Croissants | The French Chef Season 3 | Julia Child 

When Julia disapproves of something you know it.

'I don't know why I keep it but I do' 🤣🤣

American rolling pins are stupid. Once you go French you never go back

She cracks me up the way she throws and slams things around...even her spoon of jam at the end. I love her. Very unpretentious.

The exact measurement craze really bugs me. I will NOT buy any "kitchen scale." That's ridiculous. When I was growing up, the sign of a true expert was that they never measured anything at all. They KNEW. Just like they knew that it's fine to put your fingers into things because, hello!, it's going to be baked/cooked hot enough to kill any germs. Duh.

Absolutely Right!! She has a humble style as well. She also was quite funny whether she meat to or not. A Diamond in the Ruff. An Absolute Jewel 💯

Yeeting?

I miss her

Tools and science don't make a chef. All it takes feel and heart.

There may be a chance it's useful right?

She's a Beast 🙌 I ABSOLUTELY love her 🤣

In 1960's, NE USA, I did not have a croissant until we went to Canada for Expo'67. Oh, and brioche!

About 3/4 of the way through, I'm going Good grief, go to Wal-Mart. Duh...

@@nomadmarauder-dw9re - Have you ever HAD a Wal-Mart croissant? Or Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks or from a supermarket, either? What a waste of flour! Do any of them even use real butter and make all the turns so the inside is flaky and not chewy and bread-like? --------------- Do yourself a HUGE favor at least once - if you are ever near a real French bakery / boulangerie, try one of theirs compared to the others we have named. WARNING - there's no going back!

@@MossyMozart of course I've had supermarket croissants.

I love my instant boiling water faucet. If I ever move the first thing will be to call a plumber and see if I can get one installed, i’ve grown so accustomed to it because it’s awesome!

@colvingenealogy - People all over the world - even restaurant chefs - use induction cooking. They all look at Americans, brainwashed by gas corporation ads from the 60s and 70s, and wonder about us.

Gas is more responsive and easier to cook on. The only reason she is on an electric stove/oven is because that is what they had in the studio. At home she had a Garland, six-burner, gas commercial range, which was her pride and joy.

@goldengnome1951 - She may seemed a bit scattered at times, but there was always a lot of planning off camera.

It is time consuming when you have to make the dough and wait twenty minutes between turns…

I agree, Sara! Meryl Streep herself said that she wasn’t trying to imitate Julia Child exactly, but she was doing Julie Powell’s fantasy of what Julia Child sounded like. That way, the speaking voice didn’t need to be exact. But, of course, she still did a perfect job of imitating Julia‘s speech patterns and voice ,like she does with every character she plays on film.

Have you seen the HBO Max series about her? It's called Juila

I know Julia Child came from SoCal, but I also am from California and am so curious as to where her particular accent came from. One of my friend's mothers speaks almost just the same, but she's originally from Texas (moved to California when she was in her early 20s) and was probably was born in the late 40s or early 50s. Owns a well-known local vintage clothing store. That cadence and sort of low, warbly, lilty, breath-y declarative sound is simultaneously so unique and ordinary-sounding.

@@FallouFitness_NattyEdition I just watched it, great series!

One of my favorite scenes was when Stanley Tucci entered their kitchen in France while Julia was chopping onions! 😂

You can also just turn your oven on for a FEW (2-3)minutes to have a warming box or oven---- rather than running upstairs to the bedrooms!

@@paulortiz2035 In the past I used a box with an incandescent lamp, though these days that's a bit costly. As such I also use a low wattage electric blanket.

@@paulortiz2035 I used to do this too, until I realized that the incandescent oven light inside gives off enough heat by itself to create a good rising temperature, which is supposed to be between 80 and 90° only. Sometimes turning the oven on for a few minutes makes it too warm, over 100°. The slower the dough rises, the more flavor it develops. So you don’t want to let it rise too quickly in a very warm environment.

