Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol 2
Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol 2 book cover

Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol 2

Hardcover – October 12, 1970

Price
$35.79
Format
Hardcover
Pages
554
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0394401522
Dimensions
7.32 x 1.61 x 10.29 inches
Weight
2.93 pounds

Description

Praise for Julia Child and Mastering the Art of French Cooking “Julia Child paved the way for Chez Panisse and so many others by demystifying French food and by reconnecting pleasure and delight with cooking and eating at the table. She brought forth a culture of American ingredients and gave us all the confidence to cook with them in the pursuit of flavor.” —Alice Waters, Chez Panisse“ Mastering the Art of French Cooking was one of my first introductions to my foundation of understanding the art of French cooking. The combination of reading Julia’s book, working in the kitchen, and watching her television shows helped lead me to my beginnings in serious cuisine. Julia is . . . the grande dame of cooking, who has touched all of our lives with her immense respect and appreciation of cuisine.” —Emeril Lagasse, Emeril’s Restaurant“Julia has slowly but surely altered our way of thinking about food. She has taken the fear out of the term ‘haute cuisine.’ She has increased gastronomic awareness a thousandfold by stressing the importance of good foundation and technique, and she has elevated our consciousness to the refined pleasures of dining. Through the years her shows have kept me in rapt attention, and her humor has kept me in stitches. She is a national treasure, a culinary trendsetter, and a born educator beloved by all.” —Thomas Keller, The French Laundry“Julia freed the American public from their fears of cooking French. By doing so, she greatly expanded the audience for all serious food writers. Her demystification prepared that public for the rest of us. I believe that the television shows based on that landmark book did even more to encourage reluctant cooks to try their hands . . . much to our benefit.” —Mimi Sheraton“1961 A.D. Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking is published. Her black-and-white TV show on WGBH in Boston soon follows. Child is one of the great teachers of the millennium: She is intelligent and charismatic, and her undistinguished manual skills are not daunting to her viewers. An entire generation of ambitious American home cooks is instantly born.” —Jeffrey Steingarten From the Inside Flap Revised edition of the classic cookbook, originally published in 1961. Mastering The Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring- green peas. This beautiful book, with more than 100 instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach. Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California. She graduated from Smith College and worked for the OSS during World War II; afterward she lived in Paris, studied at the Cordon Bleu, and taught cooking with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, with whom she wrote the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). In 1963, Boston’s WGBH launched The French Chef television series, which made Julia Child a national celebrity, earning her the Peabody Award in 1965 and an Emmy in 1966. Several public television shows and numerous cookbooks followed. She died in 2004.Simone ("Simca") Beck was born in 1904 at Tocqueville en Caux, Normandy. In 1933, she began to study at the Cordon Bleu, then the world’s supreme school of cuisine. In 1948 she was approached by a friend, Louisette Bertholle (now Comtesse de Nalèche), to collaborate on a French cookbook for Americans. In 1951, at the suggestion of her husband, they began to search for an American to help them, and a friend introduced Simca to Julia Child, then studying cooking in Paris. Soon afterward, the three women formed a cooking school, L’École des Troisxa0Gourmandes, and began the collaboration that produced the several volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking . She died in 1991. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • The beloved sequel to the bestselling classic,
  • Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume II
  • presents more fantastic step-by-step French recipes for home cooks.
  • Working from the principle that “mastering any art is a continuing process,” Julia Child and Simone Beck gathered together a brilliant selection of new dishes to bring you to a yet higher level of culinary mastery. They have searched out more of the classic dishes and regional specialties of France, and adapted them so that Americans, working with American ingredients, in American kitchens, can achieve the incomparable flavors and aromas that bring up a rush of memories—of lunch at a country inn in Provence, of an evening at a great Paris restaurant, of the essential cooking of France. From French bread to salted goose, from peasant
  • ragoûts
  • to royal Napoleons, recipes are written with the same detail, exactness, and clarity that are the soul of
  • Mastering the Art of French Cooking
  • .

