I got out some more Julia Child DVDs from the library this week. The series is called Baking with Julia. They're from her latter years and she has guest bakers in to teach us delightful recipes. On one of the episodes, Nancy Silverton comes in to teach Julia how make a custard brioche tart with a white secret sauce and a poached fruit compote. She had all of my taste buds tingling by the time she served it up. It was so good, Julia Child literally cried, declaring it the best dessert she'd ever had! You can find the recipe here.
The Baking with Julia DVDs have brought me to task about my focaccia baking. Most recipes call for a very short rising time, and only one, but her guest lets it rise three time and then rest again. The third rise lasts 24-36 hours in the fridge! I was shocked to learn that punching down dough is baloney. It needs to be folded over, quite carefully, if you're to redistribute the yeast to its food properly, and not punch out all the air that's been building up. I found the focaccia recipe here and have a loaf rising in the fridge for dinner tonight. And two frozen for a later date.
A documentary I watched, About Julia, talks about her fabulous teaching style as coming from out of her not being a natural cook and having to labour to learn. When she teaches, she knows that we need to know the intricate details. I loved hearing this as I'm not much of a natural anything and it's easy to feel envious of others and their natural talents, especially a certain pianist in my life. Her life is inspiring. She didn't starting cooking until she was nearly in her 40s, it took her ten years to write her first cookbook, and her television stints were all hard work on her and her husband Paul's part. Fame was not thrust on her, she worked hard.
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