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Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart, live from the WNYC studios in SoHo. Thank you for sharing part of your day with us. Coming up today, we'll talk about BAM's Next Wave Festival, which has been blowing New Yorkers minds for 40 years. If you've ever wondered how a musical genius like Jon Batiste creates his sound, he goes deep into the process of making his latest album, World Music Radio. You'll hear my conversation with him and he'll perform live. That happened Monday night in The Green Space. That is what's on tap for today. Let's get things started right now with Chef Éric Ripert.

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For nearly 30 years, Chef and co-owner Éric Ripert has run the venerable French restaurant, Le Bernardin. Earlier this year, the restaurant received its sixth consecutive four-star review from the New York Times, it holds three Michelin stars, and just celebrated its 50th anniversary. One of the things the restaurant is known for is its elegant seafood. Dishes like tuna tartare and Tasmanian sea trout with black truffle emulsion. In that recent four-star New York Times review, friend of the show, Critic Pete Wells, raved about a lightly cooked scallop with caviar.

Now you can try similar dishes at home with Éric Ripert's latest cookbook called Seafood Simple. With me in studio to discuss and take your calls is Éric Ripert. Éric, thanks for being here.

Éric Ripert: Thank you so much for having me.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, now is your chance to talk to Éric Ripert of Le Bernardin. Do you have any questions about cooking or preparing seafood? We're talking seafood today. Can't get your fish to flake? Thinking about preparing something a little sophisticated like a carpaccio? Maybe you just want to incorporate more seafood into your diet and you need a good starter idea. Or maybe you just want to share your favorite seafood meal you've had at Le Bernardin. We want to hear from you. Our phone lines are open. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. You can call in and join us on air, you can also text to that number. Our social media is available as well, @AllOfItWNYC.

As a chef, what do you enjoy about cooking seafood?

Éric Ripert: It's a lot of things that I enjoy about cooking seafood. First of all, seafood is very delicate by nature. When you compare a piece of fish, or scallops, or lobster, and a steak, it's very different. I love the fact that you have to be a technician, and also you have to be very mindful of the delicacy of the flavors as well. Whatever goes in a plate is there to enhance the qualities of every species that we serve. It's a great exercise of creativity and craftsmanship, and I love that.

Alison Stewart: Why is seafood such an important part of Le Bernardin, a part of its mission, a part of its identity?

Éric Ripert: I didn't create Le Bernardin. I joined Le Bernardin in 1991. They opened in New York in 1986, Paris in 1972. Brother and sister, their parents and grandparents were fishermen in Brittany. In the summer, to make a little bit of extra money, they will open a restaurant and serve seafood that they were bringing from the boat. Gilbert Le Coze, who became the chef of Le Bernardin in New York and the owner as well, was an [unintelligible 00:03:39], but he had a certain style that really New Yorkers loved and the New York Times gave in 1986 four star to Le Bernardin three months after the opening. That's why Le Bernardin is a seafood restaurant, because of Gilbert Le Coze and Maguy Le Coze.

Alison Stewart: I love that it's a family business. It's because of the family legacy.

Éric Ripert: Exactly.

Alison Stewart: That's so romantic in a way. What are some of the challenges of cooking seafood, even for someone of your level or your stature?

Éric Ripert: Well, it's a lot of challenges. First of all, you have to make sure that you are mindful of sustainability.

Alison Stewart: Sustainability.

Éric Ripert: Therefore, at Le Bernardin, we do not serve species that are on the verge of becoming extinct or that are stressed in terms of surviving because of many cause and conditions. For instance, right now, we see that on the northwest coast of America, the king wild salmon is under stress. At one point, the Chilean sea bass was endangered. We have seen the swordfish in the '90s, again, shrinking its population. We are still optimistic because we have seen some amazing success. The striped bass, which is from the region here, in the '90s was almost extinct. Then the government took some very, very great decisions and was very proactive. Today it's plentiful.

We are following few lists that give us information. One is Monterey Bay Aquarium. Another one is called NOAA, is a governmental agency that has a lot of resources to see what's going on. This will address the subject of sustainability. Freshness is key. When you go to the store-- us at other restaurant, we know when the fish is fresh or not, but we still have to go through the process of making sure that whatever enters Le Bernardin is ultra-fresh. Even if you're really good at cooking, if you have mediocre in your ingredients in the beginning, you can imagine the end is going to be mediocre.

Alison Stewart: In terms of sustainability, for example, the striped bass, was it that it was simply overfished and under-regulated, and that--?

