Julia Child's 100th Anniversary

BON ANNIVERSAIRE JULIA CHILD!

Today Julia Child would be 100 years old. While I do not have many role models in my life (I don’t know whether this is a blessing or a shortcoming) she was for me an inspiration. I did not so much learn to cook from her. Years of living in France, some very gourmet and gourmand people in my life and my own penchant for good food made me an acceptable cook of French cuisine. I am not however content with the level I reached and I still hope one day to have the time and money to follow a whole cooking course somewhere in France. Nevertheless while I cook reasonably well I used and still use several of Julia’s recipes from the books I have and I always watch with pleasure her cooking classes on DVD.

It is her personality that inspires me.

 A very bourgeois young lady from Pasadena she fell in love and was influenced by her artistic, open minded and unconventional husband who encouraged her to do what she wanted the most. At a not very young age she went to study cooking and then for more than ten years she wrote what became the reference book for French cooking in America. Her diligence was incredible. What she wanted was not to publish just an additional book on French cuisine, but to adapt this to American conditions, so that for the middle class American woman cooking French would become as easy as cooking any staple American dish. Grams became cups, some ingredients were replaced with local ones but the sophistication and probably taste of original recipes was preserved. She tried every recipe several times, balancing quantities, tasting ingredients until she reached what she wanted – a French recipe do-able in the US. I respect and admire her for determination and love of perfection.

You’ll find here an  article in New York Times, and here a recipe of poulet basquaise.

 I wrote before on her here

Sources: The New York Times, CHOW