Interviews & Essays
Exclusive Interview with Julia Child
Subtitled Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking, Julia Child's newest book, Julia's Kitchen Wisdom, is an absolute treasure. Easy to read, direct, and smacking of no-nonsense Julia, it is a book that I will use and recommend often.
In an early morning telephone conversation, I asked Julia to describe the book for me, and she answered, full of her infectious enthusiasm, "It's just a little book filled with quick, snappy answers to everyday cooking questions. It comes straight from my kitchen loose leaf which, over the years, has become my own personal reference guide."
"You don't mean that you still need help in the kitchen?" I asked, incredulously. "But of course," came the eminently recognizable voice over the wires. "Just this summer I was in Maine and found myself having to cook clam chowder for 20 people. How many potatoes? How much cream? I just went to my loose leaf for a little reminder. I'm sure that you do the same thing." I was too embarrassed to admit that I would probably just guess or, if stressed, run to one of her cookbooks for help. (The Way to Cook being one of my favorites.) "My new book, Julia's Kitchen Wisdom, is just a little helping hand for those moments in the kitchen when you've forgotten things."
Knowing and understanding her love of Paris, I asked Julia (and she is, to everyone, just Julia) if she spent much time eating or cooking in France nowadays. "No, unfortunately, I've not been recently but I do expect to make a trip quite soon," she told me. "My next very big project is a book about Paris in the '50s. It will be a memoir filled with marvelous photographs taken by my late husband, Paul, of which there are thousands. He was the best!" "Will it have recipes?" I queried. "None at all," Julia replied. "Just stories and reminiscences of a most memorable period of my life." From a women in her 80s who could very easily rest on her laurels, it was extraordinary to hear her excitement over a project that will probably take a couple of years and much hard work to complete.
I must say that, as I talked with Julia, with her sonically tremulous voice reverberating over the line, it was hard not to be awed. This was a 20th-century icon with whom I was quite informally chatting about the weather and other mundane matters. It was hard not to blubber about what she had meant to me, as a cook. I did tell her that among the now more than a thousand cookbooks that I owned, the only two that stood out on the bookshelves with grimy, greasy covers were Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volumes I and II. In her most direct manner, this most gracious lady (who had probably heard this, at the least, a million times) said quietly, "You are kind to say so."
I told Julia that, as a cooking teacher and writer, I would be recommending Julia's Kitchen Wisdom to both aspiring cooks and seasoned veterans as the perfect helpmate to keep on the shelf and in the kitchen. "Thank you ever so much," she said, and then, with a sign-off that is still ringing in my ears, "It has been lovely chatting with you, my dear." Can't you just hear Julia Child saying this as she lifts a glass of wine in your direction?
--Judith Choate
Read an Excerpt
from the chapter
Soups and Two Mother Sauces"Once you have mastered a technique, you hardly need look at a recipe again."
Homemade soups fill the kitchen with a welcome air, and can be so full and natural and fresh that they solve that always nagging question of
"what to serve as a first course."
***
CHOWDERSTraditional chowders all start off with a hearty soup base of onions and
potatoes, and that makes a good soup just by itself. To this fragrant base you then add chunks of fish, or clams, or corn, or whatever else seems appropriate. (Note: You may leave out the pork and substitute another tablespoon of butter for sautéing the onions.)
The Chowder Soup Base
For about 2 quarts, to make a 2½-quart chowder serving 6 to 8
4 ounces (2/3 cup) diced blanched salt pork or bacon (see box, page 60)
1 Tbs butter
3 cups (1 pound) sliced onions
1 imported bay leaf
¾ cup crumbled "common" or pilot crackers, or 1 pressed-down cup fresh white bread crumbs (see box, page 46)
6 cups liquid (milk, chicken stock [page 4], fish stock [page 5], clam juices, or
a combination)
3½ cups (1 pound) peeled and sliced or diced boiling potatoes
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
Sauté the pork or bacon bits slowly with the butter in a large saucepan for 5 minutes, or until pieces begin to brown. Stir in the onions and bay leaf; cover, and cook slowly 8 to 10 minutes, until the onions are tender. Drain off fat and blend crackers or bread crumbs into onions. Pour in the liquid; add the potatoes and simmer, loosely covered, for
20 minutes or so,until the potatoes are tender. Season to taste with salt and white pepper, and the soup base is ready.
chowder suggestionsnew england clam chowder.--For about 2½ quarts, serving 6 to 8. Scrub and soak 24 medium-size hard-shell clams (see box). Steam them for 3 to 4 minutes in a large tightly covered saucepan with 1 cup water, until most have opened. Remove the opened clams; cover, and steam the rest another minute or so. Discard any unopened clams. Pluck meat from the shells, then decant steaming-liquid very carefully, so all sand remains in the saucepan; include the clam-steaming liquid as part of the chowder base. Meanwhile, mince the clam meats in a food processor or chop by hand. Fold them into the finished chowder base. Just before serving, heat to below the simmer--so the clams won't overcook and toughen. Fold in a little heavy cream or sour cream if you wish; thin with milk if necessary, correct seasoning, and serve.
