio to display their personal work.