Éric Ripert: It was under-regulated, overfished, and by the time they realized, it was almost too late. Since those days, now, again, they have invested a lot of money to monitor a lot of the species all around the US. The US is a great example for the rest of the world because some countries do not really have consciousness about sustainability.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to George from Bay Ridge. Hi, George. Thanks for calling All Of It.

George: Thanks for taking my call and love your show, Alison.

Alison Stewart: Oh, thanks, George.

George: Thank you, monsieur. My wife and I went for our 25th wedding anniversary to the restaurant, and it was on the top of our list, and it wasn't anything we ordered. You sent an amuse-bouche of lobster poached in butter sauce that when anyone asks me what the best bite of food I ever had, that's number one and it comes to mind as if I just finished it.

Alison Stewart: George,-

Éric Ripert: Thank you.

Alison Stewart: -thank you so much for calling in. That was a sweet call. Matt from Central Jersey has a question. Hi, Matt. Thanks for calling All Of It. You're on the air with Chef Éric Ripert.

Matt: Hello, Chef. I'm a big fan of your appearances on the Anthony Bourdain shows, and I watch all the seasons of Top Chef with my wife, so I can picture your face while you're talking about seafood. I often, as a family-friendly meal, like to sauté salmon fillets with the skin in a skillet, usually non-stick with olive oil. Sometimes they're cooked all the way through, sometimes the skin sticks, sometimes it's crispy, sometimes it's not. What are some good general tips for sautéing salmon in a skillet with avocado oil or olive oil?

Éric Ripert: Sure. First of all, I recommend for you to use a vegetable oil that is not olive oil, because you cannot bring the olive oil to a very high temperature. The oil has the tendency to burn, but you need to have your skillet or pan very, very hot to the point of where the oil is almost smoking, because when you go to put the fillet of salmon in the pan, the temperature is going to drop a lot. You need to have the pan very hot. If you cook the salmon with the skin, you have to make sure that the skin of the fish is very dry, not very humid, so you have to really take care of that.

If you have Wondra flour in your house, you can put a little bit of Wondra flour. It helps for the crust to develop on the skin. Then let it cook for a few minutes until you start to see the skin becoming crispy, and you almost cook it only on one side. You flip it quickly at the end, and in the middle of the salmon, you should see that it's still very rare. By the time you serve it, it will be medium rare and moist. We have a trick at Le Bernardin. We use a metal skewer that we insert through the flesh of the seafood, the fish and for 10 seconds, let's say, and then we touch the top of our hand, and it should be warm. It means the fish is perfectly cooked.

Alison Stewart: Good luck to you. My guest is Éric Ripert, chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin. His new book is called Seafood Simple. It is out now. If you would like to ask a question of the chef, our phone lines are open to you. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. The subject today is seafood. Maybe you have a question about cooking or preparing seafood,- -212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. You can join us on air or you can text to us at that number.

The beginning of the book is a very hands-on experience. There are photos literally of hands, many hands, and some of it is even a fold-out, step-by-step guide about cutting and filleting and shucking and just generally preparing the food. There's a picture like how to take a whole fish and fillet it. Why do you recommend that people do this themselves?

Éric Ripert: To fillet the fish?

Alison Stewart: Yes.

Éric Ripert: Because I think it's part of the process. Also, it's very easy to see when your fish is fresh, you just look at the eyes of the fish. You shouldn't have a white skin on those eyes. If you look at the gills, they should be very bright red. If you have the opportunity to touch the fish with your finger, the flesh should spring back and you shouldn't have a fingerprint in that flesh. Then fish never smell like fish. Never fish smell or taste when it's fresh.

Alison Stewart: By getting the whole fish, you can do a little test for yourself to know about its freshness?

Éric Ripert: Exactly. Then you can, of course, ask the fishmonger to break it for you and if you don't want to fillet it, but I think it's part of the experience to learn how to fillet fish. I find it very meditative, actually, to go through the process. In the book, we guide you. We took pictures like every 30 seconds, so you know exactly where to put your hand and put the knife. Since fish has one bone in the center, it's very simple. You follow the bone.

Alison Stewart: I did the one technique I was so excited to see, and I'd love for you to explain how to remove pin bones.

Éric Ripert: Oh, yes, of course.

Alison Stewart: That is incredibly useful.

Éric Ripert: We did it on a piece of salmon, a fillet of salmon. When you touch with your finger the fillet, you will locate where the pin bones are, and then you take, how do you call it, a tweezer? You take a tweezer and you pull the bones not straight up, but-

Alison Stewart: At an angle?

