62 Quotes by Jacques Pepin

My mother likes what I cook, but doesn’t think it’s French. My wife is Puerto Rican and Cuban, so I eat rice and beans. We have a place in Mexico, but people think I’m the quintessential French chef.

Fortunately, I knew the cardinal rule of getting on with one’s fellow cooks. It applies in any kitchen and can be summed up in two short words: bust ass.

I am a glutton. I’ll eat whatever is there. Pizza. I love hot dogs anywhere. I’ve got nothing against any of that. If I feel like eating, I eat. I don’t feel guilty about it at all.

All the great chefs I know – Thomas Keller, Jean-Georges Vongerichten – they are technicians first.

When you are at home, even if the chicken is a little burnt, what’s the big deal? Relax.

One of the biggest problems with young chefs is too much addition to the plate. You put cilantro and then tarragon and then olive oil and then walnut oil or whatever. It’s too much.

I was chef to the French Presidents between ’56 and ’59, finished with de Gaulle, and during de Gaulle I remember serving Eisenhower, Nehru, Tito, Macmillan; those were the heads of state at the time. I never saw anyone. No one would ever, ever, ever come to the kitchen. You couldn’t even see them.

It’s more useful to have knowledge about cuts of meat than a lot of money.

I taped my first series for PBS in 1982 at WJCT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida. The show, called ‘Everyday Cooking with Jacques Pepin,’ was about saving time and money in the kitchen – and it was a celebration of simple and unpretentious food.