You Have To Do It And Do

With Enough Butter, Anything Is Good

In France Cooking Is A Serious Art Form And A National Sport. I Think The French Enjoy The Complication Of The Art Form And The Cooking For Cooking's Sake. You Can Talk With A Concierge Or Police Officer About Food In France As A General Rule. It Is Not The General Rule Here. Classical Cuisine, Which I Hope We Are Going Back To, Means Certain Ways Of Doing Things And Certain Ways Of Not Doing Things. If You Know Classical French Cooking You Can Do Anything. If You Don't Know The Basics, You Turn Out Slop.

Some Children Like To Make Castles Out Of Their Rice Pudding, Or Faces With Raisins For Eyes. It Is Forbidden -- So Sternly That, When They Grow Up, They Take A Horrid Revenge By Dying Meringues Pale Blue Or Baking Birthday Cakes In The Form Of Horseshoes Or Lyres Or Whatnot.

I Always Give My Bird A Generous Butter Massage Before I Put It In The Oven. Why? Because I Think The Chicken Likes It -- And, More Important, I Like To Give It.

I'm Not Wild About Those Twenty-four Hour Marinades