Mastering the Art of French Cooking [A Julia Child's Special]

Julia Child (August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author and television personality. She introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream through her many cookbooks and television programs, notably The French Chef which premiered in 1963. Her best-known cookbook is Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published in 1961.

Child was a favorite of audiences from the moment of her television debut on public television in 1963, and she was a familiar part of American culture and the subject of numerous references. In 1966 she was featured on the cover of Time with the heading, "Our Lady of the Ladle."
In a 1978 Saturday Night Live sketch, she was parodied by Dan Aykroyd continuing with a cooking show despite profuse bleeding from a cut to his thumb. It has been told that Julia loved this sketch so much that she would show it to friends at parties.
Jean Stapleton portrayed her in a 1989 musical, Bon Appétit!, based on one of her televised cooking lessons. The title derived from her famous TV sign-off: "This is Julia Child. Bon appétit!" She was the inspiration for the character "Julia Grownup" on the Children's Television Workshop program, The Electric Company (1971–1977), and was portrayed or parodied in many other television and radio programs and skits, including The Cosby Show (1984–1992) by character Heathcliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) and Garrison Keillor's radio series A Prairie Home Companion by voice actor Tim Russell. Julia Child's TV show is briefly portrayed in the 1986 movie, The Money Pit starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long; the 1985 Madonna film Desperately Seeking Susan and the 1991 comedy Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead. In 1993, she did the voice of Doctor Bleeb in the children's film We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story.
In 2009, Child was the inspiration for the feature film Julie & Julia, with Meryl Streep portraying Child in half the narrative.

Georges Auguste Escoffier: Father of French Cooking

Georges Auguste Escoffier (28 October 1846 – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. He is a legendary figure among chefs and gourmets, and was one of the most important leaders in the development of modern French cuisine. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Antoine Carême, one of the codifiers of French Haute cuisine, but Escoffier's achievement was to simplify and modernize Carême's elaborate and ornate style.
Alongside the recipes he recorded and invented, another of Escoffier's contributions to cooking was to elevate it to the status of a respected profession, introducing organized discipline to his kitchens. He organized his kitchens by the brigade de cuisine system, with each section run by a chef de partie.

Escoffier published Le Guide Culinaire, which is still used as a major reference work, both in the form of a cookbook and a textbook on cooking. Escoffier's recipes, techniques and approaches to kitchen management remain highly influential today and have been adopted by chefs and restaurants not only in France but also throughout the world.

Mise- en- Place

This is not my first blog, as a matter of fact this is my 4th blog, so why create 4 blogs? Well this blog will focus more on my passion and first love... Cooking, eating and all that is in the Food and Hospitality industry... so in the blogger's world, this is the so- called, Food Blog.

So what has inspired me to write a blog about my beloved industry? After watching the film Julie and Julia, my interest in writing has come alive again, i have reached a point in my life where i want to give back to this industry through writing.

I have also created this blog to review the performance of my apprentices in the Restaurant and Banquet Operations.

And in the words of Julia Childs, whom many adored, Bon Appetite!