MonitoRadio Conversations; #100; Julia Child [1985-11-15]

This is Maria Harris, filling in for vacation in Lisa Taylor as producer for conversations with the Christian Science Monitor. Tonight we have show 100 for November 15, 1985. Segment times for tonight's show are as follows. Segment 1, 39 seconds. Segment 2, 6 minutes and 47 seconds. Segment 3, 7 minutes and 13 seconds. Segment 4, 6 minutes and 10 seconds. Segment 5, 1 minute and 11 seconds. The promo tonight is 31 seconds long. This is to be used during the day Monday for Monday Night Show. The following times are commercial break times. They are based on running show times. We assume each commercial break is two minutes long. Commercial break 1, 39 seconds. Commercial break 2, 9 minutes and 26 seconds. Commercial break 3, 18 minutes and 39 seconds. Commercial break 4, 26 minutes and 49 seconds. The promo will follow the show feed by about 10 seconds. We have a promo for each station, so please pull out your appropriate promo. The show will start in about 1 minute. Have a nice evening.

This is Conversations with the Christian Science Monitor,

your host, Bob McDonnell. Good evening. Welcome to our program. Our guest tonight has been called the person who brought classic cooking into American homes. Julia Child is well known for her cooking series on public television, including the French chef, Julia Child and Company, and dinner at Julius. And of course, she's also known for her many books on cooking. Tonight we'll be talking with her about her career, holiday foods, cooking, and her new six volume video cookbook. Please stay with us. I'll be back with Julia Child right after this. This is Conversations with the Christian Science Monitor. I'd like to welcome my guest, Julia Child. Julia, welcome to the program. Thank you, Bob. I'm glad to be here. Julia, one thing I've been thinking about recently is that at the same time, we're hearing that less and less cooking is being done at home. You know, 50 % of the food dollar being spent outside of the home and things like that. It seems that interesting

cooking has never been greater, the sales of cookbooks, cooking demonstrations, cooking shows on TV, like what you've done. Why do you think that's so? I just wonder if it's true. I don't know. We've just been off on a long trip and it's so nice to come back and have some good home cooking with fresh food and fresh vegetables. I just don't know. I don't happen to know anybody who eats out all the time. I think while you're working, you have to eat out for lunch usually. If you don't take your own. But then what also hears people saying, oh, well, I work all day and I don't have time to cook, but cooking is so easy. It doesn't take very long, particularly if you have a nice kitchen that you can sit in and turn on the television. As you go around and you make appearances, you do cooking demonstrations and you talk to numerous people about the subject of cooking, why do you think there is so much interest today? Well, I think that cooking and eating are becoming a national hobby.

It shows that we're becoming a more civilized nation. And then of course, people travel around a lot the way they didn't use to before. And then we have a lot of educated young people going into the field, not only as chefs, but also as teachers and food writers and so forth. Well, you know, that's an interesting thing. You know, we hear that we're losing skills like cooking. You know, these things are going, you know, when we come into this instant society that we're going to lose these skills. What you're feeling about that, dude? Well, I think there's a, it's becoming respectable to do what we would call artisan type things that like the cultivated carpenter or the cultivated cook. That's what impresses me so much is to find among the young professional chefs and cooks. So many people with a university degree, no. Or if you go to a cooking school like the French Culinary Institute, there are people who have made career changes from, say, selling insurance

or being a lawyer. They've decided they'd much rather go and be a cook for one thing it's fun. And if you enjoy hand work and creativity, it's a wonderful profession. How's that compare with 20 years ago, the chefs that you knew 20, 30 years ago? Oh, 20 years ago and that's also, say, when I started in 40 years ago, it was not a middle -class profession and still in France and in most of Europe, it's blue collar. It wouldn't find in France a university -trained person going into the food business unless it was high -level ownership of something and most of the French chefs come from very humble, really blue collar beginnings, but that's not. It's becoming less and less true here in the States. That's why I think we're going to win out eventually. My guest is Julia Child. Julia, when did you first start taking cooking seriously? Well, I really became interested in food when we

