For a French superstar chef whose eponymous NYC restaurant has received two Michelin stars, Daniel Boulud’s demeanor is unexpectedly laid-back and jovial.
His Zoom profile photo shows two versions of Boulud staring at each other through a mirror—one in black and one in white—clearly meant to denote good and evil. While he says the depiction is “very me on both sides,” you really wouldn’t know it from talking to him. Boulud is laughing as he turns the camera on his phone around to show me his lunch spread, which consists of butter chicken and a large glass bottle of Evian. “I grew up on Evian in France—and I grew up as a young chef in restaurants drinking it,” says Boulud.
Along with Evian and American tennis star Francis Tiafoe, Boulud organized a Daniel-approved viewing experience for the final rounds of the US Open, with a limited-edition menu at Restaurant DANIEL (for a little treat for those outside of New York, boxes featuring some of the menu’s flavors are available on Goldbelly).
We caught Boulud just before his menu launched and, as ever, he was a fount of knowledge about what people should keep in their kitchens. Below, he shares his favorite kitchen utensils, as well as the one ingredient that he believes separates the good from the great in his favorite cocktail.
Daniel Boulud Kitchen 12″ Stainless-Steel Frying Pan
Boulud partnered with cookware brand Sardel for his own line of pots and pans, and he’s delighted to tell me that he uses them in his own home. “I like to cook a one-pot meal,” he explains. “So you always need a great collection of pots and pans—it’s definitely a must.”
Sabatier French knives
When it comes to knives for the home cook, Boulud is wary about recommending Japanese knives saying he finds them “uncomfortable.” In what will be a surprise to no one, he usually reaches for a French knife, with Sabatier being one of his preferred brands.
Michel Bras paring knife
Michel Bras Sheep’s-Foot Paring Knife, 3″
If you’re really drawn to the tempered steel often found in Japanese knives, Boulud recommends the “half Japanese, half French” sets made by French chef Michel Bras. “It’s a beautiful knife, and the steel is a tempered steel that is not Damascus steel, but it’s very similar and it’s really fantastic.”
A really good wooden spatula
One thing that Boulud is really passionate about having around at all times in the kitchen is a wooden spatula. Aside from the fact that wood is “soft, never gets warm or hot, and it’s natural,” Boulud has a sentimental tie to the object.
“After my father retired as a farmer, he bought wood tools and a wood machine from his uncle that was getting too old to work with it,” explains Boulud. “He started to make all kinds of tools, including wood spatulas. Thirty years ago when I opened Cafe Boulud he surprised me with a box full of wood spatulas, and he burned the Cafe Boulud logo into all of the handles. Even today, I still cook with his spatulas always.”
Boulud also explains that a wooden spatula is the ideal tool to use when making scrambled eggs, which is the one dish he really believes everyone should be able to make. “Scrambled eggs can be delicate, buttery, rich and you can marry that with other things—toast with brioche, with smoked salmon, caviar, truffle—you name it.”
The perfect cocktail addition
I’m a Negroni guy, but I like the white Negroni with gin and Suze, and we put a little bit of dry vermouth and a little bit of lemon,” Boulud says. “It’s my way to go because I love the bitterness of Suze.”
