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Mastering the Art of French Cooking
(Mastering the Art of French Cooking #1)
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For over fifty years, New York Times bestseller Mastering the Art of French Cooking has been the definitive book on the subject for American readers. 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
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Hardcover, 752 pages
Published
October 16th 2001
by Knopf Publishing Group
(first published 1961)
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My husband watched the movie Julie & Julia on television, and asked me why I didn't have these cookbooks. Since I didn't have a good answer for him I went out and bought them, the boxed set of both Volume 1 and Volume 2.
My first recipe cooked was Soupe a L'oignon (onion soup), because, well, I love French Onion Soup so this seemed like a good place to start. I followed the recipe to the letter, a process which took me about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. The day I cooked it, some ...more
My first recipe cooked was Soupe a L'oignon (onion soup), because, well, I love French Onion Soup so this seemed like a good place to start. I followed the recipe to the letter, a process which took me about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. The day I cooked it, some ...more
My husband bought me this book for Valentine's Day because we had recently watched "Julie and Julia" and I had mentioned how I couldn't believe that after all these years of cooking, I hadn't yet acquired this book.
It's popularity since the movie might seem a little cliche, but really, this is the most thorough, easy-to-understand, and excellent cookbook I have ever owned. The only comparable book is "Good Housekeeping's Illustrated Cookbook," which I also own and use regularly.
Although this ...more
It's popularity since the movie might seem a little cliche, but really, this is the most thorough, easy-to-understand, and excellent cookbook I have ever owned. The only comparable book is "Good Housekeeping's Illustrated Cookbook," which I also own and use regularly.
Although this ...more
How can you judge a book like this one, one who is so critically acclaimed?! You really don't. You just judge what your personal experience was.
My experience was easier than I thought. I woke this morning with the idea, a soup recipe would take hours, because it's French and Julia Child's, but it didn't. We were eating at 4:30 pm. That is an early supper, but it was a good one.
Honestly as I was making the soup, I actually wondered if I would like it when it finished. I was becoming turned off, ...more
My experience was easier than I thought. I woke this morning with the idea, a soup recipe would take hours, because it's French and Julia Child's, but it didn't. We were eating at 4:30 pm. That is an early supper, but it was a good one.
Honestly as I was making the soup, I actually wondered if I would like it when it finished. I was becoming turned off, ...more
STILL ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS EVER!
Why?
Best: best recipe-writing ever! Most cookbooks put the ingredients list on top and the method (the steps) below. But Julia puts them side by side: each step has its own ingredients list! First step needs a,b,c,d. Next step needs e,f,g,h. and so on. Beside saving space, this is the fastest way if you aim to UNDERSTAND the recipe! (I usually read the recipes a few times to understand what will happen, instead of memorising each step) If there are 2 batches ...more
Why?
Best: best recipe-writing ever! Most cookbooks put the ingredients list on top and the method (the steps) below. But Julia puts them side by side: each step has its own ingredients list! First step needs a,b,c,d. Next step needs e,f,g,h. and so on. Beside saving space, this is the fastest way if you aim to UNDERSTAND the recipe! (I usually read the recipes a few times to understand what will happen, instead of memorising each step) If there are 2 batches ...more
This is how I learned to cook, by going through this masterpiece of a book page by page, hunting for the ingredients and making Julia's delicious recipes. Her book was my foundation for the art of cooking and part of the inspiration when I wrote my own cookbooks. I wonder if Julia, in heaven, can hear the echoes of the laughter at the millions of dinner parties she inspired. She taught me and all my friends to cook. She changed the world and she is loved. If you ever need a short (not long
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Indispensable. Sits quite happily on my kitchen countertop, and is referenced often. If you have any interesting in cooking, MTAOFC is a must. Not even so much for the recipes- of course, for the recipes- they are delicious and Julia is exact and did I mention they are delicious?- BUT each recipe is an event. The beautiful thing about this cookbook (and it's recipes) is that, like good food, it does not appear in a vacuum- there is the lore of Julia, the lore of the recipes, Julia's colorful
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This classic cookbook has been a mainstay for my wife and I for over forty almost fifty years now. Our copy has clear tape holding the hard covers together, and a loose page (315) indicates the recipe it has been open to most often over the years: Boeuf Bourguignon. This incredible stew has probably been eaten in our household at least once per annum since the first year we had the cookbook.
It's true that the classic French cooking of the mid-twentieth century is somewhat dated nowadays, ...more
It's true that the classic French cooking of the mid-twentieth century is somewhat dated nowadays, ...more
It's a good book. I was so curious about French way of cooking because of how people rave about it and all that. Well, their cooking is not healthy at all as they use a lot of butter. It is just their own cooking, like any cooking, nothing special or I really need to know about. I intend to stick to my simple way of eating that tries to be as health conscious as possible. Hey, it's all food in the end!
