Julia Child's Masterpiece Cookbook: "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (2024)

FAQs

What was the significance of Julia's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking? ›

Collaborating with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, Julia Child crafted a cookbook that made French cuisine accessible to American audiences. In doing so, she helped shift the perception of French cooking from an elitist and unattainable art form to something that anyone could enjoy at home.

Featuring 524 delicious recipes, in its pages home cooks will find something for everyone, from seasoned experts to beginners who love good food and long to reproduce the savory delights of French cuisine, from historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas.

Child's set included a backdrop for this very purpose, where she would perch at the end of each episode to dig in — and it was where she memorialized her famous closing line, which was, in fact, ad-libbed, just as portrayed in “Julia”: “Bon appétit!”

It's a classic! If you're a fan of Julia Child, or want to master French cooking, this is the cookbook for you. From French onion soup to coq au vin, her carefully tested recipes are easy to follow and fool proof.

Vichyssoise. Well-known as one of Julia Child's favorite dishes, this chilled leek and potato soup is startling in its simplicity. Aside from the leek, potato, and water, Child's version of the soup calls for barely any additional ingredients.

She wasn't a great cook until much later in life.

When it came to food, Child was a late bloomer. She freely admitted she couldn't cook until her early 30s, and she had a lot of mishaps along the way. She embraced her experiences, however, and knew that if recipes sometimes failed, she just had to try again.

Growing to a height of six feet, two inches, Child was the natural choice to be captain of the school's basketball team. She was also president of the Vagabonds, a hiking club.

The French Chef television series began in 1963 and went on to become an outstanding public television success. Child won a Peabody Award in 1965, followed by an Emmy the next year. She only accepted $50.00 a show, donating the rest of her salary to the television station.

The Trans-Atlantic Accent (or the Mid-Atlantic Accent) was a style of speech taught in affluent schools along the East Coast and in Hollywood Film Studios from the late nineteen tens until the mid-forties. Although most of its speakers – including Julia Child, Franklin D.

Who inherited Julia Child's money? ›

When Child passed away in 2004, she left no heirs and put the foundation in charge of granting the right to user her name and likeness. Though the Santa Barbara resident was in many ways the dean of American gastronomy, she famously never endorsed any products, a policy her foundation continues.

An American in Paris

More than a decade after her death, Julia Child continues to captivate the public's imagination. She was born Julia McWilliams in Pasadena, California, on Aug. 15, 1912.

"To be a good cook you have to have a love of the good, a love of hard work, and a love of creating."

Julia called Paul “the man who is always there—porter, dishwasher, official photographer, mushroom dicer and onion chopper, editor, fish illustrator, manager, taster, idea man, resident poet, and husband.”

Julia Child was a genuine person who had an exuberance for life. She was extremely confident and enjoyed wonderful, profound relationships with her husband and friends. She had a passion for food and was able to craft a successful career around her passion.

The award-winning series, which ran for 10 seasons and aired 206 episodes, turned Child into a household name. Her sense of humor, zany personality and passion for food and wine made French cooking less intimidating, more relatable—and more fun—for her U.S. audience.

Julia is Winston Smith's love-interest and his ally in the struggle against Big Brother. She represents the elements of humanity that Winston does not: pure sexuality, cunning, and survival.

Upon returning from the war, Julia began studying cooking in Beverly Hills in California. They tied the knot in the September of 1946 moved to Paris in 1948. It is here that Julia found her love and appreciation for French food and decided that she wanted to study French cooking.

Julia Child revolutionized American cuisine through her French cooking school, award-winning cookbooks, and world-renowned television programs by presenting an approachable version of sophisticated French cooking to her eager audience for four decades.