The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen - Softcover

Pepin, Jacques

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0618444114 ISBN 13: 9780618444113

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004

Synopsis

The Emmy Award-winning television cooking show host traces his rise from an intimidated thirteen-year-old apprentice to a famous chef, recounting such events as his work under prestigious teachers, his journey to America, and his experiences with contemporaries. Reprint.

About this title

Review

The sparkling personality, sense of humor, and charm familiar to Jacques Pépin's television audiences carries over to the page in the superstar chef's humbly titled memoir, The Apprentice.

A clever, mischievous, and very likable boy, Pépin's earliest food memories are hungry ones from his childhood in war-torn France. After World War II, his first restaurant job was peeling potatoes for his mother at her restaurant, and he became an apprentice in a hotel kitchen at age 13. In this delightful tale he works hard, plays fair, is kind to others and good to his family, and his efforts take him to Paris, and then New York. Except for the terrible car accident that required him to reinvent himself as a teacher and television personality, he seems to have always been in the right place at the right time. He cooked for Prime Minister Gaillard and then General Charles de Gaulle, met Pierre Franey, Craig Claiborne, and Julia Child, and turned down a job cooking for JFK to accept one with Howard Johnson. But just as entertaining and enjoyable to read about are his tender memories and thoughts about his relationships with his parents and brothers, and with his wife and daughter.

We all wish we could cook like Pepin (and every chapter ends with one of Pépin's favorite recipes), but this enchanting tale will make you wish you knew him. The clear, simple way he expresses himself and the honesty with which he tells his story will bring you to tears, and make you laugh out loud. --Leora Y. Bloom

About the Author

Jacques Pépin is the author of twenty-one cookbooks, including the best-selling The Apprentice and the award-winning Jacques Pépin Celebrates and Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (with Julia Child). He has appeared regularly on PBS programs for more than a decade, hosting over three hundred cooking shows. A contributing editor for Food & Wine, he is the dean of special programs at the French Culinary Institute in New York City. Before coming to the United States, he served as personal chef to three French heads of state.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0618444114
• ISBN 13: 9780618444113
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336