Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2

by Julia Child

  The unlined copper bowl (C) is chic, expensive, and looks pretty hanging by its ring on the kitchen wall; it works marvelously well. Egg whites beaten in it retain their volume and satiny gleam, and no one seems to know why. But a small stainless bowl (D) held in one hand, an electric beater held in the other (E), and cream of tartar work very well too. The important point for each is the beater-bowl relationship. Use the largest whip that will fit into a copper bowl (F) or the smallest stainless bowl that will function with your hand-held electric beater; in each case, this is so that you can keep the whole egg mass in continuous motion.

  TEMPERATURE CHANGES

  Great-grandmother used to calculate how hot her oven was by the time it took to brown a piece of white paper; taffy was done when the sugar syrup formed a hard ball in a glass of water; and if she missed on the roast she claimed she had gotten out of the wrong side of the bed that morning. Meat thermometers take the guess out of roasting; standard types are the stainless model (G) and the dial type (C). The vest-pocket thermometer (E), with its carrying case (D), is used by professional testers, and has a dial that registers from zero to 220 degrees F. (Weston Instruments, Inc., Newark, N.J.). A thermometer for deep-fat frying (A) can double for candy making, but if you do much sugar work you will want a candy thermometer too. Accurate oven thermometers are essential for any serious cooking. The stainless-steel type (B) is to be had in most stores; the professional folding oven thermometer (F) is manufactured by the Moeller Instrument Company, Richmond Hill, N.Y. When you are warned not to let the crème anglaise come near the boil or you may scramble the egg yolks, yet sternly reminded that you still must heat them enough to thicken the sauce, this stainless-steel temperature spoon (H) will tell you when 160 degrees and the danger point have arrived; since its temperature dial registers from 50 to 400 degrees, you can also use the spoon for sugar boiling and deep-fat frying.

  MEASURING

  Great-grandmother, our sacred example, measured by feel and hearsay. Her recipes called for a piece of butter the size of a walnut or an egg, a fistful of flour, as much milk as would fit into a teacup. Little failures could be blamed on the weather, the wind, or the vagaries of the coal-burning stove. We have no such excuses now, praises be to Fannie Farmer, who pioneered the whole movement away from the rounded soup spoon of unspecified dimensions and the wine glass of infinite capacity; it was she who helped establish the level tablespoon that holds exactly ½ liquid ounce, and the strictly calibrated 8-ounce cup.

  Glass measures with pouring lips are basic equipment; have the three sizes that hold 1, 2, and 4 cups, respectively (A,B,C). Dry measures register to capacity when the cups are filled to the brim; these are the only accurate cup measurements for sugar, flour, and salt. The easiest to use are the stainless-steel type with long handles (E,F,G,H); have at least 2 sets so that some will be available while others are being washed. At least 2 sets of measuring spoons (D) are useful too, for the same reasons.

  MEASURING FLOUR

  For all flour measurements in this volume, scoop the dry-measure cup directly into the flour sack or flour container, and fill the cup to overflowing (A)—do not shake or pack down the flour; sweep off excess flour even with the lip of the cup, using the straight edge of a knife (B). Then sift the flour, if

  your recipe calls for sifting; for many recipes, however, such as pastry dough, the flour need not be sifted at all. Cups and spoons can never measure flour with the accuracy of scales, but this scoop-and-level system has proved itself out to our satisfaction, and is much easier and faster than the sifting-into-cup method we used in the first edition of Volume I. Here is a conversion and equivalency table for measuring different flours, and for changing old Volume I measurements into the scoop-and-level system.

  FLOUR MEASURING CHART*

  All-purpose and hard-wheat flour measured by the two methods

  Cake flour, soft-wheat flour, French flour measured by the two methods

  PANS

  ROUND CAKE PANS (A)

  4-cup size, 8 inches (top) diameter, 1½ inches deep

  6-cup size, 9 by 1½ inches

  FRENCH PANS—moules à biscuits, moule à manqué

  6-cup size, 8½ inches (top) diameter, 1½ inches deep

  8-cup size, 9 by 2 inches

  SQUARE CAKE PANS (B)

