What Up, Julie & Julia?

You’re all familiar with this story, right? 

Julie Powell is frustrated with her desk job and starts writing a blog about making every recipe in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”.  Her real life tales soon take the world by storm (well, at least the publishing & film world) and her blog becomes a best selling book and top grossing film (starring Meryl Streep!).  Julie herself soon becomes a bit of a kook as detailed in her second book about becoming a butcher and cheating on her husband (look, I don’t know how those two things are related either, but that’s what the book is about).  Anyway, Julie & Julia is the kind of uber simple idea that bloggers the world over wish they thought of themselves. Seriously. 

But back to Julie.  It’s true that few people eat the way Julia tells us to these days and Julie does get slightly bogged down.  The recipes are somewhat complex and time consuming.  The meals themselves are very rich and, well, somewhat odd (are we really making homemade mayonnaise, people?).  Who has the time?  Who can find duck fat?  Or, dear God, bone marrow?  Kudos to Julie for giving it a go, but truly, being a good cook (not a good chef, a cook) is actually pretty easy and for all Julie’s complaining and whining you really just need to follow the instructions, read the recipe through before you start, and, well, you’re pretty much set.  A chef, on the other hand needs to make up recipes on their own and improvise where necessary – I like to save such folly for experts.  There is nothing wrong with religiously following a recipe, step by step, ingredient to ingredient - experts put it together! Who am I to mess?  I do think I’m a pretty decent cook because I’m very good at following instructions.  Honestly, anyone can do it.  Which is why I really don’t get Julie at all – why all the problems?  What’s with the drama?  How in the world do you screw up beef (oh, excuse me BOEUF) bourguignon?

Fry the bacon, sear the beef, add to sautéed onions, carrots and garlic, flame up some cognac add a bottle of wine, some beef stock and cook for an hour.  Add pearl onions and sautéed mushrooms.  Simmer forever. Seriously – that’s about it (if you want to make it I would recommend following a recipe as I may have missed a step or two and you should have proper measurements).  I really don’t understand how you can overcook such a thing – it’s stew (okay, fine, Julie went to sleep while it was in the oven and cooked the thing all night but really, are you that dumb?). Julie had to make her boeuf twice.  What a waste of a decent bottle of Burgundy and a Le Creuset pot. 

Maybe it’s not Julie’s fault.  Maybe it’s Julia’s.  I’ve never tried cooking a recipe from any of Julia Child’s cookbooks. Everything in there seems really daunting, although her bourguignon recipe is quite similar to mine.  I rarely cook anything that has a recipe longer than a page and the shorter the ingredient list the better – I’m not kidding.  I don’t think it’s pedestrian, it’s just simpler.  And in times like these when we’re so busy and rarely have time to cook a meal from scratch, why over complicate things.  I’ve always contended that the key to being a decent host is knowing how to make one dish really well – this obviously only works if you only invite people over once, but at least you’re cooking !

As you can see, I’m not a huge Julia lover (and even less of a Julie lover – cooking should only be a labour of love, not solely a labour) so who is my tried and true, you ask?  Who do I turn to when I need to impress without stress?  Why The Barefoot Contessa, of course.  My girl, Ina Garten, simplifies everything with a trademark “how easy is that” and spends her days planning meals and parties for her friends and husband Jeffrey’s weekend return to the Hamptons from his work week in New York City (there is no butchering or cheating for Ina & Jeff!).  Her recipes are simple and extremely delicious.  It actually looks like she eats what she makes, which is refreshing (I’m very suspicious of you, Giada!), and her goal is simple entertaining – ah, to be invited to a Barefoot Contessa party!

I love Ina and all her delicious creations that I humbly re-create in my own tiny kitchen.  She makes me happy.  Cooking makes me happy (baking, happier).  I think cooking made Julie super stressed and perhaps that’s what led her to the butchering and the cheating.  Poor Julie, she cut the forest to spite the trees and forgot what cooking is ultimately about - opening your home and breaking bread with those you love to spend time with.

How easy it that?