The great and lovable Jacques Pépin, who shows no signs of slowing down at age 80, was in San Francisco Thursday for a book signing at the Ferry Building and a cooking demo at the Ferry Plaza farmers' market (he explained how to properly batter and fry eggplant). He also sat down for a brief interview, over a glass of rosé at Boulette's Larder, with the Chronicle, in which he talks about his "younger brother," longtime friend and fellow chef Roland Passot of SF's La Folie, and reveals what he'd cook for our two presidential candidates, if he could choose.

For Donald Trump: "Probably chicken with vinegar — a lot of vinegar in it." And, with equal shade, for Hillary Clinton: "Vanilla ice cream."

He also talks about the importance of cooking at home and involving small children in the life of the kitchen, and he talks about how he's been coming to San Francisco now for 30 years to tape all of his cooking shows — 11 series in total — and he always loves eating Asian food here, whether its Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, or Chinese.

Pépin lives full time in Connecticut with his wife Gloria, and his most recent series for KQED, which began airing last fall, is called Jacques Pépin Heart & Soul. And he appears to have fully recovered from a minor stroke that he suffered at his home in March 2015, and he's currently promoting the companion book to the series, as well as a new line of cookware, utensils, and dishware.

As part of his promotional tour, he also dropped into the Bon Appétit Kitchen last week to demonstrate some seriously old-school skills when it comes to carving a mushroom. "It's almost totally useless," he says of his paring knife skills, creating beautiful spirals, and a fish, out of the head of a mushroom. Seriously kinda awesome, though.