"Food is passion" is a sentiment that rings true for acclaimed chef Gabriel Kreuther and echoes through kitchens of home cooks and culinary enthusiasts alike.
"People are craving to learn how to cook simple things the right way -- that turns them onto being more interested in trying to cook," Kreuther told "Good Morning America" in an exclusive interview. "Food is culture and being fed the right way goes a long way in life and it starts early."
For the Alsace-born chef who has helmed prestigious kitchens globally -- and the better part of 25 years doing so in America, including his own two-Michelin-starred eponymous New York City restaurant -- Kreuther said, "I saw the evolution of food happening in the U.S."
"There is a lot of interest from people wanting to learn more about cooking, because when you know how to cook you actually can live on a budget," he explained, harkening back to his childhood and the impact of his mom's cooking. "You need to know how you can use leftovers. Some of my best food memories growing up on a farm are the dishes that my mother made with leftovers believe it or not."
Pot-au-Feu, he said for example, stewed chicken or rabbit with root vegetables would create both a soup, plus meat for "all the leftovers that you can make whatever you want with."
"You can make four dishes out of [it] and not be eating the same thing every day," he said, suggesting the ways he would use the meat as a standalone protein or the base of a would-be bolognese. "Cooking at home is planning. And that's what families did in the old days."
Kreuther had a visceral reaction detailing another simple dish of his mother's -- cooked endives with bechamel sauce, wrapped in a slice of cooked ham and topped with Gruyère cheese.
"Very simple things have such great memories -- like the smell when you walk home from school, you become hungry just from the smell in the house," he said. "It's very exciting because food is about passion, and if you do something with passion and with your heart it tastes better because you are in it."
The semifinalist for the 2025 James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef announced exclusively with "GMA" on Tuesday his new partnership with Cristel cookware, fusing his French upbringing and outlook on cuisine with the storied stainless steel manufacturer to launch the new Castel'Pro Ultraply collection.
When it comes to the right cookware to help execute memorable and exquisite dishes, top culinary brass like Kreuther understands that function, design and quality of culinary tools are paramount -- whether it's for a high end restaurant or a home kitchen.
To share his tricks of the trade, Kreuther spent multiple days in the Burgundy factory of the family-owned stainless steel cookware manufacturer, evaluating the five-ply aluminum core construction, testing the new lightweight flagship line and developing recipes with it.
Kreuther told "GMA" he was taken aback, not just by the pans, but the process by which they are made that mirrors his own culinary philosophy.
"One of my first questions was, 'How sustainable and clean is the production?' And when I saw the authenticity -- every single drop of water used in the factory is renewed -- and the happiness and pride of producing these, I saw a lot of what we do in the kitchen with heart and that was the connection for me," he said.
"If all of us using products are a little bit more conscious of where things come from and how it's done, I think we have an impact on the environment," Kreuther said. "Sustainability is not only about the livestock. Sustainability is how we treat mother nature and what we put back into nature," which he added "most giant factories are not very eco-friendly" so that was another major factor in feeling aligned with the brand.
The 2009 Best Chef New York City James Beard Award winner has outfitted his famed restaurant with the new cookware of frying pans, saucepans, stewpans and stockpots, that he said "speed up the cooking" thanks to the design that works on induction, gas and infrared.
"The quality for me speaks volumes and it makes our job easier," he said of the "thoughtfulness" Cristel showed in designing everything down to a rounded, hollow handle that he and his chefs appreciate for the ergonomics "so that it stays cool for a very long time and it's not excessively heavy."
While Kreuther pulls global sensibilities to his dishes rooted in traditional French techniques and loves "when different cultures come into the plate," his top tip for home cooks is to "use great products and make them shine."
"Being honest about what's good and what's in season to do something that's creative, without getting too far from the source," he suggested. "People remember the flavors -- my focus is more on bold, nice and harmonious flavors -- our best memories are the flavors, not how it looks."
This time of year as we wait out the final few weeks of winter and transition into spring, Kreuther said the most underrated ingredients are root vegetables -- like celeriac and fennel -- as well as leeks.
"Leeks is a very simple ingredient that can be used in many different ways," he encouraged.
"I developed the smoked salmon sauce at the factory and then perfected it at my place," Kreuther said of the dish that is "beautiful and very simple" and creates a perfect light pink hue that he said would be an impressive presentation for Valentine's Day.
Serves about 8 main portions
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 ounces chopped shallots
1 1/2 cups of dry Vermouth
7 ounces cold smoked salmon chunks
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups half & half (consisting of 50% heavy cream and 50% whole milk)
Salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper from the mill
1 lemon for juice as needed
To thicken the sauce
1 tablespoon of corn starch or arrow root
A bit of water to make a slurry
Directions
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the shallots and a pinch of salt and sweat them, stirring, until the shallots are tender without taking any color, about 2 minutes.
Add the dry Vermouth, bring it to a boil, simmer until reduced by half to burn out the alcohol for about 3 minutes.
Add the smoked salmon chunks and the tomato paste and cook it lightly, stirring, until the salmon disintegrates, it takes about 2 minutes.
Finally add half & half and a small pinch each of salt and pepper and bring to a simmer (keeping in mind that the smoked salmon is salted). Don’t over salt it because the salmon is briny on its own. Simmer stirring occasionally, until reduced by about 1/3 and it starts to thicken. This will take a little time, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to a high-speed blender and puree start at low speed and gradually speed it up when it’s safe to do so, keeping in mind that the mixture is hot and sometimes pieces of ingredients can jump when blending. Do not put your face over the container while blending and always secure the top by pressing it down with your hands on it to stay safe until very smooth and the color deepens, 1 to 2 minutes.
It is important to blend it for a while to extract the most out of the smoked salmon.
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve / chinois into a saucepan using a rubber spatula to extract all the juices.
Once this is done bring the whole sauce to a simmer and thicken it with the slurry, using it sparingly to control the thickening of the sauce (remember, you can always add more but not take away! Same goes with salt while cooking.)
Check for seasoning, this is the best time to rectify your taste with salt and pepper.
Just before using it, whisk in the lemon juice with an immersion blender.
This sauce is a great combination with either spaghetti or fettuccine cooked al dente with some nice pan sautéed mushrooms all tossed together, a handful baby arugula leaves and finished with a few dill sprigs on top.
Unless the sauce is used right away you have the option of cooling it down and keep it for about 2 days after cooling it quickly in the refrigerator.
To cool it properly whisk the sauce in a stainless-steel bowl over an ice bath until it is completely cold steering constantly to accelerate the process.
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