the french chefby Anonymous

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February 06, 2010: this dvd was bought as a gift, and the recipient was thrilled to receive it and has watched it several times already. it was just what she wanted, and she looks forward to more dvds of julia child

Julia shines in these selections from her legendary PBS Showby Blitzismydog

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February 01, 2010: This was a holiday gift for my husband that was a hit with the whole family (my kids are both in their 20s). Although Julia "limits" herself to French cooking/French dishes, recall that this WAS rocket science compared with a lot of American cooking in the early 1960s (instant jello, instant oatmeal, marshmallow everything, vegetables salted beyond recognition).

Julia shines through as an opinionated, strong personality who has rigorously tested her recipes and techniques, and presents the viewer with many years' worth of wisdom. Her show follows a logical progression of recipe/method to achieve wonderful, hearty French dishes. Because few of the dishes take the allotted 30 minutes to cook to completion, she has the featured dish in several stages of development (just like Martha Stewart or any other gourmet TV cook) so viewers can see how the dish progresses.

Julia's sense of humor is rampant. After preparing 4 recipes of sauteed/fried potatos, she makes a comment about how much better they are than anything from the "dirty dog wagon" on the street. We howled with laughter.

Anyone who wants to cook some of the signature dishes (Beef Bourginon, Roast/trussed chicken, coq au vin) can learn a lot from watching Julia's show... keeping in mind she teaches traditional French techniques. There's no butter substitute, fake sugar, rice flour or wasabi in anything here. Butter, oil and cream are used liberally. That's how she learned it 60 years ago in France.

Be sure to watch Julia wrestling with lobsters, explaining all the different grades of chicken and not measuring many ingredients. She loves cooking and radiates that glow. It's marvelous to watch a passionate person do what they love to do!