Julia Child and the Rookie Cook

Yes, Julia still matters. In fact, she can be your mentor in learning to prepare some great meals, not only by taking on board her terrific recipes, but also by watching her do the work.

Really? Julia? Isn't she for advanced cooks? Some of her work is for sure, but Julia produced a book and DVD series that every person heading for the kitchen should own and use: The Way to Cook

When I first picked up a wooden spoon I turned to Julia Child for instruction and inspiration, first to her remarkable book "The Way to Cook", and then, even more significantly, to the DVD series based on that work. I remember watching Nora Ephron's 2009 comedy Julie and Julia, starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child, and picking up a few basic tips even there (like drying the beef before you put in a hot pan with oil to make sure you get a good sear). In a way that led a few months later to getting Julia's DVDs, a very effective mini-cooking school for those of us laboring on the home front rather than in commercial kitchens.

The book is a joyous introduction to the tools, tricks, and necessary skills of managing the kitchen, offering basic recipes that are then combined with other ingredients to form some terrific meals. I wore out the pocket version of recipes that came with the DVDs.

The book itself, while large, is not intimidating and is actually a far better place to begin than Julia's more famous - and brilliant! - two volume Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I remember the first time I opened that amazing set and thought it would be an impossible task to get through it, not even beginning to comprehend what some of the most basic terminology meant.

Enter The Way to Cook. While MAFC is fabulous for people who are already pretty experienced and joyful kitchen addicts, TWTC is the way to go for rookies, for people like me who didn't know the difference between frying and sauteeing; heck, I thought poaching was just a form of illegal hunting.

TWTC DVDs have bite sized episodes (some are only a few minutes) that will have you serving everything from crepes to creamed lobster in no time flat. No kidding. The section on vegetables is fantastic and a huge help - she'll lead you to some flights of creativity with what can be regarded as mundane, making spectacular what so often shows up on a plate as boring filler. Even very experienced cooks will benefit from Julia's The Way to Cook. I wouldn't be without it, and its without doubt the place to start.

Get it today!