Julia Child

Last night I re-watched what is turning out to be one of my most favourite films Julie and Julia.  The first time I saw the film I had no idea who Julia Child was.  Such a legend in the USA but hardly known at all in Britain.  I can speculate why, given her very exuberant personality and the very restrained British temperament of that era.  Perhaps now, we Brits are ready for Julia Child?  Inspired by the film I bought copies of two of her cookbooks.  Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol 1 and II.

The recipes are not arranged quite as we have come to expect from modern day cookbooks and in spite of the fact that they are aimed at novice cooks, with limited knowledge, some of the recipes stretch over several pages, being quite daunting at first glance.  Do not be afraid!!

The reason for the length of the recipes is the amount of detail that has been included.  The recipes are broken down into sections, with the ingredients and the various stages of preparation in the order in which you need them and if you actually take the time to follow exactly what they say... you are guaranteed success.  I kid you not!!

I love them!  And I take a huge hat off to Mrs Child for the enormous undertaking and say Thank you, Thank you, Thank you... it is so rewarding to have a meal turn out really really well.

“I would far prefer to have things happen as they naturally do, such as the mousse refusing to leave the mold, the potatoes sticking to the skillet, the apple charlotte slowly collapsing. One of the secrets of cooking is to learn to correct something if you can, and bear with it if you cannot.” 
― Julia Child  (That's my kinda cook!!)