The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen by Jacques Pepin
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Book Reviews of The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen
Book Review: Better than expected
Summary: 4 Stars
I was not a particular fan of JP; I didn't really feel one way or the other about him. However, I love France and love cooking, and based on positive reader reviews, I gave it a go. i thoroughly enjoyed this book. JP's his life story is remarkable. (Not sure about that 10+ year detour with Howard Johnson's though...) I only wish the recipes that were included were a little more inspiring, That said, I followed his/Danny Kaye's recipe for poached chicken and it was fabulous. I will never make it another way again. Overall, this was a great read and well worth it.Book Review: Good foodie book!
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was a very enjoyable, easy read. There were a few recipes, not too many. The photographs added a lot to the book. If he wrote another book I'd read it!Book Review: good but not great
Summary: 3 Stars
I read this book a few weeks after finishing "The Perfectionist". I really liked "The Perfectionist" and was moved by its story of a chef searching for an ideal that is realistically unattainable. Knowing Pepin only from TV, I was interested in finding out more about his career and rise to culinary superstardom. Upon completion of the book, I was left with a rather bland taste in my mouth.
Technically, the book is fine. I didn't really find any gross editing errors and the story flows well enough that you should be able to finish it quickly. I was able to go cover to cover in 3 days.
The true highlight of the book is the recipes that end each chapter. Particularly good are the recipes for cheese souffle and Eggs Jeanette. Both are fairly easy to execute and taste great.
Beyond the recipes, however, it's hard to find much substance in the text. Pepin glosses over most stories, leaving you wanting to know more than he is willing to give up. There are a lot of stories about his mother's restaurants that are limited to say the least. Simmilarly, Pepin only touches briefly on certain events during his apprentiship. I mean, this book encapsulates his ENTIRE career in under 300 pages. I would have liked 300 pages on the apprentiship alone.
Other areas where Pepin missed the mark were in his accounts of people like Craig Claiborne, Julia Child, James Beard and Howard Johnson. One of the best passages of the book is Pepin's description of a clam bake that Claiborne threw early in their relationship. The images and feeling expressed in this section are moving. Unfortunately, Peppin doesn't build on this at all. As for his interaction with Julia Child and James Beard, Peppin only gives a brief description of the two culinary giants. This was perhaps the most disappointing part of the book. He was able to give us intimate details of these interesting personalities and yet he decided to only tell us that they were great friends and even greater people. Wow, what an insight.
Just so that I don't come down too hard on the book, I will say that the chapter devoted to Pepin's work under French leader General Charles de Gaulle was great. It was interesting to hear about the innerworkings of a President's personal kitchen. I wish more of the book had been like that chapter.
Overall, I will say that "The Apprentice" is a good book. I just wish that Mr. Pepin had decided to share more of his intimate details, it would have produced a much better final product.
Book Review: If you had to eat your words, would you plate them as you did on paper?
Summary: 2 Stars
I respect Jacques Pepin in many ways, but then there are times when I just want to say, "oh come on, you are better than that!" That says a lot, to a man of his career.
Yes, "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen"
outlines a talented and esteemed chef's career, as much as it reminds us how a chef is made and for what he stands. In the culinary world, as is everywhere, some may say "Times are changing fast." To that, others can say, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Fortunately, I think Mr. Pepin has stayed true to himself and his ideals throughout time. Indeed, some people never had it; and, perhaps... Well, you know how it goes...
I respect Mr. Pepin, mostly for his incredible and time honored chef techniques; however, this book is an incredible burden to read. If I had my choice, I would rather hope to meet Mr. Pepin in person and hope to ask him questions. Or better yet, be HIS apprentice. Why? Because, he strikes me more of a man that could show and tell in the kitchen, better than he could write a book. The kind of man, of the old world, who tells his story and shows his craft, much as his father would tell his own... and so on and so on. Thus, becomes the profound experience of it. Sort of like an oral history, or folk tale.
Yet, this book takes on the typical, old biographical format, which tells the story of a good boy who struggled, made well as a man and then went on to his senior years with notoriety. It reads predictably, from child hood, into adulthood, then into his first real big job(s), and so on and so on. Add charming anecdotes. Its as if you expect a moral at the end of it. It reminds me of the text book formula stuff I read in college, of the old models of personality, psychology, culture and history. As such, this is how you are to PERCEIVE a great man's life and this is how you RECORD a great man's life. Then, when you are done, you stick him up on a shelf for posteriety with all the other great men and great books. And then you study these great dead men and wait for your own grateful death! Of course, little did you know that you are already dead - spiritually.
Fool! Don't get me wrong, because I don't think that's the real Jacques! That's what is so upsetting. Mr. Pepin is not exactly embracing the world of most celebrity chefs. Currently, he is doing "Fast Food My Way" on TV. There, on the show, his meals are over simplistic, especially when you look at his actual career, let alone his other book "Complete Techniques," which I actually do suggest. Before that show, he joined with his daughter Claudine, and that show was probably just as insulting to a true high-end foodie as the aforementioned. Then too, there's the show with Julia Child, which was reminiscent, if at all enjoyable for their seeming camaraderie. Realize, in turn, each of these TV shows has its own book. Yet, Jacques is the guy who prevailed before the food and gourmet revolution began, so why is he so UNDERSTATED?! What is all this about?
I don't know what more there is to say about the chef and the rest of his life. Frankly, I don't really care to judge that; because, after all, I DO think Jacques has lived well and has enjoyed all that he has done and of which he has been a part. I do think he is thankful, more than we can imagine. Perhaps the life lived is beyond words. But, please, to put it in words and write it down as he did, I don't think it digests as well as the food itself. Nor does it match the friendships he made in the kitchen. Name dropping does not do it justice. I'd rather blame the publisher, than blame him.
By the way, the book on audio CD is no easier to digest. I checked it out at the library, but soon realized it was quicker and easier in actual text. I couldn't believe it. As the audio CD narrator went on and on, I said to myself, "Is this still on chapter one?!" Such is life, perhaps, a never ending story. At least in person, I could interject.