Tips from the Toques

The world's greatest chefs, those who wear the tallest, proudest white toques, were asked by TIME to share their wisdom with the home cook. Their advice:

Paul Bocuse, 51, maitre of maitres and owner of the great restaurant outside Lyon that bears his name: "Find out in the market what is good, fresh and in season. Then choose your recipe. The next most important thing is to have a good public, which in the home means people who are eager to eat. Use recipes as inspirations: never give up on one if you are lacking an ingredient or two."

Michel Guerard, 44, owner of a three-star restaurant in Eugenie-les-Bains, near Lourdes, and foremost practitioner of la cuisine minceur, the cooking of slimness: "The most important tool of a chef is his tongue. Taste, taste, taste! And don't forget color. I combine my vegetables the way a painter arranges his colors--until he obtains the exact effect that he wants."

Michel Bourdin, 35, who as the renowned chef of London's venerated Connaught Hotel has consummated a happy marriage of Gallic savoir and Anglo fare: "The secret of good cooking is not concocting elaborate dishes. Choose fresh things and learn how to bring out their taste. But you must personalize the dish. Cooking is a way of giving and of making yourself desirable. So do it simply, unelaborately."

James Beard, 74, Manhattan-based author-teacher: "Go through cookbooks and articles about cooking and mark down what can apply to your own kitchen. I underline things with red pencil that I want to refer back to or put slips of paper into pages I want to turn to. There is such a wealth of ideas in good cookbooks that no one can collect all of them in a lifetime."

Jacques Pepin, 42, peripatetic teacher, author and cuisinier who was once the personal chef of Charles de Gaulle: "I recommend three good knives: two for slicing, one for chopping. A few basic strong pots. They don't have to be copper. But remember aluminum discolors some foods and stainless develops hot spots. Get good utensils--they will last forever, and you can give them to your children. Also try to avoid snobbism. Cooking is not for showing off to the neighbors."

Fredy Girardet, 41, who--though Swiss-bora and Swiss-based --conducts one of the world's greatest French restaurants, at Crissier near Lausanne: "You don't always need expensive products. A ragout of canned tuna can be delicious. Even potatoes can be interpreted in many ways. Never kill natural flavor by oversaucing or overcooking. Do like the Chinese: pop things in and out of a piping hot pan immediately."

Robert Carrier, 54, a Falstaffian fellow from Tarry town, N.Y.. who owns two of England's most sumptuous restaurants, Hintlesham Hall in Suffolk and London's Carrier's: "Every time you travel, come back with a dish, not a postcard. Learn to cook the secrets of the world and make them your own by adding curiosity and daring. Toss aside all hoity-toity rules and regulations. When entertaining, make only two dishes, which you must know. Try out anything new on the cat."

Werner Voegeli, 45, Swiss-born co-owner of Stockholm's dazzling Operakallaren and chef for all official banquets of the Swedish royal court: "Every ingredient must speak its own language. Its original taste must be easily identifiable. Ingredients should not be blended so that the guest has to ask, 'It tastes wonderful, but what is it?' Serve a glass of brut Champagne or kir before dinner--never, never, never martinis. And the meal should not go on too long. My dinners at the royal palace consist of five courses that take little more than an hour to eat."

Rene Veaux, 40, chef of the classic Parisian restaurant Lasserre: "Don't do too much. Concentrate on one plat. One person cooking at home cannot pay attention to too many things. She or he will become lost. If a woman makes three dishes, she will get nervous on the first, the second will suffer and the third will be a disaster."

Alain Chapel, 40, owner of the three-star restaurant, Alain Chapel, in Mionnay: "You have to love either what you are going to eat or the person you are cooking for. Then you have to give yourself up to cooking. Cuisine is an act of love."

Jean-Marie Amat, 30, whose handsome St. James restaurant in Bordeaux has earned him a stellar reputation in only four years: "Try to cook so that it will surprise a little, agreeably. I look for the note of flavor that will astonish slightly, without shocking. You must judge that by your own sense of taste. The one person you can never fool is yourself."

Julia Child, 65, author and TV chef who has taught millions of Americans to cook in French: "The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude."

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