Watching Old Julia Child Cooking Shows

Hi everyone. Today I am joining our lovely hostess Kathy and all the other "foodies" over at Food Wednesday.

The past week there was not a lot of inspiring food made or eaten in my life, but I have been watching some old reruns of Julia Child's French Chef cooking show on one of the PBS channels we get. I'd never seen these except in little segments within another show. I have to say I've learned a few tips and did have some smiles too. They are very entertaining. 

Julia had a great onscreen persona, and I like how in this show she manages, even with a bit of kitchen bumbling, to make the most wonderful looking foods. Mostly in black and white of course. And I am guessing her kitchen style is  very much how many of us home cooks would be also, even if she is probably more professionally trained than most home cooks. 

She knows what she's doing; she skilled at techniques, but you can tell these weren't filmed over and over until she got it all perfect. I think that is another part of the charm of these old shows.

My favorite lines from the episodes I have watched is how, when she was cleaning off her counter, she brushed all the scraps on the floor saying she'd just get those out of her way. Obviously realizing that at home the cook would be the one who must clean them those scraps, she said (in so many words) that it was easy to make such a mess when you had an automatic floor cleaner because some else would sweep them up.

It is also interesting getting a glimpse at the kitchen and equipment she used. The show ran from 1963-1973, and I am sure the kitchen was state of the art then. Now it looks dated, and I am sure many modern chefs would miss their modern kitchen equipment for some of the prep tasks needed. Julia also had this one contraption for cooking an oversized zucchini she was going to stuff. It looked like an oval washbasin with these big heavy chains to lift it out of the pan of boiling water. I don't know if that was a real tool or something concocted for the show. And in the last episode I watched, she was using a duck press. I was curious how it was used, but also a little disgusted too. I guess I am one of those folks who sometimes doesn't want to know where (and how) their final food comes from.

It's fun seeing most of these cooking tools though, to see where we are now in the kitchen and comparing it (for me at least) back to things from my childhood.

And she always end going into her dining room and sitting at the table.

This next photo shows Julia in her own home kitchen. If you don't know, it was donated to the Smithsonian Museum. 

As you might already know, Julia Child had a fascinating life. She worked in military intelligence during World War 2,  lived in various places in Europe, went to cooking school when she was approaching middle age, wrote cookbooks and even had her own cooking shows. She was  49 when her most first and most famous cookbook was published. 

She co-wrote that book with 2 Frenchwomen, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck, making French cooking accessible to American home cooks.

I will admit, that like many people,  I enjoy reading and learning about Julia. She certainly was a woman ahead of her time and definitely a role model for so many other people.

I can't say I've read every book about Julia, and I'm certainly no expert, but here's a few I have read, just in case you  are curious about reading of her life also.

These books were all very good.

That's all for me today. I'm sure many of you might know more about Julia Child than I do, but she is always worth your time.

Have a great rest of your week.