Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I: 50th Anniversary Edition: A Cookbook

Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking isn’t just a cookbook—it’s a masterclass in the art, technique, and passion of cooking. It brings back the memories of the quote from Ratatouille "Anyone can cook" and that is very true when you have this book in hand. Making it great for beginners and seasoned home chefs looking to up their game. One of its greatest strengths is how it brings back the fundamentals. In an age where shortcuts and fast meals dominate, it reminds us that great cooking starts with a solid foundation. From knife skills to sauce-making, she breaks down techniques with precision and clarity, making even complex dishes feel approachable. But beyond the technique, the true magic of this book is the darn good recipes that are in it!! If you’re looking to up your game in the kitchen, this book is a must-have. It’s a guide, a teacher, and a culinary adventure all in one. Classic, thorough, and just plain tasty—Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a timeless addition to any cook’s library.

The boeuf bourguignon is wonderful. Take your time,.it's worth it! Soupe a l'oignon gratinee is superb! Recipes are quite detailed and I love that.

Hard not to know who Julia Child is. This classic cookbook is a great addition to any library, and is packed full of great recopies as well as thorough preparation and cooking instructions.

I got the book because I saw the movie and read Powell's book. Plus I love reading old stuff; I wish I would have bought an origional copy! Maybe I will do that for he second, but this was still a great book. Also, the 1980s addition adds side notes on how the vary the recipes for blenders for stuff like pie crusts and also mentions stuff where you should not use blenders. I don't even eat red meat so I did not think I would like the book as it seems many old fashioned meals are all meat and potatos, but this book has so many meatless dishes and fish dishes. Actually, I like their sauces for fish and they say what fishe sauces are recommended for broiled, fried or boiled. They have many vegetable recipes and she suggets what to have them wish and some she recommeds are a main course, so it is very informative. The dessert recipes are great!(I know making desserts too often is contraversial, since it has sugar and starch, but I don't care cause I don't eat too much). Even if you just make desserts once in a while, the recipes are great to have! I love the chocolate almond cake; its a lot of steps, but you don't have to make it all in one day; just be paitient and it could be completed in a couple of days instead. I love the cream cheese tart recipe with the nutmeg! I did not even think I would like french cooking; and I am not saying I would like all french food and I have never been to a french restaurant but these recipes are great! Plus they might actually be closer to france than eating in a french restuarant, as I know people from Italy who say Italian restaurants are never like they are in Italy. I love the quish recipes; they are great for not only a brunch, but a dinner! My favorate recipes are the desserts though! When I made the cream cheese puff, everybody ate it and barely left me any!

Great book. In great condition!

There are lots of recipes in here. Most include some sort of wine. They probably don't mean cooking wine but I don't drink so I got cooking wine. We tried a recipe that called for chicken and onions, etc. We cut the amount of onions down considerably and the onions were still really strong. I believe the recipe was supposed to have a strong flavor though. We made it for the almond flavor but the onions overpowered any chance of tasting the almonds. The onions were yellow onions. About 1/2 of an onion browned with garlic and butter. It was not like the french cuisine I had at a 4 star french restaurant. That french cuisine was smooth, not overpowering. It (the restaurant food) was so good of a flavor, you didn't want to stop eating and looked for things to dip the sauce into just to keep tasting the sauce. This french cuisine from the book was almost like it was its own cuisine. There are recipes that sound very good and some that do not sound good at all. The directions might not go into enough detail on some recipes to answer all your questions so be prepared for a little experimenting. All in all, I think it is a neat book. It does not have as many recipes for things I would cook as what I hoped for. There should be something for everyone. If you don't cook with wine, don't bother. There aren't many recipes without it. Don't be afraid to alter the recipe. If we cooked the chicken as long as the directions called for, it would have been chicken jerky. If we used as much onion as it called for, it would have been in the garbage outside. This book is written with the American in mind so you should be able to get the ingredients and understand mostly what to do. As mentioned, there are some details left out but you can get by without them. Just use a little imagination. Maybe see if you can find an old video of Julia making the dish to follow along with the book.

Si uno tiene tiempo y le gusta la cocina, creo que este libro merece muchísimo la pena. Hay recetas muy básicas y otras de gran elaboración, en cualquier caso, insistiría en que tener una buena cantidad de tiempo resulta indispensable para sacarle partido. Resulta una desventaja que ciertas recetas básicas estén en el volumen número I y otras en el volumen número II.

This is the second purchase I have made of this book - I gave the first one away to a good friend, but not until my daughter and I had given it a good work out. It's a great introduction to basic French cooking which you can build upon.

I bought the paperback edition of this book a few months ago, after having watched the film (of course!). And I must say I didn't expect it to be this good: I didn't really believe I could cook anything French. I still don't know if I can (as I haven't been to France), but what I do cook from Child's recipes tastes really good. I love the way the ingredients are listed (in the order they are to be used), I love the information on preparing certain parts of the dish in advance, the giving of reasons why one should or shouldn't do this and that, the exhaustive explanations on each step of the recipe, and I love the witty comments on various things, which make the book an enjoyable reading instead of a mere cookbook. Therefore, Nigella Lawson's books (which for me are the total opposite of this book - no explanations and no satisfactory results) are gathering dust on my shelves, and this one has been in constant use lately. I'm neither English nor American, so I'm not used to Fahrenheit degrees, pints, pounds, ounces and so on, but there are tables for conversion in the book itself, and the internet will provide whatever was left out of the tables (not that I've found anything missing so far). Print quality is not so good, letters are quite small, the text densely packed on the pages, the paper not so white, and the soft cover prone to water or sauce damage. The book is small and thick and doesn't stay open by itself. But on the other hand, it wasn't expensive, so for me all these physical details are not really an object of complaint. The book is written with a great sense of humour, the recipes detailed and easy to use, the dishes I've cooked are tasty, so for me there's nothing more to ask for!

El libro tiene una excelente presentación de pasta dura con guarda polvo. Contiene explicaciones de las recetas, lista de ingredientes acomodada conforme se van utilizando en el proceso de cocinar e imágenes ilustrativas

Julie cooked up when making this book.