Julia Child - The French ChefManufacturer: Wgbh Boston
Release Date: 2005-04-26
Actor&Actress: Julia Child
Brand: WGBH BOSTON VIDEO
Sales Rank: 361
Customer Review Summary (Average Rating : 5.0 / 5.0)
・Totally Enjoyable
・Julia revisited
・Julia is wonderful, but the DVDs have problems
・She is a classic
・Bon appetit!!
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$23.99Editorial Review
Studio: Wgbh Wholesale Release Date: 04/26/2005 Run time: 432 minutes
Editorial Review
Three servings of practical cooking advice per one serving of nostalgia is the recipe for this 18-episode culinary collector's item.
The French Chef with Julia Child, the pioneering public television series which premiered in 1962, brought French cuisine to American kitchens without a dash of pretension. Child (1912-2004), a cooking legend and cultural icon with her 6'2" commanding-yet-self-deprecating presence, leads viewers through some of her favorite and classic recipes with requisite humor and congeniality. The three-disc compilation is divided into Starters and Side Dishes; Main Courses; and Desserts and Other Classics, and includes several printable recipes from each category. In vintage black and white, the collection begins with "The Potato Show" and Child's sage counsel, "When you flip anything you must have the courage of your convictions," before she flips half of her saut?ed potatoes onto the stovetop. Peppered throughout the collection are such reminders of why Child was so endearing: she let the camera roll through all her culinary disasters. In another show, "To Roast a Chicken," Child lines up five headless poultry as if arranging for a family photo, while earnestly discussing the differences between a fryer and a roaster, the "full glory of its chickendom." Even non-gourmands will find themselves captivated by such vintage entertainment, while passionate epicureans will relish step-by-step demonstrations of wonders such as boeuf bourguignon (from her debut show), salad Nicoise, bouillabaisse a la Marseillaise, and mousse au chocolat. (All ages)
--Lynn Gibson
Customer ReviewsTotally Enjoyable5 / 5.0
In an era when "inspired" American cooks were using unthickened Campbell's mushroom soup as a sauce, Julia Child was teaching viewers how to make the crayfish butter to bind the sauce for ?crevisses ? la Nantua.
This wonderful series, only slightly dated by the occasional reference to the difficulty of finding certain ingredients, like shallots, which have now become commonplace, still provides an excellent demonstration of techniques and recipes. And Julia's casual style and enthusiasm are irresistible.
My only complaint with this and the companion volume is that some fool decided to arrange the episodes by type of dish rather than chronologically. Hence, one misses the nostalgia of seeing the development and gradual improvement of all aspects of the show. In spite of that flaw, this a set to treasure.
Julia revisited5 / 5.0
Although I was young when Julia Child was on television, I always watched with my mother. These 3 disks take me back--and down memory lane. And she is just as relevant now as she was then. I'm learning great things by watching the shows (now that I cook!) and having lots of fun in the process. There is only one Julia Child!!
Julia is wonderful, but the DVDs have problems4 / 5.0
I love Julia Child, and these episodes are what I had hoped for. However, the DVDs have problems with the recipes. There are two recipes on each disc, both from "The French Chef" cookbook. Each is related to the subject matter in one episode, but does not appear to be the always the same recipe. The recipes have problems displaying on one of my players, a relatively new machine. (Another one is fine.) They display with no problem on my computer, but there is no provision for printing the recipes.
She is a classic4 / 5.0
Julia Child is a classic. She started a cooking show before there was one. I was very young when this came on so only vaguely remember the shows. I learned to cook fine food from her cookbook. I liked the DVD because she is not afraid to have dead air. The show is not made as entrainment (though it is) but as enlightenment. She tells you and shows you how to prepare great food, how to find the best ingredients and do it all yourself. Bon App?tit.
Bon appetit!! 5 / 5.0
Wow. I'm a FOODNETWORK junkie at heart, and seeing this show puts all those other wild, pretentious, and over-the-top cooking shows in their proper perspective. For my first ever Amazon purchase I chose this marvelous foray into early videotape television. Ms. Child- already 50 at the start of this series and an amazon in her own right with her 6'2" frame- gives you the direct cooking business, without giving you the business. I had seen some of her later shows on PBS in the 80s, but THE FRENCH CHEF had already wrapped by then- save the occasional reruns. (Amazingly, this marvelous show only ran ten years, ending in 1973.) But the episodes don't look any older or younger than any of her subsequent series, which is a testimony to their timelessness. Humble, self-deprecating, and a little wicked, Julia rocks. And cooks. And brandishes a mean cleaver. Watch for the notable kinescope look of her very first show (from 1963) as she prepares Boeuf Bourguignon in real time. Later episodes switch over to B&W videotape, then to color videotape as well as a new, springier theme song, while gliding through such dishes as Salade Nicoise, Pommes de terre (potatoes) au gratain, spinach in puff pastry, lobster, stuffed sausage, roast suckling pig, chocloate mousse, an entire episode dedictated to roasting a chicken, and french onion soup. Purchase the 2 French Chef volumes together if you can-- more Julia at one time!!
Omigod-- "the Chicken sisters!!"
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