​@@halloweenhaunt3121 agree with you. Yeast dough cant be hurried

​​@@paulortiz2035 But if you want a good taste don't do that. Choose the slow rise, in the fridge. Believe me the quick rise in 40 degrees Celsius is not at all the best option. HI! FROM FRANCE!

I’m disappointed to hear the Sur la Table cooking classes are kaput. A friend and I took a marvelous class on macarons one time. I was very popular when I got home bearing a bad of our batch!

Delightful anecdote!!

I also remember taking classes at Sur La Table. I miss that store so much. It was the only place where I could find the specialty Coco that I loved using all the time. it was Ghirardelli‘s. Oh my gosh, now I can’t find it anywhere. And that’s just one item. What a treasure. I would wander through the store looking for just one item and leaving with a basket full of delectable viands almost every time. I was so shocked when it closed.

Sur La Table was a great place with those cooking classes

She didn't. She didn't go to France until she married Paul and he was transferred there. She took cooking classes there.

She certainly gives confidence!

@carlmcclain6934 - I don't find so many TV chefs to be stiff, not even ones I dislike, not even ones who try to sell you kitchen stuff you don't need (Bam!).

You and me both! I’m so sad HBO cancelled Julia. What a great show. I bought some yeast so I came here to refresh my memory for the recipe. I love how she just pours the salt from the container into her palm and shows people they can use frozen dough if they want. Very accessible to the home cook.

Salt does somewhat inhibit the yeast, but as Julia demonstrates, the effect of a little salt is not noticeable enough to worry about it at all for home cooks!

@@joshuaharper372 - That is the one thing that puts me off - with Ms Child, it was never a "little" salt - she actually poured it from a big container! (Way too much in today's cooking. I want to taste the food, not salt.)

@@MossyMozart These need the salt to bring out the flavor of the butter. I thought like you, and I was afraid of overdoing it. That was a mistake. The first time I made these I put too little salt in. These need the full teaspoon and a half of (table) salt, (9 grams) plus that extra dash at the beginning. Rule of thumb...don't second guess Julia.

Is that the same set that is in the Smithsonian. Sorry I’m visually impaired. I heard somewhere that the kitchen she had in the first season is different than the one that is in the later seasons.

How long do they take to make? There's an awful lot of leaving it for a bit, taking it out again etc. I think I'd need to be doing something else that could be put down and picked up again without any worries.

@@katyb2793 You are absolutely correct, which is why I can't give you a definitive answer. Just carve out a few minutes here and there until you get to assembly time and the final rise and baking. I find a timetable useful. Hope that helps. Good luck! Very gratifying final product.

@@DavidHall-ge6nn thank you! Actually I suppose it could be different every time considering the yeast may rise at different rates each time. I wonder if women used to knit and darn socks in-between steps haha

@@katyb2793 - Or go to the mall or supermarket or sew a shirt - lots you could do in between the brief tasks.

I hope someone ate it, cause the thought of all that food going to waste is bothersome.

Yes, you can!

Julia does this kind of thing quite a bit. She experimented a lot with things like frozen and canned ingredients, adjusting the traditional recipes for them so the housewives of the day could make great food, with ingredients easily (and inexpensively) acquired by households on budgets, and she was brilliant at breaking down the recipes techniques to the simplest steps. She also often gives variations to include lower fat and lower calorie options by substituting different ingredients. Just my opinion, but I think she's the original celebrity chef. She started it with no special effects, all done in a single take, mistakes, and all. No current celebrity chef could do it the way she had to!

As you’re a pastry chef, I’m curious what you think of Julia’s croissants? I regularly bake breads at home but I have always been a bit intimidated by the lamination and the butter of the croissant process. Her version does look very doable, I must say.

@@tretower57 I just love Julia, and watching her as a teenager in the 1970s inspired me to go to cooking school and become a certified professional chef. I have not tried her recipe so I cannot vouch for it, but her technique is certainly correct and I’m sure it would produce fine results. Why don’t you give it a try and you can reply with how it worked and what you learned?

