Curtis Stone is best-known as the host of "Top Chef Masters" and "Around the World in 80 Plates" on Bravo, but the celebrity chef is more than a television host.
Stone is the author of five books including "What's for Dinner?: Delicious Recipes for a Busy Life" and "Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Recipes to Put You in My Favorite Mood".
As an up-and-coming chef, Stone cooked in London under chef Marco Pierre White. Stone is also working on his first-ever restaurant in Los Angeles, set to open January 2014. The restaurant will seat 29 people at any one time and there will be seven or eight chefs on board creating seasonal farm-to-table tasting plates.
"Each month, we'll focus on and celebrate one main, seasonal ingredient and work this ingredient into the entire degustation," Stone said. "Opening a restaurant has been a dream of mine for a very long time so it's pretty surreal that it'll be open in only a couple of months' time."
The chef is also helping Lindt Chocolate promote their "Taste the Difference" campaign, in which he appears in a series of educational vignettes intended to teach the public about the importance of craftsmanship and quality ingredients. The company is also giving away 2 million coupons via their Facebook page.
The award-winning chef sat down with Urbanspoon to discuss some of his favorite cooking ingredients and his secret kitchen power.
With so many ingredients to cook with, Stone said his least favorite ingredient is licorice. The chef admitted to being addicted to white truffles, calling his addiction an "instinctual attraction."
"From the very first time I smelt them, I was like "oh my god, what do we have here?" Stone said.
For his last meal, Stone said he would love nothing more than his grandmother's roast lamb with crispy potatoes and green peas.
As a chef, Stone said one necessary item is a sharp knife. He's been doing work and research on different type of knifes and is considering lanuching his own brand.
One major item that Stone bans from his kitchen is chemicals.
"These days there are a lot of chemicals used in professional kitchens but I much prefer to cook and eat naturally," he said. "I'm actually in the midst of producing my own range of beautiful knives."
Stone admitted to wanting to become a gardener.
"I've spent a lot of time in the veggie garden and learned more and more about it," he said. "And it sounds pretty simple, but when you really get into it, to not only grow vegetables, but to grow delicious vegetables and protect them from the pests and allow them to ripen on the tree or bush or vine before you pick them."
