2025. Oh my word. This year was all about experimentation and learning. I moved out of the relatively familiar world of chocolate mousse and Coquille St. Jacques and into the more experimental realms of quenelles and Genoise cake.
For those of you who are regular readers of this series, you know I had a couple of fails and a couple of near-fails this past year, which of course happens anytime one learns a new skill, but the way these recipes turned out made me wonder if there’s a difference between what’s in The French Chef Cookbook and Julia’s original recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. When the Anti-Chef made Julia’s quenelles from the Mastering recipe, for instance, the process was slightly altered from what I had to do.
The reason I’m wondering this is because I’ve heard of people mentioning to Julia that when they made this recipe or that one it didn’t turn out right, and Julia would say that she tested each recipe many times and they should always work. I believe her. Maybe the recipes in The French Chef Cookbook didn’t get as much testing. It would be interesting to go back and make the recipes that I’ve already done on here using Mastering and see if anything changed between the two books.
That’s all in the future, though, and right now we’re here to rank the recipes I made in 2025. I think you all can guess what’s going to come in on the bottom (Click on the titles to read more). OK, here we go…
11. Quenelles
Absolutely dreadful. I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a recipe as much as this one. I honestly don’t know what I could have done to improve it. Freeze the paté a choux longer? Add more flour? Who knows. The end result was sloppy, visually gross, way too heavy, and overall pretty depressing because I don’t like to waste food.
Unlike Julia and Paul, who were probably able to throw food out without breathing too hard, at my house we have to eat leftovers. It’s a budget thing, and fortunately there are meals which are even better the next day.
This one? Heck no. None of us wanted to touch it, and I can’t say I blame anyone for that.
10. Genoise Cake
Julia said Genoise cake is easy. Julia lied. Or at least Julia was biased. I had to watch other chefs make this cake after I tried and failed three times to get this thing to rise properly, and all of them without exception said that Genoise cake takes practice.
Well, Julia said that, too, but the other chefs made no bones about Genoise being one of the most finicky cakes on the planet. One fold too many and the batter deflates like an old party balloon.
Like I said in the article, I won’t be making this cake again. It’s too easy to whip up a nice yellow cake or a sponge cake, even from scratch.
9. Strawberry Tart
The only reason Julia’s strawberry tart isn’t on the bottom is that it was at least edible and came out somewhat close to what Julia said. Well, on the first day, anyway. It was still hard to cut because of that infernal glaze that I burned my fingers on, and by the next day the stuff hardened completely. My husband said cutting through the tart was like cutting a Jolly Rancher. Sorry, but that tart was a waste of some really good strawberries.
On the plus side, the crust rivaled my great-grandma’s, so that part at least will be making a comeback. I’m thinking French silk pie for a kickoff.
8. The Mushroom Show
This was more about fundamentals of cooking with a few recipes thrown in, and while I have my own recipe for sauteed mushrooms, I was interested to see how Julia did hers.
They’re not bad at all. Pretty familiar, actually, because they contain Julia’s trusty shallots and are cooked in butter. I still like my mushrooms best, though.
Only one aspect of this outing was a fail: My attempt to flute mushrooms produced some weirdly white circus umbrellas instead.
7. Improvisation
Julia got quite daring with this little collection of recipes, as they involved canned veggies, instant mashed potatoes, and piggybacking of ingredients, which is a departure from her usual love for making everything from scratch.
These recipes are supposed to be good for the budget, which they are, but I’m not a huge fan of instant mashed potatoes. They’re basically reconstituted Pringles, and anyway, Irish baker potatoes are one of the cheapest foods on the planet. In a pinch, though, instant works, and in this instance they become molded mashed potatoes. Yep. Leave everything already known about mashed potatoes behind when making these recipes.
Where this collection really shines is the soup, which I made from leftover pork chops. It almost tasted like Campbell’s Vegetable Beef only way, way better. And the square of mashed potatoes was a nice if slightly odd touch.
6. Timbales
Timbales feel like a mashup of a quiche, a souffle, a terrine, and when turned out onto a plate, bear a slight resemblance to Sheba cat food. Only cat food doesn’t normally get a generous coating of cheese or tomato sauce. These were tasty and succulent, especially the spinach timbale.
