Jean-Claude Szurdak

Early life

Szurdak fulfilled two apprenticeships in six years: one in cooking at the Drouant Restaurant and the other in pastry at a restaurant called L'Aubergade to the north of Paris.

Career Szurdak met Jacques Pépin in 1956 when he was hired as a chef at Hôtel Matignon, the French Prime Minister's official residence, after Jacques asked to enlarge the kitchen staff. There were three locations. Offerings were sweet and savory which included petites fours, a variety of puff pastries, and tarts. By 1973, he was joined by Jacques de Chanteloup to open Elysee Charcuterie, expanding his goods to include authentically prepared meat products.

Szurdak later operated a catering business from Long Island named Jean-Claude Caterers for two decades. Notable clients included Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Air France. Impressively, he was known to make one thousand pounds of salmon paté weekly with no written recipe reference. He would also visit classes and appear in lectures at Boston University, most notably in "Remembrance of Things Past."

Szurdak was an avid skier, frequenting Aspen, Colorado and the Catskill Mountains.

Szurdak's signature dish was puff pastry shells filled with potato salad, topped with chives, caviar, and crumbled hard-boiled egg. Fast Food My Way (2004) - Kitchen Manager, Guest Appearances as Self Essential Pépin (2011) - Kitchen Manager, Guest Appearances as Self Heart & Soul (2015) - Kitchen Staff, Guest Appearances as Self American Masters: Jacques Pépin: The Art of Craft (2017) - Self