Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 Redux

In honor of Julia Child's 100th birthday, we are revisiting Mastering The Art of French Cooking. 

I got to spend Julia Child's 90th birthday with her and a few thousands of her closest friends.



In 2009, my friend Ann, signed me up to cook a recipe from Mastering The Art of French Cooking.   Of course, I couldn't cook just one.

Recipe of the Week: Julia Child’s stuffed duck, baked cucumbers, and blackberry flan

Today’s post is the ninth in a series of weekly Julia Child recipes. Kudos to this week’s contributors, project manager Ann Burrola and her friend Lucinda, who not only prepared Pâté de Canard en Croûte (Boned Stuffed Duck Baked in a Pastry Crust), but also made baked cucumbers AND blackberry flan.
 “ the procedure may take 45 minutes the first time because of fright”—Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume I, p.570 
This week’s recipe for the Pâté de Canard en Croûte covers 7 pages in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1. This is certainly not a record for a Julia Child recipe (French bread covers 22 pages) but, based on this alone, the recipe could be considered daunting to any cook. What are we saying? A recipe that requires deboning a duck, preparing stuffing, sewing the stuffing into the duck, making a pastry crust, wrapping the duck in the pastry, and then decorating it with pastry cut-outs, is daunting! However, Julia provides detailed written instructions and clear illustrations so that anyone will know exactly how to accomplish the simplest and most complicated dishes in her cookbooks. “You’ve got all the directions and if you can read, you can cook,” she wrote.

When the call went out to write about cooking from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I signed right up. Then I e-mailed my friend Lucinda and told her “WE” had signed up to cook out of Julia’s book. She wanted to make the most complicated recipe in the book and I wanted to make the easiest one. We made them both and threw in dessert. Since Lucinda blogs, I told her to write the post and I would do the pictures. So here goes…
Lucinda’s Story
When I saw Julie & Julia, someone asked me if I had ever made the stuffed duck. I hadn’t, but thought I might give it a try. “Great,” Ann said, “you make the duck.” Ann didn’t know the recipe is seven pages long, with an eighth page for the farce or forcemeat stuffing.
The recipe has three main components. The farce, which is stuffed into a de-boned duck, which is then wrapped in a crust. I made the forcemeat and the crust and set about to de-bone the duck.


De-boning a duck takes about 45 minutes.


Julia says if you de-bone a lot of them you can cut your time by 25 minutes.


One was enough. Ann timed it. It took 45 minutes.


Once I had the duck de-boned, I stuffed it with the farce.


Then it needed to be sewn up.


At this point, I was really glad that I never went to medical school.


Once the duck is stuffed you brown it.


Then wrap it in a pastry crust.


Of course, Julia wants the crust decorated.
Now the duck goes into an oven for 2 hours and time marches on….
Let’s recap:

• 15 minutes making farce
• 15 minutes for pastry 
• 45 minutes for duck de-boning
• 15 minutes for trussing
• 15 minutes for browning
• 25 minutes for cooling
• 2 hours for baking
• 2 1/2 hours for resting 

About 5 1/2 hours into Pâté de Canard en Crouté, it was time to start the vegetable. Ann peeled, seeded, and cut her cucumbers for her Concombres au Beurre—basically, cukes baked in tons of butter!


In keeping with the “Julia aesthetic“, Ann ventured to Washington's Eastern Market in search of a fromagerie to acquire the proper butter. Sticks of American butter from the Safeway, with their skimpy 80% fat content, would not do. For Julia, we needed a block of European-style butter with its slightly higher fat content.
During all the baking and resting, there was dishwashing, table setting, and gardening. In the garden, I picked some blackberries. Ann said she saw a blackberries recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. “Let’s make dessert!”
We found the recipe for Clafouti aux Mûres and gathered the ingredients. While the cucumbers baked, we made the batter for the clafouti and got it ready for the oven.
In the movie Julie & Julia, Julie talks about de-boning her duck but she never mentions the presentation. After you bake and cool the duck, you have to carefully cut it out of the crust while leaving the crust in tact. You take the now cooked duck and remove all the trussing string. Then, you re-stuff the duck into the crust for a lovely presentation.