But, and this is a big “but,” I’m allergic to eggs, so I could only manage a few bites at a time. Food allergies suck. I would love to have omelettes for breakfast, especially Denver omelettes, but whatever. It is what it is.
Anyway, I figured I’d try Julia’s timbales because they’re not straight egg and my guys would eat them for me. Which they did, mostly. We just won’t be making these again because at my house we can’t afford to make something we can’t all eat.
5. Crab Appetizers (Hot and Cold)
The funny thing about last year’s recipes is that there are a lot of subrankings. Or there should be, but I’m not gonna do that because it would get too confusing. Oh well.
Anywhoo, this was a lot of crab. It was a lot of tasty, too. My little family and I liked the Gratin, but the Mayonnaise de Crabe was the bigger hit, because it was pretty light and refreshing.
Would I make them again? I don’t know. For appetizers these were really filling, and I think the Gratin would do better as a light entree with salad and bread. Still, it was a good experience.
4. Fish Mousselines
Oh muh word. This was so, so decadent. Everything was cooked in butter and doused in butter. I’ve made fish cakes and crab cakes many times, so it was fun making mousselines. They’re very light and delicate, with a mostly neutral flavor, and the only binder is egg white.
What really makes these is the buerre blanc, which has become one of Julia’s infamous recipes. I’m afraid I went down a research rabbit hole as to the origins of this famed Parisian sauce, but there’s basically nothing on the Web about the recipe’s originator, La Mere Michel. I ended up with a lot of “maybes” and “possiblys.” And one of the French restaurants I was researching as possibly hers followed me on Instagram, so that’s cool.
Anyway, my son was practically purring when I made this meal, especially over the mushrooms. The only reason it doesn’t rank higher is that buerre blanc doesn’t keep well. It’s infamous for separating the next day.
3. Steaks and Hamburgers
It sounds funny to think of the French eating burgers, but according to Julia, they apparently do. Well, more precisely, at least at the time of The French Chef Cookbook’s original release, they ate Salisbury steak.
Yeah, this was another of those multi-recipe sections, and I’m always reluctant to just pick one meal. If I’m going to try cooking out of The French Chef Cookbook, I’m gonna try cooking out of The French Chef Cookbook.
And while the Salisbury steaks, or as Julia called them, Hamburgers a la Francaise, were tasty enough, they were really heavy on the butter and a wee bit dry. I very much preferred the Sauteed Steak, Henry IV-style. That meal had so many layers of goodness, topped off by a lovely Bearnaise. Aaaah, yum. Not sure if I would make it again, but yum.
2. Bouillabaise
The French seem very proprietary about their bouillabaise, which is understandable. Food tends to be like that, of course. Want the most sour of sourdough bread? Go to San Francisco. Want the best Cajun and Creole food? Go to New Orleans. Want the best salmon? Go to Washington state. Marseille is the bouillabaise epicenter.
Julia does her best to recreate bouillabaise for us Americans, and I think she comes pretty close, although the only place I’ve had bouillabaise is the sadly diminished Mimi’s Cafe, so I can’t say definitively how she did.
This soup is so rich and garlicky, and I like that we don’t have to have whole fish to make it, although it would be nice because fish heads and bones make everything much richer and deeper. The broth is amazing, there’s a lot of variety, and the finished product is hearty and elegant. I’d make it again.
1. Feasting On the Remains
By far the most practical of Julia’s recipes that I made in 2025, this one was a real pleasure. I love making broth and it was fun taking three chickens and stretching the meat over five meals (They were small-ish chickens). Julia doesn’t say to eat five chicken meals in a row, but I wanted enough bones to get a good amount of broth.
Good golly, the broth was amazing. The curried soup I got to use it in was amazing. My favorite, though, was the Salpicon de Volaille, which is the leftover meat with ham, onion, celery, mushrooms, and a sauce made with more of the broth. Add some buttered noodles and it’s all blissful.
These recipes are more like templates than recipes, and I love that, because it’s a very economical and practical way to use up leftovers.
What were your favorite recipes from last year? Leave a comment below! Our first Club 15 post of 2026 is coming up tomorrow, and for once it’s not behind a paywall. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you there…
The French Chef Cookbook, The French Chef, Volume One (DVD) and The French Chef, Volume 2 (DVD) are available to own from Amazon.
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