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(816)
★★★★
25%
(340)
★★★
15%
(204)
★★
7%
(95)
-7%
(-95)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

French bread as it should be

I love both volumes. This volume has a French bread recipe that is the real thing. I was successful the very first time I tried. You can make bread as good as any you can buy. Just follow the instructions to the letter. Even if you screw it up, it's the best bread you ever ate.
74 people found this helpful
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A note on the index.

An earlier reviewer gave this item one star because they thought the index was useless. The Index in volume two is an index for both volumes. I believe the previous reviewer misunderstood that. For example the Mushroom Appetizer recipe they were looking for says "I: 202" meaning volume 1, page 202. This may have confused the reviewer but it is not a defect in the book.

On another note the book is well bound so it should last for many years of kitchen use.
50 people found this helpful
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An Oldie but goodie

Very helpful. I have been trying to figure out how to make my french bread crust crispy. The directions of Julia came about as close as you can get without a commercial oven.
27 people found this helpful
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If You Have the First Volume, You're Gonna Have to Get This

- The master continues her lessons. Need to gut and cook a wild animal? It's here, and it's fit for royalty. Have a
random bird roaming around the yard and want it turned into a 5 star experience? It's here. Roast a
rattlesnake? Probably, with a nice reduction that compliments it.
- Vol 2 continues to thoroughly cover the most serious of cooking styles, but doesn't take itself too seriously.
I love French food but French chefs and waiters? Not so much.
- If I remember right from her PBS show, Julia didn't have a 3 or 10 second rule. As long as the ingredient or utensil
didn't get lost it was still getting used. Maybe a quick rinse or hard slap if it landed in something totally gross. I
love Julia.
26 people found this helpful
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Great sequel to the first volume from Julia Child.

Volume 2 expands and updates a lot of the techniques and recipes from Volume 1. Uses ingredients and techniques that are familiar to American cooks, while maintaining the soul of the cuisine of France.
9 people found this helpful
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Excellent. A Timeless Masterpiece

In this day and age where we're constantly being convinced that 'old ways are bad' and 'technology' and 'new ways' are better, this book proves the complete opposite. Good old-fashioned cooking as taught by Julia Childs gives you exquisite flavors and experiences and wholesome food, and there is true joy in following Julia Childs' recipes. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book for the next 100 years!
7 people found this helpful
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I love French, LOVE IT

I bought Vols 1 and 2 and read them both. I love French, LOVE IT, and I really, really enjoyed seeing all of the French words and reading about the history of the dishes. Food wise, though, I tried a couple of the recipes and they didn't really turn out well. They aren't easy, even the EASY ones. I will try to revisit them when I have more time and perhaps more experience.
5 people found this helpful
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Julia and Simone carry on...

The second volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking is not an "add-on" to the set, it is the essential 2nd piece to what Julia Child and Simone Beck saw as their effort to make French cooking accessible to non-professinal cooks. The book carries on where Vol 1 left off - going into soups, breads, meat and vegetables that were not touched on in Volume 1 - and even extending the desserts that the first volume introduced. Child and Beck had envisioned an encyclopedia of French cooking, this is as close as they were allowed to come. Well worth the price, and a very worthwhile addition to the would-be French chef's home repertoire. Bon Appetit!
5 people found this helpful
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Excellent!!

I love these cookbooks!! Julia Child makes cooking French food "easy" to follow. The recipes are well written and even a little comical. French cooking takes a while, but it is so worth it.
My husband cannot get enough of it........every day I hear, "Is Julia helping you with dinner tonight?". Don't be surprised if your friends start dropping by to say hello around dinner time.
I highly recommend Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume I and Volume II.
5 people found this helpful
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Love the book, disappointed in the condition.

The spine of the cover is quite faded and detracts from the condition of the book. This was not mentioned in the description. Otherwise condition is excellent but probably not up to "collectable" I will keep it because I bought it to use it, but had I known I might have passed on this copy.
3 people found this helpful