{"id":9210,"date":"2019-09-22T20:07:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-22T20:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/?p=9210"},"modified":"2019-10-31T17:20:58","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T17:20:58","slug":"more-pepin-personal-story-books-recipes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/fall-2019\/more-pepin-personal-story-books-recipes\/","title":{"rendered":"More P\u00e9pin: Personal Story, Books, Recipes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carolyn Worthington<\/p><\/p>\n

W<\/span>hen I was 20 years old and about to graduate from New York University, a passion for writing engulfed me. At that impressionable age, I thought I could combine my interest in writing, photography, and food and make it my career.<\/p>\n

Should I go to cooking school, I wondered? Work in a restaurant? Start sending queries to magazines for freelance article assignments?<\/p>\n

One day on a commuter train into New York, I read an article in the New York Times<\/em> about a chef named Jacques P\u00e9pin who had worked for former French President Charles de Gaulle and who was about to open the \u201cfirst soup and salad restaurant\u201d in the United States\u2014right here on Fifth Avenue.<\/p>\n

\"\"

La Potagerie. Photo: The Apprentice published by Houghton Mifflin<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

It was 9 a.m. I got off the train, marched over to La Potagerie, and knocked on the door to see if this French chef could answer my question. Should I go to cooking school in France?<\/p>\n

A sympathetic and charming young man unlocked the glass door of the restaurant on Fifth Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust wondering,\u201d I asked. \u201cDo you think I should go to cooking school to learn how to cook and become a food writer?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome in my dear,\u201d P\u00e9pin said. \u201cLet me get my friend Helen McCully [then food editor of House Beautiful and a cookbook author] on the phone. Let\u2019s ask her!\u201d<\/p>\n

And so, we did.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jacques Pepin with food editor, Helen McCully. Photo: The Apprentice.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

McCully thought it was a great idea. After hanging up the phone, P\u00e9pin turned to me and said, \u201cYes, cooking school would be a good idea. But if you really, really want to learn to cook, you need to learn the \u2018basics\u2019\u2014the \u2018techniques\u2019 of cooking. Then you will be a cook. And to do that, you should go to the H\u00f4tel Plaza Ath\u00e9n\u00e9e and ask if you can be an observatrice [observer] in their kitchen. They won\u2019t pay you, of course, but there you will learn the techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so, I did.<\/p>\n

Actually, I did both. I attended Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris and became an \u201cobservatrice\u201d in the kitchen of the grand H\u00f4tel Plaza Ath\u00e9n\u00e9e. It was there that I assisted the \u201cchef garde manger\u201d (keeper of the food) by preparing food for grilling. Another day was spent with the grillardin (the grill chef) and at a station where the pans for sauteing veal were bigger than me, which presented quite the challenge for dumping the excess oil into a grease pit of sorts on the floor.<\/p>\n

Time with the entremetier (vegetable chef) exposed me to the art of paring potatoes into pretty shapes (mine were not good!). And of course, I had the chance to work with the p\u00e2tissier (pastry chef), helping to ice cakes and running in and out of his ice-cold, absolutely freezing freezer for ice cream. What a glorious time for me, but my inexperience, I am sure, was amusing for the all-male chefs.<\/p>\n

Upon my return, I thought for sure that I would be hired by the New York Times<\/em> for its food pages.<\/p>\n

Alas, it wasn\u2019t meant to be. In those days, entry-level jobs were secretarial (\u201cCan you type, dear?\u201d), and the cherished food page editorial jobs were held onto for years and years.<\/p>\n

Not to be deterred, I did move on to write about food for a food consulting agency. I started a television production company that produced many features and documentaries with food as a theme. And now, Healthy Aging\u00ae multimedia has numerous features on food, chefs, cookbooks, along with other lifestyle themes.<\/p>\n

Along the way, I circled back to P\u00e9pin by featuring him in one of the Healthy Aging\u00ae documentaries in the 1990s and, most recently, sat in on a class of his at the International Culinary Center<\/a> in New York where he stood and lectured for an hour and a half in front of a riveted group of alumni. Not bad for an 80-something-year-old!<\/p>\n

A young Jacques P\u00e9pin hadn\u2019t known that his actions and sincere advice would have such a lasting impact on the eager young student he graciously opened the door on Fifth Avenue for. Although he admits that he doesn\u2019t remember the moment, it was seminal for me and serves as an example of how one person, with one small act of kindness, can change a young person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Over the years, personally and professionally, I have been exposed to many of the great chefs and cookbook authors. P\u00e9pin is certainly at the top of the list.<\/p>\n

\"Jacques<\/a>Learn from Jacques P\u00e9pin through His Cookbooks<\/h3>\n

Those of you who can\u2019t enroll at a cooking school or work in a restaurant kitchen right now will find any of P\u00e9pin\u2019s books to be excellent tutorials for learning cooking techniques\u2014the basis of all fine cooking.<\/p>\n

In addition to great recipes, P\u00e9pin\u2019s books often include special tips, his time-tested techniques, as well as glimpses into his family, social, and business lives. One thing is for certain: P\u00e9pin has always surrounded himself with wonderful people, family, and true friends (as well as great food!) and has proven that he is not only a great chef and teacher but also a man of great character.<\/p>\n

If there is one theme that resonates throughout Jacques P\u00e9pin\u2019s 30-some books, it is the importance of cooking techniques.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday the food world is fundamentally different than it was when I published my first book, The Other Half of the Egg<\/em>, with Helen McCully, then the food editor of McCall\u2019s, in 1967,\u201d P\u00e9pin said. \u201cInterest in cooking, cookbooks, restaurants, markets, organic food, nutrition, and diets is at an all-time high \u2026 While trends change, basic techniques do not, whether it\u2019s boning a chicken, cooking an omelet \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of fashion, though, I always strive for the \u2018proof of the pudding\u2019: good food on the plate \u2026 I still poach an egg in the classic way, but now, instead of serving it with hollandaise sauce, I might serve it with some vegetables and a sprinkling of olive oil.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you are a collector of cookbooks, want to brush up on your culinary skills, or just want to start learning proper techniques for the first time, I recommend any of P\u00e9pin\u2019s books.<\/p>\n

With P\u00e9pin at your side, learn from the master chef himself, continue developing your culinary repertoire of techniques, and be inspired as I have been for many years.<\/p>\n

Perhaps he will inspire you, too.<\/p>\n

See some of our favorite recipes from his many cookbooks below: Stuffed Pork Tenderloins on Grape Tomatoes, Salmon Tostadas, Instant Beef Tenderloin Stew, Crusty Chicken Thighs with Mushroom Sauce and Chicken Breasts with Garlic and Parsley.<\/p>\n

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