- Hi, I'm Jacques Pepin.

- And I'm Claudine Pepin.

- You know, learning to cook is like learning to paint.

You have to practice combining flavor, just like an artist chooses color from a palette.

- I guess that means I'm at the paint by number stage.

- No, you are much better than that, but you have to start somewhere.

Today, I'm going to show you some new way to put flavors together.

I know how much you love shrimp.

So how about a salad of sausage, shrimp, potatoes, and escarole in a garlic vinegarette.

- [Claudine] Pork filet mignon in a rich port wine sauce.

- [Jacques] And for the dessert, fresh fruit tart with a crust made from shredded phyllo dough.

- I see what you mean.

Chefs and painters do have a lot in common and you're great at both.

- Thank you.

- Join us next for the making of a chef on "Jacques Pepin's Kitchen: - Encore with Claudine."

Today, The Making of a Cook.

- Uh-oh.

- Yes?

- Am I the one that's gonna be made into a cook?

- Right, and we're going to start with the petite filet mignon of pork in port wine sauce.

And that's very good.

You're going to help me on this?

- I'm helping.

- I already did one of those and people often maybe not realize that the pork, pork fillet has exactly the same amount of fat and cholesterol of the breasts of chicken, not even the legs, so it's very low providing, of course, you remove the fat that I'm doing here and the silver skin.

So, Claudine.

- Okay.

- We're gonna saute this with, you can put a little bit of- - Olive oil.

- oil and a dash of butter in this, a tablespoon of each.

And we do the petite filet mignon.

Mignon, of course, mean tiny and small and nice and cute.

- Cute.

- Okay, salt and paper on that.

You put that on high, right?

- Yep.

- Okay.

So, I'm cutting it into four this way.

That cook pretty fast, about a couple of minutes on each side.

You could use a pounder like this, you know?

Or those are so tender in fact that, you know, just with your hand, you can press it down and it'd be perfectly fine.

Okay, put all of that to cook.

- And now, I can clean up the table for you.

- Thank you.

- You want this to cook a couple of minutes on each side and on pretty high because your pot is pretty crowded there.

Now.

- Now.

- Let's move on on the first course.

What are we doing today on the first course?

- Shrimp and potato salad.

- With escarole.

- Mm-hmm.

- Okay.

- Show me how you clean up shrimp here.

- I use that thing, it's easier.

- Oh, you wanna use this?

- Yeah.

- Oh good.

You have to extend it, yes, on your arm, that's it.

So that it's straight.

See?

If you do this, you're gonna come out there, you really have to extend it straight like this.

- But I go a little, a bit at a time.

- No, you're not supposed to go like this.

You're supposed to go right through, but you push, push through, that's it - There.

- That's it.

- And then everything just comes off.

- I actually do it better than you, but because I never do it with this.

But you go through like this and that also remove, you know, your- - The vein.

- You see the vein here?

So that's it.

We can leave the end of it or take the end of it, it's fine.

This is very good.

You know, your mother always freeze that.

- Yeah.

- She does the Thai soup.

She does the Thai soup with shrimp.

- With mint - And make a stock with that.

That's really good.

There is another thing you can do with this too.

You can cut that.

But I showed you to remove, you know, the vein if there is any.

- Mm-hmm.

- [Jacques] You can cut this here also.

You can put that flat here and do a little rabbit.

You see, you do this this way.

You put a skewer through so it hold like this.

And then, you have a rabbit.

- Actually I think it looks like a snail.

- Little rabbit.

- That's very nice.

- But otherwise, you know, you press this like this - Uh-huh.

- And you put it out.

What did you do to this here?

- Here it- - Nothing.

- I broke it.

- Oh, well.

- See, I wanna show it to you this way.

Okay, let's cut it in to pieces, now into three pieces each.

- Three pieces each.

- One, two, three.

You have more there?

- Okay.

- And I'm going to put a table spoon of butter here to start cooking this and a little dash of oil.