  6-cup size, 8 by 8 inches (top), 2 inches deep

  8-cup size, 9 by 1½ inches

  10-cup size, 9 by 2 inches

  FRENCH PANS—moule à manqué carré

  5-cup size, 7¾ by 7¾ inches (top), 1½ inches deep

  7-cup size, 9 by 1½ inches

  PIZZA PANS—ROUND COOKIE PANS (C)

  12 to 14 inches inside diameter and ¾ inch deep

  FRENCH PAN—tourtière, various sizes usually in black iron, tôle noire

  JELLY-ROLL PAN—BAKING PAN (D)

  15½ by 1½ inches (top), 1 inch deep

  FRENCH PAN—caisse à biscuits, caisse à génoise, many sizes from 8 by 12 inches up to bakery dimensions

  COOKIE SHEETS—BAKING SHEETS (E)

  9 by 14 inches to 14 by 17 inches for home ovens

  FRENCH BAKING SHEETS—plaques à pâtisserie, plaques à bords évasés, plaques à pinces—in tôle noire or in aluminum, various sizes from 12 to 14 inches on up

  PIE PANS—PIE PLATES (F)

  4-cup size, 8 inches (top) diameter, 1¼ inches deep

  5-cup size, 9 by 1½ inches

  6-cup size, 11 by 1¼ inches

  FRENCH PAN—no equivalent

  BREAD PAN—MEAT-LOAF PAN—ANGEL-LOAF PAN (G)

  4-, 6-, and 8-cup sizes, varying widely in measurements according to individual manufacturers. For example, a pan 3½ inches deep, with top dimensions of 10½ by 4 inches and bottom dimensions of 9 by 2½ inches, holds 6 cups.

  Angel-loaf pans are usually 13 inches long (top) for the 2-quart size, and 16 inches for the large 4½-quart model.

  FRENCH PANS—moules à cake, moules à biscottes, moules à pain de mie (covered), in a variety of sizes

  PASTRY—ROLLING, SCRAPING, AND GLAZING

  If you are going into quiches, pâtés en croûte, and especially into the fascinating realm of French puff pastry, get yourself a slab of marble 2 feet square and ¾ to 1 inch thick; its coolness helps prevent the dough from softening, and its smooth surface is easy to scrape clean.

  One or two professionally designed rolling pins with rolling surfaces 16 to 18 inches long are essential for any pastry work—the silly toy pin (A), still sold to debutante cooks, makes hard work of any rolling operation. The French boxwood pin, rouleau à pâtisserie en buis (B) or its Italian equivalent, both without handles, are as useful for rolling as they are for beating chilled pastry into rolling shape. The fine professional American ball-bearing pin (C) is heavy enough to do half the work for you, and the cannelated pin (D), le Tutove, is especially designed to spread out the layers of butter inside the croissant dough as you roll. The rotary croissant cutter (E) then finishes the operation.

  For scraping pastry off the work surface, and also for cutting and chopping dough, the hardware-store paint scraper (F) does almost as good a job as the French pastry scraper, coupe-pâte (G). The pastry blender (H), with its multiple chopping blades, cuts the butter into the flour when you are making pie dough by hand—it prevents the hot-finger syndrome that causes cardboard pastry.

  Several pastry brushes (I) are needed, for glazing the tart with beaten egg as well as for general basting; be sure to buy ones designed for pastry or for basting, since cheap brushes leave bad tastes and drop hairs.

  SMALL MOLDS—PETITS MOULES—FOR TARTLETS, BRIOCHES, PETITS FOURS

  These should be in tinned metal, fer-blanc which is less likely to cause sticking problems than aluminum; if you have to scrub them after baking, warm them briefly and rub lightly with oiled paper toweling to keep the molds from rusting or sticking. Buy at least a dozen of whatever models you chose, so that you can form and bake as many at once as possible. Tartlet molds (A,C,I,J,E) are
usually ½ inch deep and from 1½ to 3 inches in diameter or length. Individual brioches are usually baked in the round fluted molds (B and D), although these molds can serve for tartlets and entrée pastries too. Baby savarins are formed and baked in the ring mold, F, while cornets and rouleaux are formed around the metal cream horns (H and K) and tubes (G and L).

