"It is very important that when you put something on the grill, you leave it in place to cook. If you move it around too quickly, chances are it is going to stick"
About this Quote
The intent is practical instruction from a celebrity whose brand is competence under heat. “Very important” is kitchen TV urgency, the tone of someone trying to save you from your own worst instincts while the camera is rolling and the steak is hissing. The line works because it smuggles authority into a simple rule: trust the method, trust the physics. Food releases when it’s ready. You don’t win by forcing it.
Subtext: restraint is a skill. Flay frames patience not as zen virtue but as technique. Leave it alone and you get the Maillard crust; fuss with it and you get torn protein and a panicked cook. That’s a metaphor with mass appeal because it maps cleanly onto everything from relationships to creative work: if you keep poking the thing to see if it’s “done,” you risk ruining the surface where the real payoff forms.
Context matters here: celebrity chefs translate professional muscle memory into home-kitchen confidence, and grilling is a particularly macho, high-stakes theater of control. Flay’s advice quietly punctures that performative energy. The best move, he suggests, is not a move at all.
Quote Details
| Topic | Cooking |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Flay, Bobby. (2026, January 16). It is very important that when you put something on the grill, you leave it in place to cook. If you move it around too quickly, chances are it is going to stick. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-is-very-important-that-when-you-put-something-87195/
Chicago Style
Flay, Bobby. "It is very important that when you put something on the grill, you leave it in place to cook. If you move it around too quickly, chances are it is going to stick." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-is-very-important-that-when-you-put-something-87195/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It is very important that when you put something on the grill, you leave it in place to cook. If you move it around too quickly, chances are it is going to stick." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-is-very-important-that-when-you-put-something-87195/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.





