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"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."
Chef Gabriel Kreuther pours sauce from the new Cristel cookware line.
"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."
Chef Gabriel Kreuther partners with Cristel
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."
Chef's cooking tips, most underrated ingredients this time of year
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.