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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Haute Cuisine

Did everyone see the movie, Julie and Julia?  I loved it.  Meryl Streep is one fine actress, IMO, and she played the real Julia Child perfectly. 
This photo of her is SO typical Julia, laughing and sharing her passion with her viewers.When I was younger, I would watch Julia on TV and be in awe of the work she put into each creation.  Nothing "fast food" about her cooking, that's for sure.  She was, in fact one of my inspirations for going to cooking school and becoming a genuine (although nowhere as good as Julia) chef.  When I attended cooking school there was a right way to do things and a wrong way.  And we had to learn the right way.  That meant we whipped meringue to stiff peaks, with our hands, no utensils.  (Let me tell you, THOSE classes required a visit to the bar afterwards.)  Every morning we had to set up our "mis en place" (all of our ingredients for the current dish), every stockpot had a "bouquet garni" (fragrant herbs), and all of the sauces we had to learn were from Larousse Gastronomie, the BIBLE of French cooking. My first true cooking job when I graduated was as a saucier for a steakhouse and during the interview, the chef interrogated me on the ingredients for a number of obscure French sauces.  Julia would have known them all.  I got the job, BUT, in my locker I had a copy of the Larousse stashed and I don't know how many times a day I snuck off to the locker to look up how to make this sauce or that. That chef never did know how I pulled that off, ('cus he was usually drunk) and I went on to become a fairly good sous-chef, if I do say so myself.  But that was then, this is now.

We had crepes for lunch.  They were marvelous.  Are you old enough to remember when Crepes Suzette were the "dessert of the day"?  I had a job once as a crepe-maker too, eons ago, in a French restaurant. There were these crepe pans on the ends of these spokes of a wheel and they spun around while I had to make crepes and flip them.  It was like an episode of Big Brother. I'll spare you the details, it didn't go so well.  BUT, as a saucier, I learned how to make soups and sauces and that included THE Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon.  Now if you saw the movie Julie and Julia, you will know how intricate the making of this classic dish is, and how it has become a cult classic, if you travel in those circles.  I was going to give you the recipe, but to tell you then truth, it's so long and so involved, that I think Blogger would block me from ever posting again.  lol  I'll give you a picture instead.I know, I know, I SAID I would cook for you.  BUT have you BEEN outside today?  Yeah?  Well do you want to eat STEW?  Heck, last night at about 10PM I made Kraft dinner.  And there's always pizza.  Hey, why don't they deliver cupcakes?

Go on over to Paris in July to see a lot of posts that have to do with the REAL Paris. not the one in my mind!  lol

7 comments:

  1. I love those pictures with the chicken, oh dear I had a few giggles over this. Crepes....bah easy peasy.....buy them from the supermarket......Enjoy the day and don't get too stewed up.....
    Annette x

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  2. OH yes I loved that movie. I want that chocolate cream pie so badly that i went to the shops to get the chocolate and cream ...that film made me want to blog and here I am... and I laughed at the bit where all the pubishers were phoning her... I should be so luckly... so when can you come over to make dinnner???? hugs Wendy

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  3. Hysterical! Really, you went to cooking school?? You certainly are a multi-faceted person. The stew looks kinda yummy, although it's morning and breakfast wasn't so great. No crepes or anything. That corn pic is too funny, I love it!

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  4. I'm thinking about watching this movie, and I'm glad to hear you liked it -- I've heard mixed reviews on this!

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  5. I just love that movie . I did watch Julia on TV when I was younger. Oh ! Meryl Streep is one of my favorite actress. I am really enjoying your blog and shared you with friends. Yes! I do love crepes , Have not learned how to make crepes yet. Thank for sharing.

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  6. Loved Julie and Julia too, but my friend said there was too much cooking in it. What did she expect one wonders?? I just loved the way Julia was so big, and it made the french expect her to be ungainly and awkward instead of passionate and determined.

    You've done some pretty interesting things so far. What's next? And what's on the menu for tea? I'm starving.

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  7. HA! That cartoon is hi-freaking-larious! LOL! I want to try that recipe SO badly, but I'm scared to death of it! Yours looks amazing, though! Wow!

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