Legendary chef Jacques Pepin has had the last word in the culinary industry for decades. OK, the last two words: “Happy cooking.”
It’s the sign-off to nearly all of his TV cooking shows (not to mention the end of a phone conversation with a journalist), delivered with the utmost sincerity. He wants us to be, well, happy about cooking. After all, it’s brought him endless joy for nearly all of his 89 years — why not pass it on?
And what better way to cook happy than to practice thrift in the kitchen? Waste not, want not, the old saying goes.
Pépin has published more than 30 cookbooks including his seminal work “La Technique: An Illustrated Guide to the Fundamental Techniques of Cooking” in 1976.
His latest entry, “Jacques Pépin Cooking My Way: Recipes and Techniques for Economical Cooking” (Harvest Books/William Morrow), was released last fall. In it, Pépin revisits some of his favorite recipes (and adds a few new ones) interspersed with a collection of his watercolors of landscapes, fruits and vegetables, animals and more, and dinner menus of some of his favorite gatherings with family and friends. The emphasis here is on using smart economics in the kitchen when it comes to ingredients and cooking methods, and the proverbial leftovers.
Born and raised in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, Pépin grew up in a family of restaurant owners, even working as a toddler in his mother’s restaurant, Le Pélican. After graduating primary school at the age of 13, he started his professional cooking career as an apprentice at Paris’ famed Grand Hôtel de L’Europe. He moved to the U.S. in 1959, following his role as personal chef to France’s President Charles de Gaulle. He kicked off his U.S. career at the original Le Pavillon in New York City. He would earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Columbia University, while also working as director of research and new development for Howard Johnson’s chain of hotel restaurants.
Dozens of honors and accolades would pepper Pepin’s career, from France’s highest civilian honor, La Légion d’Honneur, to 16 James Beard Awards, to honorary doctorates from five American universities, to name a few.
Along the way, he became fast (and lifelong) friends with another culinary legend — Julia Child — and the dynamic duo ultimately co-hosted the Emmy Award-winning PBS series “Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home.” He and Child would also co-found a culinary certificate program at Boston University (where Pépin has taught for the past 44 years) leading to master’s degrees in gastronomy.
Other PBS series would follow, including his solo hosting turns in “Jacques Pepin: Fast Food My Way,” “Jacques Pepin: More Fast Food My Way” and “Jacques Pepin’s Kitchen: Cooking With Claudine,” which featured his daughter as kitchen newbie.
Pépin chatted with the Sun-Times about his latest book and the joy of cooking.
Q. Tell us about revisiting the recipes you included in this new book.
A. Some of those are recipes I’ve completely redone. In the 1980s, I had a column in the New York Times called “The Purposeful Cook,” which was to cook for family of six people with minimal amount of money. We took that theme and tranformed some of the recipes a little bit for the book. I also added new recipes that I’ve done at home in the last year or year and a half. ... To tell you the truth I never do a recipe the same way twice. I look at a recipe in a different way because I’m older; I feel different about a recipe.
Q. In the book you say that people should always use leftovers or pantry ingredients to help offset the cost of cooking. Why did you want to convey that message?
A. Food is expensive. And there is certainly a negative connotation to the word “leftover.” For example, If you do a roast chicken and you serve it and it’s nice, beautiful and then you want to reuse it and serve in the same way it will just taste reheated. But if you transform it — for example, you do a chicken pad thai with carrots and onions and cream sauce, and mushrooms — then it’s not a leftover, it’s a different, delicious dish. So I look at it not as leftover but a new dish with whatever I have.
Q. You’ve cooked for presidents and royalty. Were you ever nervous to cook for such esteemed guests? Was celebrity a factor for chefs at that time?
A. Not really. But it was a different world then. The chef was never called out to the dining room, for example. You were the cook and the cook was in the kitchen. I was never in a magazine or newspaper [like celebrity chefs today] or on TV [shows]. All that didn’t exist yet.
Q. Speaking of how times have changed, you’ve really embraced social media for cooking.
A. We have over 300 recipes on Facebook now. I tape those shows in my kitchen [in Connecticut] and my daughter produces them. She does all the work [behind the scenes].
Q. How would you sum up the love of cooking that you have personified for so many people?
A. Cooking may be the purest of love in many ways because you cook for your grandmother or children, or mother or wife, or your husband or family, so you have to put some of yourself in it. To become a professional cook it is not easy and you don’t get paid that much, and you work Saturdays and Sundays and long hours [the rest of the week] and you really have to love it. And if you love it, then you will make a lot of people happy with your cooking.
Q. You taught several generations of kids that it’s fun to cook, especially through your TV programs with your daughter Claudine and granddaughter Shorey. You also showed parents that they could share the cooking experience with their kids.
A. When we did the TV series with Claudine, I didn’t tell her ahead of time what we were cooking. So she would come and say, “Wow, that’s how you do that!” And people would write and say, “Of course she knew ahead of time,” but she did not know. So her reaction was real. Because if you are a kid whose father is a great chef you don’t really care about what is happening in the kitchen. [Laughs] She would eat whatever I made for that night. She enjoyed the food but really had no interest in how to make it. So she was learning how to make the dish on TV [along with the audience].
Q. You continue to inspire young cooks and culinary students. That’s an amazing legacy.
A. Thank you. This is what we do with the Jacques Pépin Foundation, started by my son-in-law. He told me years ago, “You’ve been teaching all your life in schools and so forth, who do you want to teach now?” So I said why not people who have been disenfranchised by life, people who come out of jail or [unhoused] people or veterans. We teach through community kitchens. We send them videos and books and it’s been really rewarding especially because so many of them are so young — in their 20s, 30s 40s, who now learn to cook. I feel that in six or eight weeks I can train someone in a kitchen to peel onions and asparagus, and poach an egg, and make a soup, for example. If that person likes it then maybe five years later you have a professional chef or cook.
Q. Your cookbook features lovely watercolors. When did you take up painting?
A. I have been painting from the early 1960s. So when I do books now I get more involved in the layout because they use my paintings and my drawings. I always liked to paint and when we (he and his late wife Gloria) married in 1966 we had a dinner at our home and I painted the menu. I put it in a big book and everyone in attendance signed the page opposite the menu. I still do that. I now have 12 large books of menus, which cover about 60 years of my life.
Try this recipe from “Jacques Pépin Cooking My Way: Recipes and Techniques for Economical Cooking.”
Scaloppine of Turkey Breast in Mushroom Cream Sauce
Yield: Serves 6
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 boneless, skinless turkey breast (about 2 pounds), cut into 6 cutlets and pounded until about 3/8 inch thick
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 6 scallions, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic 2 tablespoons Cognac
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 3⁄4 teaspoon potato starch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
1. Divide the butter between two skillets. Melt the butter over medium-high heat, then add the turkey cutlets in one layer.
2. Sprinkle the turkey with the salt and pepper and cook for about 1 minute on each side. Transfer to a platter and keep warm.
3. Add the mushrooms, scallions, and garlic to the skillets and sauté for 1 minute. Deglaze with the Cognac and cream and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve and mix in any solidified juices.
4. Add any juices that have collected around the turkey to the sauce, taste, and add more salt and pepper as needed. Stir in the dissolved potato starch and lemon juice.
5. Arrange the scaloppine on six warm plates and coat them with the sauce and mushrooms. Sprinkle with the chives and serve immediately.
Reprinted with permission. Copyright Harvest Books/HarperCollins.
