I do not own a single, solitary cookbook by Julia Child.Honestly, I am unsure how this has come about. I just checked my beautiful Big Kid Bookshelf, the one where
But I am sans Madame Child.
Why all the fuss? If you're on Twitter, you may be seeing the proliferation of the hashtag #CookForJulia. Because today, Aug. 15, would have been the grand dame of French cooking's 100th birthday. PBS, on whose Boston affiliate Julia's legendary show began in the early 1960s, has a large tribute set up online. People everywhere are being encouraged to #CookForJulia — to attempt any of her dishes then blog, tweet, FB or Pin the results.
She's even today's most excellent Google doodle, and the subject of YouTube hit "Julia Child Remixed," as seen below:
Meanwhile, I remain dreadfully embarrassed that I own not a page out of Julia's vast body of work. I've never even attempted one of her recipes. *shakes fist at self* What kind of cook am I?
Honestly, French cuisine has never been a big blip on my food radar. I'm more into Italian or Mexican these days, with a smattering of Asian here and there, dotted in between big, juicy steaks. Of course, I remember seeing Julia's shows and her big, bold personality in passing throughout my childhood. In the pre-cable days of the long ago, PBS was one of only a handful of channels we could pick up via the old antenna. But Saint Joan, who admittedly never has been a particularly adventurous cook — though her pot roast is still enough to render her born-again foodie daughter incoherent, it's so good — never was a regular viewer.
Still, it's impossible to deny Julia's impact on the culinary landscape.
I may not have gravitated toward her cookbooks, but I fully understand that without her, there would be no Food Network. She created the industry of the celebrity chef. She singlehandedly ushered in an era of good, fun food to home kitchens that were dominated by dry chickens, canned vegetables, TV dinners and Tang.
As someone who has evolved from the stolidly Pennsylvania Dutch cooking of her childhood to a woman left squee-ing after eyes-roll-back-in-your-head-good meals in the restaurants of Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali, I have the utmost respect for Julia, whether her food was on the table or not. (As an aside, come hell or high water, one of these days I'm going to dine at Alex Guarnaschelli's Butter and Michael Symon's Lola, too.)
I think, though, that in honor of this great food heroine's day, I really need to attempt one of her recipes. I do love French onion soup — Supportive Partner Man (big damn cook in his own right!), not so much ... meh, more for me — and naturally there's a Julia recipe for it. I have all the fixings, so I'll give it a go later. I also have a brisket in the freezer, which may also turn into a Julia attempt. We'll see how the soup goes.
Naturally, I'll report back later.
In the meantime, if you love food, go raise a glass of wine in Julia's honor. Watch "Julie & Julia" or maybe find an episode of one of Julia's shows on PBS or YouTube. Cook something.
Oh, and definitely watch the hysterical 1978 Saturday Night Live sketch with Dan Aykroyd as Julia: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7tnc9_the-french-chef_fun. It's a classic, one that Julia herself reportedly loved.
And ... bon appétit!
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