Treasured - Eric Ripert

What is your most treasured item?

“My most treasured item is this cookbook by chef Jean-Louis Palladin. He was my mentor and I deeply admire his work. This book is his legacy. It is 25 years old, and looks like it could have been photographed yesterday. It’s a timeless masterpiece. He gave it to me in his office after service in spring of 1989. This book is deeply inspiring and when I think of Jean-Louis, it’s never in a sad way, only with great happiness. I’m know he would like to be remembered by his friends and family in a joyful way.”

“I must be very OCD because if one book is missing I spot it right away. We organize the books by categories to make it easy for the sous-chefs to find what they are looking for. We have books about Scandinavian, Asian, Indian and Spanish food; some about wines, ones about French chefs, about French cooking, about restaurants, about New York, food writing, media books. Right now I can see there is one book still missing from Joël Robuchon that was signed to me. We asked all the chefs to check to see if they had it at home. Eventually somebody found it and is going to bring it back. But it’s amazing that if one book is missing, I know!"

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