Chef Jeff Smith or Jeffrey L Smith was born on the 22nd January 1939 in Tacoma, Washington, United States of America. He died on the 7th of July 2004, due to heart disease. He was nick named 'The Frug', because he learnt lesson in frugal cooking from his mother. He developed a keen interest in wine due to his friendship with a doctor, named Lester Baskin Dr who introduced Jeff to wine. Smith completed his graduation from the University of Puget Sound and Drew University in 1962 and 1965 respectively.
Jeff Smith’s Professional Life
Jeff started off with his first food venture called the Chaplan’s Pantry which was the deli store in the downtown area of Tacoma. He also offered free cooking classes in his pantry. His career took off when he was given a chance to appear on the Phil Donahue show in 1983 and moved to Chicago. Jeff was famous for his cookery books. He loved to cook with lots of garlic, olive oil and had an inclination towards the Chinese and Italian cuisine.
Noteworthy Works of Jeff Smith
Achievements: His show, The Frugal Gourmet became the highest rated cooking show on the television and his books reached to the heights of getting into the bestsellers list the moment they were released.
Popular Books:
The Frugal Gourmet: The Frugal Gourmet cooks three Ancient Cuisines: China, Greece and Rome. The book brings to its readers famous recipes with unusual ingredients from Greece, China and Rome. It also has some great techniques to prepare food like defatting and straining.
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian: The book consists of Italian dishes with full colored pictures.
The Frugal Gourmet Keeps the Feast: The book contains more than 100 recipes which show different ways to cook food from ingredients like saffron, spelt, hyssop, barley, and pomegranate.
The Frugal Gourmet celebrates Christmas: In this book, Jeff talks about his favorite recipes that are eaten during holidays like gingerbread men, mince pie, mulled wine and lots more.
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine: The book contains 400 recipes along with tips on how to choose, store and match food with wine.
Restaurants
Chef Jeff Smith worked at Chaplan Pantry in Tacoma.
Trivia
Chef Jeff Smith's show became very popular and was watched in almost every home of the United States.
“I bid you peace” was his personal quote which used to say at the end of every episode of this series- The Frugal Gourmet.