Get back in the kitchen, servantless cooks

By Barb Randall

The Lake Oswego Review, Aug 6, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Julia Child, shown with a monkfish, helped popularize French cuisine in the U.S. through her books and TV shows. Her first book was called “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

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Where are all the servantless American cooks, I mused as I sat with my friends in the half-full theater. We were waiting for the sneak preview of “Julie & Julia” to begin and had raced to the theater to be certain we had seats.

The movie “Julie & Julia” is based on two true stories, Julia Child’s “My Life in France” and Julie Powell’s bloggings of her year spent cooking each of the 524 recipes in Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” I won’t review the film, but be assured that the critics in my group – Mark Randall, Martin and Carolyn Forbes, Linda Hundhammer and Martha Harrell – all give the movie rave reviews. It is charming – it opens this weekend. Please go see it.

Meryl Streep did a great job playing Julia in the film. Watching her, I felt the soft spot I have for Julia ripen. I doubt another woman who has been more influential on American society.

Julia was one of my mentors in the kitchen, much as she was for Julie Powell. I watched her television show as a youngster and loved the sound of her voice. That falsetto was as full of authority as it was with humor. My siblings and I – in fact, the whole nation – worked hard to get just the right pitch in our renditions of her falsetto.

By carefully following her instructions I produced meals that truly did have that “swoon” factor. My confidence soared and, as Julia intended, soon I was flying solo. I didn’t need to refer to “the book” to create dishes with complex flavors. Start with the basics: Butter, cream and the freshest produce, meat, cheese, etc. you can find, pay attention to how you prepare it and you can’t help but be sucessful. Julia gave me a deep love for French cuisine and an appreciation for what the techniques can produce.

The foreward to “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” begins: “This is a book for the servantless American cook who can be unconcerned on occasion with budgets, waistlines, time schedules, children’s meals, the parent-chauffeur-den-mother syndrome, or anything else which might interfere with the enjoyment of producing something wonderful to eat.”

Things haven’t changed since that was written in 1961. Any night of the week there will be something which might interfere with the enjoyment of producing something wonderful to eat. But not tonight – tonight in the spirit of “Julie & Julia,” I’ll be making something wonderful to eat and loving every minute of it!

Bon appetite! Eat something wonderful!

Here is recipe for a classic French dessert, guaranteed to be something wonderful!

Raspberry (or Strawberry) Bavarian Cream

(Bavarois aux Fruits)

For 8 to 10 people

Bavarian cream is a mold of crème anglaise (custard sauce) with gelatin, beaten egg whites, lightly beaten cream, and a flavoring. It is unmolded after it has been chilled, and makes a dessert as beautiful to see as it is to eat. When properly made, it has a most lovely, light, creamy, velvety quality and ranks as one of the best of the molded desserts.

We were curious to try out some of the recipes for Bavarian cream which claimed to produce masterpieces in seconds, so we experimented with the electric blender, raw egg yolks, cracked ice, and so forth. We also ran various changes of our own, such as substituting frozen fruits or ice cream for cracked ice. Though the molded results looked handsome, their flavor and consistency were disappointing. We have concluded that this particular masterpiece cannot be achieved in seconds; a cooked custard, well-dissolved gelatin, stiffly beaten egg whites, properly whipped cream, perfect flavoring, and then the right blending of one element into another at the right time seem to be the requisites for a true Bavarian cream. The classical method below is certainly far from difficult, and the whole dessert may be prepared the day, or even two days, before serving.

The raspberry flavoring:

½ cup raspberry (or strawberry) juice or orange juice

1 pint fresh raspberries or strawberries or 1 lb. frozen berries, thawed and well drained

1 ½ Tbs (1 ½ packages) gelatin

If you are using frozen berries, dissolve the gelatin in ½ cup of the juice. Otherwise use orange juice. Force the fruit through a sieve and measure out ¾ to 1 cup of purée. (Any leftover purée may go into your sauce.) Fold measured purée into custard along with the whipped cream.

The custard sauce:

5 egg yolks

A wire whip or electric beater

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp cornstarch

1 ½ cups boiling milk

A 2-quart enameled saucepan

A wooden spoon

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