Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Studio: Knopf
• DVD Release Date: December 8, 2009
• Run Time: 360 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0307593908
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,952 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

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 cooking

Here 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!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another JC must-have for the home cook, December 19, 2009

By 

Reine des Coeurs "reine_des_coeurs" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Way To Cook DVD (DVD)

I think it's great that the popularity of a recent film (Julie & Julia) has once again brought Julia Child into the spotlight. When this series first aired in the mid 80's, I remember watching it to learn the essentials of food preparation and short cuts. The very day I found out it was available, I immediately preordered.

This two DVD set comes with an instructional booklet. On the first, you will find Poultry, Meats and Vegetables. On the second, Soups, Salads and Bread, Fish and Eggs, and First Courses and Desserts. Both DVDs are well chaptered, so if you just want to watch one particular sub-chapter, you don't have to sift through an entire topic in order to do so. As always, Julia is instructive, professional and completely enthusiastic. Buy this now (together with the companion book The Way to Cook) and, if you haven't already, also get the newly released Baking With Julia

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like a Master Class, only for beginners...BRILLIANT!!, January 7, 2010

By 

J. Gomez "JAG" (Central NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Way To Cook DVD (DVD)

Only Julia Child could present a Master Class in cooking French cuisine and yet gear it completely towards novice cooks. Her pleasant style and delivery, coupled with her down to earth manner make even cooking duck and soufflés possible. I purchased it as a companion to one of her cookbooks and am happy that I did. Having Julia herself walk me through some of the cooking techniques has been invaluable. If you are considering this DVD, don't hesitate, Julia is pure genius and this "video cookbook" is worth its weight in gold.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More practical than "Mastering the Art ...", January 3, 2010

By 

Read for Pleasure - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way To Cook DVD (DVD)

What with Meryl Streep portraying her in a movie and all, Julia's books and series are getting a monster tidal wave of fresh attention. I wonder how many youngsters (Food Network viewers) will purchase or have purchased for them the classic "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and find it completely overwhelming and not necessarily useful for everyday cooking?

I had few cooking skills in the mid 1980s when this book and DVD came out, and I relied on recipes from Fannie Farmer, supermarket recipe cards, and women's magazines. This series elevated my cooking for good. It is French influenced, but simplified in some cases, and there are variations on most recipes which is really useful if you don't have time to run to the supermarket. I have had many variation cookbooks and this is the best. I have not used the dessert section too much (I prefer Pierre Franey for this--fruit salad with Grand Marnier!), but the bread, meat, and veg sections are the best. I recommend ham steaks with peas and mashed potatoes and cornish game hen broiled w/cheese.

I am so pleased this is out on DVD. I gathered up the video tapes one-by-one on ebay and this is definitely more affordable!