Made in the Hamptons by Made in the Hamptons Media

November 29, 2023 Chef Eric Ripert | Culinary Titan On Seafood Technique & More

Please see full transcript of the episode here

Episode Summary & Sponsors:

We are kicking Season 3 off with a venerable titan in the culinary industry, a New York Times 4 star and 3 star Michelin chef, Hamptons resident Eric Ripert whose restaurant Le Bernardin was just named number one worldwide.

I got the amazing opportunity for a one on one exclusive interview to talk to Eric while he was traveling on tour for his new book seafood simple, the do’s and don’ts of buying and cooking fresh fish, the important role meditation and charitable giving play in his life, living in the Hamptons, his favorite farm stand finds and restaurants out east and the essentials every kitchen must have.

Thanks to our sponsors:

The William Johnston Foundation

US Bank

Wineaccess.com (Instagram: @wineaccess)

Fultonfishmarket.com (Instagram: @fultonfishmarket)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Fulton Fish Market, the most trusted name in seafood. FultonFishMarket.com is the e-commerce shop for New York City’s iconic Fulton Fish Market—the largest in the western hemisphere. As you’ll hear in this episode, Fulton Fish Market has been trusted by top chefs for over 200 years.

From salmon to caviar, FultonFishMarket.com is your go-to destination for world-class seafood delivery. Visit www.Fultonfishmarket.com to get 20% off your first order - Use code HAMPTONS

This episode is also brought to you by Wine Access, the official partner and wine provider of The Michelin Guide. Wineaccess.com is the best online shop for expertly curated wines and exclusive subscriptions such as The Michelin Guide Wine Club—where each shipment includes a selection of the finest wines curated by summelyays from Michelin-starred restaurants.

Make Wineaccess.com your direct line to wines typically reserved for winery mailing lists and Michelin-starred restaurants—delivered direct to your door. Visit wineaccess.com/cookalong to get 20% off your first order.

Full Transcript of Episode:

Host (00:09):

Welcome back to Made in the Hamptons for the season three premiere. I'm your host, Jill Lawrence, and it's so nice to finally be back here with you.

We have some amazing guests this season and are kicking things off with a venerable titan in the culinary industry, a New York Times four-star and three-star Michelin Chef Hampton's resident Eric Ripert, whose restaurant Le Bernardin was just named number one worldwide.

I got the amazing opportunity for a one-on-one exclusive interview to talk to Eric while he was traveling on tour for his new book, seafood Simple. We talked about the do's and don'ts of buying and cooking fresh fish, the important role meditation and charitable giving plays in his life, living in the Hamptons, his favorite farm stand, finds and restaurants out east, and the essentials every kitchen must have. But before we get to the interview, I want to share two amazing offers from our sponsors just in time for the holidays.

(01:08)
Today's episode is brought to you by Fulton Fish Market, the most trusted name in seafood fulton fish market.com is the e-Commerce Shop for New York City's iconic Fulton Fish Market, the largest in the Western hemisphere as you'll hear in this episode. Fulton Fish Market has been trusted by top chefs for over 200 years from salmon to caviar, fulton fish market.com is your go-to destination for world-class seafood delivery. Visit www.fultonfishmarket.com to get 20% off your first order and use Code: Hamptons.

This episode is also brought to you by Wine Access, the official partner and wine provider of the Michelin Guide Wine access.com is the best online shop for expertly curated wines and exclusive subscriptions such as the Michelin Guide Wine Club where each shipment includes a selection of the finest wines curated by sommelier from Michelin starred restaurants. Make wine access.com. Your direct line to wines typically reserved for the winery, mailing lists and Michelin starred restaurants delivered directly to your door. Visit wine access.com/cook along to get 20% off your first order. That's wine access.com/cookalong

Now onto my delightful conversation with restaurateur Chef Eric Ripert.

Host (02:47):

Thank you so much for joining me.

Ripert:
It's my pleasure really.

Host (02:51):

I wanted to talk about Seafood Simple and just tell me a little bit about your inspiration for the book and the reason fish became integral part of your work as a chef.

Ripert (03:01):

So from a very young age in all the kitchen where I work, I was always assigned to the fish station and therefore I started to develop a certain expertise about it and knowledge. And when I started in 1991, there I was already very familiar with all preparations of seafood, seafood, restaurant. It really was meant to be. Also, the reason I created this book after so many years is because I want to help a lot of the people who are intimidated by cooking fish or seafood. It's not very difficult. You just need to have a good guidance and then if you follow what we are giving you as advice in a book, it'll be easy to successfully and make family of friends happy.

Host (03:56):

I prepared for this interview by making the halibut casserole from your book and was delightfully surprised with how easy it was to make and it used such simple ingredients. Why are most people intimidated to cook fish, do you think?

Ripert (04:12):

I believe that everybody has a bad experience and I suspect that people who have the bad experience add fish that was not necessarily the fresher, and if you don't have fresh fish to begin with, then very difficult to have a good dish at the end, even if you're extremely good at cooking. We give a book a lot of tips to when you are going shopping to recognize when the fish is very fresh and really at the end of the day, one thing is very important is never smell like fish. Never. When it's fishy or when it's a bad odor, it means that it's already old and no matter what you're going to do, you're not going to succeed at your house going to, your guests will be not enjoying because it's too fishy. You may even have some challenges because when the fish is not very fresh, it's not firm and sometimes when you cook it, it breaks in a pan. That's why I believe people intimidated by.