@BoxedUp678 ------- do able, yes, but you will not get a handmade, Parisienne croissant that easily. Not by a long shot. I lived in Paris for a few years and became very, very picky as to my food, esp croissants. Some bakeries just bake these up from frozen, premade pieces. And those do NOT look or taste the same, at all, compared to the real thing! Bakeries will have a (very small) sign in their window as to whether they just bake these off from frozen pieces or if they make their croissants from scratch. Naturally the handmade ones are vastly superior! Vastly! Making croissants from frozen bread dough..... well..... remember the time that show was made in. And the new 'marvel' of frozen food, TV dinners, and time saving, easy make dinners, from boxes!!! Pick up a cookbook from the '50's, '60's, '70's by Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, etc and look at the recipes! Instant this, boxed that, just add water and stir, etc, etc, etc! It was just awful food. Lots of Oleo, marshmallows, Jello, potato chip toppings, and cooking a turkey in a brown paper grocery bag--- the food was God awful!!! Cooking was something that was to take as little time as possible! Cost as little as possible! And be as streamlined and ugly as possible! (Canned green beans? That are grey!!!??? Yuk!!!) So I watch this show with a chuckle! It was a sign of the times when 'cheap, fast, easy, streamlined and 'QUICK!'' were the watch words. Certainly words like gourmet, authentic or even 'good' were NOT ever used! AND THE FOOD TASTED LIKE IT!!! Without trying this recipe with frozen dough I'll take a pass. I know what real croissants taste like. And I make my own. And if it takes 2 or 3 days to make them??? Oh, well!!! At least mine taste very good! And that's what I'm going for. Not quick or easy!

I'm trying that right now. $4 dough + $2.50butter. 24 croissants. We'll see how it goes!

5:00 for someone that wants to make this following Julia Child’s recipe but is also a complete beginner can you translate what sort of oil I should be using? Sounds like she says a “tasteless salad oil” - but what is that?

@@DS-wo5hd Vegetable oil. I only use 3 tbs, instead of 4 of oil. Flour has changed a bit over the years. Her flour concoction is a combination of AP and cake flour, but I find that plain AP flour works great. Corn oil, and Canola can work, but to me they are not "tasteless". Smell your oil, chances are if it has a "smell" it also has a taste. Do not use olive oil here.

Made these again today. Every time I make them they just get better. Hint: Let them do their final rise for at least 2 hours. If the dough is springing back when rolling, let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Egg wash them at the beginning of the final rise and again before baking. Just amazing.

lovable and funny

Both now deceased.

@@rubygray7749 - I did not know that COVID-19 killed Julie Powell (at only age 49). My husband's niece died at an otherwise healthy age 35 after being sick only 2 weeks. When I expressed concern that her husband and kids had not yet been vaccinated, her mother-in-law look horrified. "Vaccine? That's WAY too dangerous!" --------------- It is the closest I have ever come of face-palming at a funeral.

I don't know, t's pretty advanced and time consuming for the average homemaker, and you don't even get a full meal out of it.

@@neuvocastezero1838 Huh? She did quite a few shows that weren't "full meals". Besides, while it is a bit time consuming, it isn't "advanced" at all. People always think something time consuming is somehow complicated!

Perhaps that’s because the French don’t typically make things like this at home? As I understand they buy them.

Apparently she didn't cover French breads in her first cookbook, either. Her publisher had to insist on adding the bread recipes to the second one!

@@nathanjustus6659 - Unlike the USA, there is a French bakery on nearly every corner in France. We suffer!

How about The Boulangerie in Wellfleet, Massachusetts on Cape Cod or Northwind Bakery in Middletown, NY?

@JackWiz007 - Not difficult - easy! You do a brief task, like mixing, kneading, or turning, then leave it alone for hours while you go to the mall or go swimming or take active "naps" like she and her husband did.