were in World War II in China. This is you and your husband, Paul. That was before we were married. I became very much interested in food there because the army food was so dreadful and the Chinese food was so good that I became aware of food as an art form and then... When did you start to try this art form yourself? Well, then after Paul and I were married and he was used to very good food because he lived in France a lot and his mother was a very accomplished cook. So I decided I had better learn and then fortunately we were in the diplomatic service in the US Information Agency. We were sent to Paris and that's where I started in. One taste of that food and I never turned back. What were your first attempts like? Well, my first attempts before, well, we were carting. We were pretty terrible. But then when we got over to France, I immediately enrolled in the Cordon Bleu and at that time that was 49. There were

still some wonderful chefs of the old school with great classical training and I was just fortunate to get into the Cordon Bleu at that time when they had some wonderful chefs. Was it a gradual or a sudden realization that this line of work, this art of cooking was going to be your career? Well, I'd been looking around for a career. I've been in advertising and a little bit in publishing, then I'd been in the war. But I was casting around for a career and as soon as I got into France and realized what it was all about, that came upon me. That was what I'd been looking for all my life. Yeah, I didn't really start until when I was about 32 I think at that time. I read a quote in something I read last night where you said that until you got into cooking, you were never really interested in anything. Yeah, and I hadn't been really seized by the sacred flame as they say. Naturally, what I thought about it, I read this is what particularly seized

you. What interest did you were about cooking? Well, it's a tremendously creative art and also there's a lot of handwork and artisanal work which I enjoy very much. And it's something that you're never going to learn everything about. I've never talked to a really fine cook or chef who doesn't say, well, every day I learned something new. It really requires every aspect of your psyche and imagination and creativity and well, just everything. It's a complete career, I think. You sound like you're still excited, just as excited today about it as you were when you started. Always, I just think it's for so many people who are casting around for something that will really seize them and be a life work. It's just fascinating. You have to love it. You have to like hard work. But it's a never -ending fascination, I think. Let's pause right here,

Julia Childe and I will be back right after this message. Welcome back to Conversations with the Christian Science Monitor. My guest is well -known cook and author, Julia Childe. Julia Holiday season is rapidly approaching right now. We have thanks giving and Christmas coming down and it's a traditional time. Many families think about their favorite foods and one thing that comes along with this is the fact that many families have a holiday menu that's almost etched in stone that's been developed over time. They're family favorites. Is your family the same way? Is there a menu you have to cook at holiday time? Well, thanks giving. We have to have turkey because we love turkey and I particularly like leftover turkey that they had cold turkey with homemade mayonnaise and capers and maybe a little bit of old Virginia ham. I think that's one of my favorite meals. What else do you put on your Thanksgiving meal? We

also have cranberries of some type and then we start out very often with oysters or with a beautiful soup of some type. As a matter of fact, I have an interesting article in Parade magazine coming out because I've been doing an awful lot of work on turkeys. I think there's so many things that you can do it. I did a butterfly, I've done butterfly turkey which works out beautifully. Then we've done just turkey breast which has a stuffing underneath and this year we have a separate or a disassemble turkey in which you cut out the backbone and then you just have the breast with the wings attached, cooked in one pan. Then you cook the leg thighs in another pan having boned out the thigh bone because if the breast takes longer to cook than the leg thighs and by giving each perfect attention you get a beautifully juicy, perfectly cooked word and then you reassemble it on the platter and it looks exactly like a real turkey. And so no one's known

that you've done this separation. Because I did it last year for Thanksgiving and we have some friends in Santa Barbara and we always share thanks giving and they have their turkey and we have hours so we can take back our turkey for cold. I done it that way and by the time ours was practically carved or hosted and not even gotten the first leg off. So it's a marvelous method I may say. What's your favorite dessert to cook at holiday time? Well another thing we've done for our Christmas made -o in parade is a delicious plum pudding which I give the idea for the recipe came out of Mrs. Beaton's household management. You know that wonderful British book that was written I think in about 1880 or so and this is the pudding has to be steamed. It was interesting I couldn't find any suet. We were in France when I was doing the experiments for it and I think it's very hard to find suet you know that's the fat around the beef kidneys. So we just used butter instead and steamed it in its