Host (05:24):

And so what's the best tip for buying fish?

Ripert (05:28):

Well, depending where you are in Hampton, in New York, on the east coast and on both coast, that's actually, we have a lot of fishermen that bring seafood to the stores and supermarket that is of very high quality. And I think creating a relationship with the fishmonger or trusting the fishmonger, and again, when you go to the store, if you buy whole fish, the eyes of the should be very bright, should be bright as well. If you look at the should be very red, the flesh very quickly the sign of fresh. And again, it should never smell bad in that store or the product should never smell bad. Now if you buy the fish in, which is very often the case, the flesh of the fish should be kind of translucent, not kind like opaque, beige, if it has some yellow or gray colors, if the blood vessels are very dark, do not buy that fish.

Host (06:32):

Oh, interesting.

Ripert (06:33):
I’m

Yeah. The figure of fish or even scallops should have a nice flesh and should also have a nice shape they shouldn't be like. So yes, that's very important. And again, in the book, not only we give you from buying, but we teach you up the season and we take you by the end from the very beginning until the very end and you again trust us in it's guaranteed success.

Host (07:05):

And I can vouch for that because the halibut that I made was so wonderful and tasty. There was none left over. But if there was, what's the best way to store fish after cooking it?

Ripert (07:18):

When you cook fish, it's very difficult to make the fish as good again when the fish is not cooked, of course it's easy to store and you should never keep it too long in your fridge. It should stay less than 24 hours. It should be a very cold part of the fridge and if you can have some ice or ice pack, but when the fish is cooked finishes,

Host (07:45):

Which is easy to do because your recipes are so delicious.

Ripert (07:48):

Thank you.

Host (07:49):

I wanted to ask you about farm raise versus wild caught fish. How important should this be to the consumer and more importantly, the taste of it?

Ripert (08:00):

Today we can start to find some good farm fish from farms that are good and that are not necessarily polluting the land or the water around them. The farm raised fish never test as good as wild. I always recommend to buy wild, but of course sustainability is very important.

Host (08:23):

I wanted to talk just steering away from fish for a couple minutes meditation with you because you've spoken a lot about the importance of this practice. At what point did it start for you and how has it changed your perspective on life, either professionally or personally or maybe both?

Ripert (08:42):

It's an exercise, but it's not necessarily religion, meditation, exercise that be in because your mind has always the desire to or think about the future and your mind very rarely in the present. And being in a lot of advantage of a lot of focus on what you supposed to do right now instead of being distracted. And if you think about it for one minute or two or you do a test on yourself and you say, okay, for one minute I'm going to try to stop thinking about the future and each time I think about the future I'm going to come. You realize that in one minute your mind goes in a lot of different place. The meditation is about again, being in control of your mind and not the control. So that's exercise daily, very helpful to again, be in the presence in your life and at work. Now I apply meditation also because I practice Buddhism. For me, guided meditation that obviously religious, but again, you can practice meditation without a belief. It can be a secular exercise that is good for yourself and your mind.

Host (10:18):

Yeah, I started guided meditation about five years ago and it was a skill I felt I had to really learn to allow my mind to just stop, if you will. And it took some time to get there, but once I did…

Ripert (10:33):

Yes, it takes a long time, of course, like everything else, right? If you go to the store and you want to have a body that is muscular and in good shape, it's going to take you many and years of practice and going to the gym and exercise, and it's exactly the same with meditation for the, it takes a lot of practice and the beginning, nothing is easy. The beginning it's difficult, but repeating the same exercise days after day, you definitely create certainly a certain pleasure. I'm great mornings when I meditate and if I cannot meditate, it's something that I'm missing.

Host (11:20):

Yes, the days are off a little bit when you can't. I wanted to ask you a little bit about the Hamptons. What drew you to the Hamptons?

Ripert (11:27):

The Hamptons are beautiful, as we all know. It's a very special place where you have the water, you have the forest, have the, and the late nineties, after coming to the and staying with, I had have a house and I'm enjoying it all year long in the summer, of course spending more time than in the winter. But every season in Hampton is magical. One of the best places in the world where everything is beautiful.

Host (12:08):

What are some of your favorite local ingredients to cook with out there?

Ripert (12:11):

It's all seasonal, of course, but I go to the farm stand and I look what they have and what it's coming from their farm, and it can be delicious salad, even buy flowers, they have incredible tomatoes, all of that inspire me, but I have to go to the farm and check and for myself and then go refine and flavor.

Host (12:48):

That's my favorite season is in June when the asparagus comes.

Ripert (12:52):

Yeah.

Host (12:53):

Do you have a favorite place to dine out in the Hamptons when you're not cooking at home?

Speaker 3 (12:57):

Oh my God, I have so many. So many I like and I like The Beacon in Sag Harbor because of the sunset, sunset at night,

Host (13:09):

And they do good fish there.

