“Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote
Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right
instruction.” And here is the book that, for forty years,
has been teaching Americans how.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned
cooks and beginners who love good food and long to
reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic
cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the
seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green
peas. This beautiful book, with more than one hundred
instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach
because:
• It leads the cook infallibly from the buying and handling
of raw ingredients, through each essential step of a
recipe, to the final creation of a delicate confection.
• It breaks down the classic cuisine into a logical
sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an
endless and diffuse catalogue of recipes; the focus is on
key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and
lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations—bound
to increase anyone’s culinary repertoire.
• It adapts classical techniques, wherever possible, to
modern American conveniences.
• It shows Americans how to buy products, from any
supermarket in the U.S.A., that reproduce the exact taste
and texture of the French ingredients: equivalent meat
cuts, for example; the right beans for a cassoulet; the
appropriate fish and shellfish for a bouillabaisse.
• It offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to
each dish, including proper wines.
Since there has never been a book as instructive and as
workable as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the
techniques learned here can be applied to recipes in all
other French cookbooks, making them infinitely more usable.
In compiling the secrets of famous cordons bleus, the
authors have produced a magnificent volume that is sure to
find the place of honor in every kitchen in America.
Julie & Julia is now a major motion picture (releasing in
August 2009) starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child. It is
partially based on Julia Child's memoir, My Life in France.
Enjoy these images from the film, and click the thumbnails
to see larger images.