Welcome back to Cooking With the French Chef, in which I review episodes of Julia Child’s original show, cook out of the new edition of the French Chef Cookbook and share the results with you. Past posts can be found here.
I don’t know about anyone else, but appetizers aren’t something I’ve really considered before, because a lot of times it’s more than enough just to get the main course on the table. And dessert, if we’re really feeling fancy.
Still, “Cooking With the French Chef” is all about expanding horizons, so first courses are gonna be a thing sometimes.
Well, things are broadening to a point, anyway. The obvious move would be to start with Julia’s “Great Beginnings” episode, which originally broadcast on February 15, 1965, as part of Season Three, but the problem is, I’m not crazy about the idea of making escargot. Or aspic. Most of the time, anyway. Anyway, here’s “Great Beginnings”:
“My mission in life is to make snail lovers of all of you, and I’m going to do it.”
Oh, Julia. I’m sorry, but my Midwestern roots once removed can’t get around snails’ usual role as backyard pests (My dad used to throw snails at our fence whenever he found them).
Instead, we’re going to skip right to “More Great Beginnings,” which originally aired on December 6, 1965, the seventeenth episode of Season Four:
Ah, crab. I know we just did a seafood recipe last month, but these first course recipes looked pretty easy, and I wanted something low maintenance for April. All right, here we go with our ingredients:
The second recipe, Mayonnaise de Crabe, was the place to start, because it was going to have to marinate in the fridge for a while. But first came prep. Time to juice the lemon…
Mincing shallots, parsley, and chives was the next step…
Then it all got stirred into the crab. There wasn’t enough liquid there for a ceviche, but maybe things would develop.
Into the fridge went this very intriguing (and fragrant) mixture, and then it was time to start the other recipe, Petits Gratins de Crabe au Vin Blanc. Say that five times fast. Anyway, we kicked things off by way of melting butter…
Next came more shallots followed by the rest of the crab, and oh my word, this thing already smelled so good. The only thing I changed was adding dill instead of tarragon. I don’t know what it is about tarragon, but suffice it to say, there’s a twenty-two year old jar of it in my cabinet. Yuck.
After that Julia wanted me to add vermouth and reduce it, and my crab must have been extra thirsty because this seemed to take no time at all. It was so quick, in fact, that I forgot to take a still photo. Oh well. Time to make a slurry and then the cream sauce. First, the cornstarch…
Then some of the cream to get the lumps out, followed by tomato paste and the rest of the cream.
My cornstarch decided to take flight, which is always fun.
Into the pan it all went, and then it came time to thicken. I ended up having to add more lemon juice and Tabasco, which made the flavors really pop. This was one fast and furious first course (See what I did there?).
Anyway, it was time to turn it all into buttered ramekins, then it went into a four-hundred degree oven for five minutes.
Time to serve! The crab mixture came out of the fridge, and this is where the Mayonnaise part came in: I dolloped some Vegenaise on top and decorated it with capers. The Gratin was ready as well, and bubbling nicely.
Oh my word, these were good. The Gratin was rich, decadent and pleasantly cheesy, but the Mayonnaise de Crabe was the real star. It was light, lemony, and had just enough onion flavor from the shallots and chives. We ended up having ours with crackers.
It was all plenty filling, and it made me wonder what in the world would be a good main course after such a stellar beginning. Roast beef, maybe? Bravo, Julia!
This month’s Club 15 post will be out tomorrow. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…
The French Chef Cookbook, The French Chef, Volume One (DVD) and The French Chef, Volume 2 (DVD) are available to own from Amazon.
~Purchases made via Amazon Affiliate links found on this site help support Taking Up Room at no extra cost to you.~
If you’re enjoying what you see on Taking Up Room, please subscribe to my Substack page, where you’ll find both free and paid subscriber-only reviews of mostly new and newish movies, documentaries, and shows. I publish every Wednesday and Saturday. You can also subscribe to my Club 15 Tier, which gives you at least one extra Taking Up Room post every month for a small fee.
Taking Up Room 