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The Way To Cook DVD
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Reviews & Ratings
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Brian Connors
09-08-2025Although it shares a title with Julia Child's magnum opus, it actually predates it by a few years, and represents what might be considered the twilight of the first part of Child's career. Though much faster-paced than her PBS shows and with a different visual feel because of the single camera, TWTC represents a masterpiece of short-form cooking shows (as well as a top-notch guide for the would-be YouTube chef), as well as one of the best thought out designs for a VHS product of its genre, including a relatively early use of on-screen bugs to provide easy lookup for both the onscreen recipe as well as the accompanying booklet. The DVD production is no-fuss -- no commentary or special features, just basic lookup menus with each recipe to its own chapter, and two discs where the original took up six tapes. (Another reviewer complained about the video quality; considering what was available for field production in 1985, IMHO it's actually about as good as you can expect it to be.) Also, although I'm not 100% sure, I seem to recall it was taped in her little-shown California home, which makes a nice bonus for longtime fans.The recipes are mostly Julia's classics, including her much-beloved Queen of Sheba chocolate cake and French onion soup, as well as the French bread recipe she and Simone Beck learned directly from French bread impresario Raymond Calvel. The material in the video set is covered in the later book as well, but the two actually seem to stand alone in their own rights. It does lack Child's famous asides and chitchat, but at the same time it proves that she was just as capable of running a tightly planned show as her usual, more personable TV productions. The graphics are... well, it was 1985, so about what you'd expect.The only bothersome thing is that it actually seems too short, if only because six one-hour shows at firehose speed isn't exactly sit-with-a-glass-of-wine-and-some-food-porn leisurely. But it's still excellent work from one of the 20th century's greatest American food personalities, and a nice change of pace when you're bored with the usual PBS and Food Network fare. (And do get the book with it; it's an amazing piece of work.)
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SuperSonicMan
09-08-2025This has to be by far the BEST cooking DVD. Believe me when I tell you, if you buy this you will need no other.There are two DVDs that include :Poultry, Meat, Vegetables, Soups, Salads, Bread, Fish, Eggs, First Courses and Dessert. To give you an example on how the DVDs and classes work:Every class has a number Example: Sauteed Chicken is 101, you watch her prepare it, if for example there is an ingredient like sautéed mushrooms that needs to be added then that preparation is 103, you can then stop and go to 103 and see how it's prepared, that way once you know how to prepare a recipe and want to just watch the steps, you don't have to watch every single step , just what you need. And for example after sautéed chicken come recipes that have that same chicken as the base, so once you know how to sauté chicken you can then move on to Coq au vin or chicken with mushrooms and cream or chicken provencal, etc. all with sautéed chicken as base. And believe me with Julia preparing you feel like you can do any of those recipes. She makes you feel very confident.The DVDs also come with a booklet, and not just a crummy pamphlet but a booklet with every recipe in the DVDs.I really believe that every household should have this, it is such an easy way to come together as a family and have dinner with great food that doesn't take forever to prepare in most cases. Forget fast food, here you have very good food made very quickly and you know each and every ingredient that goes into it.Bon appétit!
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Sluss
09-08-2025The first time I saw this video, I had checked it out from the library. Watching, I found it a masterwork in simplicity and decided to buy it. Not only does Julia teach the viewer how to cook (even without a recipe in most instances, except for the fancier desserts), but she has the DVD indexed in such a wonderful way that it's very easy to go immediately to the lesson you want. She presents a basic recipe and then variations on the basic. It is not entertainment, but a pleasant, essentially timeless (unless ingredients disappear for environmental reasons) cooking school with only the extended cooking periods removed.One thing dates it: she encourages the viewer to taste for seasoning in two places, I believe, (1) when she has mixed it with raw meat and (2) when she has prepared a stuffing with raw egg. Since the 1980s, we've seen enough salmonella and e-coli outbreaks to be wary of this practice.And finally, there was only one recipe offered that I found a little disappointing: the French bread. She doesn't use a biga or poolish to develop the complexity of flavor through pre-fermentation.This is really a fine little cooking school, and I highly recommend it to both beginners and seasoned cooks who enjoy learning from a chef who loves making "chef school" (cooking, but not restaurant management) accessible to everyone who is interested.A little companion "brochure" with recipes for the lessons shipped with my DVDs. (I ordered one for myself and two more for gifts) It is divided into the same basic sections with numbered lessons to match those of the DVD.This would be a great way for a young person to prepare for either independent living or work as a chef -- and to practice on the family as the lessons progress!
Product Description At last on DVD—Julia’s invaluable series of cooking lessons designed to bring her right into your own kitchen to teach you the fundamentals of good cookingHere is the six-part series (complete with recipe booklet), originally produced in 1985,in which Julia teaches you all the fundamentals of good cooking and offers a wealth of her favorite recipes.POULTRY includes the perfect chicken sauté with variations, classic coq au vin, ways with chicken breasts, butterflied grilled birds, roast turkey, and a special duck.MEAT: Quick and easy sautéed steaks, hamburgers, pork chops, aromatic stews, a crusty hash, grilled pork, and majestic beef and lamb roasts.VEGETABLES: How best to cook twenty of your favorite vegetables, plus gratins, stuffed delights, eggplant pizza, and risotto.SOUPS, SALADS, AND BREAD: The three master soup stocks and improvisations, a French onion soup and a Mediterranean fish soup, tossed and composed salads, plus how to make your own French bread.FISH AND EGGS: Selecting fish and shellfish; broiling, sautéing, and oven-poaching fish; plus the miraculous egg—alone or in omelettes, custards, quiche, sauces, and a spectacular soufflé.FIRST COURSES AND DESSERTS: Patés and fish mousse, tart crusts and crepes with savory and with sweet fillings, two master cakes, and a Tipsy Trifle.From deglazing a sauce and degreasing a stock to thickening a soup and unmolding a timbale, all the important techniques that make for good cooking are here. Now, at the press of a button, you have instant access to whatever recipe or information you need. Watch Julia do it and you’ll be empowered. Bon appétit! About the Author Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California. She graduated from Smith College and worked for the OSS during World War II in Ceylon and China, where she met Paul Child. After they were married they lived in Paris, where Ms. Child studied at the Cordon Bleu and taught cooking with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, with whom she wrote the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). In 1963 Boston’s WGBH launched The French Chef television series, which made Julia Child a national celebrity, earning her the Peabody Award in 1965 and an Emmy in 1966. Her subsequent public television shows—Julia Child & Company (1978), Julia Child & More Company (1980), Cooking with Master Chefs (1993), In Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs (1995), Baking with Julia (1996), and her one-on-one collaboration with Jacques Pépin, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (1999)—were all accompanied by books of the same names. The Way to Cook, her magnum opus, was published in 1989, and in 2000 she gave us Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, a distillation of her years of cooking experience. Her memoir, My Life in France, was published posthumously in 2006. She died in 2004.
