For a generation of food lovers, Jacques Pépin wasn’t just a culinary legend—he was the charming dad cooking alongside his daughter, Claudine. She was the relatable, fun-loving presence we all connected with! Now, as the iconic chef prepares to blow out 90 fabulous candles, we caught up with Claudine for the inside scoop. She’s dishing all the details on the family’s birthday plans, the latest from the Jacques Pépin Foundation, and the secret to his enduring joy. Get ready to fall in love with the Pépins all over again.
Claudine, it’s been three years since we had the opportunity to speak to your father who is turning 90 in December! We recently spoke with Sara Moulton, who suggested we speak to your father’s foundation, which you help run. She spoke about cooking dinners to raise money for his birthday. What can you tell us about this project?
CP: It’s an exciting campaign, we’re calling it “The 90 for 90” campaign, so we’re doing 90 restaurant dinners for his 90 years. But then there’s also a home cook campaign component to it, which you can find out all about on the JPF website: CelebrateJaques.org; it’s probably easier just to go to the foundation website. And it’s fun because it’s for home cooks, which we don’t have a number or limit of how many. But what’s nice about it, is, let’s say you like making Japanese food, and you’re like, “I’d like to do a 90 for 90!” And you invite friends over and they each donate a dollar, and that’s what they give. And you send us $10. There are other people that have sent us $15,000, from home cooked things. And people that have sent us $15. Of course, it’s about the money in the sense that the money is then used to help people, but it’s not about the money in the sense that – it’s beautiful that more people know that this is happening, more people know about the foundation, and more people can get involved without a financial barrier to entry. All of the resources online are beautiful. You can download menus, you can download all kinds of fun stuff to have your own dinner party. It’s just fun.
Turning 90 is a huge birthday, what’s his advice on reaching this age?
CP: Wine. (laughs) His advice is probably wine. No, I think his advice is – he’s happy. He’s only done what he loves to do. He never thought to retire, because he’d be like, “Retire to do what, the same thing I’m going do now? I’m going to continue doing it because I love it.” So, he’s quite pragmatic, but he has a great group of friends. We play Pétanque. We just live! And wine. Lots and lots of wine!
How do you plan to celebrate his big birthday?
CP: Oh, there’s several things going on. Of course, in Connecticut, at the Madison Beach Hotel, which is in our hometown, that is where his birthday will be celebrated on Dec 18 of this year, which is his actual 90th. We’re going to have a huge, beautiful party there that day. And then, a really, super, dear friend of the family is throwing a friends and family birthday celebration at her house that weekend. So, one will be an event through the foundation, and one will be the real friends and family festivities. And then, we will all take the biggest nap you could possibly imagine when this is all done. (laughs)
I miss seeing your father in new episodes on PBS; it gave me great comfort. I used to especially love watching the episodes with you and your father, and I didn’t realize there was a show called Jacques Pépin: Cooking with Claudine Seasons. Seasons 1 & 2, filmed in 1997, launched on PBS Living channel on Amazon this past September.
CP: I didn’t know it launched on Amazon. That’s nice.
I know your father does a YouTube channel, but as a regular viewer of PBS and Create, is there a chance you could join forces with him again and do a PBS show again for those of us who miss seeing the two of you in the kitchen?
CP: I don’t know if we would anything together at this time, but since 2020 we have filmed over 400 episodes in his kitchen, what we’ve called Cooking at Home, and it has been used by PBS. It is part of what is on YouTube, and he’s still shooting this year. So that’s really what we’re doing now, because as you well know, if you do a PBS series – then you have to write a book, and, and the other things. So, right now it’s just more than he wants to take-on I think. And he’s 90, so he deserves to not have to take on more.
What has your father taught you about cooking, that you can share with us home cooks?
CP: My father taught me how to walk, he taught me how to ski. He’s taught me so many things, but I think if I consider the home cook now, I would say – if you have a recipe that you want to follow, first of all vet wherever the recipe comes from, because as we all know, lots of recipes just don’t work. But, also, in tandem with that – follow the recipe – don’t make substitutions. If the recipe has things that you don’t like, or that you’re allergic to, that are major components of the recipe, such as eggs milk, butter, meat, whatever those things are, perhaps choose a different recipe. And when you make a recipe, follow the recipe exactly the first time. Maybe even the second time. And by the third time, say, “Hm, I want more salt, or hm, I want less lemon, or whatever rocks your world.” And then, through the evolution of you cooking it, then it becomes your recipe, if it becomes a completely different recipe. And that’s a wonderful thing. He’s always happy to know, “Oh, we make your chicken, we’ve made it for years. But now, we make it a little different.” Well, that’s fine. But a lot of people will come to him and say, “(Sigh) I make your recipe and it doesn’t work.” And he’ll talk to them about it – and “No, I can’t have butter, so I substituted this, and I can’t do this…” It’s like – what’s the point? I would say that. And also, don’t be intimidated by the idea of cooking; anyone who tries to intimidate you, just doesn’t know very much. They just do it to make themselves feel better. It’s food. It’s a meal. You get another one in like 6 to 10 hours, so enjoy the process. Have fun in the kitchen. Invite a friend over; listen to some great music. Make it an adventure. It’s like playing Twister in the kitchen.
We often ask chefs that we interview if they have a favorite Julia Child memory; what is yours?
