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How to Cook Like Julia Child

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Last weekend, my husband and I finally got around to renting the Julie and Julia DVD, and we thoroughly enjoyed it!  I remember watching The French Chef as a kid, and we both laugh out loud every time we see that Dan Akroyd skit where he impersonates Julia Child.  Got us thinking…what does it take to figure out how to cook like Julia Child?  For starters, it takes a love of food and a love of cooking.  After that, some good recipes definitely help.

When people think of Mrs. Child, they often think “Julia Child beef recipes,” because her boeuf bourguignon is possibly her most famous recipe of all.  While I don’t have that particular recipe, I do have a great recipe for Beef Bourguignon in a Slow Cooker that you can make at home.  Don your apron and your chef’s hat, put on a CD of French music (Julia Child was definitely a francophile, although I suspect she most likely never used a slow cooker), and get cooking!

You don’t have to be Julia Child to make a great beef bourguignon recipe. Just about anyone can make this wonderful, easy beef bourguignon recipe, and you don’t have to be even remotely an expert cook. Just follow the directions, use your handy-dandy slow cooker, and you’ll swear Julia was hiding in your kitchen.

Serves: 16
Cooking Time: 9 hr
Ingredients

  • 4 pounds lean beef, cubed
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups red wine
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 8 slices bacon, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/3 cup flour

Instructions

  1. Marinate beef in wine, oil, thyme and pepper 4 hours at room temp or overnight in the refrigerator.
  2. In a large pan, cook bacon until soft.
  3. Add garlic and onion, sautéeing until soft.
  4. Add mushrooms and cook until slightly wilted.
  5. Drain beef, reserving liquid.
  6. Place beef in slow cooker.
  7. Sprinkle flour over the beef stirring until well coated.
  8. Add mushroom mixture on top.
  9. Pour reserved marinade over all. Cook on LOW 8-9 hours.

Another fun way you can be like Julia Child in an apron is to make a ridiculously easy version of her famous fantastic French onion soup recipe.  French onion soup tastes so good, and everyone thinks it’s really complicated to make. Have we learned nothing from Julia Child? It doesn’t have to be difficult, it has to be enjoyable! This easy French onion soup recipe is definitely enjoyable. Set up your slow cooker, and get ready to eat some fantastic soup!

Serves: 10
Cooking Time: 8 hr

Ingredients

  • 1 pound brown onions, sliced
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 cups beef stock
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 1/4 cup sherry
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 10 rounds toasted French bread
  • 1/2 cup grated cheese

Instructions

  1. Sauté the onion in the butter until transparent.
  2. Put into the slow cooker with the stock, wine, sherry, Worcestershire sauce and garlic.
  3. Cover and cook on the low setting for 6-8 hours.
  4. Put a round of toast in each soup bowl and pour the soup over it.
  5. Sprinkle with cheese and put into a hot oven or under a broiler until the cheese melts.

Of course, no article about how to cook like Julia Child would be complete without a delicious chocolate dessert recipe!  I feel the same way about my dinners — they would be incomplete if they didn’t end with a chocolate dessert recipe.  Here is a fantastic chocolate dessert recipe that would do Julia Child proud. It might seem daunting, but it is well worth the effort and time spent. Prepare this chocolate dessert recipe with love, and it will show in every delicious bite!

Serves: 20
Cooking Time: 50 min
Ingredients

  • unsalted butter or margarine for greasing pans
  • unbleached flour or Passover potato starch for dusting pans
  • 9 ounces imported semi-sweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
  • 1/2 pound unsalted butter
  • 1 1/4 cups (scant) sugar
  • 6 eggs, separated, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup strained, freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons cognac
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons unbleached flour or potato starch
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 9 ounces blanched almonds, finely ground
  • unsweetened cocoa powder or confectioners’ sugar for dusting the cake

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
  2. Grease the bottoms and sides of 2 (9×1.5-inch) round pans. Line the pans with waxed paper, and grease the waxed paper. Dust with flour or potato starch, then invert the pans and tap to shake out excess.
  3. Place the chocolate on the top of a double boiler, cover, and set over simmering water until melted. Let cool.
  4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter or margarine at medium speed, adding the sugar gradually until the mixture is pale and bubbles appear, approximately 10 minutes.
  5. While still beating, add 1 egg yolk at a time, beating well after each addition.
  6. Lower the speed and beat in the cooled chocolate and orange juice.
  7. With a large rubber spatula, mix in the cocoa powder, cognac, flour or potato starch, lemon rind, orange rind, vanilla extract, and almonds.
  8. In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites at high speed, until stiff.
  9. Fold half of the whites into the batter with a rubber spatula.
  10. Repeat with another quarter of the whites, then reverse the process, pouring the batter over the whites. Gradually fold the two batters together, making a motion like a figure eight, until all the whites have disappeared.
  11. Divide batter equally between the two pans, and smooth the tops.
  12. Bake both cakes on the center rack of the oven, not touching, for 50 minutes.
  13. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes on wire racks in the pans, then invert the cakes onto the racks, peel off the waxed paper, and cool completely.
  14. Refrigerate.
  15. To serve: Sprinkle with cocoa powder or confectioners’ sugar and slide the cakes onto a serving platter. Makes 2 9-inch cakes, each serving 10 to 12.

The most important thing to remember is: Enjoy yourself!  Tell us about your favorite Julia Child anecdote!  If you email it to us, we’ll be happy to link to you from our blog.

Find even more Julia Child’s recipes from our sister site, Cookstr.com, in this impressive collection of 47 Classic Julia Child’s Recipes.

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