The Essential Pepin

Julia Child and Jacques Pepin have done more for the home chef than any other duo in history. Jacques continues his quest in teaching the world how to properly cook food and have fun doing it.

What bothers me with many tv chefs nowadays, is that they haven't even gone to culinary school! To see some using canned items and pre made sauces makes me sick. Jacques still teaches and is considered an icon in teaching proper cooking skills and he continues to give people inside tips that some chefs pay thousands to learn.

I have to be honest; I really didn't enjoy the fast food my way series. It was fun to watch him cook but I just didn't enjoy the food he made. In this series he goes back to creating incredible meals showing us that with proper techniques and practice, we too can attempt these at home.

He teaches us how to make basic recipes that can be used in so many ways. Items such as how to make proper pastry cream and how to use meringue for different types of desserts are shown. He also shows us how to cook proper fish and seafood recipes and the importance of a good stock and how to create it. His love for meat is obvious and his hearty recipes for beef tongue, lamb, and beef are so good it's hard not to cook these recipes on the spot.

His petit choux (cream puff) recipe is still the best I've ever seen and I now make it all the time and teach others to do the same. He shows people how to make a baked alaskan with ease and no one does a souffle' like Jacques. The way he makes bread is also explained and even though his is so beyond talented, he teaches us in a way that we are not intimidated and the recipe is easy to follow and try.

The reason Julia and Jacques were so much fun to watch, is they didnt' take themselves too seriously and they inspired us to want to try what they were cooking. They usually had no recipes and just went on what they had as well as their mood and feel for the food. They would not allow us to make excuses, and they've taught generations how to make amazing food in the home setting.

Even though he's cooked for heads of state, presidents, and prime ministers, Jacques still has the common's man's touch and humbleness to inspire us and make us smile while doing it. Also included are guest appearances from his grand daughter Shorey and his daughter Claudine (who still can't cook) a few of his chef friends as well as his childhood friend Claude who maybe has lost a step, but still has his dry whit and humor.

With the food network pretty much becoming all fluff and no stuff, with some pretty awful cooking at times; Essential Pepin is a glass of ice cold water in a barren desert. Julia Child once called him the best chef in the world. I wholeheartedly agree.

Josh Rode, DVD Verdict --Jacques Pépin has been a staple on public television for years, and was a world-renowned chef for decades before that. You know that saying, "He wrote the book?" Pépin literally did; his book La Technique is used to teach the fundamentals of French cooking. So when he tells you to slice the corn off the cob by using the upper edge of the knife and cutting straight up toward your exposed chest, you can be assured he knows what he's talking about.

Despite his occasional unsafe advice, Pépin gives clear and detailed instructions, and though I was too lazy to go to the store for ingredients, I felt as if I could have made most of the dishes he demonstrated. He is an unassuming, engaging host whose dishes look so good that your mouth will water as you watch, and you will be tempted to try food that you would otherwise never dream of eating. For instance, I don't like seafood, but Pépin's Sea Bass in Shredded Potato Skin, Oysters Madison, and Poached Salmon in Ravigote Sauce look delicious. He spends an episode on offal, which are the parts of the animals you normally wouldn't think to eat, such as intestines and tails and something called sweetbread--which is neither sweet nor, in fact, bread; it's a really disgusting dish made from the thymus gland. But after he was done with it, I was ready to chow down.

Jacques isn't out to entertain so much as teach, so there is nothing flashy about his presentation. Each episode begins with Jacques, by himself or with a guest, pretending to have dinner. If there is a guest, they will exclaim, "This is delicious! How did you make it?" To which Jacques invariably replies, "This is how I made it," and an overview of the recipes he's about to demonstrate runs. Then, after the introductory credits roll, he gets to cooking.

The television aspect ratio has been stretched out for widescreen viewing, and the picture is clear and sharp. The colors are not tremendously vivid, but there is good balance. The basic stereo sound is quite adequate, carrying Pépin's pleasantly accented voice with clarity while allowing the ambient cooking noises to come through as well. There are no extras. My biggest beef with the program is the DVD menus, which have options for selecting individual programs or scenes, but do not have a "play all" function, which means that once an episode is finished, the disc goes back to the top menu instead of the next episode. This would be an exceptional "listen as you do other things" show if you didn't have to choose another episode every twenty minutes.

-Full review at dvdverdict.com

At first I thought this series a bit dry - compared to all the silly theatricals that many chefs resort to these days (and the VERY silly Julia and Jacques series). But I've grown to love it after watching a few episodes and have already learned a lot about what I don't know. I love Msr. Pepin's charming closing remarks at the beginning and end of each episode.