America Still Has An Appetite For Julia Child
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"Julie and Julia," the movie about chef and television personality Julia Child and the blogger, Julie Powell, who cooked her way though Child's ground-breaking cookbook in one year, opened last weekend to positive reviews and quality box office results.
But just as critics agreed that Meryl Streep as Child greatly outshone Amy Adams as Powell, Child's books are also selling much better than Powell's memoir. Six of Child's cookbooks are backordered on Amazon, showing America's love affair with the oversized Child has not slackened since her death in 2004.
After watching "Julie and Julia," one first wants to grab something to eat, and then sit down and watch episodes of "The French Chef," Child's groundbreaking television show.
A YouTube search turns up a couple tantalizing teasers, including the omelette tutorial (at right), but nothing that shows the true Julia in her long-form glory.
Fortunately, PBS has a fantastic page that features a number of shows in their entirety, including this soufflé tutorial.
"The French Chef" might not have the snazzy production values of today's Food Network shows, but the static camera angles and Child's sometimes-halting delivery make the show even more endearing.
There aren't many of Child's recipes available online, but those that are have been collected here. "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" made such a mark when it was published in 1961 because of Child's attention to detail. Take this tip, for example, from a "simple" recipe for mussels.
Some cooks add flour to the soaking water on the theory that while the mussels eat the flour and become fatter and more succulent, they are at the same time disgorging their sand more thoroughly. Use 1/3 cup of flour for each 2 quarts of water, beating the flour and a bit of water with a whip first, to mix it thoroughly. Then, after soaking the mussels, lift them into a colander, and rinse them in cold water.
Of course, Child's outsized personality has led to plenty of impressions: The excellent ...
And the not so good ...
Meryl Streep's impersonation of Julia Child might be good, but it's still no replacement for the real thing. Delve into Julia Child research and you realize why she is still so beloved. (Read her New York Times obituary or read a remembrance from her frequent collaborator, Jacques Pepin.) No acting, no matter how good, can capture all that Julia Child was.
