In honor of Julia Child and the movie release of Julie & Julia, we take a stroll down memory lane and pay homage to the woman that changed the way Americans cook today with her chef-d’œuvre, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
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The perfect gift for any follower of Julia Child—and any lover of French food. This boxed set brings together Mastering the Art of French Cooking, first published in 1961, and its sequel, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two, published in 1970.
Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders | Indiebound | Random House
At last on DVD—Julia’s invaluable series of cooking lessons designed to bring her right into your own kitchen to teach you the fundamentals of good cooking. Here is the six-part series (complete with recipe booklet), originally produced in 1985, in which Julia teaches you all the fundamentals of good cooking and offers a wealth of her favorite recipes. Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders | Random House
Recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking:
Ratatouille
Boeuf Bourguignon
The Making of…
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a story by Judith Jones
About the book:
“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.
A tribute to Julia Child.
Julia working with her longtime editor, Judith Jones.
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All works by Julia Child
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I believe my comment is as much about Meryl Streep as Julia Child ~ I used to watch Julia’s program years ago and adored her eccentricities and very special personality, her laissez faire attitude about any unplanned thing that occurred while taping “live” show – she was so much fun! I give her full credit for the fact that my family and friends love eating at my house. And now about Meryl – there is something magical about how she immerses herself in a role to the point of actually becoming the person she plays. I believe she is the best actress of all times. I have seen most of her movies and always am struck by how she not only has the voice down to perfection, but steps into the body of the person she portrays, and never more than in this role – she IS Julia Child!
i think it might be time for me to finally shell out some money for this book. terrible that a movie had to convince me to do it though.
My sisters and I grew up with this book in the 70s. Not being a religious family, it quickly became more or less our bible. Need a special meal for holiday guests, go get the double volume MAFC. Need to make some last minute crepes for Sunday breakfast, go to the bible. When my birthday came around, these wonderful books made their way from the pantry to a counter nearby and the ever popular Chicken-in-Cream-Sauce was presented in front of me. We’d all drool and wonder who would get the coveted last serving of delectable cream mixture left in the gravy pitcher. The looser(s) would invariable head over to the clean the reduction pan with their fingers! I can still whip this up from memory, though I don’t do it often, mainly for cholesterol reasons.
Last week I was forced to move and I tried to reduce my cookbook collection to as few as possible. The first ones I grabbed and put into the must-keep pile was the MAFC, followed by the Joy of cooking, and then the New Basics. My reduction efforts were about as successful as a butter-less croissant recipe would be. I couldn’t get my collection to be less than 32 books!
To the uninitiated, I highly recommend finding a copy to browse, if not buy. It truly is one of those timeless classics worthy of the beginner and the advanced home chef.
I have “The Way To Cook”, Volumes One and Two of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and the complete set of tapes that accompanied the “The Way To Cook” book. I purchased all of these items when they first became available, and have used them many times throughout the years. Before all the publicity about the movie I had prepared Julia’s “Potato and Leek” soup … just a couple of weeks ago. She called it “The Mother Soup”, because there are so many variations. I love all of these items, especially the tapes. Any of the mentioned items would make wonderful gifts for the home cook. However, I do not believe the tapes are available anymore … Bon Appetit!
Is there any chance that Mastering the Art of French Cooking will be reprinted with the addition of color photos of all or at least some of the recipes (as is common in more modern cookbooks)? Even though I love cooking, I am hesitant to purchase the book, as I know from past experience I (as well as my friends and family) tend to gravitate towards recipes with pictures.
Alas, no plans to reprint Mastering the Art with pictures—much as I’d like a preview of the dishes, too, we can’t mess with a classic!
Any plans to reprint “The Way to Cook” or “Mastering the Art of French Cooking-Volume 2″? I have been getting them from the library but want to finally get my own copies.
Sue: both of these titles are still in print! You can find them in your local bookstore.
Regarding “The Way to Cook” – I was going to order from Amazon but have read that there are errors in the 1st edition. Is a revised copy available?
Sue: “The Way to Cook” that’s sold on amazon.com was published in 1993. The first edition was published in 1989.
Prefer hardcover. On Amazon, it’s the 1st edition from 89.
Sue: I have the 89 first edition hardcover. There are a few mistakes, but they are obvious; I marked them in my copy, and don’t let them bother me …
There are other editions, but I can’t tell if there’s an updated hardcover from those listed here:
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/18813917/editions?
There is a reprint of the 89 edition from 2001; doesn’t indicated whether it’s updated. Perhaps contact Knopf?
Julia and Julia wins the A River Runs Through It prize this year, at least for me: it shows why cooking isn’t just a sport (ie Iron Chef, barbecue contests) but also a comfort when I’m home alone, just as flyfishing remains a constant comfort in my life, as is reading in bed next to a snoozing cat and a snoring old dog, or as is listening to my favorite old jazz recordings.
If you check out the film carefully, you will notice that Julia prefers iron-handled copper pots over brass-handled ones. What that tells me: someone who really cooks, who actually spends time behind a stove, took care of the serious details nobody else would notice. It’s not just a Williams-Sonoma showroom of a film.
I was never such a fan of Julia Child, and I can’t imagine why. From the start I followed Jacques Pepin and his La Technique, plus the Gourmet cookbooks of 1965. But I actually see that as a good thing! Now, I can discover Julia for myself!
I don’t know why, but I have been intimidated for years by “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Now comes “Julie and Julia” and I’m overjoyed with the vistas suddenly opened to me. Maybe it was Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, both marvelous actors, or maybe it’s just a sign that I’m finally maturing as a cook. Whatever, I’ve finally turned a corner, never to look back.
Any plans for making this book available as an eBook, not in Kindle or proprietary format but in ebook or pdf?
i wouldn’t mind buying it again in digital format, but i dont want to be tied down to a proprietary device, like Barnes and Noble – which just closed their stores here due to bankrupcy.
i want something i can read in both my computer -for when i need to print a recipe – and iPhone for when i am cooking it outdoors.
thank you.
In short: No.
The long answer: We have a couple of Julia Child’s cookbook backlist available in a digital format from a variety of ebook retailers. If you’re not a fan of Kindle or Nook, you’re welcome to try the iBookstore, the Google ebookstore, the Kobo store, the Reader store for Sony—you have your pick. We don’t yet have Mastering the Art of French Cooking available as an ebook, but we’re aware that there’s a desire for it in the marketplace, so stay tuned.