The Way to Cook

Rating:
Summary: Julia Child for Everyday Cooking. Excellent Teaching Source
Review: 'The Way to Cook' was written by Julia Child and published by Knopf about 27 years after the first publication of 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' which established Child's reputation. So, it was published when Julia Child was a household name for over two decades. It was meant to be her most important culinary work. It has never replaced Child's first book in the hearts and minds of America's foodies, in spite of the fact that the book opens with a statement that the book means to address Americans' new health consciousness and their diminishing time available to cook.

This is still a very, very good book. Unlike the more famous 'French Cooking', this book is much more concerned with teaching the art of cooking. In fact, Ms. Child originates an idea here that has reached its fullest fruition in the style of Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meal rubric. Ray succeeds in putting out fast meals not by using a lot of processed supermarket preparations, but by using knowledge of cooking to make the best of basic ingredients. This is not to say Ms. Child is doing fast cooking. Many recipes are pretty involved. I can still remember doing Julia's take on a barbecue recipe which involved making both a sauce and a rub from a goodly number of ingredients and a substantial amount of time required to slow cook the ribs. I got pretty hungary by the time I was finally finished.

Teaching is so important to the object of this book that it is one of the very few books I know which could easily serve as a good textbook for a course on cooking. The only other book I know in this category would be Madeline Kammen's 'The New Making of a Cook'. It is important to distinguish both of these books from the 'how to cook everything' titles such as the 'Joy of Cooking', 'James Beard's American Cookery' or Mark Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything'. The purpose of these books is to give detailed coverage to a wide range of methods rather than simply be a repository of a large number of recipes.

The most distinctive feature in this book which supports it's object to teach cooking is the notion of the master recipe. A classic example of this approach is the master recipe for 'Ragout of Chicken and Onions in Red Wine'. If this dish doesn't sound familiar to experienced cooks, it should be, because the very famous French recipe 'Coq au Vin' is a variation of this master recipe. The classic simply adds lardons, mushrooms, and brandy and replaces sliced onions with 'brown braized white onions'.

In addition to master recipes and variations, there is a wealth of notes on techniques to improve your results. In discussing the use of lardons, there is a note which recommends blanching bacon and salt pork before adding it to a recipe to remove salt and smoky flavor. I am certain this is an optional step, but it is welcome to me as I often avoid recipes using salt pork to avoid the somewhat noisome smell of smoked fatty tissue which may come from cooking smoked pork.

Another feature of the book which fits the master recipe model is that variations on the ragout master recipe are not limited to recipes for chicken. Rather, the same section includes ragouts of turkey and rabbit. The same principle is used throughout the book where foods are grouped by method of preparation rather than by source (pig, cow, lamb, calf, fowl).

Still, the chapters are true to a fairly classic organization, with some topics you may not find in the usual work. The chapters are: Soups, Breads, Eggs, Fin Fish & Shellfish, Poultry, Meat, Vegetables, Salads, Pastry Doughs, Desserts, Cakes & Cookies.

The chapter on Breads covers just four master recipes, but it will give you a thorough and satisfying experience which will tell you if you have the kind of love for baking which warrents exploring specialized works by such experts as Peter Reinhart or Nancy Silverton.

The chapter on Pastry Doughs also just covers four master recipes, Pate Brisee, Puff Pastry, Pate a Choux, and Crepes. I may not be willing to take on puff pastry any time soon, but I would expect that the other three master recipes should be enticing enough to remove a cooks fears about making pies, crepes, and eclairs. Crepes especially should be an entertainer's best friend in that the batter can be made well in advance and, if necessary, the crepes themselves can be made in advance and reheated. If you want them fresh, it takes but a minute or two to cook a crepe, and it makes great kitchen theater, especially if you master the technique of flipping the crepe.

I suspect the must useful chapter may be the one on eggs. Knowing ones way around egg cookery will take you a goodly distance toward being able to prepare really great dishes from standard pantry. I find that an author's discussion of how to make an omelette is often a good test of the quality of their book as a whole. I can say that Julia comes through for me by citing an omelette technique I have seen nowhere else. That is, the warning to limit oneself to two eggs when you have only a typical household burner available.

As the book is published by Knopf, the layout, editing, and photography are first rate. I was just a little surprised when I could not find 'barbecue' in the index, yet there is clearly a master recipe for barbecue in the chapter on meats. The very best feature of the book is Julia's very familiar voice and attitude which carries you on with reassurances that you can do it and these techniques will do you great service in your life.

Very highly recommended. Lots of French recipes and lots of modern appliances put to good use.

Rating:
Summary: Bought another copy for my kids --- it's that good!
Review: A nicely photographed, well documented, and clearly written cookbook that teaches basic cooking skills while producing extraordinary food. I learned to cook using Betty Crocker cookbooks, which will teach the basics, but I wish Julia's Way to Cook cookbook was there almost 40 years ago when I started learning how to cook. Her recipes are beyond compare.

Fortunately, my daughters will each have copies of her cookbook so they can learn to feed themselves well.

Rating:
Summary: For Advanced Cooks Only
Review: An avid cook I only recently was won over by the legendary Julia Child. And I have to say that "The Way to Cook" is one big, beautiful cookbook. The huge tome is filled with full color photographs of not just completed dishes (the so-called "beauty shots") but detailed shots of the step-by-step techniques needed to prepare the often complicated recipes--a feature I found extremely helpful.

