What Makes Jacques Pépin's New Chicken Cookbook So Unique
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Over the course of a lifetime, 86-year-old chef Jacques Pépin has become one of the most celebrated names of the food world (via Jacques Pépin). He has accomplished more in his lifetime than most can hope for. He introduced the world to French cooking as a TV host alongside Julia Child, has been the personal chef to three French heads of state, and has shared his knowledge and love of cooking with countless others. He accomplished this last feat both as head of research and new development for the now shuttered Howard Johnson's restaurants, and most recently through online tutorials shared via Facebook.
Pépin has also shared his passion with the world by authoring more than 30 cookbooks (via Art Net). His first was released in 1967 (via Jacques Pépin). "The Other Half of the Egg" was co-authored with Helen McCully and focused on the age-old problem for chef's everywhere of using up the leftover egg whites and yolks.
After crafting 30 books full of recipes, Pépin wanted to create another that shared more of himself than simply recipes.
Pepin's latest is a celebration of his artistic pursuits
For his newest cookbook, Pépin is showing off his skill as a painter (via Art Net). Pépin has been painting in his free time for more than 50 years. He even had a solo exhibition of 70 of his works featured at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center near Madison, Connecticut where he lives. "Art of the Chicken," his latest cookbook, focuses on one of his favorite culinary and artistic subjects — the chicken.
Pépin says that he has made more than 150 illustrations of chickens over the years and decided to feature many of them in a cookbook that he says is more a collection of memories than recipes. According to Art Net, "Art of the Chicken" is more similar to his 2015 memoir – "The Apprentice" – than one of his many cookbooks. Accompanying variations of hens, roosters, and other edible fowl, are 50 recipes featuring chicken and eggs.
Pépin says that painting is a far more selfish act than cooking. "You cannot cook indifferently. You have to give a lot of yourself. Cooking is the purest act of love, whether it's for your kid or your grandmother or your lover or your wife. It's always to give," said Pépin (via Art Net).
"Art of the Chicken" will release on September 27, and is available for pre-order through Harper Collins Publishing.