Voilà …


Dinner is served. After dinner is served and the dishes are washed and the trussing needle is stored away and Julie & Julia is gone from the theaters and the DVD grows dusty on a shelf one might ask, “Why take on such an exercise?”
The key to the long-lived appeal of Julia Child was her ability to get us into the kitchen without fear, to move us out of our comfort zone and try something new, and most importantly to have fun. I love a challenge and nothing says “challenge” like ten pages of recipe! Ann wanted to take part in the blog and have fun in the kitchen. What could be more fun than taking plain old salad cucumbers and transforming them into Concombres au Beurre? 
Now when people ask me, “Have you ever made Julia’s stuffed duck?” my reply will be, “But of course.“ When they ask Ann if she actually ever used Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, she’ll say, “Sure!”
I may never make Pâté de Canard en Crouté again, but when I see a non-descript salad with slices of cucumber tossed on top I will think of how much better they would be had they been cored and sliced and baked in rich butter the way Julia taught Ann to do it. I will remember the unctuous duck, the succulent cucumbers, the clafouti with blackberries from my garden and the sound the wine glasses made as we toasted Julia.
Do try this at home! 

The French Country Table

 Face it.  We will read any French cookbook out there.  It is a sickness. An addiction.  We love it and that is that.  By now, the biggest differentiation between French cookbooks is the photographs. 

Ryland, Peters and Small, always a favorite publisher for cookbooks, publish the French Country Table.   They understand the value of photos, good recipes and basic bookbinding.  The thick muted paper has an old-fashioned feel and is the perfect vehicle for a country cookbook. 

Writer Laura Washburn has taken many of the familiar French dishes and given them a bit of twist.   There is a roasted chicken, but with guinea fowl.  There is a gratin with macaroni (yes, it is just a macaroni and cheese).  The clafoutis is rhubarb instead of cherries.

The pictures are lovely.  It is no wonder that Martin Brigdale has won numerous awards on three continents for his food photography.  The photos show the food at its best!  

 Your carrots should look like the above left carrots, especially if you procured them from one the vegetable vendors pictured!

Carrots with cream and herbs.

2 lbs. mini carrots, trimmed, of medium carrots

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

a sprig of thyme

2 tablespoons crème fraise or sour cream

several sprig of chervil, snipped

a small bunch of chives, snipped

fine sea salt

If using large carrots, cut them diagonally into 2-inch slices.  Put in a large saucepan (the carrots should fit in a single layer for even cooking.) Add the butter and set over low heat.  Cook for three minutes, until the butter has melted and coated the carrots.  Half fill the saucepan with water, then add a pinch of salt and the thyme.  Cover and cook for 10 – 20 minutes, until the water is almost completely evaporated.

Stir in the crème fraise and add salt to taste.  Sprinkle the chervil and chives over the top, mix well and serve.

If you have ever passed one of those sad bags of “baby” carrots in vegetable section, now you have a great idea of what to do with them.  Whip up these carrots in cream and you, too, can transport yourself to the French countryside.

The Mistress Cook

In 1867 Mrs. Beeton wrote the following:

“Men are now so well served out of doors – at clubs, hotels and restaurants – that, to compete with the attraction of these places, a mistress must be thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of cookery, as well as all the other arts of making and keeping a comfortable home.”

Peter Gray’s “mistress” is the 1950’s mistress of the house and not of merely the bedroom.  Peter Gray was indeed a “mistress” of all trades.  He became enamored of the culinary when he was a boy spending time in Paris.  He would eventually become a professor of Biological Science at the University of Pittsburgh.   Along the way he was a printer, bookbinder, gem cutter, fisherman and photographer.

In The Mistress Cook, Gray brought together a thousand recipes from twelve countries over six centuries.  The recipes are at once simple and familiar as well as exotic and complex.    There is an extended chapter at the end of the book devoted to spices and spice mixes.  There is a chapter full of sauces and stocks devoted to major and minor sauces. 

It is a book written in the 1950’s, so there are no lists of exact ingredients.  There are two pages of instruction for puff pastry.  According to Gray, the best way to learn to make puff pastry is the to do it over and over.  One does not become tennis pro by reading about tennis.  Go ahead and buy puff pastry.

This book is an excellent overview of the history of cooking and cooking techniques.  It is indeed what Gray set out to do, provide a vast collection of recipes over continents and time periods.  One would be best served to find a recipe and search out a modern recipe.

Here is a recipe for a favorite Southern fare – collards.

Collards

I am told by an elderly Southern gentleman of my acquaintance, that this leather-leaved survivor of the past can be rendered edible by boiling it for a week with fat pork.

Seriously, collards only need about 8 hours to cook!

