Episode 710 of Weekends with Yankee: New England Celebrities

Travel Throughout New England with Weekends with Yankee [Weekends with Yankee Logo]( [Hero-WWY-Video-Still]( Weekends with Yankee Episode 710: “New England Celebrities” On this episode of Weekends with Yankee, Amy Traverso visits with legendary chef Jacques Pépin at his Connecticut home and helps cook up a couple of his favorite French–New England fusion dishes. Then Richard Wiese gets a thrill from custom-built Ducati motorcycles, made in New England and shipped to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. [WATCH NOW]( [In the Kitchen with Jacques Pépin]( Sometimes TV guests need a bit of coaxing before they can perform the very unnatural act of acting natural before a camera. As the host, you walk onto the set and meet their wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights stare, and you know your job is to draw them out and make that camera seem like just another friendly face. Then there are TV guests like Jacques Pépin, who greets you like a racehorse at the gate. Here is the man who won an Emmy cooking alongside Julia Child, who out-wisecracked Letterman on his own show (while preparing a lovely salmon terrine). With guests like this, the trick is to simply keep up. [Hero]( Jacques Pépin has published more than two dozen cookbooks, including 2017’s A Grandfather’s Lessons, about teaching his granddaughter, Shorey, to cook. Photo Credit : Tom Hopkins From the moment the Weekends with Yankee crew arrived at Pépin’s home studio in Westport, Connecticut, and set up the cameras, he was off like a shot, racing around his property in search of mushrooms, taking names on the boules court, and whipping up two recipes using fresh mussels from Bangs Island in Casco Bay. We began with roasted mussels in the style of escargots, with lots of butter and garlic, then used the cooking liquid to make a creamy soup called billi bi. [Hero]( Jacques Pépin’s Moules au Gratin (Mussels Gratinée) Photo Credit : Lori Pedrick / styling by Catrine Kelty He slowed down only at the very end of our visit, when we sat down to eat. There, on the table, was a scrapbook of sorts, a hand-illustrated collection of menus (among his many talents, Pépin is an accomplished artist) that form a vibrant record of meals with friends and family that he’s been keeping for the past 50 years; the collection now spans 12 volumes. On each page is an illustrated menu, usually written in French, from events such as last New Year’s Eve or his daughter’s 50th birthday or a “Welcome Home to Spring” feast. Guests sign their names or write a thank-you or an inside joke. When the wine is especially good, he pastes in the label too. And on this day, he pulled out a pen, turned to a fresh page, and wrote: August 11, ’18 / Pour Amy / Moules au Gratin / Billi Bi / Cheers! I was in the book! Now I was the one feeling shaky, but with my steadiest hand I turned to the facing page and wrote: Dear Jacques, Thank you for one of the most memorable meals of my life! Amy. Series funding for Weekends with Yankee is provided by [New Hampshire Tourism]( [Vermont Country Store]( [Maine Tourism]( [Massachusetts Tourism]( [The Barn Yar]( [American Cruise Lines]( Weekends with Yankee is a production of WGBH Boston and Yankee Magazine and is distributed by American Public Television. [wgbh][yankee][apt] [New England]( [TRAVEL]( [FOOD]( [LIVING]( [WEEKENDS WITH YANKEE TV]( [YANKEE MAGAZINE]( [SHOP]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( You received this email because you signed for updates from [NewEngland.com](. If you do not wish to receive our regular e-mail newsletters in the future, please [click here to mange your preferences or unsubscribe](. *Please do not reply to this e-mail* © 2023 Yankee Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. 1121 Main Street | P.O. Box 520 | Dublin, NH 03444 [Contact Us]( [View web version](