to prepare clams. Scrub one at a time under running water, discarding any that are cracked, damaged, or not tightly closed. Soak 30 minutes in a basin of salted water (1/3 cup salt per 4 quarts water). Lift out, and if more than a few grains of sand remain in the basin, repeat. Refrigerate, covered by a damp towel. It's wise to use them within a day or two.
fish chowder. Prepare the chowder base using fish stock (page 5), and/or light chicken stock (page 4), and milk. Cut into 2-inch chunks 2 to 2½ pounds of skinless, boneless lean fish, such as cod, haddock, halibut, monkfish, or sea bass, all one kind or a mixture. Add to the finished chowder base and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, just until fish is opaque and springy. Correct seasoning, and top each serving, if you wish, with a spoonful of sour cream.
chicken chowder. Substitute boneless, skinless chicken breasts for fish, and make the chowder base with chicken stock and milk.
corn chowder. Prepare the chowder base using 6 cups of light chicken stock and milk. Stir 3 cups or so of grated fresh corn into the finished base, adding, if you wish, 2 green and/or red peppers chopped fine and sautéed briefly in butter. Bring to the simmer for 2 to 3 minutes; correct seasoning, and top each serving, if you wish, with a spoonful of sour cream.
View a Recipe
Recipes from Julia's Kitchen Wisdom
Soups and Two Mother Sauces
"Once you have mastered a technique, you hardly need look at a recipe again."
Homemade soups fill the kitchen with a welcome air, and can be so full and natural and fresh that they solve that always nagging question of "what to serve as a first course."
CHOWDERS
Traditional chowders all start off with a hearty soup base of onions and potatoes, and that makes a good soup just by itself. To this fragrant base you then add chunks of fish, or clams, or corn, or whatever else seems appropriate. (Note: You may leave out the pork and substitute another tablespoon of butter for sautéing the onions.)
The Chowder Soup Base
For about 2 quarts, to make a 2 1/2-quart chowder serving 6 to 8
4 ounces (2/3 cup) diced blanched salt pork or bacon
1 Tbs butter
3 cups (1 pound) sliced onions
1 imported bay leaf
3/4 cup crumbled "common" or pilot crackers, or 1 pressed-down cup fresh white bread crumbs
6 cups liquid (milk, chicken stock, fish stock, clam juices, or a combination)
3 1/2 cups (1 pound) peeled and sliced or diced boiling potatoes
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
Sauté the pork or bacon bits slowly with the butter in a large saucepan for 5 minutes, or until pieces begin to brown. Stir in the onions and bay leaf; cover, and cook slowly 8 to 10 minutes, until the onions are tender. Drain off fat and blend crackers or bread crumbs into onions. Pour in the liquid; add the potatoes and simmer, loosely covered, for 20 minutes or so, until the potatoes are tender. Season to taste with salt and white pepper, and the soup base is ready.
Chowder suggestions
New England clam chowder:
For about 2 1/2 quarts, serving 6 to 8. Scrub and soak 24 medium-size hard-shell clams. Steam them for 3 to 4 minutes in a large tightly covered saucepan with 1 cup water, until most have opened. Remove the opened clams; cover, and steam the rest another minute or so. Discard any unopened clams. Pluck meat from the shells, then decant steaming liquid very carefully, so all sand remains in the saucepan; include the clam-steaming liquid as part of the chowder base. Meanwhile, mince the clam meats in a food processor or chop by hand. Fold them into the finished chowder base. Just before serving, heat to below the simmer -- so the clams won't overcook and toughen. Fold in a little heavy cream or sour cream if you wish; thin with milk if necessary, correct seasoning, and serve.
To prepare clams:
Scrub one at a time under running water, discarding any that are cracked, damaged, or not tightly closed. Soak 30 minutes in a basin of salted water (1/3 cup salt per 4 quarts water). Lift out, and if more than a few grains of sand remain in the basin, repeat. Refrigerate, covered by a damp towel. It's wise to use them within a day or two.
Fish chowder:
Prepare the chowder base using fish stock, and/or light chicken stock, and milk. Cut into 2-inch chunks 2 to 2 1/2 pounds of skinless, boneless lean fish, such as cod, haddock, halibut, monkfish, or sea bass, all one kind or a mixture. Add to the finished chowder base and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, just until fish is opaque and springy. Correct seasoning, and top each serving, if you wish, with a spoonful of sour cream.
Chicken chowder:
Substitute boneless, skinless chicken breasts for fish, and make the chowder base with chicken stock and milk.
Corn chowder:
Prepare the chowder base using 6 cups of light chicken stock and milk. Stir 3 cups or so of grated fresh corn into the finished base, adding, if you wish, 2 green and/or red peppers chopped fine and sautéed briefly in butter. Bring to the simmer for 2 to 3 minutes; correct seasoning, and top each serving, if you wish, with a spoonful of sour cream.
Recipes from Julia's Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Child. Copyright © 2000 by Julia Child.
loading...