Warming Up Julia Child by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz

Author:Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2022-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

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Judith Jones now took center stage as Julia’s partner in the shape of the book. Julia was truly fortunate in having Judith as her editor, for she brought her many gifts into play in working with Julia’s manuscript, helping to shape it in significant ways into the book it became. Along with her close reading and culinary knowledge came her clarity regarding prose. In addition there was her great and unfailing tact in dealing with the author. This is clear in Judith’s initial response to a May missive from Julia with the full manuscript and additional illustrations. Apologizing that she was not sending the final contract due to Koshland’s absence, Judith promised that the press would be in contact with Julia’s lawyer to use the correct language of the law enabling Julia to act for Simca and Louisette. Sensitive to Julia’s concerns, she also let Julia know that, once a new illustrator was chosen, she would send sample sketches because she understood fully that Julia wanted the illustations to enable the reader to visualize each process “clearly and exactly.”

Judith then addressed the issue of ingredient quantities, one that, because it involved the entire manuscript, would take time to alter. With this, she gave a telling example of her hands-on approach to the book. She had cooked boeuf bourguignon following the directions with two-and-a-half pounds of beef. While the manuscript stated it would serve six to eight at the table, in fact all was consumed by five. And because beef was easily available in the U.S., she urged more beef recipes, as well as the cassoulet and hearty French dishes eaten by peasants. 21

As the letters between the two proceeded in the early weeks, each could take the measure of the other, and Julia learned of Judith’s careful attention to detail and her precision regarding both text and illustrations. One comment of Judith’s does stand out. As she returned to the question of increasing quantities, in this instance regarding beef recipes, she stated it was a judgment of one of the male editors who had read the manuscript, then added that since men were engaging in cooking “we want to please them, too.” 22

Judith also let Julia know that she was using one of the editorial secretaries, a newcomer to cooking, to test a recipe. In this instance, the result led her to burn the onions; thus the cookbook directions needed to say to turn the flame down. The secretary also reported that too much juice evaporated when the dish went into the oven. That meant that the recipe needed to direct the reader to cover the casserole and check the oven temperature so that it wasn’t too high. With her customary tact, Judith softened these suggestions by letting Julia know that “as to flavor and tenderness, the verdict was excellent” as judged by the young cook and her male guest. 23 Both Judith’s reaching out to inexperienced cooks on her staff to try out the recipes and her

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