- How's the meat?

- So the butter doesn't, how is the meat?

That's good, you can smell the meat cooking.

- Yeah.

- You're right.

I think we have to turn it.

So let me do that.

And use one of those tong.

It's very good for that.

- Okay.

- Sometimes, turn the meat in.

Look at that.

It's good.

So go ahead.

- When this is- - I put.

- Are you ready with put salt and pepper on your shrimp?

This will cook a couple of minutes on the other side too.

That's it, it's not quite hot enough.

Let's peel the potato.

We cut the potato into dice like this.

- Okay, how about I'll dice, you peel?

- Do you want to peel them?

- Or I'll peel them and you can dice them.

- No, but sometimes, you don't want to peel your potato.

That's what- - I don't like peeling my potatoes, I like- - So, cut it this way.

It's fine with me.

- Okay, good.

- Okay, cut your potato like this.

So when you serve me in my plate, be sure to serve me peeled potato - [Claudine] Only.

(chuckles) - I have enough here, now I'm starting this.

We wanna put tarragon in there.

And this is going to cook in one or two minutes.

So salt, pepper in this.

Claudine, let's start the dressing now.

- Okay, do you want the tarragon?

- Or no, that's brilliant?

- No, I'll do the tarragon later.

- Okay.

- Saute this.

- Wow!

- This is a great lunch dish, you know?

So what are you going to, do some garlic in there?

- I'm gonna do garlic the way my mean does it in France.

- Right.

- And I just put a fork right here so that the tongs are not quite touching the bowl.

- Yeah, put that on the side like this, it's easier - And then, I just scrape.

- You scrape the end of it.

That's one way my mother does garlic.

- Makes her hands smell like garlic but it's easier.

- Another way she does garlic.

She carry it, she carry it this way, you know?

She does little carry it in slice and across like this, and then cut little dice.

And it really has a different taste when you do it in little dice like this.

- [Claudine] Mm-hmm.

- We have enough- - That's something- - with your hand now.

- about the essential oil.

- Yes.

- It's getting better.

- You know what?

You see those shrimp here are not quite cooked, but the amount of heat that I have in that pan is going to be enough to finish cooking it.

So I'm going to stop it and put a little bit of tarragon in it.

If you don't like tarragon, you know, you put chive or you put parsley or you put basil or you put cilantro.

Any herb you like, but I love tarragon.

- [Claudine] I think that'll be good for garlic.

- Yeah, here we cut.

So you do your dressing, right?

- Yep.

- There is my tarragon in there.

And that, of course, would be delightful just by itself.

You know, shrimp saute with tarragon, yeah, great pair, of course, but it's a little less expensive the way we do it because we extend it with your dressing, and you know, with the potato and so forth.

You go ahead.

- And sherry vinegar, mustard, oil.

- That's plenty.

- Some sherry vinegar.

- Isn't it?

- [Jacques] You need more oil.

- [Claudine] Okay.

There - You think it's enough?

- Well, let me put salt and pepper in it first.

- I think it looked too acid to me still, salt and pepper, it's all mixed together.

- Even with the potatoes and stuff?

- Well, taste it.

- I like it, but I like- - Okay, okay.

- If you like it, we put it- - But I like it the way mom likes it, so.

- That's good.

Yeah, a little more acid.

- [Claudine] Mm-hmm.

- And my shrimp are ready.

And I'm going to reduce my thing because I'm going to put it on low now.

Finish cooking it on low because it's going a bit fast.

Okay, beautiful.

Okay, let's finish the salad.

- Okay.

- You want me to give you this?

- Yes, please.

- Okay, let's mix this in there.

- Okay, I am moving on to bigger instruments now.

I'm gonna use tongs - You're in charge of mixing that.

And I'll put the shrimp on top.

You want to?

Oh, you want to have the potato in the bottom, you know?

All right.

You can also do, you see your potato.

Enough?