I have wanted a copy of this book for the last decade or so, ever since I had to start cooking for myself. Part of it is the way I perceive French cooking--fresh, fancy, and impressive--and part of it is the warmth of Julia Child, whose PBS show I got hooked on during the many years I couldn't afford cable. I mentioned this off-hand to my boyfriend once when we were in Williams-Sonoma, and he surprised me with a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking last
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This is not really a book to "finish". I will come back to this over and over. Its excellent. I made mushroom soup, french onion soup, and cassoulet. By the by, if you look it up on you tube there is an entire series that corresponds to these recipes that she did....as well as the Julia Child snl skit with Dan Akroid and an Epic Rap Battles skit. Yeah...I might have gone down a couple of youtube rabbit holes with this one.
The Good-Humored, Encouraging TeacherHonestly, I dont know how Julia does it. She takes some extraordinarily complicated recipes and explains them with such precision and accuracy, that you cannot help but appreciate every word. In between the instructions, Julias authorial voice emerges in each of her recipes. Shes humorous, light-hearted, and always positive. Julia ensures that if she can a pastry from scratch, certainly you, with the better kitchen appliances and ingredients can too. Its
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I am nowhere near finished with this beauty but since it belongs to the library and not me, well i have to send it back :(
This is a seriously amazing cookbook!
A genuine testament to the talent and skill of its authors that after all these years it remains relevant, this bible of cookbooks is of a somewhat daunting size but oh my the secrets it hides within....yum!
Everything is wonderfully well explained and amazingly simple to follow even without any kind of visual aid (kill me, i like a ...more
This is a seriously amazing cookbook!
A genuine testament to the talent and skill of its authors that after all these years it remains relevant, this bible of cookbooks is of a somewhat daunting size but oh my the secrets it hides within....yum!
Everything is wonderfully well explained and amazingly simple to follow even without any kind of visual aid (kill me, i like a ...more
I have had this cookbook on my to try list for some time, but always seemed a bit intimidated by it. However, I read my Life in France by the author, and realized it was a how to book (though some recipes are more complicated than others). Anyway, this book is a true classic, a first in its field. The first recipe I tried was her roast chicken. I've made many a roast chicken in my time, but this was delicious. Next up is one of her soups (maybe the garlic one she mentioned in the book). I love
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My first Julia Child cookbook - it has a "Bon Appetit! Love Aunt Aldean 1973" inscription on the front page. Lots of opportunities to reminisce and laugh with this cookbook. I'm sure my husband wondered what he had gotten himself into with my (ad)ventures into the world of French cuisine, but he stuck by me anyway. The cover is extremely tattered, the pages are falling out - a sure sign that it's a treasure. Alright, I just finished flipping 50+ crepes for tomorrow's 7th and 8th grade French
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Checklist for Impressing New In-Laws:
1. Plenty of face smoothing make-up (that is, if they are the "look don't touch" types)
2. Wear your best (depending on if your father-in-law-to-be is a pervert or not, wear something slimming and fantastic)
3. NO: hemming, hawing, donkey calling. Laugh cutesy.
4. Whatever you do, don't forget the garlic bread...AND..
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. There never was a better dead person to confer to about making your stiff-lipped, uptight ...more
1. Plenty of face smoothing make-up (that is, if they are the "look don't touch" types)
2. Wear your best (depending on if your father-in-law-to-be is a pervert or not, wear something slimming and fantastic)
3. NO: hemming, hawing, donkey calling. Laugh cutesy.
4. Whatever you do, don't forget the garlic bread...AND..
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. There never was a better dead person to confer to about making your stiff-lipped, uptight ...more
I love to cook, but this book might be the death of me. It's worth reading because Julia Child is a master of efficiency. She's not a purist, and I love that. There's a lot to learn from her. For example, I've wondered why American croissants are nothing like French croissants. No comparison. Child explains that French butter is not a new, sweet cream, but a nutty, aged cream, and that French flour is not the same, either. Because EVERYTHING (no exaggeration) in French cooking begins with
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Apr 12, 2008
Heath Robinson
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Those who love excessive amounts of butter and cream.
I'm curretly revisiting this one. I had to put it away for a few months due to the weight gain from round one with Julia...butter anyone? This book made me realize how much I love cooking. She breaks the recipes down so anyone can understand. I've made several dishes from the book now and the recipes are hard to truly screw up. Julia Child makes it possible for anyone to feel like a culinary star. Screw Rachael Ray!. Julia will always be the queen. She's like the Oprah of the culinary arts. P.S.
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I learned it is impossible to read a Julia Child book without hearing her voice in your head.