Éric Ripert: An angle, yes, in an angle that they are directed already. You don't go the opposite side. It's fairly easy. It's actually pleasant to do it. It's a certain satisfaction about it. I don't know why.

Alison Stewart: You're going to make me laugh. I thought about, oh, like when I pluck my eyebrows. You have to go in the right direction. [laughs] Don't answer that.

Éric Ripert: I won't.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Ari, calling in from Brooklyn, on line three. Hi, Ari. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Ari: Hi, thank you for having me. Congratulations, chef, on your work.

Éric Ripert: Thank you very much.

Ari: Sure. I'm wondering if you have any suggestions on how restaurants or people at home can prepare or source their seafood in a more sustainable manner.

Alison Stewart: We're getting a lot of questions also about sustainability and shrimp. A lot of people are asking you like they want to shop for sustainable fish. How can they go about it? What should they know?

Éric Ripert: Again, it's about being educated. I was mentioning before that we follow two lists that are very important. The list from NOAA that gives you a lot of information about which species are sustainable and which ones are not sustainable. Also, the Monterey Bay Aquarium does a great job in doing that. By being educated, then when you go to the store, you know which species to choose. Wild fish is always better than farm raised in terms of flavors. Now, farm-raised fish has the benefit of being tracked easily, because you know where it's coming from and you can do some research a little bit.

Wild fish, you never know if it's a day boat, if the boat is a factory boat, if they have long liners and so on. It's a little bit tricky, but I think just starting to educate yourself about how vibrant are the species or not, it's already a very good beginning. For the shrimp, in America, we have wild shrimp and farm raised. I really recommend the wild if you can, because the population is plentiful. We can find shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico and from also North Carolina in this area. Farm raised shrimp in America are pretty good as well. I recommend it. I think in Asia you see a lot of farms that are doing shrimp. They're much cheaper in terms of price, but also in terms of quality as well.

Alison Stewart: You have a chapter on raw fish. Oh, sorry, that's my son. I forgot to turn my phone off. What a rookie move. What's a good entry-level way to prepare raw fish if you're just trying it out?

Éric Ripert: You can make a tartare. Tartare doesn't require too many great knife skills, although you have to make sure that you don't cut yourself. It's not a good idea, but your knife has to be sharp, your cutting board has to be clean, your hands have to be very clean, everything has to be pristine. Tartare is a good idea because it-- or ceviche is a good idea. Again, your fish has to be very, very fresh. No smell at all. If you buy the fish in fillet, the fillet should be translucent, not white, opaque. You should trust your eyes. If you see some yellowish color, grayish, some dryness, that fish is not fresh enough. The ultimate test again is the nose, no smell, or if it is a smell, it's like high tide.

Then you do a tartare. You cut the fish in small dices, a bit of salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil. That's the basic. Then you can always add layers. You can add chopped basil or basil Julienne. You can put some cilantro if you like. You can add some capers. You can add a lot of different ingredients. If you do a ceviche, ceviche is a bit bigger slice than what you do in a tartare. Fluke is excellent for ceviche. It's a fish that is not that expensive actually. Then lime juice, cilantro, very thinly sliced red onion, and you cook it in a lime juice for a couple of minutes and serve it immediately, very cold and very fresh. It's delicious.

Alison Stewart: What a good entry-level. This may be a challenge. This is Sasha calling from Bard College. Hi, Sasha. You're on with Chef Éric Ripert.

Sasha: Hi. Thank you for having me. Hi, chef. I just had a question. As someone who never really cooks and also who lives at College, big whoop, in a dorm with a limited kitchen. I was just wondering if you had a simple fish dish or type of species to recommend for someone to cook.

Éric Ripert: For sure. Thank you for the question, Sasha. Do you have a toaster oven?

Sasha: Yes.

Éric Ripert: Excellent. You go buy some fish that you like. If you like salmon or any fish that you find at the store that is fresh, and then you season it with salt and pepper on both sides. You put it on top of aluminum foil that has been brushed with a bit of oil on top of the fish, toaster oven for few minutes. It depends how powerful is your toaster oven, but five minutes. You check again with a metal skewer or a fork, the flesh of the fillet, you put it on your hand, the fork, not the fillet, and it should be warm. When it's warm, it means the fish is perfectly cooked.

Alison Stewart: Is salmon the only fish that you could cook in a toaster oven? Is it just-

Éric Ripert: Any fish can be cooked.

