Julia Child, RIP

Also, one of my Dad's XOs -- er, pardon, executive officers -- in Saratoga Springs did a brilliant parody of her, I can hear it now.

rip.

It's funny to think that, in her early days, she was an exotic presence.

She basically invented the cooking show, right?

I follow her omelette technique to this day.

poor julia, probally had a turkey in the oven too.

rip

For me, Julia's genius was in her ability to make the best of a bad situation. Unlike other cooking show hostesses and hosts who will actually _redo_ a segment of their show ten times over, just to insure that their souffle rises to perfection or their steak sears "just so" (even though the odds of that happening in real life are one in ten, which of course creates unrealistic expectations in the minds of the folks who try to duplicate those recipes at home) ... Julia was different. She was a "one take" chef.

If it rose or seared on the first try, magnificent. If it didn't, she'd show you how to deal with that less than stellar performance -- how to hide the steak in a delicious meat-based salad, or how to serve the souffle in a way that would minimize the appearance, but maximize the taste. In short : she didn't let personal vanity get in the way of her cooking, and she had no problem with showing her audience that she was only human too.

Good cooking is a lot less predictable (and planned) than it ever seems from a non-cook's point of view. There are dozens of little adjustments and decisions that a cook has to make along the way -- ingredients can be less than fresh, an oven can have "hot spots" or an inaccurate thermometer, pans can be too small, or too slick, or too sticky, etc etc etc ... and silently and carefully, a cook has to monitor these things and adjust the recipe to accomidate them.

A good cook is like a juggler -- someone who not only knows how to follow instructions, but who also has a knack for sensing when things are about to go astray, and then correcting them before they do. Or else letting them go astray (intentionally or otherwise) and then finding a way to incorporate that chaos so that it appears intentional.

By showing us how to deal with kitchen chaos, and by showing us that she was only human, Julia paradoxically became larger than life to us.
Did you know that she was originally studying to be a spy? I think that's a perfect parallel to her cooking, because she had that sort of James Bond-ish "making this up as I go along" savoir-faire.

She taught us how to deal with difficulty :

with humor, compassion, creativity and a big glass of red wine.

And in doing that, she taught us how to live life.

Born in Pasadena, Calif., Child once said she was raised on so-so cooking by hired cooks.
She graduated from Smith College in 1934 with a history degree and aspirations to be a novelist or a writer for the New Yorker magazine. Instead, she ended up in the publicity department of a New York City furniture and rug chain.
When the Second World War began, she joined the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA. She was sent off to do clerical chores in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where she met Paul Child, a career diplomat who later became a photographer and painter, on the porch of a tea planter’s bungalow in 1943.

She did do that -- but she never dropped anything on the floor.

The Exploratorium has part of it streaming online. Scroll down to "Life's Ingredients" and watch the webcast.- it's about six minutes in.

rip julia.

Mike, race over to your local library and get a copy of "The Way To Cook" by Julia Child. It's a nice introduction to her style of cooking and it offers recipes that are a bit easier than usual as well as a bit more "healthy" than those that appeared in her "Mastering the Art" series and her other cookbooks.

Now, when I say "healthy", I only mean that it's one and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar instead of three, not that any of these recipes have had the yum _completely_ sucked out of them! They're still quite decadent in comparison to most other cookbooks out these days. And the recipes are mostly home-type dishes. Comfort food with a British/French angle.

Probably the best way to celebrate her would be to cook either a small bird or a big pot of soup (both recipes in that cookbook), and to have a few glasses of wine and a slice of something small but exquisite for dessert.

As someone else pointed out so perfectly : Julia was never one to count calories or deprive herself of what she loved, but she still managed to live longer than Atkins, Pritikin, and all those other calorie-phobic diet gurus!

RIP

So sad, though her life was full. RIP.

julia fucking child.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2510/3725212731_8cde132201.jpg

i'm watching her salade nicoise episode now. she makes fileting fish look so easy!

I had forgot she existed! (I might be slightly too young to really remember her). I do remember that she was quite the character. Good thread (apart from the RIP downer obv)

i wonder sometimes whether she has any relevance whatsoever to younger people. she was a tremendous pop culture icon, but now i think people only hear about her when current celeb chefs namecheck her as an influence.

I remember parodies of her more than I remember Julia herself.

my sisters and i have this great meme where whenever someone mentions a dish or recipe we say "but how do you eat it?" in a julia child voice bc of some show she was on where someone showed her something (i forget what, not important) and in her little voice she just goes.... "but hooowww do you eeeat it?!?!?!"

<3 her

1978:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBQD3aSZ9R4

it all looks delicious but personally i wouldn't muck up that beautiful gateau with so much whipped cream.

i wonder sometimes whether she has any relevance whatsoever to younger people. she was a tremendous pop culture icon, but now i think people only hear about her when current celeb chefs namecheck her as an influence.

― billy mumia (get bent), Thursday, July 16, 2009 2:36 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well maybe that julie & julia movie will change that... that's what i though this revive was gonna be about!

So did I.

She got an honorary degree at my commencement!

is that your way of saying you slept with her?

Yes!

mazel tov

well maybe that julie & julia movie will change that... that's what i though this revive was gonna be about!

she's on my mind because i saw a screening of J&J recently. (it's worth seeing, although i would vastly prefer a straight-up julia biopic.)

So would I, but I will take what I can get.