Here is another recipe featuring my favorite cauliflower with the regal name, Crème du Barry. 

Crème du Barry

Cook a small cauliflower in slated water until it can conveniently be divided into florets.  Mix the florets with an equal volume of grated potatoes and a quarter of their volume of grated onion.  Put this mixture in a pan, cover it liberally with milk, and simmer until the vegetables are sludged.  Put it through a sieve or food mill.

Don’t you just love a recipe that has “sludged” vegetables?   Though not that appetizing, sludged is the perfect description for what these vegetables will look like when simmered.  There is not a cookbook publisher out there who would let an author describe veggies as "sludged" and yet it is spot on.

The Breakfast Book

Who knows what sends us down the path to obsession?   I do know that one of the first cookbooks I bought with my own money was Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book.  I have vivid memories of the book because it is one of those "go to" books that I consult often.  I cannot help thinking of that book today upon hearing the new that Cunningham died.  

Marion Cunningham  New York Times obituary

 The best tribute I have ever read of Marion Cunningham came from her friend, David Lebovitz.  In 2006 he easily summed up what made her special.


Readers of Cookbook Of The Day know of our abiding love the egg.  One of my favorite egg dishes came from The Breakfast Book.  It is Marion Cunningham's Featherbed Eggs.  I always referred to them as "feathered" eggs.   This may well be the greatest recipe that any cook can have in their cooking repertoire.  First, it is incredibility easy.  Any man, woman, or child can assemble it with little effort.  Secondly, it can be customized to make it your own by adding virtually anything under the sun.  My particular favorite is sausage!  Finally, it is a "make ahead" dish and perfect for company.  


When you have guests staying over and you are dreading being the breakfast short order cook, simply whip this up in the final minutes of dinner prep.  Now is the perfect time to add your own touches.  Sausage, as I said before, steamed cauliflower, apple slices, use your imagination.   Cover the pan and set it in the refrigerator.   While the coffee is brewing, set your dish in a cold oven and in less than an hour you will have a glorious breakfast with little fuss and big rewards.

Featherbed  Eggs

6 slices white bread
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar, Gouda, provolone or Montery Jack cheese, or a combination
1 1/2 cups milk
6 eggs

Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Arrange the slices of bread in the dish, trimming the edges, if necessary. Sprinkle the bread with a little salt and pepper. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the bread.

Combine the milk and eggs in a bowl and briskly stir until the mixture is all one color and completely blended. Pour the milk mixture over the bread and cheese. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

Baking the Featherbed Eggs: Because the dish will be chilled when you are ready to bake it, start it in a cold oven and turn the thermostat to 350 degrees. Bake for 1 hour, or until the bread custard is puffy and lightly golden. Check at 45 minutes, in case your oven is a little hotter. 

My favorite picture of Marion Cunningham was taken in 1987.  She is seated across from another cooking legend, Edna Lewis.  Oh to have been a fly on the wall, or the garden chair.

Cookbook Redux

SOME HOUSEKEEPING

From time to time we are asked for additional recipes from cookbooks and generally we are happy to oblige.  We welcome all questions, though we have trouble sometimes with how to respond efficiently to comments, so here is an attempt.

Someone asked for an additional recipe from Southwest Tastes.

Can you please post the bbq potato salad recipe out of that book?  There is only one potato salad recipe, but it does have barbecue sauce, so here it is from The Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas. 

Potato Salad

5 large Idaho baking potatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1/2 cup juice drained from dill pickles
1/3 cup barbecue sauce
1/3 cup vinaigrette salad dressing
1/2 to 1 cup mayonnaise, or to taste

    The day before serving, scrub the potatoes and boil them in salted water until tender but still slightly firm when pierced with a knife point;they should not be mushy.  Plunge them into ice water, and when cool enough to handle, peel them and cut them into 3/4 inch dice.
     Season the potatoes with salt, pepper, and celery seed.  Marinate the onions in the pickle juice for a few hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.  To serve, drain the juice and add the onion s to the potatoes.  Add the barbecue sauce and salad dressing, tossing to coat evenly.  Place back in the refrigerator at least one hour before serving, and just before serving, add the mayonnaise.  Adjust the seasoning and serve.

Enjoy! Send us photos of the finished recipe.



 A couple of people wanted to know how to reach us on e-mail:  lucindaville@gmail.com


Thanks to  Brocante Home for our housekeeping picture!