Alison Stewart: Any fish?

Éric Ripert: Yes, you can cook--

Alison Stewart: Does it have to be a hardy, a sturdy fish?

Éric Ripert: No. You can cook shrimp. You can broil a lobster if you find a lobster and you want to have a party and celebrate something.

Alison Stewart: Love that. Didn't think I would be talking to Chef Éric Ripert about toaster ovens but there you go.

Éric Ripert: I did a series many years ago called Get Toasted, and it was 12 episodes of cooking food, not necessarily seafood, but a lot of it in your toaster oven, and you can find it on YouTube, I'm sure.

Alison Stewart: We need a season two of that show. We're talking with Chef Éric Ripert. The name of the cookbook is Seafood Simple. We'll take more of your calls after a quick break. This is All Of It.

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You are listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison: Stewart. My guest in studio is Chef Éric Ripert of Le Bernardin. His new cookbook is called Seafood Simple. Gabrielle from Bergenfield, New Jersey, would like to say something on the air to you chef. Hi, Gabrielle.

Gabrielle: Hi, Chef. Many years ago, I worked down on Wall Street, and in my division, I was the go-to person for restaurants. We had a very important client coming from Switzerland. He insisted on seafood. For me, there was only one seafood restaurant to take him to. It was a big- -hit and it also helped my status a little bit. I also need to tell you that you were the chef that turned me on to skate in brown butter sauce. It's still one of my favorites.

Éric Ripert: Oh, thank you so much. I'm much appreciate. I'm glad we made a difference in your life and the life of your client. I'm glad that you enjoyed the skate brown butter because the recipe is actually in a book, Seafood Simple, that we are speaking about today.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk about the sauces. Your philosophy is less is more.

Éric Ripert: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Why is that?

Éric Ripert: Since seafood is so delicate in texture and in flavor, you have to be very cautious of what goes in a plate. When you cook seafood, the star of the plate is, let's say, you cook halibut, is the halibut. You want to enhance all the qualities of that fish. You don't think about presentation first and colors and nutrition. You think about, what's going to make my halibut happy, in a sense, right?

Alison Stewart: Yes.

Éric Ripert: You choose the right vegetable that will be paired with halibut and do not overwhelm the flavors. Then, if you have to make a sauce-- well, you can start very basic, olive oil and lemon juice. The acidity of the lemon juice, the richness of the olive oil compliment the seafood or the halibut, in general, when it's not a very fatty fish. Sometimes, if it's salmon, you don't want to put too much olive oil. It's too rich with the flesh of the salmon. If you make a sauce, you choose carefully, your ingredients. Again, you want the sauce to not mask all the flavors, but actually, again, make your fish the star of the plate.

Alison Stewart: Enhance it.

Éric Ripert: Enhance it. We are always, always searching for sauces that are creating contrast with the flesh of the fish. Contrast really create peaks and valleys of flavors, and that makes it exciting.

Alison Stewart: We have a text that says, "I make fillets in foil with vegetables, lemons, and olive juice. Should I use parchment instead of foil? You have in your book, another option of using banana leaves."

Éric Ripert: You can use banana leaves, absolutely. You find that easily in bodegas. Today, in a lot of big markets, you can find banana leaves, but there's nothing wrong with using aluminum foil. When I was a kid, I was eating a lot of fish or food in papillote that my mom was making and I'm perfectly okay today. I think so. I don't know.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Nipin calling in from Brooklyn. Nipin, thanks for calling in.

Nipin: Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity, and thank you so much, chef, for educating us.

Éric Ripert: Thank you.

Nipin: My question is about sautéing fish on a pan. One of the things with fish, and I'm speaking specifically of catfish, but it also includes salmon, since I need to wash it thoroughly and then cook it, what happens is that after washing and reasonably drying it out, still when I put it on the pan, it leads to a pooling of boiling water and the sautéing action does not really happen. That frustrates me often. Do you have any tips for how to dry the fish properly and to the right extent?

Éric Ripert: Sure. First of all, when the seafood is fresh, you don't need to wash it. When you come home, you storage it properly and not too long in your fridge, and then you take it out. You just pad it with a towel or a paper towel, if you have. Then you put salt, pepper on each side. Again, when you cook and sauté fish, the pan has to be very, very hot. This is one of the secrets to make your seafood sauté being crunchy and with a nice crust.

If the pan is not hot enough, the fish is going to start to boil in it, and also, it's going to start to stick to the pan. The only way to have the fish not sticking is to have that pan super-hot. Do not be afraid of going in very high temperature, because again, when the fillet touch the metal of the pan, it lowers the temperature immediately.