delicious I must say. Are you always on the hunt for new recipes? Oh yes but I think once that's what with young people who are starting out I think it's terribly important to get a very solid classical basis and it's a lot of work to get it. But if you have the classical basis and that really means the French basis because they're the people who made all the rules you know about what to do you know what to do with just about everything and once you have that basis then you can go ahead and do anything you want. Our guest is Julia Child. Julia speaking about that process of passing on the skills that you've learned you know if you were to give me your optimum list of traits what would you want in a person that you were going to be training as a chef? How would you like that person to be? Well they'd have to be really dedicated and really interested, passionately interested in the subject and also ready to do really hard work and to take everything

really seriously and creatively and expect to have fun doing it so that you just have a passionate interest and I think anyone who's teaching anyone would hope that in a pupil because it's really not worthwhile teaching somebody who was lackadaisical or really doesn't have a passionate interest in learning. You have a strong interest in the preservation of the things that you've learned. Oh indeed I think that's one reason why I think this in this country we're going to do often well having educated people in the profession means that they're interested in continuing on and then teaching people and then because for instance we have two organizations. One is the American Institute of Wine and Food which is just started up with headquarters in California and they expect to have they have branches all over they've got one in Boston they're starting one in Dallas in Houston and so forth but this is something that is making the gastronomy wine in food a real

profession we also have the International Association of Cooking Professionals in which all the people who are teachers of private schools belong but those two things are making gastronomy a serious profession on a level with architecture and so forth. And passing on the secrets and the skills that professionals like yourself have acquired and developed over the years what do you think's the most effective way to do that you've just worked on a six volume video cookbook called the Way to Cook. Well that's that is very good for anybody who wants to learn the classical methods and how to do things. I think or working with the professional or working with a very good friend who's a good cook or taking some of the many courses that are around. I also think it's if you can get any French training like there's the Corneau Blu in Paris and there's also La Verne which I think is the best food. So France is still the place you have to go. Well still I think it's

because they take food very seriously and I think it's just a good idea to go over there and you have to learn how food tastes. We've had some terrible meals lately from young people who go into it just and throw things in to be creative but they really don't know what they're doing and they don't know what good food is supposed to taste like. For instance sweet potato salad. Have you ever had that? No I haven't. Well it's perfectly awful. Sweet potatoes got very mushy when they're cooked and they don't turn into a salad. The idea sounds nice until you really think about the sweet potato and then I mean things like that were it sounds good but the young cook has never really been trained in tasting food and tasting and knowing are terribly important because otherwise you can't produce something that's good. Let's pause right here Julia Child and I will return right after this message.

Welcome back to Conversations with the Christian Science Monitor my guest is Julia Child. Julia we just brought up your video cookbook that you've just done and how does it compare to your television series when you were working on it did you conceive of it in a different way or these merely similar. Oh it has absolutely nothing to do with a regular television show it's not and it's also not like exercising along with Jane or cooking along with Julia it is it just shows the highlights and the techniques of things you don't do it in real time for instance if you're sauteing a fish you don't sit and look at it for two minutes and then turn it and saute it look for another two minutes that would be wasting time you start in and then and then you see it when it's done and turned and so forth so it's very intense and tightly packed as they say

and it's done so that you can actually see exactly how the food looks this is though you were cooking along with somebody but you're only seeing the important parts of it so it's it's a show on techniques. Now do you think tapes like what you've just done on the way to cook and will they replace books on cooking? No what they reinforce a book it really they show one of our criteria was if you can read it you don't have to see it but these are things we want to see what the consistency is like exactly how the hand movements work and such things but you'd always you're always want a book because that's for quick referral in a way and you don't people say oh I don't have a television in the kitchen which is not necessary all you want to do is to see how it's done and you see oh I see what that means. In a way this is a companion piece then to say the art of French cooking or art of mastering French cooking or just the art of of good cooking because this is not this is not any

