Check This Out -- Not!

Mastering the Art of French Cooking - Vol. 1

This post isn't exactly about cooking but it is all about cooking!

After watching "Julie and Julia" and and setting off on this this cooking adventure there was a slight problem -- I didn't have a copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Luckily, I have a library card and the local library is only five minutes from our home. That's how it started.

Have you ever tried cooking with a cookbook checked out from the library? I don't know about you, but I don't even want to lose 10 cents a day in fines for returning a book late. I couldn't imagine what the fine would be if I accidentally braised a page of the cookbook or dripped poaching liquid on one of the pages. It also meant I couldn't make notes on the recipe pages or add smiley faces where needed. Nonetheless, the library book was a great start and got me going.

But no more! Today I'm returning the library's edition of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" permanently. It only seems fair that the hundreds of locals who I am sure are reading my posts are anxious to have a chance to check it out for themselves, don't you think? I suppose that's part of the reason I'm returning it but there's actually a better reason:

ELIZABETH GAVE ME MY OWN PERSONAL COPY OF "MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING!!!!"

Yep, my very own! For keeps. Now I don't need to worry about little dribbles getting on a page, or scribbling little notes here and there. Not that I'm going to mess up the book on purpose but this cooking stuff already takes a lot of concentration. I can relax and concentrate on cooking and maybe even put the book close enough to where I'm working that can read the words at the same time I whisk a sauce.

Now I need to think about the deeper meaning of this -- Elizabeth must really love me (actually, I knew she did before she gave me the book). More important -- she must really want me to produce more delicacies! Having taken the time to track one down for me must mean that she actually wants to try an aspic? Woooohoooo!! Eventually I'll need to find a spot on our cookbook shelf to keep this book but there's no need now since it'll be in almost constant use...

You may be wondering, what's so special about this particular book. We've accumulated a couple of dozen cookbooks over the years including the "Encyclopedia of Cooking," Barbecue, Korean, Mexican, crock pot, quick meals, etc. On top of that there are the Taste of Home and Rachel Ray magazines. And then, on top of those, there are bazillions of recipes on the internet (can you say Pinterest?). Certainly I have looked at those and even used them from time to time, but none of them have ever really caught my interest. What's different about "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" is that it is much more than just a collection of recipes. This book teaches me how to do certain skills and even why certain techniques should be used. When Julia (and Louisette and Simone) wrote this book there was no such thing as YouTube or Google. Being a visual learner I'm finding the video resources online to be a great companion to what I read. Opening an egg with one hand, for example, made much more sense when I could watch a very short online video. Flipping the omelette seemed much easier when I was able to watch Julia demonstrating it in a video in addition to reading her written instructions. That's why I find this book so special. The irony is that I've never been interested in French cooking before because I always thought of snails (escargot) and didn't realize how much "normal" food was included.

Sooooo many new things to learn and try! Bon Appetit!

P.S. In case you're familiar with this cookbook -- Yes, I've been using the first volume all along. The first volume has a reddish color while the second volume (which came out years later) is a turquoise color. The library's copy had a jacket cover with the color of volume two but it really was volume one.

Library Copy --> My Copy!