  CUTTERS—DÉCOUPOIRS; EMPORTE-PIÈCES

  If you are going into serious pastry work, sets of round and oval cutters neatly packed in tin boxes make storage and retrieval no problem at all. Oval cutters come plain (unis), I, or fluted (cannelés), D–H, with the smallest in the set being 1⅝ inches long and the largest 4¾ inches. Sets of plain (J) and fluted round cutters (K–O) go from ⅝ inch to 4 inches in diameter. The tiny cutters in the foreground, découpoirs à truffes (P–X), make designs in truffle slices, egg whites, and other small decorative elements for aspics and pastries. Something like the ravioli wheel (B), the large Italian wheel (A), or the pastry wheel (C) is always useful for pie doughs, puff pastries, and general dough cutting.

  When you must prick the sheet of dough for Napoleons, all over at ¼-inch intervals, a fork takes quite a number of minutes while the roller pricker (Y), which doubles as a meat-tenderizer, covers the area in a few passes; its cast-aluminum head is 2 inches in diameter and its sturdy wooden handle is 4 inches long.

  FLAN RINGS AND VOL-AU-VENT CUTTERS

  Flan rings, formes sans fond (G,H,J,K, and I), come in all sizes and many shapes; they are designed especially for making the free-standing tart shells, pie shells, and quiches illustrated in Volume I, pages 143–5. A set of graduated vol-au-vent cutters (A–F) comprises 12 disks slightly raised to provide a finger hold in the center; disks range in size from 4 to 10½ inches in diameter. They are invaluable not only for cutting the vol-au-vent, but also for making circles in floured pastry sheets, like the cookie cups, or for any other circular cutting or marking operations, like the free-standing tart shells.

  SOUFFLÉ DISHES AND BAKING DISHES

  When you are instructed to “bake the dessert in an 8-cup cylindrical mold or dish, such as a charlotte, 4 inches deep,” A, D, and E are the dishes to use. The French charlotte molds (A and D) are the most useful baking dishes you can have in your kitchen, because you can bake in them, mold in them, caramelize them, heat them on top of the stove as well as in the oven, and you can serve from a napkin-wrapped charlotte mold. Be sure you buy the all-purpose type in tin-washed metal, tôle étamée; there are some models in flimsy aluminum that are good only for cold desserts. Useful sizes are the 6- and 8-cup models, although 3-cup, 4-cup, and very large sizes may fill some occasional needs. The American flameproof ceramic baking and soufflé dish (E) is excellent too, and a little deeper than the charlottes. French ovenproof white soufflé dishes (B and C) are attractive for baking and serving; for soufflés, tie a paper collar around them to hold the puff, as illustrated in Volume I, page 162.

  PTÉ MOLDS

  Although you can make do with other methods, the traditional hinged mold for pâtés is comforting to own, decorative to look at, and will produce the beautiful finished product illustrated. These are of tôle étamée, tin-washed metal, and come in many sizes, shapes, and patterns. A 2-quart (2-liter) size is the most useful when you are buying only one. If you do not know how much a particular mold will hold, set it on a large piece of heavy foil or brown paper, fill with dried beans or rice, remove mold, and measure the beans or rice.

  MISCELLANEOUS SMALL MOLDS

  Eggs form themselves most happily in aspic when the mold is oval; the moules á dariole ovales, B and C, hold ½ cup and come with plain or fancy bottoms. Babas are baked in tiny charlottes, E and F, or the dariole ronde, A; these hold slightly over ⅓ cup, and are useful also for individual servings of aspic, and for small soufflés and custards. The miniature fluted mold, D, is for fancy aspics.

  MOLDS FOR BAKING, FOR ASPICS, AND FOR FROZEN DESSERTS

  Although the Kougloff and trois frères molds (A and D) are designed for cakes, and the ice-cream mold (E and F) for bombes glacées, all of the models pictured here are useful for aspics, and all, with the obvious exception of the fish (B), would do for frozen desserts and Bavarian creams. Use a simple pattern for frozen desserts (C and G); beware of too complicated a design or you may have terrible difficulties unmolding; the pattern in H is about as far as you can go. Although more modern materials are available, we like tôle étamée, tin-washed metal, for both baking and aspics because it seasons well—meaning it seems to present few sticking problems. Tin-lined copper for aspics is pretty to look at if you do not mind the initial expense and subsequent cleaning.

