This week I watched my second episode of The French Chef with Julia Child. And discovered that for some reason I watched episode 7 of the first season instead of the pilot. I’m not sure why I did this, but corrected my mistake quickly. The first episode is her classic Boeuf Bourguinon. I learned some really great things involving butter that I didn’t know before:
1. When butter is foaming in the pan, it’s not hot enough to cook in. You should wait until the foam goes down.
2. You can make a quick thickener by adding one tbsp of flour per cup of sauce to a tbsp of butter and making a paste which you then add to the sauce. You whisk it in off the heat then bring it to a boil and it’s perfectly thick.
Again, Julia brought some wonderfully funny phrases into my life:
1. She called simmering, “The Simmer” just like “The Boil”. I love it!
2. She pronounces saute (normally saw-tay) as soh-tay. Which I also enjoyed.
Quote of the episode: ” The treasure of cooking is the brown bits left in a pan before deglazing with wine”.
I love her so and can’t wait for next week when I watch the French Onion Soup episode!