- Mm-hmm.

- We got the shrimp.

- Oh, that looks beautiful.

- Yeah, I think you would like this.

- This would be a perfect lunch.

- Okay, this is a perfect lunch, right?

- This is a perfect lunch.

- Now, put that over there.

- Okay.

- And you know, bring that back because you could serve that by itself.

And that escarole, you see that escarole here is fine.

But I like the escarole when it's really white inside.

And your grandfather, you know, used to have his salad in the garden.

Add it's exposed to photosynthesis.

That is to the sun, it turn green.

- Oh!

- You know, he would have his salad spread in the garden.

He bring them back together and put a flower pot upside down on his salad.

They turn all white inside.

- Oh, cool.

- And you want to have this- - Like this?

- a bit more tender.

Yes, taste it, good.

Taste a piece of the shrimp too.

- Oh, is it too hot?

Ooh, it's hot.

- That's not hot.

- It is hot.

- Okay.

- I would mix it all together.

'cause I like it when the salad is warm.

- Yeah, like this.

That would be a great way of serving it too.

Maybe in a salad bowl, a bit nicer than this way, but it'd be great.

- Mm-hmm.

- Okay.

- Okay.

- Let's finish our- - Mm-hmm.

- You see, this is basically cooked enough.

But at that point, you see I can touch it and know it's still a little rare.

I want to let it rest.

So I let it rest on a plate like this.

And you wanna cover it.

You could put that into an oven, 180 degree oven about and finish it into the oven.

Remember there is no fat in it.

It has been cleaned up.

- Yeah.

- And that could be covered.

You want to get me maybe a bowl, something to cover it?

- Just put the bowl on top?

- Yeah, right on top.

The residual heat, the residual heat will decontract the meat as it rest.

And the myoglobin, that is the muscle tissue inside, will run out as it rest and it get much more tender.

You see the crystallization in the bottom here?

- Mm-hmm.

- We use that.

This is port wine, you know?

- Whoa!

- We're gonna do a reduction of port wine here.

Put a little bit of chicken stock over there.

- Okay.

- Okay, a little more, we're gonna reduce it, it's fine.

And a little bit of ketchup.

And they have to give me a bit of sweetening, maybe a table spoon or two, good.

And then, we cook this for a while until it reduce.

And during that time, we are going to put a little bit of thyme here.

You see that thyme that I have here, Claudine?

- Oh, wow!

- Smell that one, silver-looking thyme like this.

Smells very good.

- Mm!

- Smell this one.

- So we used to have wild in Hunter.

It's this one.

- Yeah, now tell me what that one smell.

- Oh, it smells like lemon something.

- Yeah, that's lemon thyme.

- Oh!

- Good nose.

- Hey!

- Hey.

- I inherited a good nose from you.

- I think from your mother more than me.

I think she had a better nose than mine.

Okay, we can put a little bit of fresh thyme in there, you know?

You can take it off.

And you know, often in winter when I take all, you know what your mother does, she take the thyme like that, put it in the microwave oven.

Like one minute and all the leaves falls off.

- Oh.

- And we keep it for the winter.

And you know what we do with the stem?

We use it when we smoke fish or meat.

And you put it with the wood.

- [Claudine] Oh yeah 'cause it smells so good.

- [Jacques] Yeah.

- And it makes the stuff taste good.

- [Claudine] Okay, so I'm giving you this finely, finely chopped.

And with this, we have a dish here with carrot.

Let me show you how to peel a carrot.

You have to cut the end here and the end here.

First, you could both hand.

You hold it this way and you do it in one streak.

And pivot the carrot in your hand.

- Good.

- You go ahead.

- Okay, you wanna look at the sauce?

- Yeah.

This is doing very well, and here, watch that thumb, okay.

And here, I have actually the carrot which are reduced now.

I put them with orange juice and now they are cooked and often hot.

Give me some dill over there.

- Okay.