CP: She was really, really nice. She was a really nice person. I think probably my favorite memories are being at her house, she always had cats, which I though was great. I’m a little kid, right? I’m like 7, 10. And then when I was older as well, and not quite into college, but close, her husband Paul was very, very nice to me, and always spoke to me like I was an adult. And Julia, actually, always spoke to me like I was an adult. And that’s a nice thing. She was nice, she was kind, she was smart. Her personal assistant and everything person, Stephanie Hersh, who now works for Oceana Cruises, and I are still in touch. And it’s just nice to have nice memories of her. She was a nice lady.
What’s a favorite dish you make with your father now?
CP: Now, I honestly try to recreate my mother’s dishes, because that’s something that I know that he really likes. And that he’s not necessarily doing that at home, and my mother was Puerto Rican and Cuban, so I’ll do pork and beans, or chicken and rice. The way she did it, not the way he does it! The way she did it, because those are different. Those are very different things. And, also, I make a mean vongole, if I do say so myself. As long as I don’t have to shuck. I get other people to do the shucking of the clams, but my vongole is really good. He makes fun of me, he’s like, “You’re going to use all that onion?” I’m like, “You just shush over there!” I will use a lot of onions, yes, I use a ton of onions and garlic.
What’s the recipe?
CP: A lot of garlic and onions, and I sauté that, adding water as needed so that I get it translucent, to never brown, but to cooked. Really cooked. Then I add a lot of Italian seasoning, and hot pepper flakes, and clam juice, and white wine. I bring that to a boil. Other seasoning would be, sometimes, if I have fresh thyme, or whatever, but I really like to keep it very, very simple – clam juice, white wine, the Italian seasoning, hot pepper flakes. Then I put the raw shucked clams in there. First, I bring the liquid back up to a boil, I put the clams in, and pretty much shut it off because that amount of time is going to cook the clams through. If you bring it back to a boil again, chances are, you’re going to overcook the clams, and they’re going to taste like little tiny rubber bands. And then I put a very, very, very, very, very large amount of chopped parsley in at the end, or as decoration on the plates. Almost like parsley as a vegetable. It blends in so nicely. Salt, pepper, the usual suspects.
What is a typical day for you like now?
CP: I wish that there was a typical day. There is no such thing as a typical day; every day is different. The one thing that is very funny is that our dog Bisou, who is a cockapoo – my husband gets up 99 percent of the time much earlier that I do, and I get up 6:30 AM. I’m not like lying in bed, I would love to still be in bed at 9:30, but I’m up 6:30, 7:30, somewhere in there. The only time that the dog does not follow my husband is in the morning, he’s a bum, he will stay in bed as long as I’m there, (laughs) Which is very funny. But there’s no typical day. Rollie goes to school his hours change every semester. We’re in Connecticut, we’re not in Connecticut. We have Zoom meetings, we don’t have Zoom meetings. We have foundation events, we’re traveling, we’re on-board Oceana, we’re not on-board Oceana. My calendar, which is a wall calendar, that I actually write on, looks like 16 people have written in it, and I have post-it notes everywhere!
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
CP: What I do is already a question. What I do is…I support my father, and supporting him is a really wonderful and beautiful thing, and I’m honored that I get to do that at this time in his life. Chances are we’re going to move back to Connecticut next year, after our daughter graduates from college, so that I can support him more. And that’s my honor to be able to do that. We live an hour and a half away now. The foundation – we help people. We really actually help individuals because by supporting the community kitchens that exist all over the country that helps individuals find jobs. That is immensely gratifying. I think knowing that I’m making a positive different in a world that is so full of turmoil at this time in our society, that’s very, very gratifying.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
CP: I think that if anyone is reading this to close to the holidays, if you can help someone this year, do that. It’s not only about the Jacques Pépin Foundation. Of course, if you can help us, great, but it’s just helping whomever you can help. My mother had a tradition that I too now have. She refused to send Christmas cards, I send like a dozen to older people or whatever. But she said, “Nope. I calculate how much cards would cost, how much the stamps would cost. And I also calculate my time and my time is very, very valuable. And I put a number on that, and every year I donate to a cause. I think that is such a better use, especially in the time of social media, and I love getting a card in the mail. I really do. I send postcards from overseas when I travel. But I think instead of saying, “This is how my year went, and let me tell you all about me,” in my Christmas letter, instead – how about, “I donated to the ASPCA.” What we do here is, I try to do school lunches, because school lunch is not free here where I live. There are a lot of kids that have balances. So, for the holidays, what I like to do is go to one of the local schools and give money to help eliminate balances for school lunches.
Balances of money students have to pay?
CP: I just try to eliminate that debt, because when you’re talking about kindergarten through third grade, I don’t think that those kids should have to have a different lunch. It’s awful to me. I do think that lunch should be universal for all kids. It depends on the school district. In Massachusetts, I think lunch is free. I think it’s breakfast and lunch for everybody, you don’t have to pay. But in other places that’s not the case, and that’s heartbreaking. A 3-year-old or 7-year-old is not going to learn well if they’re hungry.
Claudine Pépin is the co-founder and president of the Jacques Pépin Foundation; you can find her on Facebook. You can learn more about the Foundation on their website: jp.foundation or on their socials: Instagram or Facebook.
Jacque’s current project Home Cooking with Jacques Pépin is available on YouTube.
KLCS members can access hundreds of episodes of Jacques’ PBS shows and specials (including Cooking with Claudine) on-demand via KLCS|Passport.
