Kitchen Tips and Life Lessons From Culinary Legend Chef Jacques Pépin
Pepin’s latest cookbook, Jacques Pépin Heart & Soul in the Kitchen, is out Oct. 6, 2015. (Photograph: Tom Hopkins)
Jacques Pépin is America’s most trusted and beloved French chef. And while his biography hardly needs retelling, it’s worth mentioning a few highlights. Pépin was 13 when he left school and began his culinary apprenticeship, eventually making his way to Paris, where he worked at Plaza Athénée, Maxim’s, and as Charles de Gaulle’s personal chef. Upon moving to America, Pépin took a job at Le Pavillon and made friends with the likes of Julia Child and James Beard. He later turned down a job as White House chef to head research and development for Howard Johnson. Somewhere in there, Pépin found time to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Columbia.
After a devastating car crash in 1974, Pépin embarked on his current role as cooking teacher, television star, and best-selling cookbook author. Forty years later and on the eve of his 80th birthday, Pépin maintains a schedule that would exhaust someone decades younger. He’s the dean of special programs at New York’s International Culinary Center (ICC), an adjunct associate professor for Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration, and executive culinary director for Oceania Cruise Lines. His latest — and most likely last — television series, “Jacques Pépin Heart and Soul in the Kitchen,” is currently airing on PBS. Pépin is currently on tour promoting the companion cookbook, which features recipes for the kind of food he cooks at home, including cannellini bean dip, eggs in pepper boats, chicken jardinière, salmon tostadas, and apple galette made with supermarket pizza dough.
MORE: Life-Changing Lessons From Jacques Pépin
In an afternoon that included lunch with Pépin at the ICC restaurant L’Ecole, followed by one of his popular cooking demonstrations, Yahoo Food picked up kitchen tips and life lessons from this sage and seasoned chef and all-around culinary legend.
Technique is everything
Pépin likes to joke that after three days in class, culinary students try things like pairing Gorgonzola with raspberry ice cream when they should really be focused on mastering the basics and improving their speed. “You have to repeat and repeat so much that it becomes part of yourself, part of your DNA, so you don’t even think about it,” insists Pépin. This type of technical proficiency may explain why on TV and in cooking demonstrations, he’s able to do things like turn shards of butter into a decorative rose while simultaneously sharing his stories and expertise. And if you’re able to replicate Pépin’s butter handiwork, he offers this lucrative suggestion: Dip the edges of the rose in paprika and charge $25 for it.
The secret to healthy eating
“You can eat whatever you want,” says Pépin. “Just don’t swallow it.” More seriously, after years of watching health fads come and go, Pépin recommends looking to the food of your ancestors and not worrying too much about calories or the latest trends. He cooks with less fat than he used to, but is happy to see butter back in favor. Remembering how cardiologists used to warn against eating more than one egg per week, he’s relieved that it’s now perfectly acceptable to eat one or two eggs a day. If all else fails, follow the lead of Pépin and his fellow ICC deans André Soltner and Alain Sailhac: “Anything we like, we call a vegetable.”
MORE: #TBT: Chef Jacques Pépin Looking Foxy in 1958
Eggs in pepper boats (Photograph: Tom Hopkins)
Buy the best eggs
Normally quite frugal, Pépin insists on fresh, high-quality eggs from pastured hens and says they’re worth the extra expense — and not just because they taste so good. For anything that requires thickening, like a soufflé or custard, Pépin says fresh country eggs perform far better than their supermarket equivalent because they contain more lecithin, which is a thickening agent. And here’s another egg tip from Pépin: Rather than cracking eggs on the side of a bowl, use a flat surface for less risk of contamination.
MORE: How Ruth Reichl Finds Comfort in the Kitchen
Food is food
While not a fan of processed food, Pépin takes a rather democratic approach to eating. “If it’s good, it’s good,” he says and names hamburgers, French fries, Oreos, Fig Newtons, and Corn Flakes among his favorite American foods. Pépin also has fond memories of his first experience with American breakfast cereal: “When I first came here I was invited by chef Pierre Franey — he had a house in East Hampton — and his wife handed me one of those boxes where you have the dotted line where you cut and you have Rice Krispies and I thought, “Whoa, that was terrific.”
Comfort trumps creativity
When he cooks, Pépin aims to comfort rather than shock. He believes food should call to mind tastes and associations from your past, so the last thing he wants to hear is, “Wow, what is this?” Not so surprisingly, Pépin has lukewarm feelings about molecular gastronomy, which he finds too focused on being different simply for the sake of being different. “It’s alright to a certain extent,” he admits, “but after one meal like that — or two — I want to go have a taco and a beer.”
Apple galette (Photograph: Tom Hopkins)
Eat with others
Pépin adores cooking with his granddaughter Shorey, who makes several guest appearances on the show “Jacques Pépin Heart and Soul in the Kitchen.” While he’d certainly like to teach her the essentials — how to set the table, make eggs, or cook for her mother — he says what he’d really like to pass down is less about particular techniques or recipes and more a question of lifestyle. He wants to teach her the value of gathering with friends and family to cook and enjoy meals together. He even goes so far as to say that sharing food may be “the greatest expression of civilization.”
MORE: Alice Waters’ Tips for Building the Perfect Pantry
Make small decisions
This last piece of wisdom doesn’t specifically relate to food, but considering the incredible level of success Pépin has achieved, we’d take his advice on just about any aspect of life. When it comes to thinking about the future, he says, “You can’t really think in terms of what am I going to do in 30 years. … You don’t know how you’re going to feel in 30 years.” Pointing to his own decision to come to the United States — a move he thought would last only a few years — Pépin believes life is about small changes that take you in different directions. Whether it’s a new job, apartment, or spouse, each one projects you forward. And for anyone struggling with career choices, Pépin is quite clear: “Without any question, to be successful in life, do what you like to do.”
Visit Yahoo Food throughout the week for recipes from Jacques Pépin Heart and Soul in the Kitchen.