- This is a perfect carrot, Claudine.

- Yeah, you didn't see it.

I went the other way.

I went like this.

- Oh, you can do- - And then I went like this.

- Oh, god.

It's okay, as long as it's done.

- As long as I don't have to do it in a professional kitchen.

- Yes.

We put a little bit of dill and we are ready to serve.

- I always forget to use dill.

- Yeah.

- I really like dill.

- Okay, I'll let you pull that in there.

Use your towel.

- Yeah.

- And I am going to prepare.

I am preparing this.

Okay, so now, take that out and look at that.

Look at the juice which came out of it.

- Oh, wow!

- See that?

The juice, so.

- You want tongs?

It's hot.

- Let me arrange those.

- No, no, that's just fine.

- Oh, that looks so nice.

- You have it with the flowers.

That pretty with the flowers, right?

- Yes.

- And this is our petite filet mignon of pork in port wine with the carrot, with orange juice and dill.

Let's go make the syrup.

I wanna show you a new thing with this dessert here using phyllo dough, you know?

- Oh.

- Now here is the phyllo dough.

- And I don't have to make the dough?

- No, you buy it at the market, you know?

- That's good.

- You can do, I could show you some there to make phyllo dough, but it's not easy.

- No.

- It comes in those package.

You put it back in the package after because it will get dry very fast.

So you have to be careful.

Okay, fine, I'll use you little bit.

I want to keep that piece of paper in case I need it to roll it in there again, okay.

And you see, usually it's going to come into all line up into those things.

- Oh, wow!

- This is very, very tiny layer of dough, you see?

- Wow.

- I need four of those.

Okay, so you know what I'll do?

I'm gonna take four and give you the rest.

- Okay.

- And you see the way they are small?

- These?

- One, two, usually they put sugar and butter in between.

I have four here, you see?

I'll take those four.

You can re-roll that.

Yes, that's it.

- Wow, it's like paper.

- Yeah, and the four that I have here, I roll them on themself, I have enough, I'm gonna do spaghetti with that.

- [Claudine] I like spaghetti.

Ooh.

- [Jacques] You want to give me that cookie sheet there?

- [Claudine] Sure.

- This is going to be the base of our tart, you know?

So look at that.

I just undo them in any old way like this.

Makes a lot, those four leaves.

- Yeah.

- We put them on top here.

- This is really cool.

- It's cool, huh?

- You're a cool guy.

- It's cool.

Two tablespoon of sugar on top of this.

And I have a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter here.

- Just sprinkle it on?

- Just put it, yeah, we're gonna mix it.

Just put it anywhere, it doesn't matter.

- Preferably on the dough.

- Preferably on the dough.

So all you want to do, you could do that in a bowl.

But since we're going to it on there, why not?

See, you want to have your strand covered with a little bit of sugar and a little bit of butter and oil.

Okay, that's about fine now.

- Wow.

- What I want to do, I could leave them this way, but it's better to put them into a container like this or this one over there.

And I thought that maybe I could put that upside down.

It really doesn't matter to mark them - Oh, it's just to keep the shape?

- Yeah, it's to keep the shape.

You know, see I'll press it like this a bit around.

That's it, and now you put that in the oven.

- Okay.

- Around 350 degree, you know, like 20, 25 minute.

And that should cook and above this after, you know, it's like a base of a dough.

And we have one cooked here, Claudine.

So you can bring me the other one.

You can do any type of fruit that you can present with it.

You could do individual one like this too.

Yeah, remove this here.

- Take this up?

- Yep.

Be sure that take a knife to, yeah, that's it.

Come out good.

There is a plate for that.

- Yeah, I got it.

- Okay.

It's a very crunchy bottom.

I don't know if I dare to lift it up, but look on the other side.

- Boom.

- This is beautiful.

Do that, you are dead.

(Claudine chuckles) Oh okay, here it is.

Very crunchy, you know?

- It is.

- Okay, and you know what I'm going to do with this?

