Oceania's very own Jacques Pepin

[clo]

I hope there's no problem sharing this piece about Chef Pepin, one of my decades long food heroes.

 

https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/05/jacques-pepin-unlike-other-celebrity-chefs-will-actually-teach-you-how-to-cook.html?fbclid=IwAR0_6vIaToKa4ou4StXFcd5USsM_7-sHzFGlhZlo_iWwhefoJ4_gXovbErE

[Mura]

Thanks, Clo.  A most interesting article.

[pinotlover]

Let’s get a grip here! Jacques is 83.5 years old! We saw him a couple years ago and he wasn’t doing much teaching mostly posing. Great guy but more than showing his age. 

 

The Guy is a legendary but tastes change. The day will come when O will have to move on from the heavy sauces and cream recipes of a decade + ago. Or maybe not.

[clo]

50 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

The day will come when O will have to move on from the heavy sauces and cream recipes of a decade + ago.

I'm wondering how long it's been since you've looked at the menus for the specialty restaurants.  Here's Jacques:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Menus/1705/Jacques-Dinner-Menu.pdf

 

There are a few heavy sauces and plenty of light ones or none at all.  I'm still cooking from Julia Child who has been dead for quite some time.  Classics are good with or without sauces.

[pinotlover]

Clo;

 

I was last on the Marina and ate in Jacques twice in February of this year. How about you?

[clo]

18 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Clo;

 

I was last on the Marina and ate in Jacques twice in February of this year. How about you?

Nope.  But I've been told those "sample menus" are actual menus and not a lot of heavy sauces.  And BTW I know my way around a kitchen and fine dining restaurants.  And if something has a sauce that I don't want I'll ask for it 'on the side.'

 

Please describe your two meals and include photos if any.  TIA.

[Paulchili]

Consider this quote:

 

He served as the personal chef to three French presidents, including Charles de Gaulle,

 

One would assume that a French - or any other president for that matter - can have any chef they want (more or less). For THREE presidents of a country, where food is their religion, to choose Jacques as their personal chef says it all for me. He can cook for me anytime - old or new cuisine (but I prefer the classics). 😀

JMO.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Paulchili

[jps1030]

We respect Pepin's cuisine, but french cuisine has changed already décades ago.

Great Chefs today prefer much lighter dishes and combinations.

We have one of the best restaurants two miles from where we live, and their food is quite different from that on Oceania.

[clo]

4 hours ago, jps1030 said:

We respect Pepin's cuisine, but french cuisine has changed already décades ago.

Great Chefs today prefer much lighter dishes and combinations.

We have one of the best restaurants two miles from where we live, and their food is quite different from that on Oceania.

Here's the menu from Joel Robuchon, one of the top French restaurant.

https://mgmgrand.mgmresorts.com/en/restaurants/joel-robuchon-french-restaurant.html

 

[Kingofcool1947]

17 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Clo;

 

I was last on the Marina and ate in Jacques twice in February of this year. How about you?

So?  Are you a gourmand? Food critic? 🤔

Edited July 25, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[Kingofcool1947]

20 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Let’s get a grip here! Jacques is 83.5 years old! We saw him a couple years ago and he wasn’t doing much teaching mostly posing. Great guy but more than showing his age. 

 

The Guy is a legendary but tastes change. The day will come when O will have to move on from the heavy sauces and cream recipes of a decade + ago. Or maybe not.

 

17 hours ago, clo said:

Nope.  But I've been told those "sample menus" are actual menus and not a lot of heavy sauces.  And BTW I know my way around a kitchen and fine dining restaurants.  And if something has a sauce that I don't want I'll ask for it 'on the side.'

 

Please describe your two meals and include photos if any.  TIA.

 

  So, are you a gourmand.?  Food Critic?  What did you eat?   🤔

Edited July 25, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[Paulchili]

8 hours ago, jps1030 said:

We respect Pepin's cuisine, but french cuisine has changed already décades ago.

Great Chefs today prefer much lighter dishes and combinations.

We have one of the best restaurants two miles from where we live, and their food is quite different from that on Oceania.

chacun à son goût

Today some people like to eat flowers and twigs from the forest (with dirt) - I don't 😀

For example http://www.geranium.dk/en/

Edited July 25, 2019 by Paulchili

[clo]

8 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

chacun à son goût

Today some people like to eat flowers and twigs from the forest (with dirt) - I don't 😀

For example http://www.geranium.dk/en/

I'm on a food site and Geranium is praised the world over.  We'll be back in Copenhagen next year but I can't bear to spend that much or each that much.

https://foodtalkcentral.com/t/copenhagen-suggestions/9098/35

 

[Paulchili]

9 minutes ago, clo said:

I'm on a food site and Geranium is praised the world over.  We'll be back in Copenhagen next year but I can't bear to spend that much or each that much.

https://foodtalkcentral.com/t/copenhagen-suggestions/9098/35

 

We were in Copenhagen with a family group of 6 people - 5 of them went to Geranium and I went alone elsewhere. They told me all about it and it was TMI for me. 😀

On that same trip my nephew, who is a trained chef, had lunch at Noma and was invited into the kitchen by staff.

I can spend that kind of money (occasionally) some places (French Laundry) but not Geranium 😀

Edited July 25, 2019 by Paulchili

[clo]

18 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

not Geranium

Curious what didn't appeal.  All that I've read and the photos I've seen make me drool 🙂  I've not been to TFL but it seems like he keeps around a fair number of the old dishes whereas these Scandanavian kiddos are rocking the food world.  I love all that new kinda stuff.

