The Mother of Technique

In the UK today, it's Mothering Sunday (or Mother's Day). Mothers are those special women in our lives who we look to for love and guidance. 

Although this lady was never a biological mother, she was the figurehead thousands of Americans looked to for guidance in the kitchen for 40+ years. She opened up Americans' eyes and stomachs to the joys of French cooking with her trademark emphasis on technique. She is none other than Julia Child.

published by Knopf, 2012, £22.50

In the 3+ years I've been writing this blog, I haven't yet featured a Julia Child cookbook which, from outward appearances, would seem a ghastly oversight on my part. The reason I haven't featured this American icon is because I needed to learn more about her in order to understand why she made such an impact on American home cooks.

Now that I have just finished reading Dearie by Bob Spitz, this noteworthy biography has brought Julia Child to life for me so I can better understand what drove her to teach the uninitiated how to despatch a lobster or write such unusually detailed cookbooks.

In a nutshell, Julia was a stickler for technique in cooking. And once she discovered the rules and techniques of French cooking due to her life abroad, she translated them into accessible language and recipes that American home cooks could understand and put into practice. She was curious, she was thorough and she was accurate. 

When Julia came on the scene in the late 1950's, American home cooks were being swayed by convenience with ready-made food such as chicken pot pies and canned foods. Convenience was the key word, but Julia Child thought these foods were causing American women to lose touch with the kitchen as well as real flavor.  (Julia was championing butter and cream at a time when Americans were just getting the word about fat and cholesterol; even though she lived to the ripe old age of 91, she wisely pointed out 'all things in moderation.') 

So not only were American home cooks losing touch with their cooking skills by simply reheating their fish sticks and tater tots, they were also forsaking flavor due to their fear of fat from a bit of cream or butter. 

Julia set out to reconnect America to real food with a strong emphasis on how to cook. She always liked helping people and help them she did. When her first cookbook came out, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, she turned America's kitchens on their head.

published by Penguin, 2011, £25 (originally published 1961)

All of a sudden home cooks were learning where exactly to snap their asparagus or exactly what type of pan to boil their artichoke hearts in since attention to technique makes all the difference in the outcome.

Not only was Julia imparting knowledge, she was bolstering the confidence of home cooks who had never made an omelette let alone a soufflé. With her pragmatic approach to cooking and her unpretentious presentation style, Americans were paying full attention to what Julia Child had to say.

The first cookbook was such a success that the second book was inevitable - Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Volume 2).

published by Penguin, 2011, £25 (originally published 1970)

Volume 2 is a continuation of a good thing with recipes that were cut from the first volume due to the sheer size of it. The recipes that went on the cutting room floor were salvaged and combined with baking recipes. 

This combined set of Mastering is one of the most treasured members of my cookbook collection. When I'm unsure about how best to do something in the kitchen, I now ask myself how would Julia make a mushroom sauce? or how would Julia blanch a cabbage? 

Now that I better understand why Julia Child held Americans firmly in her grip for so long, I can see changes in my cooking.  With her mantra of 'if it tastes good, it is good' I am growing in confidence and not putting myself under pressure to have my cooking look like it should appear on the cover of Gourmet magazine.

If you haven't yet given Julia Child a try, don't waste any more time. She was ahead of her time in so many ways that her presence is still felt by home cooks today. Bon appétit!