Mastering the Art of French Cooking

On the off chance that you happen to live under a rock, and yet still manage to follow this blog, "The Art of French Cooking" is the cookbook that not only put Julia Child on the map, but also transformed the way we cook and eat in America.  It consists of 536 recipes, and I've often heard that once you have been able to cook your way through this book, you can cook just about anything.  The skills you learn in this book will enable you to master Italian, Mexican and any other cuisine out there.  I've always wanted to cook my way through this book, but who has the time?

This weekend, I finally had a chance to watch Julie and Julia - the tale of a blogger who cooked her way through Julia's cookbook in one year, blogging all the way, and now has a book and movie deal.  I had asked for the cookbook for my birthday this year, because I knew when I saw the movie, I would need to cook my way through the cookbook as well.

Yesterday, I took my first step into cooking french cuisine.  I ended up making 3 recipes from the book, since one of them was dependent upon another.  I made Sauté de boeuf à la Parisienne with Champignons Sautés Au Beurre and Pommes de Terre Sautés.  Everything sounds so much better in French.  Really, what I made was Beef Sauté with Cream and Mushroom Sauce with Mushrooms sauteed in butter and herbs and potatos sauteed in butter.  LOL - Healthy!  :)  Here is a picture of the finished product:

I believe these were some of her easier recipes, and I probably spent at least 90 minutes preparing the meal.  Normally, I *never* follow any receipes - I'll take ideas from recipes, but I just do my own thing, and everything usually turns out quite well.  The kind of cooking I do, however, and the kind of cooking   described in this book are not the same thing at all.  It's like the difference between coloring in a coloring book and learning to paint from Picasso.  Seriously.  But Picasso has somehow learned to teach someone with only skills to color, how to paint pretty close to a professional level. 

Julia's genious was not in her cooking, although it was certainly there, but more in relating the most exquisite of techniques into layman's terms.  I had a wonderful time following the recipes, and it was a bit challenging.  I can only imagine the more robust recipes that are in my future.  I can't wait to cook all of them. 

The food was absolutely phenomenal.  I can say that because I give full credit to Ms. Child.  It was abolutely fine dining restaurant quality food that I would confidently serve to any guest I would ever have.  I can't believe the difference using the techniques taught in this book makes. 

I was supposed to work all day yesterday, but we had a snow storm, and I decided to cook and enjoy wonderful food instead of working.  I do not regret my decision at all, even though I'll have to work extra late tonight - we had a *wonderful* day, and I learned a lot!