Jacques Pepin is a national treasure!

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I have to agree with previous posters. Chef Jacques Pépin is da bomb.

Sadly, I can't watch the video from Canada and I don't currently have a VPN installed.

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I watch Jacques on FB all the time. I enjoy his banter and showing his skills. Also like most of his recipes. He is a true treasure.
 
I like a number of things JP says in that interview (including his reply to that last question. :LOL:). But, the one that I thought was an interesting nugget of wisdom: "Let the supermarket be your prep cook". Then he mentions boneless, skinless, chicken breasts and sliced mushrooms and washed, spinach leaves. He wants people to be able to easily make good food. I'm still looking for frozen, pearl onions, like he gets. (not from the video)

So, when I "cheat" and use ingredients like that or pre-grated cheese, I will think of it as having let the store do some of the prep work.
 
So, when I "cheat" and use ingredients like that or pre-grated cheese, I will think of it as having let the store do some of the prep work.
Rachael Ray says the same thing. She calls it taking a little help from the store. Nothing wrong with that and I don't think of it as cheating. Who am I cheating? Myself? What's the point of making more work for myself out of some vague feeling of obligation?
 
Rachael Ray says the same thing. She calls it taking a little help from the store. Nothing wrong with that and I don't think of it as cheating. Who am I cheating? Myself? What's the point of making more work for myself out of some vague feeling of obligation?

I guess some people call it cheating because some of the stuff bought that way is not as good or as tasty as doing it oneself. So, the meals made that way got on the table faster, but they were often not as good tasting.

I find there are more good pre-prepped items nowadays.

A better term might be shortcuts.

When I make trifle using store bought angel food cake, it's good, but not as good as when I use my homemade sponge cake. If I were to also use Jello, instead of fruit and gelatin, and Bird's Custard Powder, instead of making pudding, I would consider that cheating.
 
I guess some people call it cheating because some of the stuff bought that way is not as good or as tasty as doing it oneself. So, the meals made that way got on the table faster, but they were often not as good tasting.

I find there are more good pre-prepped items nowadays.

A better term might be shortcuts.

When I make trifle using store bought angel food cake, it's good, but not as good as when I use my homemade sponge cake. If I were to also use Jello, instead of fruit and gelatin, and Bird's Custard Powder, instead of making pudding, I would consider that cheating.
I think shortcut is a better word - it's less judgmental. When people use the word cheating, it comes across to me as meaning they think they should make everything from scratch and it's cheating if they don't. Well, most of us don't live a "Leave it to Beaver" life where mom is 35, healthy and doesn't work outside the home, so she can make all foods - and even clothes! - from scratch.

If I buy frozen chopped vegetables, they'll taste pretty much the same as freshly chopped vegetables, once they're cooked. A jar of pasta sauce can be as good as homemade, if you doctor it up with some fresh ingredients. Those are just shortcuts.
 
I think shortcut is a better word - it's less judgmental. When people use the word cheating, it comes across to me as meaning they think they should make everything from scratch and it's cheating if they don't. Well, most of us don't live a "Leave it to Beaver" life where mom is 35, healthy and doesn't work outside the home, so she can make all foods - and even clothes! - from scratch.

If I buy frozen chopped vegetables, they'll taste pretty much the same as freshly chopped vegetables, once they're cooked. A jar of pasta sauce can be as good as homemade, if you doctor it up with some fresh ingredients. Those are just shortcuts.

:) I never thought of frozen, chopped vegis as a cheat. I've been using various mixes and individual frozen vegis for decades. And pasta sauce, Classico makes some pasta sauces that are good without doctoring up. But, when we specifically want my pasta sauce or Stirling's pasta sauce, then there is no doctoring up of a ready made sauce that comes close, unless we spend almost as much time doctoring as we would making our own.
 
I'm still looking for frozen, pearl onions, like he gets. (not from the video)
.

. If I were to also and Bird's Custard Powder, instead of making pudding, I would consider that cheating.

:) then there is no doctoring up of a ready made sauce that comes close, unless we spend almost as much time doctoring as we would making our own.

Pearl Onions - tiny tiny ones from the IGA in St Lazare. The only place I\ve ever found them. Brought a hoard with me on my move.

Bird's Custard - OM MY! I know of at least 5 Brits who would never use anything else but Bird's to make a trifle!

LOL - that sounds like me! Store sauce that I've taken hours to prep with extra's!
 
He's a titan! One of the greatest living chefs- probably one of the greatest that's ever lived- and a really charming person as well. Who else rises to the top of their field, then decides to pause to get a master's degree in French literature!?
 
He's a titan! One of the greatest living chefs- probably one of the greatest that's ever lived- and a really charming person as well. Who else rises to the top of their field, then decides to pause to get a master's degree in French literature!?

naw, he's not world rated.
Watched him try to make crepe suzette, just a disaster.
Time to hang up the spatula.

https://youtu.be/qUIZ_XhmxYg?t=359
 
As long as he is still enchanting his fans, I say let him post his Facebook videos as long as he wants to. I would wager a bet that Mssr. Pépin has forgotten more than you have ever learned in your lifetime.


I think shortcut is a better word - it's less judgmental. When people use the word cheating, it comes across to me as meaning they think they should make everything from scratch and it's cheating if they don't...
Any meal using shortcuts is still better than most any meal from the frozen food case, take-and-bake refrigerator, or carry-out from an average restaurant. None of those meals include the most important part - love. ;)
 
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