Jacques Pépin (1935-), Internationally Famous French Culinary Television Personality and Cookbook Author

[Banco]

I just came across this and wanted to share here. I'm reading his memoir, "The Apprentice" now and am gaining a renewed appreciation for this master. Click.

[Bart]

The Apprentice is a great book!

If you have any interest at all in Jacques, read this book!  It's a quick read.

If you know nothing about Jacques, reading this book will make you think he's the coolest guy in the world.

If you know a ton about Jacques, reading this book will confirm that he's the coolest guy in the world.

[Pat]

I love the book but have not made any of the recipes in it.  Has anybody prepared any of the recipes?  Maybe they're duplicated in his other books.  Any recipes of his I've made have come out great.

Biography/autobiography is pretty much my favorite literary genre, and this book ranks way up there.

[Barbara]

I love the book but have not made any of the recipes in it.  Has anybody prepared any of the recipes?  Maybe they're duplicated in his other books.  Any recipes of his I've made have come out great.

Biography/autobiography is pretty much my favorite literary genre, and this book ranks way up there.

I used to make the Poulet a la Creme all the time--before we changed the way we eat at home. The sauce is really good even without the cream. I don't think I've made any of the other recipes in the book; but looking at the recipe index just now makes me reconsider that omission.

[Bart]

Jacques is on (Bourdain's) "The Taste" tonight

[dcs]

Jacques Pépin's Food Memories, by Jacques Pépin, posted on the New York Times website on December 8, 2015, and appearing in the print edition on December 9, 2015, as the lead story in the Food Section.

[Bart]

Just when I think Jacques can't get any cooler, this article comes out!

They ought take him and put him in the Smithsonian right now, and have him dispense his wisdom to the passing crowds.  It would be the greatest exhibit in the history of the USA or France!

[Rovers2000]

Agree.

I have a running catalog of his PBS shows on my DVR (Fast Food My Way, Heart and Soul, Essential Pepin)...after particularly hard days, there is nothing I enjoy more than watching one (I've seen them all probably in the 10's of times) with a glass of wine in my hand.  He is pretty high on my list of folks I'd love to share a meal with.  I hope his students at BU and NYC realize how fortunate they are.

[pras]

Two thoughts here:

1.  I love all of Jacques shows and think he is a great teacher of technique.  For some reason though, I assume that despite his TV teddy bear demeanor, he was a real bastard when running a kitchen in the old-school master/apprentice scheme.

2.  My best memories as a child revolve around food and family, whether it is a trip in my dad's old dusty station wagon to Main Avenue to haggle over crabs, enjoying my mom's chicken soup, or munching my grandmother's potato croquettes (which despite having the recipe don't turn out the way I remember them).  Also the smell in the house of gefilte fish cooking, which, despite the entire world's assertion that my mom makes the best gefilte fish in the world, that ingrained memory of the smell has prevented me from trying it!