Alison Stewart: In the book, you have a section with tinned fish. I feel like tinned fish is having a little bit of a moment.

Éric Ripert: Yes, it became very trendy.

Alison Stewart: Yes. When you think about tinned fish, what are some ways that someone can prepare it? It's already, obviously, prepared and cooked. What do I do with a can of tuna? What do I do with a can of sardines?

Éric Ripert: We show in the book, actually, how to do a jar of preserved tuna. Then, what can you do? You can make a salad Niçoise, which is green salad with tuna that has been preserved in olive oil and different vegetables, tomatoes, green beans, and they've even put eggs in the salad Niçoise. If you have anchovies, you can add anchovies and olives, so you can do that.

Myself, I love to have a late snack. Open a tin of tuna, remove it, of course, from the tin, and then I add a little bit of a chopped onion on top, or scallion. I love to put Sriracha to make it spicy-

Alison Stewart: Oh, that's Nice.

Éric Ripert: -and a bit of mustard. Then I toast some bread and I put it on my bread. That's my midnight snack. Same with the sardines. I love sardines in olive oil. I always have a few tins at home. Sardines go very well with toasted bread with butter.

Alison Stewart: They do, yes.

Éric Ripert: Nice, salted butter, sardine on top, or you can make a sandwich if you want and you have a delicious snack.

Alison Stewart: Do I have to buy the expensive tuna? Sometimes when I go to a specialty store, I see a can of tuna and it's--

Éric Ripert: Sometimes it's $10, $12.

Alison Stewart: Yes. Do I have to go there for good tuna, or can I use something a little more affordable?

Éric Ripert: Can we mention brands here?

Alison Stewart: I'm sure. I think people would like that.

Éric Ripert: You have the Bumble Bee that is very inexpensive, and is not the same quality as the tuna that you buy and that is much more expensive in price. Buy Bumble Bee if you are on the budget. Then take it out. If it's not in olive oil, add yourself some olive oil. Put some seasoning yourself. Add whatever herbs you want in it, or you can mix it with a bit of mayonnaise or mustard if you like it. It will be delicious on a tartine.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Reed from Staten Island. Hi, Reed. Thanks for calling in.

Reed: Hi, Alison. I was here yesterday calling about Taylor Swift. Great to be on again. Chef, I want to echo that. I love some sardines. My favorite thing is cream cheese, cucumber, a little dill, white onion on some rye bread. That is one of my favorite summer meals. I was actually hoping to ask about more winter-oriented fish. They have a great stand at my farmer's market, but I know more summer recipes for fish. Anything more oven-focused, more in terms of braising or soups would be really appreciated. Thank you so much.

Éric Ripert: Sure. Making a fish soup, it's fairly easy. You have to buy fish that is not fatty. What I call fatty is rich fish like tuna or salmon. That doesn't really give a nice flavor, or bluefish, for instance, that is very local. That doesn't really give a good flavor to your fish soup. If you make a fish soup, buy some white fish that is lean, and then onion, garlic, a bit of tomatoes in a can, chopped, saffron, if you have some. You cook it with some fresh herbs or dry herbs. Then you put the fish cut in dice.

You let it cook with some water, a bit of white wine, salt, pepper. When it's, let's say, 20 minutes to half hour, when everything is soft and cooked, you use a blender, and you have a delicious fish soup. You add croutons on top, with a bit of aioli on the croutons. Actually, the recipe is in the book as well.

Alison Stewart: There you go. Let's talk to Edith on line one. She has a question that a lot of people have actually been texting us. Hi, Edith. Thanks for calling in. You're on with Chef.

Edith: Oh, hi. I made it in. There's been a lot of questions about sautéing fish, which has been great. I'm really glad to know that I should probably put my pan up a little bit higher and make it really almost smoking. I was wondering what kind of a pan would you recommend for being best? I tend to use-- I have a cast iron pan, an old frying pan, but I should probably use something else.

Éric Ripert: Cast iron one can be great, again, if you bring the pan to very high temperature and you put enough oil in your pan, so it doesn't stick. Of course, the easy way is to choose a non-stick pan. If you use a non-stick pan, make sure that you use a spatula made of wood, so you don't scratch your pan. Then you have a pan called La Poissonniere that you can find. La Poissonniere is a French name actually, but that pan is great because it's oval and you can cook, for instance, a flat fish or a branzino in it. That pan needs to be seasoned first, but then it's almost like a non-stick. You can find it in many stores, but we also have a limited series of that pan on ShortOrder.com that has been seasonal at Le Bernardin by us and it's a limited series.