it's not French or American anything else it's just technique the techniques of good cooking is what it is but I think I think that we're going to see more and more video tapes on how to things like if you buy a word processor or a computer it would be so nice to have a tape so that you could see exactly how to do it because I think very often the written directions are impossible to penetrate but if you could see it it makes it so much easier. Are you going to be doing more of these tapes in the future? Well these go well and I don't see why they shouldn't we want to do more. We're already. We just have to then I'm also doing a book a large how -to book fully illustrated which I hope we'll be out next next fall. I have to hop too to get it done. You know you're what has now been called a classic mastering the art of French cooking which you and your two co -authors spent over 10 years writing. Gosh I do you think will ever or anybody will ever approach the subject in as much detail as you did.

Well I think they're quite a few other books of course I think ours is the best. There's a new one out French is by Winnie Vienneau who was the White House chef and they're there a number of good books out but I think in this country now we're so anxious to do everything American. I think we often forget that basic techniques are what make good cooking good no matter in what language. I'm talking with Julia Child you've been credited with inventing what was called in one article the theater of cooking with your television show which was the first television show in cooking and I was just wondering all these years you've endeared yourself to millions of viewers how conscious were you about your work as an entertainer in all of this you know the theater of what you were doing. Well I'm a natural ham and I think that probably comes over and then fortunately I think being with public television you can do very much what you want and I've of course I started out with Russ Morrash who was

a marvelous producer and then I worked also with Ruth Lockwood at the studio there and I think it was a very easy and formal method of doing things because we could do what we wanted and there wasn't anyone breathing down there next. So the Julia Child we came to know through all these television series just naturally developed over time and then I think I happened to appear at just about the right time because people were interested in French cooking with the Kennedys in the White House people were traveling over to France and suddenly the world of good food opened up. I was wondering when you look at yourself and your abilities why do you think you've been so successful at what you do. Well I know what I'm doing I mean I don't do anything that I don't know how to do like pulling sugar roses and things like that and I think people enjoy cooking anyway. So it was a natural thing. I think it was a natural thing. What role

has your husband Paul played in your career? A well enormous role I wouldn't have done anything without him because when we started out he was working in the American Embassy and it just worked out very well for me to have a career also. We had a pussycat but no children at that point and then when he retired in 1960 we've we always worked together we did the index for mastering the art of cooking together and he's all of the illustrations for the two mastering books were taken from his photographs and we were luckily know that he's not anymore on the service we can do everything together but he's a painter and a photographer and and we just work together very happily. Julia thank you very much for being with us tonight on conversations. Well I've enjoyed it and thank you. I'll be back with a preview of tomorrow night show right after this. That's it for tonight's edition of Conversations

with the Christian Science Monitor. Monday night on the eve of the Geneva Summit we'll be talking about what it's like to negotiate with the Soviet Union. Our featured guest will be a man who's had extensive experience doing just that Arthur J. Goldberg former United States representative at the United Nations will be with us. Also joining the discussion will be Earl Fell editor -in -chief of the Christian Science Monitor. In one last note we'd love to hear your comments about our program. If you're interested please give us a toll free call at 1 -800 -372 -699. That's 1 -800 -372 -699. In Massachusetts call is collect at 617 -262 -2300 extension 2411. That's 617 -262 -2300 extension 2411. Thanks for listening. This is Bob McDonnell for the Christian Science Monitor. Have a great weekend. This has been Conversations with the Christian Science Monitor produced in Boston, Massachusetts and is a copyrighted broadcast.

Hi this is Bob McDonnell. Join me for Conversations with the Christian Science Monitor. Tonight on the eve of the Geneva Summit we'll be talking about what it's like to negotiate with the Soviet Union. Our guest will be Arthur J. Goldberg former United States representative at the United Nations and Earl Fell editor -in -chief of the Christian Science Monitor. Please join us. Tune in tonight at 1134 Conversations with the Christian Science Monitor on WEEI -590 AM. Hi this is Bob McDonnell. Join me for Conversations with the Christian Science Monitor. Tonight on the eve of

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