  WINE GLASSES

  If space is a problem, you need only one type of wine glass for Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhine wine, Champagne, or Chianti—the tulip-shaped glass (A) that holds ¾ to 1 cup; fill it slightly less than half full to give room for swirling and sniffing. Equally serviceable is the shorter glass (B). If you are going to serve both a red and a white wine at a meal, use a larger glass (A) for the red wine in proportion to the one for the white wine (B); the white wine glass is usually placed on the outside. All of these are inexpensive and should be available in any wine shop or department store, as well as in all the restaurant and hotel supply stores. For prestigious red Bordeaux and Burgundies, the large-bowled glass (F) is amusing; a normal serving of 3 ounces looks small in it but develops its fullest bouquet. If you like to see all the champagne bubbles, hollow-stemmed crystal (E) is what to look for, although some connoisseurs sniff at wide-mouthed glasses for that noble brew. Cut-crystal sherry glasses (C) will start off any gathering in an elegant manner, and the brandy snifter (D) will release after-dinner esters.

  CORK SCREWS AND BOTTLE OPENERS

  The reasonably priced barman’s corkscrew and bottle-cap opener (A) is designed for professionals. The flange on the left rests on the neck of the bottle to give you leverage, while the knife blade on the right, extended for display here but folded into the body of the opener when not in use, is for cutting the lead-foil cap off the wine bottle. The familiar French zig-zag (B) does a good job of leverage when corks are stubborn, and the heavy bottle-cap opener (C) is highly efficient.

  Index

  All entries following a Roman numeral I refer to Volume I

  A

  agneau et mouton: see lamb and mutton

  ahead-of-time cooking: symbol (*) in recipes

  aïgo bouïdo (garlic soup), I: 46

  aïoli (garlic mayonnaise), I: 92; 1.1, 4.1

  almond (s) (amandes)

  general information, I: 21, 582

  brittle (pralin aux), I: 583, 617; 7.1

  butter, orange, I: 651

  in cakes, I: 676–7

  cookies (tuiles)

  cream mold (le Pélerin en timbale)

  cream in puff pastry (Pithiviers)

  custard filling (frangipane), I: 591, 642, 652

  custard for mold (crème anglaise)

  dessert creams, I: 594, 599, 605–8

  ice cream, chocolate-burnt-almond (le Kilimanjaro)

  meringue layers, for cake (le Succès)

  soufflés, I: 617–18, 622

  stuffing for zucchini

  tart, lemon, I: 646

  wafers, curled (tuiles aux)

  and walnut puffs (croquets Denison)

  ananas: see pineapple

  anchovy(ies) (anchois)

  butter, I: 101

  potato gratins, I: 154, 474, 525

  quiche, tomato, I: 148

  salad Niçoise, I: 542

  sauce, I: 66, 324

  stuffing, with salmon, I: 338

  tart, onion, I: 151

  in veal patties, with tuna, I: 375

  appetizers, I: 196–206

  general information

  bread rounds and cases, I: 199–200; 7.1

  tartlet shells for

  pie-crust dough, I: 200; 2.1

  puff pastry (petites bouchées)

  cheese

  biscuits, wafer
s, etc., I: 197–8

  puffs, I: 181

  turnovers, I: 204

  chipolatas (cocktail sausages)

  croquettes, I: 203

  spreads and fillings for

  cheese filling for puff pastry

  chicken-liver mousse (mousse de foies de volaille), I: 559

  chicken-liver pâté (pâté de foies de volaille; farce à gratin)

  cream filling

  with chicken or turkey (fondue de volaille), I: 203

  with shellfish or clams (fondue de crustacés), I: 202

  with Swiss cheese (fondue au gruyère), I: 201–2

  eggplant caviar (la Tentation de Bramafam)

  flavored butters, I: 100–5

  goose cracklings, I: 282; 5.1

  marrow, I: 19

  mayonnaise, I: 89–90

  pork-liver pâté (terrine de foie de porc)

  see also canapés; hors d’oeuvre

  apple(s) (pommes), I: 21

  aspic of, I: 627

  braised, with orange sauce (à la sévillane), I: 628

  charlotte, I: 623

  filling for crêpes, I: 653

  flan (clafouti), I: 657

  gratin (pouding alsacien), I: 626