Actually, I was thinking of cooking every recipe in this book over the course of a year and blog about it, then get a book deal. Then I could get Nora Ephron to write the screenplay for a movie about my book and get Amy Adams and Meryl Streep to star in it. Apparently that has been done. So I will cook every recipe in Nora Ephron's book "Heartburn" and blog about that instead. Take that!
Actually, I was thinking of cooking every recipe in this book over the course of a year and blog about it, then get a book deal. Then I could get Nora Ephron to write the screenplay for a movie about my book and get Amy Adams and Meryl Streep to star in it. Apparently that has been done. So I will cook every recipe in Nora Ephron's book "Heartburn" and blog about that instead. Take that!
I think this one is too much for me (and my skills). I probably should settle with mastering the art of avoiding death by inanition.
I'd be the one tasting the dishes, so society is safe.
I'd be the one tasting the dishes, so society is safe.
The foie gras was devilish and exciting but the salmon had a Dickensian dryness comparable only to the wet soot off the tattered gloves of a common cockney chimney sweep. Also, she can't pair wine with an amuse bouche to save her ass or her apron. Really good book and I'd recommend it to both my closest lifelong friend or most hated enemy.
What's not to love about the great Julia Child?! Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a must read! And it has a permanent place on my bookshelf at home, right along with so many other cookbooks that I own! I loved this one. It's a great reference.
I did the whole cooking my way through this during a period of uncertainty around my employment, ten years before the blog came out, so I guess that's a thing. This is also an amazing manual for an amateur chef. It is not fancy - no glossy photos of food - but if you read it cover to cover, you'll be a much better cook. I didn't bother making the aspics, but the foundations for many of my staple recipes started here. Highly recommended.
Sep 25, 2009
Sherrel Wiser
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorite-all-time-books-read,
review-completed
After watching the move Julie and Julia with my daughter, we decided to duplicate the premise of the movie, purchase the book, and cook through it. Well, I ordered the book online and read it over the weekend. I have tabs on all the recipes we are going to do over the next year. So far, we have finished soups and sauces. My husband, is very supportive! If we mess up, we just smile, and using our best Julia Child's voice say "Neeever apologize for trying!"
Not just the creme de la creme of cookbooks, but also a great resource...Julia takes you through the basics--how to stock your kitchen, how to chop a mushroom, how to make a quiche, how to roast a chicken, etc. The book is a staple for a dinner party...or to answer a random question that comes up about food.
It's also well written and one of the few cookbooks that begs for you to sit down and read.
It's also well written and one of the few cookbooks that begs for you to sit down and read.
My grandmother purchased this book in 1966, so not quite a first edition, but the cover looked like this one. You would think with a 700 page book written in the 1950's with no pictures (a few pencil sketches), it would be obsolete. Not so, my ambitious culinary friends! It is surprisingly accessible. I looked up Bearnaise sauce which I had recently butchered, and yep, there it was and all the ways I could have fixed it.
Julia says that the French don't have so many recipes but they have ...more
Julia says that the French don't have so many recipes but they have ...more
I enjoyed the hell out of this cookbook...to the tune of 20lbs. Reader beware.
PS: I highly recommend the chicken with port and cream.
PS: I highly recommend the chicken with port and cream.
This book is a classic for a reason. It was inspiring and would be the perfect reference for specific techniques. I did only try two recipes, but intend to revisit the book at some point in the future... the recipes are designed to feed a large group of people.
One of my favorite cookbooks. Good traditional recipes.
I've found several recipes that I make over and over- like Mayonnaise. We ONLY eat my homemade mayo now-I experiment with different herbs and spices. I tried the hand whisk method a few times, delicious and fun for a lark, but the real workhorse recipe uses the food processor, and Julia's method is foolproof.
I love the way she will introduce a basic technique, that, once mastered lends itself to many variations-like pastry, cooking stocks, or tortes.
This book will always be on my shelf as a ...more
I love the way she will introduce a basic technique, that, once mastered lends itself to many variations-like pastry, cooking stocks, or tortes.
This book will always be on my shelf as a ...more
I'm a novice cookbook reader and more or less a novice cook, though I know food well. Actually, by the horrendous standards of North American home kitchens, I'm a highly experienced and profoundly skilled home cook. But I stress the horrendous standards part. I also don't really want to use Goodreads to rate cookbooks because there's just something odd about giving any cookbook five stars and having it sit there next to fucking Hamlet like it's of the same standard. But I did read these things.
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Julia Child was a famous American cook, author, and television personality who introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream through her many cookbooks and television programs. Her most famous works are the 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and, showcasing her sui generis television persona, the series The French Chef, which premiered in 1963.
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Mastering the Art of French Cooking
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“Just like becoming an expert in wine–you learn by drinking it, the best you can afford–you learn about great food by finding the best there is, whether simply or luxurious. The you savor it, analyze it, and discuss it with your companions, and you compare it with other experiences.”
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