Quotes from 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.

Cream is actually tiny globules of fat held inside delicate membranes suspended in water - just like milk, only there are more globules.

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.

I love the Chinese words for greeting: not strictly 'Hello' but 'Have you eaten yet?

I regard Chinese seafood cookery as among the best in the world.

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.

Losing close relatives doesnt get any easier, really, but losing your parents is the big deal.

Around Bordeaux the landscape is lush and verdant, then towards Toulouse it gets drier, sunnier and hotter. The food changes too.

Im not the worlds greatest sea food chef, I just like fresh fish.

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.

I'm not a baker, but my patisserie is my baby. I love the idea of good-quality cakes made with top ingredients.

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.

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.

Food is a great thing to be enthusiastic about, its not hurting anybody.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Divorce is horrible, no matter who instigates it. It's very traumatic.

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.

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.

I think, for me, I just keep feeling the need to prove yourself, and thats probably from having a slightly overpowering father.