Chef Skaggs, Two Caterers & Chef Pépin - Together at last!

Now more than ever, we need to be supporting PBS and our local WOSU television and radio stations. Chefs in the City is WOSU’s annual fundraising event and television program focused on local foods and features an elite group of central Ohio chefs, including our very own Chef Jown Skaggs!

This year the guest of honor is the internationally-recognized Jacques Pépin! Chef Pépin is known for his instructional book La Technique and his acclaimed PBS Series The Complete Pépin. You may also know him from his Emmy Award-winning 1999 PBS series Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home.

Event Date: Thursday, April 21, 2011 from 5:30pm to 9:30pm
Event Location: Battelle Studio at WOSU@COSI
WOSU TV Air Date: Saturday, April 30, 2011
Chefs in the City is an innovative live event focused on the theme of “Local Foods” and featuring an elite group of local chefs along with our celebrity chef, demonstrating signature dishes. The guests are served samples of these dishes in a spectacular multi-course taster meal.

John is very excited and somewhat starstruck. "Having this opportunity to cook with Chef Pépin is like having an opportunity to cook with my grandpa. Like Julia (Child) is the matriarch, Jacques is the patriarchal figure for chefs."

"He is the real deal. Simply by watching his technique, you can tell he has paid his dues. He's worked the line. He is a constant inspiration for me."

Both John and Angela cite Pépin's Cuisine Economique as a major influence on their views of food and preparation. Angela points to the very first paragraph of the book as an example.

"All good cooks share a profound respect for raw ingredients, a sound, commonsense approach to their trade, and a thorough knowledge of the cooking process. When cooks really understand the mechanics of a recipe and the true nature of each ingredient, they handle the food with proper consideration, using it in the most functional way possible and in its entirety, one way or another. The principles of kitchen economics apply to great cooks everywhere, whether they be Chinese, Italian, German, French, or American."

"Cooking with local ingredients is very important to us as a company," Angela says. "Chef Pépin is someone who grew up honoring local ingredients and teaching others how to work with what grows around them and to use it completely without waste."

Angela is proud of John's involvement with Chefs in the City. "We are honored that out our chef is considered good enough to work with the city's best chefs and someone as great as Chef Pépin."

Tickets are still available for the live event but are selling quickly. All money raised from Chef in the City events directly benefits children's educational programming on WOSU.