Ripert (13:11):

They have very good fish there. And bell and anchor is open. All is very close to my house. It's not even five minutes away.

Host (13:20):

You've done quite a bit of work with City Harvest. Tell us a little bit about their mission with food and what participation with the organization has meant to you.

Speaker 3 (13:32):

Is the oldest and biggest food rescue organization in the world. Food rescue means it's food that will go to waste that time fresh and instead of being wasted, rescued, and then that either way and shelter throughout the New York boroughs the food are very important because a lot of people cannot cook for some reason for their family. And they go there and they have some meals that are being prepared with during the day. So it's two tractor trailers to go far away to pick up some food. And this year, we'll deliver almost 90 million pounds of food

Host (14:52):

Right. And as a restaurateur, I'm sure you realize how much food goes to waste, so that might have more meaning to you as to why city harvest is important.

Ripert (15:03):

Yes, of course. We see that, and it's an interesting statistic in America, 40% of the food is being wasted. When you look at all the food being produced, percent goes to waste. It's a statistic for the country. Restaurants are also leftover food that through the restaurant as well, and they go through the supermarket, but also we don't buy actually donations. We also source from a lot of the farmers and big companies. Companies and many big companies. Food.

Host (15:47):

That's amazing. I didn't realize so many corporations were involved too.

Ripert (15:51):

Yeah, a lot of big corporations are involved by excess food. Sometimes if it's in a can shelf, sometimes the can has a little problem with the or, it's not perfect and therefore they cannot sell it. And it goes to markets of bananas sometimes that are too ripe but they're perfectly fine. They're the ones that you want to eat right now. But for the market is a problem because they like to have green bananas, but longer on a shelf. Again, those vegetables and products and serve immediate, that need to have food on the table. I bring a lot of attention to, I help as much as I can, raise money, raise attention. It's a big job that I enjoy very much.

Host (16:43):

So most people know you as a restaurateur, a TV personality, and an author. How would you define yourself?

Ripert (16:52):

I define myself as someone like everybody has. I'm trying to do the right thing. I think I'm a good citizen trying to make a difference in my community. I'm trying to be a good family person, a good family member. I'm trying to be a good chef, a good boss in my company. I try to inspire people and I try to create happiness around myself, be happy myself to all of us, right? We all try to be happy. What I make sure is that by creating happiness for myself, I create it for all this.

Host (17:34):

Oh, that's wonderful. And given all your professional accomplishments throughout a long career, if you could name this chapter of your life, what would it be?

Ripert (17:45):

Well, if myself, if I look at myself in the mirror, I have a lot of white hair, actually. My head is covered with white hair. I think it's time at my age to be a mentor. So therefore, I'm a mentor of the team that work with me and I bring all the wisdom that I have accumulated in life at work, but also with my family and my son. And I try to share again, all the benefits that I accumulated and to success during all those years, until today.

Host (18:25):

When you get to a certain point in life professionally and personally, that you've gone through the victories and the challenges that maybe could help someone along the way.

Ripert (18:35):

Yes, Actually even challenges during this time is when you learn lessons that are the most helpful and meaningful when everything is easy and when you have a lot of success and you learn less. But of course we don't want to have challenges. We all want to have success, but life is not like that. As you know, at the end we learn from both.

Host (18:57):

What advice would you give to a young person who wants to become a chef or work as a restaurateur?

Ripert (19:05):

I would give the advice of trying to go to a culinary school if you have the budget, because of course it's, and it's a commitment. What I like about going to culinary school is that you have a lot of information in a timely manner. Of course, you can go work in a restaurant, but it's going to take a long time for you to have all the information school, but before you make the commitment of going the culinary school, I think it's to spend couple of days here and there in a restaurant, if you're interested, the kitchen or the dining room to spend time and see how it works and what is the dynamic in a kitchen, what is the dynamic in the dining room? And make sure that before you make a decision of investing in a school or going straight up to a restaurant, that you have the passion and that that'll make the right choice and not change after six months or a year and go in another food.

Host (20:07):

And what are the five most important cooking tools every kitchen should have!

Ripert (20:11):

Well, you must have a good stove and oven because you don't have the right equipment, difficult to bake or to cook when we don't have the energy that needed. Pot pans of quality are very important because if not with the heat, they're going to change the shape and they will not be flat any longer. And then it's difficult to quality essential. I don't think you can do good cooking, cutting board, very good cutting board, extremely clean because you cutting a lot from the cutting board and they have to be in condition. A good fridge is important because you can preserve your food there and it's one of those pieces of equipment that is essential in the kitchen. So I think we look at the fridge, the stove, the knives , the cutting board and the pots. With all that, then you can be assure that you have the complete kitchen.

Host (21:25):

Well, I just wanted to thank you so much for your time. I know that you're really busy on your book tour and running the restaurant and everything else that you do. So thank you so much for joining us and for answering all these questions!

Made in the Hamptons podcast celebrates dynamic leaders and tastemakers, their stories, and how The Hamptons has played an important role in all of it.

Host: Jill Laurence

Production: @madeinthehamptonsmedia

Website: madeinthehamptonsmedia.com

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