Alison Stewart: That's exciting. Now it's going to be a couple of holiday lists now. We're getting a lot of texts about this, and this one I'll sum it up. “I love scallops, but sea scallops are so difficult to cook well. How do I cook them just right?” You address scallops in the book as well. I've picked them too.

Éric Ripert: When you buy scallops, you have to make sure they are very fresh. Again, you look at them, the shape of the scallop should be very firm. You should feel that it's firm and the color should be ivory, translucid not like white-washed by the eyes. The scallops shouldn't be too mushy. They should be firm. When you have scallops like that, you can sauté them in a pan, again, high temperature on the beginning, then you lower the temperature. I myself love scallops raw, sliced thinly, a bit of olive oil, a bit of salt, pepper, lemon juice at the very last minute, and it's a delicious as a carpaccio. If not, you can also slice them and cook them in a broth. You can make--

Alison Stewart: On broth?

Éric Ripert: Yes. You can--

Alison Stewart: Oh, that's interesting.

Éric Ripert: You can make a nice broth with lemon juice, water, some aromatic like garlic and shallots, and you cook it for maybe 20 minutes. Then you filter the broth and you taste it. It has to be a little bit acidic to cook the scallops and you just cover them. We have a recipe in a book actually called scallop a la nage.

Alison Stewart: You also get into the benefits of steaming fish.

Éric Ripert: Yes.

Alison Stewart: What are the benefits of steaming fish? Do you do that same test to make sure it's warm enough?

Éric Ripert: Absolutely.

Alison Stewart: Tell us about a little bit how to be successful in steaming fish.

Éric Ripert: When you steam fish, you have to make sure that it's very well enclosed so the steam is powerful. If the vessel that you are using or the basket or anything that you are using is full of holes and the steam is not powerful, it's not going to really help the cooking. It has to be fairly fast when you are steaming, very powerful, the steam. The benefit is that you encase all the flavors of the fish inside the fish. It's not like when you poach it, sometimes the juice of the fish and the flavors are going into your broth. Here they stay enclosed because you create a-- it's not a crust, but a thin skin around it with the steam, with the heat. The fish is very moist if you don't overcook it. If you overcook it again, it's going to be dry and tasteless.

Alison Stewart: John from Toms River has an interesting question. Hi, John. Thanks for calling All Of It. You're on with Chef Éric Ripert.

John: Great. I wonder what the chef thinks of gas stoves versus electric. I'm a great advocate of gas. When you want to use really high temperatures like you talk about a lot, what are we going to do if we all have to get electric?

Éric Ripert: At Le Bernardin, in a professional kitchen, we use gas because it's very powerful and we serve a lot of clients. In my house, I have induction. Induction is electric, but is even more evolved. Basically, the heat is just under the pan. You can have boiling water in 30 seconds in your pan and put your hand next to it. If you don't touch the pan, it's cold. Induction is amazing because it's very safe. You save energy. You don't create extra heat in your kitchen, and it's very easy to clean.

I'm a fan of induction for my house. I am not afraid of not having gas because I don't have gas for many, many years. Now at the restaurant, induction is not powerful enough to serve the number of covers that we do.

Alison Stewart: You can find-- I have a lovely-- It's a portable induction. You can get very-- If you want to try it out before-- and those are great.

Éric Ripert: Yes. You can find those portable induction, they are very, very inexpensive and they are extremely efficient. It's going to cost you $30. You can try with a pan that goes on induction, of course, and you will be so surprised by the results that I may convince you to switch from gas to electric.

Alison Stewart: They're great in the summer too, because they don’t heat up the whole kitchen.

Éric Ripert: Again, same thing.

Alison Stewart: It's always an unfair question. What's your favorite recipe in the book? [laughs]

Éric Ripert: That's tricky because it's like asking a father, “Which one is your favorite child?” I don't really have a favorite recipe, but I would say my favorite recipes are always inspired by the season and what we find in the markets or at the store. Whatever is seasonal is what inspire me to cook and that becomes my favorite recipe of the moment.

Alison Stewart: The name of the book is Seafood Simple. My guest has been Chef Éric Ripert. Thank you for coming to the studio and thank you so much for taking our listeners’ calls.

Éric Ripert: Thank you so much. It was a great pleasure and I'm very happy. The listeners were very sweet and kind to me and they had great questions.

 

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