JACQUES PEPIN: AT STEW LEONARD’S, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 5-7 P.M.
10/30/2009
Jacques Pépin is the man.
Long before Top Chef and the Food Network, there was Pépin on PBS.
I’ve long admired his style and the way he handled Julia Child’s utter wackiness on screen. The chef will appear at Stew Leonard’s in Norwalk next Friday to promote his book, More Fast Food My Way with a book signing and cooking demonstration.
–CP
FROM THE RELEASE:
Jacques Pépin: More Fast Food My Way is the companion cookbook to his 26-part PBS series of the same name, and the sequel to the popular Jacques Pépin: Fast Food My Way. Each recipe in the cookbook and television series draws from Asian, Latin American and European culinary techniques to share 100 fast, fresh and healthy recipes that are easy to prepare and can fit into any busy weeknight schedule. Each recipe also comes with easy-to-follow techniques and tips, an accumulation of Pépin’s over fifty years of culinary experience. In his autobiography, The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen, Jacques takes you through his culinary journey from young boy in his mother’s French restaurants to his move to the United States and evolution into one of the world’s most influential culinarians.
Born, raised and trained as a chef in France, Jacques Pépin moved to the United States in 1959 and has been sharing his culinary expertise with Americans since the 1979 release of his step-by-step cookbook La Methode: An Illustrated Guide to the Fundamental Techniques of Cooking. He is the author of twenty-six cookbooks and has hosted eleven acclaimed public television cooking series, including his sequel series Jacques Pépin: Fast Food My Way and Jacques Pépin: More Fast Food My Way and his Emmy award-winning show with Julia Child, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. Pépin was also a guest judge on season five of the hit Bravo television show Top Chef. He currently serves as Dean of Special Programs at the French Culinary Institute in New York and was awarded France’s highest honor-the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur. Jacques and his wife Gloria live in Connecticut.
His recipes from Fast Food are staples in my house. You’re spot on about the way he handled Julia, always accommodating her preferences with a bemused but always gracious manner.
He’s a great down to earth guy with a great sense of humor. I’ve had the pleasure to work a few events over the years where he was the “Celebrity Chef”. Not demanding like a few of his colleagues….