I wish everyone would enjoy eating like she did. If everyone cared about thier ingredience, prep time, presentation etc we would all be satisfied and happy with our diets instead of slobbering down fast food because it IS fast and not noticing the taste.
She always had a great idea of what your experience should be like when you ate. Not only should it look good, but smell/taste/and satisfy you completely. I remember her saying one time that you could serve her old sour fruit, but if it were pretty enough she might not notice! hahah.
There was a full-page obituary in today's Globe for Julia. It is a really nice tribute.
Actually, Child simplified French cooking and took the mystery out. Before home cooks would be intimidated by the French art of making sauces, et al. I still bascially use her sauce methods -- on the Coq Au Creme I only altered it because of a variation and the old Scandia restaurant on the Sunset Strip and added a nice sherry and some mushrooms to the sauce.
I agree, Lightwizard.
The first thing I made from "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking" was a quiche. I remember being astonished at how easy it was to make and how perfectly it turned out. That made me want to try even more of her recipes.
Julia did advocate indulgence, but indulgence in moderation. And she really wasn't negative about fast food, as long as it tasted good and was always consumed in moderation. She personally believed in good, small tasty meals, and no snacking.
Good food is one of the great sensual pleasures of living. Julia tried to remind us all of that. We shouldn't deprive ourselves of tasty ingredients, because we won't get maximum flavor or texture appeal if we do that. Food should be as delicious as we can possibly make it. Then we should savor it in moderate quantities--for maximum enjoyment and maximum health.
I will always remember Julia's admonition that the wine we add to food should be as good a quality as the wine we drink with food. Since I heard her say that, I never again bought cheap wine for cooking, and it really did make a difference in flavor.
It's so beautifully arranged on the plate -- you know someone's fingers have been all over it.
-- Julia Childs on nouvelle cuisine
R.I.P. Julia
One only uses about a cup of wine in most recipes -- it's worth it to use good wine. I've switched to using a good Madeira in the Coq Au Creme recipe. It's now rich enough that three bites and one feels they've indulged (and it's okay if avoided the rice that could go with it!) Anyhow, who could not love something made with butter, whipping cream and a fine sherry? Yes, I know there's alcoholsugar in the sherry but it's likely only 3 or four grams per serving if that as it's mostly cooked off. Although the Scandia recipe calls for drizzling some straight sherry over the dish before serving.
