ol_ironstomach Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Created by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, the annual Julia Child Award will be "presented to an individual who has made a profound and significant difference in the way America cooks, eats and drinks." WaPo article here. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Well deserved! If you want to be blown away by the greatness that is Jacques Pepin, check out his autobiography, The Apprentice. Besides being a great chef he learned to ski and became a Ski Patrol at Hunter Mt.,after he moved to NY. He also decided to go back to school and was (I think) one course short of a Doctorate degree before something else stuck his fancy and he moved on. He designed the menus for the Howard Johnson hotel chain and learned to be a cook on an industrial scale. Etc,, etc, etc. All the while the was a top chef at a top restaurant in NYC. The stories are endless, but my lasting memory of the book was complete awe and admiration for him. If that's not enough, watch any of his PBS cooking shows just to see him chop onions or garlic or anything else. His hands look like the film is in fast motion, while his voice is calmly giving out indispensable advice in crisp, concise sentences. Rachel Ray will take 100 words to say nothing, while Jacques could utter 20 words which will completely change the way you think about a certain dish or cooking method. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Well deserved! If you want to be blown away by the greatness that is Jacques Pepin, check out his autobiography, The Apprentice. Besides being a great chef he learned to ski and became a Ski Patrol at Hunter Mt.,after he moved to NY. He also decided to go back to school and was (I think) one course short of a Doctorate degree before something else stuck his fancy and he moved on. He designed the menus for the Howard Johnson hotel chain and learned to be a cook on an industrial scale. Etc,, etc, etc. All the while the was a top chef at a top restaurant in NYC. The stories are endless, but my lasting memory of the book was complete awe and admiration for him. If that's not enough, watch any of his PBS cooking shows just to see him chop onions or garlic or anything else. His hands look like the film is in fast motion, while his voice is calmly giving out indispensable advice in crisp, concise sentences. Rachel Ray will take 100 words to say nothing, while Jacques could utter 20 words which will completely change the way you think about a certain dish or cooking method. I did a double-take when you said Pépin was a "top chef," but the truth is, somehow, that he's more TV-famous than *any* Top Chef while at the same time, somehow not seeming to be a TV whore. (How is that? Or is it not true? I'm not exactly the most qualified to be saying this.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 And I'm not the most qualified to be making those statements! It's been years since I read his book so my memory is a little fuzzy and I don't actually remember where he was cooking or the status of the restaurant. But that's not your point! And I get your point.too! I don't know if you ever watch Top Chef (the show), but sometime in the last few seasons, Jacques was a guest judge or mentor or something and the contestants were completely in awe of him. It was as if Shakespeare was going to give them writing lessons or Hendrix was going to teach them guitar. They were in complete hero worship mode. But of course, Jacques was his normal humble, understated self seemingly unaware of his godlike status. And as usual, every sentence he spoke crystallized a thought or idea into 10 or 20 well chosen words where it would have taken anyone else 10 or 20 sentences to get the same message across. And not as well. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Whenever I'm not sure of what I'm doing when I cook, I think WWJPD? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Whenever I'm not sure of what I'm doing when I cook, I think WWJPD? Have a glass of wine of course! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Jacques Pepin, James Beard, Julia Child- let's raise a glass to all of them! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saf Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 "Cooking with Jacques" made my husband interested in learning to cook. He's quite a good cook now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now