ANJALI KUMAR: It's Lunch Time at Google with Anjali Kumar.
Today our guest is Chef Jacques Pepin.
JACQUES PEPIN: Hello.
Happy cooking.
ANJALI KUMAR: Well, thank you so much for
coming by my office.
I know you're busy.
And I know you had your big event this morning.
But I brought you a sandwich, because I know
we're pressed for time.
JACQUES PEPIN: Yes, it's good.
ANJALI KUMAR: Do you like cabbage?
JACQUES PEPIN: I like.
I love anything.
ANJALI KUMAR: Oh, great.
JACQUES PEPIN: Especially anything free.
ANJALI KUMAR: Anything for free.
I'm the same way.
JACQUES PEPIN: This is to imbibe the Beaujolais that I
drank this morning.
ANJALI KUMAR: It's not even noon, Jacques.
JACQUES PEPIN: I had a bottle at 10 o'clock this morning
because I became a member of the Association of the
Beaujolais Nouveau in France.
ANJALI KUMAR: So you're drunk right now?
JACQUES PEPIN: Some type of way of making you drink wine
early in the morning for breakfast.
ANJALI KUMAR: Are you a little tipsy right now, or are you--
JACQUES PEPIN: No, no.
I mean, I'll be tipsy looking at you, but not from the
Beaujolais.
ANJALI KUMAR: I like him.
What is your favorite thing to eat?
JACQUES PEPIN: Free food.
ANJALI KUMAR: What is your least favorite food?
JACQUES PEPIN: Expensive food.
ANJALI KUMAR: Which of these typical American
meals is your favorite?
Sloppy joe--
JACQUES PEPIN: I--
ANJALI KUMAR: Oh, no.
I'm going to give you a list.
JACQUES PEPIN: Oh, great.
ANJALI KUMAR: Sloppy joes, "American"
cheese, or pizza rolls?
JACQUES PEPIN: I go for sloppy joe.
ANJALI KUMAR: Really?
You heard it here.
JACQUES PEPIN: I like gooey stuff.
ANJALI KUMAR: You had a much-loved TV series with
Julia Child.
JACQUES PEPIN: Oh, yes.
Thank you.
ANJALI KUMAR: "Julia and Jacques."
JACQUES PEPIN: Yes.
ANJALI KUMAR: And I have a couple of behind-the-scenes
questions for you.
Who spoke better French?
JACQUES PEPIN: Who spoke better French?
Her, of course.
No, she was-- her French was good.
Actually, I met her in 1960, 6-0.
And the first time I met her at the friend of mine in New
York, she was unknown at that point.
But the friend, Helen McCully, the food editor for "McCall"
and "House Beautiful," and she said, oh, yeah, that
manuscript, I received it.
You want to take a look?
So I took a look, and [? jeez, ?] it's very good.
And she says, well, the woman is coming from California.
She's a woman from California coming next week.
Let's cook for her.
She's a big woman with a terrible voice.
So [INAUDIBLE], and that's how I met Julia.
And that first time we spoke French, because she just came
from France.
And I hadn't been here that long.
And my English was not as good as her French.
ANJALI KUMAR: Can you do an impression of her for us?
JACQUES PEPIN: (FALSETTO) Yes, of course, I can do an
impression of--
You know who did that was my daughter.
My daughter was born, I already knew Julia Child.
So Claudine always made her impression.
And she was at Boston Universitaire, as well.
So she used to call.
And one night, I was eating dinner with my wife.
The telephone rang.
Gloria pick it up.
She say, OK, OK, Claudine.
What do you want?
We're eating now.
And she said, oh, no, no.
I'm sorry, Julia.
I'll call him.
She thought it was Claudine doing her impression,
[? yelling ?] at Julia.
'Cause Julia, every time she called, she would say,
(FALSETTO) Hi, this is Julia Child.
Like you wouldn't know who she is.
ANJALI KUMAR: Well, you have a new book.
JACQUES PEPIN: Good.
Yes.
ANJALI KUMAR: It's just come out.
Can you tell us about it?
JACQUES PEPIN: This is the technique.
And by "technique," you mean something which has to do with
[? manutention, ?]
with repeat, with repeat.
And that way, it doesn't change.
The way you beat an egg white, or do an
omelette, or peel an asparagus.
You do the same thing now that it was 50 years ago.
Although I don't cook now the way I cooked 50 years ago, but
the technique remain.
And that's why that book is here.
ANJALI KUMAR: What would you say is the one technique that
everybody should know but doesn't?
JACQUES PEPIN: Certainly sharpening a knife.
And each time I go, they say, oh, we had the knife sharpened
because we know you are coming.
I take the knife and I say, which side did you sharpen?
Sharp knife is good.
But you have a good knife, a good bowl, a good pot.
You don't need that many.
And now you start doing soup--
think simple, good.
I mean at home, we do what my wife called Fridge Soup.
Anything in the fridge left over, I put it in a pot, I
make the soup.
ANJALI KUMAR: That's a good recipe.
JACQUES PEPIN: Yes.
ANJALI KUMAR: Mine would be largely
mustard, sriracha, vinegar.
JACQUES PEPIN: I didn't know Google was
that good at sandwich.
ANJALI KUMAR: Yeah.
We're good at many things, search and sandwiches.
JACQUES PEPIN: That's good.
ANJALI KUMAR: Yeah.
JACQUES PEPIN: I will remember Google for sandwich.
ANJALI KUMAR: (LAUGHING) You've had a couple of drinks
today, haven't you, Jacques?
Are you going to finish that other half?