[Mura]

Back to the claim that Pepin's cooking is all about heavy cream sauces.  I haven't seen that to be true.  I'm not a big fan of heavy cream sauces myself, although every once in a while I like them.  Depends on the dish.

 

I don't own any of his books, at least I don't think so but I have SO many cookbooks and magazines that I could be wrong.  However I've seen many of his TV shows and several of his demos.  And they were not replete with heavy sauces.  I have also collected a number of his recipes online and NONE of them have heavy sauces.  His simple roast chicken recipe is just that.

 

Even in Jacques on board it's very possible to order a meat dish that isn't drowning in heavy cream.

 

Mura

 

[tvmovielover]

+1 on Jacques Pepin having left heavy cream sauces behind for the most part a long time ago.  What  I think he has done that is great is adapt his old French cooking techniques to modern American foods (he has been in the US for longer than he lived in France at this point) and tastes.  He and Julia Childs both used what they learned in France to make both classics (at first) and more modern dishes better.  Jacques on O ships are my least favorite restaurants but what he did on tv and in his books in more recent times are useful and up to date.  I have attended his cooking classes in the 80s, 90s, and 00s and always learned something new (his shows with Claudine and her daughter are interesting).   I do not think I would attend his cooking classes now as he is getting on but I met him at a concert where I live in Florida this past winter and he still has a keen interest in food (he went to several local places) and everything else.  Additionally, when we toured the Loire Valley last spring, we had a lot of very good food that was not old cream heavy stuff.  Everyone everywhere has for the most part moved on-that is what is fun about food.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

I adore Maitre Jacques.  He is one of a kind who is just as happy making the classics as he is putting a twist on his own inventions.  He has a PHD in nutrition and actually cooked hot dogs and hamburgers at Howard Johnson’s.  I urge everyone to read his biography that recounts his incredible journey from the deprivation and poverty during WW II all the way to the White House...really good reading.  

 

I once worked, during my youth...for two years, for one of the greatest French Chefs in the world.  If you cannot cook the classics...you cannot cook.  It is true that French and American cuisine has moved on but don’t forget the classic cuisines of Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, James Beard et al are still great.  The chefs of today are standing on their shoulders.  Lighter cuisine with che-che names is not the be all end all.  Give me a well executed Beef Wellington over a chicken in beurre blanc any day!  

 

Jacques Pepin is a living legend and should be revered for his incredible culinary expertise and encyclopedic knowledge of food and the variations of preparation.  May his name live in the annals of grand cuisine forever!

[clo]

15 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

I adore Maitre Jacques.  He is one of a kind who is just as happy making the classics as he is putting a twist on his own inventions.  He has a PHD in nutrition and actually cooked hot dogs and hamburgers at Howard Johnson’s.  I urge everyone to read his biography that recounts his incredible journey from the deprivation and poverty during WW II all the way to the White House...really good reading.  

 

I once worked, during my youth...for two years, for one of the greatest French Chefs in the world.  If you cannot cook the classics...you cannot cook.  It is true that French and American cuisine has moved on but don’t forget the classic cuisines of Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, James Beard et al are still great.  The chefs of today are standing on their shoulders.  Lighter cuisine with che-che names is not the be all end all.  Give me a well executed Beef Wellington over a chicken in beurre blanc any day!  

 

Jacques Pepin is a living legend and should be revered for his incredible culinary expertise and encyclopedic knowledge of food and the variations of preparation.  May his name live in the annals of grand cuisine forever!

I think you might be a tad confused.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Pépin

And Maitre Jacques is a food line which I don't believe has any ties with Chef Pepin.  

[CGTNORMANDIE]

2 hours ago, clo said:

I think you might be a tad confused.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Pépin

And Maitre Jacques is a food line which I don't believe has any ties with Chef Pepin.  

No confusion...Maitre means master in French.  If I worked with Jacques in the kitchen “Maitre Jacques” is exactly how I would address him.  Jacques Pepin is, indeed, a master chef.

[clo]

1 minute ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

No confusion...Maitre means master in French.  If I worked with Jacques in the kitchen “Maitre Jacques” is exactly how I would address him.  Jacques Pepin is, indeed, a master chef.

Ah, thanks for that.  But I think you were a bit off on his background.  Did you read the link I included?

[CGTNORMANDIE]

2 minutes ago, clo said:

Ah, thanks for that.  But I think you were a bit off on his background.  Did you read the link I included?

Really...how so?  

[clo]

Just now, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Really...how so?  

Did you read the link?  It will tell you.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

2 minutes ago, clo said:

Did you read the link?  It will tell you.

Yes...I read the link.  Did I miss something?

[clo]

3 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Yes...I read the link.  Did I miss something?

Well, here's some:

"

Eight months later, in 1961, Howard Johnson, a regular Le Pavillon customer, hired Pépin to work alongside fellow Frenchman Pierre Franey to develop food lines for his chain of Howard Johnson's restaurants, while Pépin was attending Columbia University.[4]

Pépin received his B.A. degree from Columbia University's School of General Studies in 1970 and his M.A. in French literature from the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1972.[3][5]

 

I wouldn't be surprised if he were a guest at the White House but he didn't cook there.  And during the war they had a restaurant although there was a shortage of food for sure.