Legendary Chef Jacques Pépin — The Pursuit of Mastery, Cooking for Presidents, Meeting Julia Child, and More

This one is a very special interview and is available exclusively on YouTube. Jacques Pépin has been my teacher from afar for years, and it was a real gift to sit down with him in his home.

Jacques Pépin is an internationally recognized chef and the author of more than 30 books, including the best-selling The Apprentice and the award-winning Jacques Pépin Celebrates and Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (with Julia Child). He has appeared regularly on PBS programs for more than a decade, hosting more than three hundred cooking shows. Jacques is a former columnist for The New York Times, and his articles have appeared in countless food magazines, especially Food & Wine, where he is a contributing editor. Before coming to the United States, he served as personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle.

Please enjoy!

Transcripts

• This episode (coming soon)
• All episodes

Show Notes

Connect with Jacques Pépin

• Jacques Pépin Foundation | Jacques Pépin Foundation on YouTube | Support the Jacques Pépin Foundation | Jacques Pépin’s Artwork

Related Reading, Listening, and Viewing

• Free Cooking Videos | Jacques Pépin Foundation
• French Omelette Lesson | Jacques Pépin Foundation
• Jacques Pépin’s Hand-Painted Menus | Jacques Pépin Foundation
• 90/90 Dinner Series
• Thomas Keller’s Simple Roast Chicken | Epicurious

Books

• The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen by Jacques Pépin
• Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques by Jacques Pépin
• Jacques Pépin Art of the Chicken by Jacques Pépin
• Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home by Julia Child and Jacques Pépin

People

• James Beard
• Julia Child
• Craig Claiborne
• Pierre Franey
• Helen McCully
• Claudine Pépin

Organizations, Places, and Resources

• Le Pavillon
• Howard Johnson’s
• Per Se

Timestamps

• [00:00:00] Preview.
• [00:00:43] Start.
• [00:01:26] Preparation, mise en place, and the PBS years.
• [00:03:22] What cooking and painting have in common.
• [00:05:00] From apprentice to chef for French heads of state.
• [00:08:32] Growing up in war-torn France and “fridge soup.”
• [00:10:16] Why Jacques turned down JFK’s White House for Howard Johnson.
• [00:14:19] Teaching technique over recipes.
• [00:16:15] The car accident that changed his career.
• [00:19:54] Chicken, eggs, and the 90/90 campaign.
• [00:21:59] The Jacques Pépin Foundation.
• [00:24:02] How fatherhood changed him.
• [00:25:29] Claudine’s first dishes (and the tough chicken).
• [00:26:44] Meeting Craig Claiborne, Helen McCully, James Beard, and Julia Child.
• [00:29:14] New York, Columbia, and a rejected dissertation topic.
• [00:31:03] Claudine Pépin joins.
• [00:32:24] Spinach, béchamel, and breaking the blanching rule.
• [00:34:14] Why you should follow a recipe exactly twice.
• [00:35:18] “Don’t touch anything.”
• [00:36:09] From carrots to caviar: what sets Jacques apart as a teacher.
• [00:38:50] The foods of childhood.
• [00:40:10] Learner, teacher, impatient.
• [00:42:52] Chefs he admires: Thomas Keller, José Andrés, Daniel Boulud.
• [00:45:04] Inside Per Se and the kitchen brigade.
• [00:48:42] Great chefs are generous teachers.
• [00:51:22] “We are all equal in the eyes of the stove.”
• [00:52:34] Hundreds of hours of free lessons at jp.foundation.
• [00:54:30] Food waste: restaurants vs. home.
• [00:56:25] Advice for new cooks: have a glass of wine.
• [00:57:58] Two new books and a lifetime of menus.
• [01:00:58] Parting thoughts.