I'm going to, we'll leave it here for the timing.

I'm going to do a sauce with this and that.

- Well, you think you can- - And do fruit.

- You think you can do the sauce without me?

- Yes.

- Okay, I'm gonna go set the table then.

- That's a good idea.

- I know.

- Go set the table.

- Okay.

- And be sure to prepare a glass of wine for me.

- I will.

- Okay.

So a little bit of apricot jam here.

I'm putting some lemon juice in that thing.

I'm straining the lemon juice to my amicably cleaned finger.

So you don't want to have any seed in it.

Here we are.

That make a nice base.

It also prevent, any fruit that you put in it, whether you put banana or apple from discoloring, you know, if you have this in there.

I may even put a little bit of mint in there.

If it's around, you know?

Yeah, put it in there.

Okay, so what I have in there is blueberry, and plum, I have a couple of different type of plum and I'm going to cut them in pieces and just add them to my dessert while Claudine is setting up the dining room.

So here it is.

Cut that into dice like this.

Maybe I put a little bit of Kirschwasser in there, which is a brandy of cherries, you know?

You could have a plum brandy for that or you could have no brandy at all.

It's perfectly fine.

Okay, maybe I'll use a bigger spoon here.

Of course, the dessert could be served just by itself.

A fruit salad like this is delicious.

Or you could do individual one like this, but, just pile it up on top of fruit.

Just put it at the last moment though because you don't really want the dough to start getting soft or soggy.

It's gonna take a while but it's better.

Here we are with a nice maybe spring of mint in the center of it for decoration here.

- Papa.

- Yep?

- Everything's ready, table's set, let's eat.

- Okay, let me cut a piece of that, my phyllo tart.

Boy, it's crunchy, I can hear it.

Look at that.

- I can hear it.

- I mean, that's beautiful.

I'm bringing that to your dining room.

- Okay.

- Here we are.

Ready or not.

- [Claudine] It looks good.

- [Jacques] It does look good, doesn't it?

- Mm-hmm.

- That's terrific.

Nice and crunchy.

Well we have a beautiful table here.

What did you- - Why, thank you.

- You set a really nice table.

- Thank you very much.

Well, since we're only having a couple of courses, we just have a salad fork and a dinner fork.

You are gonna have to keep your knife for both.

- Okay.

- And, of course, we have a dessert fork.

- Mm-hmm.

What happened when you have like six spoon and fork on each side?

- Well, you taught me just work from the outside in.

- That's it.

- Or watch other people, which is nice too.

And you have your napkin on the European side 'cause the Europeans always have it on the right.

- On the right side.

- And the Americans always have it on the left.

- That's terrific.

- And you have the knife, blade in, and of course, we have a coaster on the table so that when the white wine starts to sweat, it doesn't make a mark on the tablecloth.

- Now that I know where the fork and knife goes, you know, I think we're going to enjoy your beautiful salad of shrimp potato.

You know this is particularly good when it's warm.

- Mm, oh yeah.

- I love it.

And the little filet mignon of pork with a port sauce and the carrot are really nice.

And finally, you know, our salpicon of fruit, which is a mixture of diced fruit on that crunchy bed of phyllo.

Well, what do we have in wine then?

- Well.

- What did you choose today?

- A chardonnay from Chile.

- Right.

- And a Beaujolais Villages for you 'cause you love those.

- Ah, from Beaujolais, where I am.

So I'm going to take some of the Beaujolais with the pork there.

That's gonna be just right.

It's very, very light.

And you know, in my family, we always cooked.

Our family life was in the kitchen.

Most of the time, however, it was a restaurant kitchen.

So we didn't have that much time to spend at the table.

It was always hurry, hurry.

So that's why I'm so happy to be cooking with you and spend time with you in the kitchen.

- Thank you.

- So Claudine, thank you.

And until next time, happy cooking.

- Happy cooking.

(jazz playful music)