I really liked this book, but I have to say the title is a real misnomer. This is NOT a book for beginners who want to learn to cook (for that I'd recommend "The Betty Crocker Cookbook" or maybe "The Best Recipe" from "Cook's Illustrated), it's an advanced course for wanna-be gourmets. If you don't love to cook, or don't enjoy making "fancy" dishes (though there are a few "basics," this book focuses on Child's forte, classical French cooking that's pretty enough to serve in a restaurant), then this cookbook isn't for you. But if you're ready to expand your cooking horizons, I think this title is perfect.

One more note ... a fan of Martha Stewarts television cooking segments I noticed that a great number of the techniques that Martha promotes come straight from Child. Something I never realized before reading "The Way to Cook."

Rating:
Summary: The Elegant Bible of Cooking
Review: Elegance:
- Refinement, grace, and beauty in movement, appearance, or manners.
- Tasteful opulence in form, decoration, or presentation.
- Restraint and grace of style.
- Scientific exactness and precision.

In other words, - Julia Child's The Way to Cook.

Rating:
Summary: The cookbook you go back to over and over again
Review: I am an avid cook, and home baker. I also have an extensive collection of cookbooks.

Some cookbooks, French Laundry, Aquavit, Amuse Bouche, and the like are beautiful books, with wonderful recipes for the more advanced home chef. I use them all the time, but consider them very focused and specific in their scope.

The Way to Cook is more like the cooking "Kama Sutra" in my house. I continue to go back to Julia's methods of preparing the staples. In a very easy to understand and often illustrated way, this book covers hundreds of food preperations.

I highly, highly recommend this book. I have a second copy on hand, because mine is so tattered, splattered, and earmarked!

Rating:
Summary: The Final Word on Cooking
Review: I got this cookbook as a Christmas gift four years ago after taking cooking seriously for four years. The knowledge Child imparts took me to another level of understanding good food and good cooking.

I don't consider myself a gourmet. I am a good home cook who appreciates delicious, hearty food and I gravitate towards these types of dishes and chefs. By the time I read The Way to Cook, I'd already owned and read three or four cookbooks (all from the Silver Palate ladies) and I didn't learn about the process and intellectual thought of cooking until Child. Wow. She truly brings everything to its most basic point and then, tell you how to treat the food. Additionally, the book is organized well; written in a straightforward manner; and the recipes are simple to follow and delicious to eat.

True, this is more continental than it is American, but I think if you could only have two or three cookbooks, this would be one of them. The others would be Cook's Bible and Joy of Cooking (new ed).

One warning, like most cookbooks, the food is rich, so if you're on a diet, eat breakfast, make this for lunch or an early dinner and don't eat anything the rest of the day!

Rating:
Summary: this really is "the way to cook"
Review: I have a few dozen cookbooks on my shelves -several of them by Julia Child- but as its tattered binding and the food stains on almost every page show, "the way to cook" is the one book I use the most. The reason I keep going back to "the way to cook" is its unique combination of being a cooking course, a collection of good classic recipes and a reference manual on food.
Unlike too many other cookbook authors, Child never tries to dazzle nor does she condescend. And while the writing is always entertaining and sometimes even hilarious the book's clear focus is on teaching the readers how to cook with proper technique, confidence and outright joy. The only thing Child expects of her readers is a willingness to pay attention, but the reward is outstanding food.

In the first year after buying this book I systematically cooked my way from cover to cover - from potato leek soup to tarte tartine. On the way I learned how to make good chicken stock, mayonnaise, pot roasts, sauce béarnaise, braised brusselles sprouts, chicken pipperade, flan and classic genoise cakes. I doubt that any cooking course could have taught me more - certainly not any of the courses I attended at my local cooking schools.

Now, 10 years later I go back to "the way to cook" if I want to look up a recipe for a classic dish or I need a recipe for a cake batter or some pastry cream. But sometimes I just read some of Child's comments and enjoy her command of both the English language and French cooking.

So if you are serious about cooking, get this book, and I am sure a few years down the line your copy will have as many splotches of great tasting sauces on it as mine does now.


Rating:
Summary: Don't Be Put Off!
Review: If you could only have one cook book, this would be it. Excellent gift for people who don't or can't cook as well as for more experienced cooks. It's not so much about recipes (though there are plenty of wonderful recipes) it's more about the ..well, the WAY to cook. I still go to my ten year old copy more often than any other book.

Rating:
Summary: Best Cook Book I Own
Review: This is by far the best cook book I own. It has detailed instructions on how to make delicious basic recipes and Julia tells you how to expand on the basics to make really good food. Her chicken pot pie is divine, and her pie crust is delicious. I highly recommend this cook book to novice as well as experienced cooks. It is fantastic!
C. Haug
North Carolina

Rating:
Summary: A bible?
Review: Yes, it's the bible of cooking. Its like a degree at the culinary institute. However, its not an easy book to cook from. Most recipes refer to several parts of the book for details on how to prepare different parts of the recipe. So you contstantly have to page back and forth in the book. Its intimidating for the novice who just wants to cook, but if you really want to learn about cooking then its THE book to have.