Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients, recipes, and cooking. It's about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and creativity.

Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat.

Food is not just eating energy. It's an experience.

There are two different things: there's grilling, and there's barbecue. Grilling is when people say, 'We're going to turn up the heat, make it really hot and sear a steak, sear a burger, cook a chicken.' Barbecue is going low and slow.

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.

Manage the heat, let the meat cook, and you'll get fantastic results.

I'm a culinary gangsta with a very spiritual side, so when I was introduced to the 'spiritual gangster' line, I had to have it.

If you're feeling adventurous, grill up some marinated octopus. It's so healthy.

In Japanese, sushi does not mean raw fish. It means seasoned rice.

There's nothing that can replicate the smoky flavor of char, so when I've got the hankering for it, I tell my wife that I'm taking care of dinner. I have three different types of barbecues - a coal, gas and smoker - so I can experiment a lot.

There are three people you need in life: an accountant, a fishmonger, and a bail bondsman.

I wake up in the morning thinking about food.

When I was 12, we began hosting exchange students from Norway, Sweden, Japan and Spain. I soon realized there was a whole world out there. I was determined to spend my sophomore year in high school abroad. My school taught only Spanish, but I wanted to go to France, and I did.

Cooking is like snow skiing: If you don't fall at least 10 times, then you're not skiing hard enough.

You can find tranquility, you can find party, you can find new friends. I'm a cruise convert.

As soon as you wanna take away the flavor of anything, just fry it.

Outdoor cooking is not just about hot dogs and hamburgers. There are so many styles of food you can make.

Food is a common denominator for all people.

Your classic guacamole is just avocados, lime juice, and salt.

With messy food, or foods with a lot of sauce, you do 'The Hunch.' I learned it in Philly, watching the dudes in suits eat cheesesteaks. You keep your elbows above your hands because if you don't, the grease runs down your sleeve to your elbow.

My sister and I cooked a lot together; my sister was a very healthy vegetarian. She was always a real good teacher for me about organics, recycling, composting -whenever you hear me talk about it, it's usually because of my sister's influence.

If it tastes really good, and it's funky, it's funkalicous. If the guy making it is funky, he's funkintacious.

I tell anyone who will listen to me: On a cruise, you can be with all these people, or you can be by yourself. You can find tranquility, you can find party, you can find new friends. I'm a cruise convert.

No matter how tough the meat may be, it's going to be tender if you slice it thin enough.

I eat healthier than you think. I eat grains and vegetables when I'm home - and I eat in courses. My wife, Lori, thinks it's because I don't want foods to touch. That's not it. If you eat courses, you slow down your meal and eat less. It's a trick I picked up in France as a kid.

Everybody has their role in the food world and what they choose to appreciate. I'm not a fine dining chef. I appreciate it. I think Thomas Keller is amazing. But I really like where I'm at; I like what I do. I like how it makes people feel.

If you've really got a problem with me, and you came and told me you had a problem with me, I'd be interested to listen to you. But if you're just some loser that sits there and hammers away on some blog form or whatever, I don't have time for that. Why even worry about it?

Preparing food is one of life's great joys, but a lot of times, parents ask their kids if they want to cook with them and then tell them to go peel a bag of potatoes. That's not cooking - that's working!

Kids want to saute, to cut the pizza, to see how the ingredients come together. If you let them do the fun stuff, they'll develop skills and interests that will stay with them forever.

I don't drink soda.

There are races and then there are races. And without a doubt, the Indy 500 is the race that I've always wanted to attend. And now, to be driving the Corvette Pace Car... this is going to be unbelievable.

I specifically left the corporate world so I could wear T-shirts, blue jeans, and honestly, I always wanted to be my own boss.

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!

If you are AC/DC, you don't get credit for slow songs. And if you are doing a show about food with a blond dude with crazy blond hair and tattoos who drives a hot rod, of course everyone is going to think everything you eat is deep-fried.

I was raised with hippie parents, so I get down with the positive. I don't pay attention to the negative.

I love to exercise. I'm a big hiker, and I like boxing. I mean, I love a good burger, but I keep things in moderation.

Triple D is all about three things: Food, story and character.

I'm a five-seasons griller! Did you know I added a new season? Living in Cali, I'm cooking in the yard all the time. I don't care what the weather is like. My hair is impervious to any kind of dampness, so I don't have too much to worry about.

No one likes rubbery chicken.

Ripe avocados should be soft, not squishy, and you should be able to flick the little stem off easily.

I'm a big hiker, and I like boxing. I mean, I love a good burger, but I keep things in moderation.

A lot of people who like sushi don't really like raw fish or seaweed.

I have my own boat, but when I first thought about taking a cruise, I thought, 'You're going to trap me on a boat, and I'm going to walk in circles and go crazy,' but it's awesome.

My spiked hair goes back about 15 years ago. I had long, curly rocker hair then. The woman who cuts my hair thought I needed a new style, so I let her surprise me. I flipped when I first saw it, but I soon realized the look was really me. I've always been a little crazy.

Short of screaming-hot Thai food, everything can be suitable for kids too.

I think anyone that grew up in the '70s and '80s grew up with Bob Barker and Wink Martindale and I think that was just always... when you were a game show host, you were the man of the hour.

I was always a kid trying to make a buck. I borrowed a dollar from my dad, went to the penny candy store, bought a dollar's worth of candy, set up my booth, and sold candy for five cents apiece. Ate half my inventory, made $2.50, gave my dad back his dollar.

The No. 1 thing I hear from people when I meet them in the airport is, 'Oh my gosh, you're just like you are on TV.' Well, I'm not an actor. I don't think anyone could figure out how to be this weird.

I would ride my horse to school.

I don't know what singers feel like when they make a song and people clap along and love it, but when people walk up to me and say the food was outstanding, that's what it is all about. I cook because I like to make people happy.