Influences
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
By : SIMONE BECK , LOUISETTE BERTHOLLE AND JULIA CHILD
Summary:
‘This isn’t just any cookery book. It is Mastering the Art of French Cooking, first published in 1961, and it’s a book that is a statement, not of culinary intent, but of aspiration, a commitment to a certain sort of good life, a certain sort of world-view; a votive object implying taste and appetite and a little je ne sais quoi. Julia Child was like Amelia Earhart, or Eleanor Roosevelt: she was a hero who’d gone out there and made a difference. Her books are a triumph, and also a trophy’ A. A. Gill, The Times
Original publisher : Knopf
Date of publication : 1961
ISBN : 0375413405
Review
ROOPA GULATI
Chef, food writer and broadcaster at
I used both volumes of this book as part of the training schedule for trainee chefs while I was working at the Taj Hotel in Delhi. We spent hours simmering demi glace, getting the bouillabaisse and rouille just-so - often starting again when we missed the mark. The pages from this book soon fell out from overuse (and from getting too close to the stockpot) and had to be rebound in utilitarian hardback cover. But all the recipes have stood the test of time, the yellowing pages a recognition of our teamwork, the successes, occasional failures, and fond memories of my five years at the hotel.