Julia Child needs no introduction to anyone who's had even a passing interest in cooking over the past 60+ years. Her presence can be felt everywhere in the greater sophistication of the American palate and greater centrality of cooking in popular culture. Her cookbooks, television programs, influence on contemporary chefs, and impact on the quality of American cuisine is unmatched. Even the role of the chef as a celebrity owes much to her charisma, humor, and mid-20th-century trailblazing media presence.
With the proliferation of interest in cooking and its ubiquity in the current entertainment landscape, a reissuing of The French Chef Cookbook, featuring food preparation basics and the fundamentals of technique according to Child (My Life in France, with Alex Prud'homme), is a welcome addition to cookbook shelves everywhere. She sets out her mission with a clear eye and fulfills the promise she gives readers in the introduction: "Good French cooking is careful cooking, and a question of techniques. This book endeavors to give you the essentials, from learning how to fry an egg or making salad dressing to poaching a whole salmon and constructing a Christmas bûche decorated with meringue mushrooms."
This edition breaks out, episode by episode, the recipes featured on her early '60s television show, some 300 recipes covered in more than 100 television episodes, including desserts like Mousseline au Chocolate and Crème Chantilly; braised sweetbreads; and wine pairings.
This iconic work should grace the shelf of every serious home cook. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.