Not A Cookbook -- A DERECHO

We are fine...no life lost.   Here is the info by the numbers:

ONE

bad ass storm 

FOUR

days without water, phones, electricity

SIX

large trees down

ONE HUNDRED FOUR

degree temperature at its max

FOUR HUNDRED

pounds of food lost

 

What a mess!   We are still in recovery mode, but we will be back up to speed, soon.

The Hemingway Cookbook

 

A week or so back, my cable inadvertently turned on HBO and I taped a few things before they cut the feed.   One was  Hemingway & Gellhorn.  I love Clive Owen, but I can't say that I have ever been a big fan of Nicole Kidman.  When the movie started, I was pleasantly surprised that I like Kidman as the elderly Gellhorn.   

Clive Owen played Hemingway in the irascible, horrible, pain-in-the-ass way that one expects he might have been, but frankly Clive Owen is no Hemingway.   Every time someone called him "Papa" it made me laugh.  Hemingway at his most filthy and uncouth still managed to get the girl, which I find interesting if not a bit odd.  Clive Owen covered in sewage would always get the girl.   On of the producers of this film was James Gandolfini.  Gandolfini would have been a great "Papa" so why do they always cast the pretty boy?   Kidman spent a lot of her time throwing her rucksack across her shoulder.  It seemed to make Kidman uncomfortable, as this was probably the first time on 30 years that she ever carried her own luggage.  I think Philip Kaufman is a great director and Henry & June is one of my favorite movies.  It is too bad that Kaufman didn't cast Hemingway and Gellhorn with the same quirkiness he used in Henry  & June.  It might have been greatly improved.

There is a good bit of food in Hemingway's writing and historian Craig Boreth compiled many of those recipes in The Hemingway Cookbook.   Long out of print and quite collectible, the book is getting a second shot this year when it is republished and launched again.

During one scene in the Hemingway & Gellhorn  the couple is in the famous El Floridita.  

Hemingway at El Floridita with his arm around Spencer Tracy and his back to wife number four, Mary.

There Hemingway makes his favorite drink, the Papa Doble.  This recipe is based upon the Daiquirí recipe from El Floridita that Hemingway drinks with A. E. Hotchner in his book Papa Hemingway.

Papa Doble or Hemingway Daiquirí

2 1/1 jiggers Bacardi or Havana Club rum

Juice of 2 limes

Juice of 1/2 grapefruit

6 drops of maraschino (cherry brandy)

Fill a blender one-quarter full of ice, preferably shaved or cracked. Add the rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice and maraschino.

Blend on high until the mixture turns cloudy and light-colored, "like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots."  (Islands in the Stream, p. 281).

Fill a blender one-quarter full of ice, preferably shaved or cracked. Add the rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice and maraschino.

Blend on high until the mixture turns cloudy and light-colored, "like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots."  (Islands in the Stream, p. 281).

Here is another example of Boreth pulling a recipe from fact and fiction.

"Aboard the Pilar, Ernest's beloved fishing boat, food took on epic
proportions. Even something as simple as a peanut butter and onion
sandwich, his lunchtime favorite, can be elevated to heroic status while at
sea:

     "Well, go down to the galley and see if that bottle of tea is cold and bring
it up. Antonio's butchering the fish, go make a sandwich will you, please?"
     "Sure. What kind of sandwich?"
     "Peanut butter and onion if there's plenty of onion."
     "Peanut butter and onion it is, sir."
     He handed a sandwich, wrapped in a paper towel segment, to Thomas Hudson and
said, "One of the highest points in the sandwich-maker's art. We call it
the Mount Everest Special. For Commanders only." (From Islands in the Stream, p. 390-1).

A.E. Hotchner, in his biography, Papa Hemingway, notes that this sandwich,
along with a glass of red wine, was Hemingway's favorite (Papa Hemingway, p. 194)."

Mount Everest special 

2 slices white bread
Peanut butter
2 thick slices onion

Spread one piece of bread thickly with peanut butter. Lay onion slices on
top. Cover with second slice of bread.

Clearly, there must have been something magical about Hemingway.  Name the last dirty guy, covered in fish scales and reeking of peanut butter and onions that you would take home to mama?

Fancy Food Show - Not A Cookbook

Check out our notes on the Fancy Food Show over at Lucindaville.  We are too tuckered out to post it twice!  Literally five miles of food!

