Paris, Pasta and Patting The Duck

Bon Appétit!

Julia Child’s “Cooking with Master Chefs” is on again at pbs.org!  Yes, sixteen full length episodes of learning from the real deals – master of the masters – cooking by feel, sight and sense – no recipes!  By the way, if you do want to watch them all, you have to be quick; usually it is only on for about a month or so.

I always tell my friends, I do not watch television – I stand corrected, I do watch television: it’s just I watch it on my iPad or computer and at my own time.

When Julia Child was an English major in Smith College, I am sure she would not have thought one day she would become the famous personality that she is today.  What a true inspiration!  

From what I read about her and from the few episodes I watched so far, no master of cooking could be called a master unless you have studied in France, Julia Child herself studied in the famous Le Gorden Bleu cooking school in Paris.  May be that is why even the famous Korean Café that’s recently opened in Edison, New Jersey, is called “Paris Baguette”.  In terms of food, anything relating to Paris means classy and got to be good.
Well, I have only been to Paris Baguette once and I am quite impressed with both the food and décor.  Be prepared though, you will most likely be greeted with Korean rather than French.

Italian cook Lidia Bastianich is certainly a kindred spirit of mine, she prepared her orecchiette pasta soaking twice over in beef broth.  I always prepare my pasta stirring them deep into whatever sauce I am using instead of just pouring the sauce over the pasta.  This way, you use less sauce but the pasta tastes particularly flavorful when it absorbs the sauce, and may be the fatty grease from the minced beef or sausages – even the thought of it and the smell of it make me want to cook some pasta tonight with sausages.  Julia Child was being criticized for using too much butter and cream in her recipes at times.  However, I do agree with her that we must not forget food is the simplest enjoyment of life, we cannot constantly live in a state of fearing this or fearing that.

For those of you who are more health conscious, may be you want to watch the episode on Alice Waters, the famed Californian chef who champion cooking from fresh farming produce.  She had several wonderful salad dishes, the ingredients include fennel, beets, mushrooms and even red oranges!

Finally for today, I must end on commenting on French Master Chef Jean-Louis Palladin.  Watching him cook made me realize why many masters of different crafts are always men (not intending to be sexist here).  The “services” and detailed attention he paid to prepare his fireplace barbecued duck were simply astonishing.  I am sure if I am willing to spend so much time patting the duck, I would become a master chef too.  For now, I would be contented to be the cook for the Fun household, which meal preparation time usually will not be longer than half an hour.  Yet, many a times, Senior Fun and Junior Fun would still lovingly chimed in during meal time:  “Mommy, Ho Sik Ah!” (好食呀), that’s the Chinese version of Bon Appétit!