The Southfork Ranch Cookbook

In honor of last nights premier of the "new" Dallas, it is only fitting and proper that we feature a recipe from The Southfork Ranch Cookbook.  Yes, Virginia, there is a real Southfork.  In fact, if one were so inclined, it can be rented for gatherings such as family reunions.

During the initial Dallas craze, Southfork was owned by J.R. Duncan(yes, J.R. Duncan, who could make this up?)  While he knew nothing of cooking, he encouraged Bea Terry to gather up the ranch recipes and make a cookbook.

Like most tie-in cookbooks, this one is filled with rather simple recipes that one would expect Miss Ellie to serve to the ranch hands.  There is a lot of meat, some cakes and pies and muffins and the essential chili.   Alas, the vegetables get quite mangled.  Well, perhaps not mangled as much as desecrated.  There are breaded carrots, peas in a cream-cheese sauce, and a green bean casserole with both powdered soup mix and canned soup.  I supposed working on a big ol' ranch means you need your carrots breaded and deep fried with aside of cream-cheese sauce.

Don't think for a minute you will get off the calorie train at breakfast.  Here's a crunchy morning egg dish.

Scrambled Eggs with Corn Chips

3 Tbsps butter or margarine
12 eggs
3 Tbsps milk
4 Tbsps catsup
3/4 cu crumbled corn chips

Place the butter in a large heavy skillet over low heat.  While the butter melts, brake the eggs into a mixing bowl.  Add milk and catsup to the eggs.  Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until frothy.

Pour mixture into the skillet.  Cook and stir occasionally until the eggs begin to thicken. Stir in the corn chips, and keep stirring until the eggs are set to desired consistency,  Do not overcook.

By all means do not overcook your eggs as nothing is worse than overcooked eggs filled with crushed Frito's.  Grab your fork and head over to that oil rig.

The Back In The Day Cookbook

The one place I had to visit while I was in Savannah was the Back In The Day bakery.  Just before I left for my trip, my copy of The Back In The Day Cookbook arrived which made me all the more excited to visit.  I was really hoping to run into owners Griffith and Cheryl Day.  Cheryl Day's grandmother, like mine, is from Alabama and taught her many of the homey and delicious recipes in the cookbook.  

But, of course, they were out and about touring with their cookbook and the very second I was getting lavender shortbreads, they were in New York City on the Martha Stewart show.  (Check out Cheryl making coconut cake with Martha here.) 

This book is homey and fun.  It is the exact collection of recipes that you will want to pass on to your children and grandchildren.  There is no foam, agar agar, or agave syrup.  There is a lot of confectioners' sugar, butter and vanilla extract.  And mostly, a lot of love.  On these pages you will find pies and puddings, cakes and more cakes, and an occasional Easy-Bake Oven.  

 If there is a fault (and this may just be my personal bias) it is the constant repetition of information in the recipes like the constant use of the phrase "at room temperature."   Bakers know to bring eggs, milk and butter to room temperature before baking.  Putting in repeatedly in the recipe, I find, a bit distracting and over-kill.  I blame the editor.

Here is a great, fruity cupcake for your summer indulgences.

Strawberry Cupcakes with Fresh Strawberry Frosting

Cupcakes

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder, preferably aluminum-free

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/3 cups pureed fresh strawberries (from about 2 cups whole strawberries)

1/2 cup whole milk at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

4 egg whites, at room temperature

Position the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  In a large measuring cup or a small bowl, whisk together the strawberry puree, milk, vanilla and, lemon zest.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a medium mixing bowl, using a hand mixer) cream the butter on medium-high heat until light in color.  Turn the speed down to low and gradually add the sugar, mixing for 3 to 4 minutes, until it is completely incorporated and the mixture is fluffy.  Add eggs and whites one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating the strawberry mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for another 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, incorporate any ingredients hiding at the bottom of the bowl, making sure the batter is completely mixed.  With a large ice cream scoop or spoon, scoop batter into prepared cupcake cups, filling each one about two-thirds full. Bake cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Let cool for at least 20 minutes.

Fresh Strawberry Frosting

1 pound  (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel

Two 1-pound boxes (8 cups) confectioners, sugar

1/2 cup pureed strawberries (about 1 cup whole strawberries)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a medium mixing bowl, using a hand mixer) beat the butter, lemon juice, and fleur de sel on low speed until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, and continue beating until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the strawberries puree, mixing until incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes.  

 I can't wait to make these with my strawberry haul.