# The SBHonline Community Daily > Books, Movies, and TV >  >   
 > After 48 Years, Julia Child Has a Big Best Seller, Butter and All
 > 
 >  
 > By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
 > Published: August 23, 2009
 > Almost 48 years after it was first published, Mastering the Art of Fren

## JEK

After 48 Years, Julia Child Has a Big Best Seller, Butter and All


By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
Published: August 23, 2009
Almost 48 years after it was first published, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child is finally topping the best-seller list, bringing with it all the butter, salt and goose fat that home chefs had largely abandoned in the age of Lipitor.

 

J_ulia Child, in 1970 at her television cooking studio. The amount of fat in her recipes surprises some of todays home cooks.
Readers' Comments_

The book, given a huge lift from the recently released movie Julie & Julia, sold 22,000 copies in the most recent week tracked, according to Nielsen BookScan, which follows book sales. That is more copies than were sold in any full year since the books appearance, according to Alfred A. Knopf, which published it.

The book will make its debut at No. 1 on The New York Times Book Review best-seller lists of Aug. 30 in the advice and how-to category.

In a month, Ive sold almost seven times what I sell, typically, in a year of Mastering, and its going to get even higher, said Lee Stern, the cookbook buyer for Barnes & Noble. Its amazing.

Amazing not just because the book is almost half a century old, costs $40 and contains 752 pages of labor-intensive and time-consuming recipes  the art of French cooking is indeed hard to master  but also for what those recipes contain.

In a decade when cookbooks promise 20-minute dinners that are light on calories, Ms. Childs recipes feature instructions like thin out with more spoonfuls of cream (Veau Prince Orloff, or veal with onions and mushrooms, pages 355-7) or sauté the bacon in the butter for several minutes (Navets &#xE0; la Champenoise, or turnip casserole, pages 488-9). And for a generation raised to believe that Jell-O should have marshmallows in it, there is plenty of aspic  the kind made with meat.

Readers who only recently opened the book, and have been blogging and tweeting about it, have found some anachronistic surprises.

Im looking at these ingredients going, Oh, sweet Lord, well die, said Melissah Bruce-Weiner, 45, a resident of Lakeland, Fla., who bought the book on her way home from seeing the movie. Horrified by the prospect of cooking with pork fat, she tried her own variation of boeuf bourguignon, which she called beef fauxguignon.

I know why all of the greatest generation has died of heart attacks, she said. I actually did a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a can of French onion soup, and a can of red wine  it was the same can  I filled it with the bottle that I had been drinking the night before.

Yes, Julia Child rolled over in her grave when I opened the cream of mushroom soup, Im pretty sure of that. But you know what? Thats our world.

Mindy Lockard, 34, of Eugene, Ore., made Poulet Sauté aux Herbes de Provence, which calls for a whole stick of butter, for a recent dinner party.

I found the recipes, actually, much easier than I thought they were going to be, but the amount of butter was a bit overwhelming, she said. Theres a picture of me cooking, and I have this glow, and its from too much hot butter. I expected to break out the next day.

My husband loved it and asked if we could have it again the next day. I actually said, we probably shouldnt have this in the same month.

Ms. Child, who died in 2004 at the age of 91, liked to say,  Oh, butter never hurts you,  her editor, Judith Jones, recalls. In this country, we sort of have a love-hate relationship with food  we love it, but were also afraid of this whole fear-of-fat mania.

Mireille Guiliano, the author of French Women Dont Get Fat, said there are reasons why American and French bodies respond differently to the same fatty ingredients.

For starters, the French eat more fruits and vegetables, and they walk more, she said. And then there is portion size. The French simply eat much less, she said.

Some of that is alluded to in the movie Julie & Julia, which combines scenes from Ms. Childs discovery of cooking while in France with the true story of a modern blogger who decides to cook her way through Mastering the Art.

Mastering the Art  co-written by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, and the first of two volumes  is not the only book that has gotten a lift from the movie. The book Julie & Julia, which was written by the blogger Julie Powell and was the basis for the movie, has been reprinted 13 times this year in movie tie-in versions by publisher Little, Brown.

The movie editions of My Life in France, the 2006 book that chronicles Ms. Childs years there and provided biographical material for the movie, have been reprinted nine times by Knopf.

Knopf has also reprinted Julias Kitchen Wisdom six times this year, and it will top the Aug. 30 Book Review list of advice and how-to paperbacks. According to BookScan, which tracks roughly 75 percent of the book market, it is the second-best-selling cookbook in the country, behind Mastering and ahead of more contemporary titles like Cook Yourself Thin: Skinny Meals You Can Make in Minutes and Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200, a book of recipes under 200 calories.

As for Mastering the Art, even discount stores that have never stocked the book, like Sams Club, are putting in orders.

We wont be caught up for a while, said Paul Bogaards, a spokesman for Knopf.

Part of the sales can be credited to movie promotions from Columbia Pictures, which released the film. Basically, we just integrated it into everything we did, so if we had radio promos, wed give away the book; if we had screenings, wed give away the book, said Marc Weinstock, president of worldwide theatrical marketing for Sony Pictures, Columbias parent company.

But booksellers were still startled by the demand for new copies. The Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle and Barbaras Bookstore, based in Chicago, have both run out of Mastering the Art recently. At Powells Books in Portland, managers had ordered extra books for a Julia Child promotional section.

Pretty much by the Sunday after the movie opened, it just looked like a bomb hit it, said Gerry Donaghy, the purchasing supervisor for new books at Powells.

And at Canios Books in Sag Harbor, N.Y., My Life in France has been flying, flying off the shelves, said a co-owner, Maryann Calendrille. Ive never seen anything like it.

Nora Ephron, the films writer and director, said she had hoped to inspire more cooking.

This was a secret dream, Ms. Ephron said, that the movie would sell a lot of books.

She added: Im completely delighted that people are walking out of the multiplex and into the bookstore.

----------


## Jeanette

I bought it today ...  #1 on the online best sellers list at Barnes & Noble.  Volume II is on back order.  My daughter asked if we could make boeuf bourguignon together after seening the movie with me.  Fun stuff...

----------


## MIke R

yep..all three books have been selling very well in my shop...suddenly everyone wants to cook!!..not a bad thing

----------


## andynap

Well good for her publishing house. The book sits in my attic from 30 years ago. My wife and I are so past that kind of cooking- my cholesterol was once 322- never again. A quote from the NYT today;
: QUOTATION OF THE DAY  

"Im looking at these ingredients going, Oh, sweet Lord, well die."
MELISSAH BRUCE-WEINER, on reading the rich recipe for boeuf bourguignon in Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

----------


## Jeanette

> QUOTATION OF THE DAY  
> 
> "Im looking at these ingredients going, Oh, sweet Lord, well die."
> MELISSAH BRUCE-WEINER, on reading the rich recipe for boeuf bourguignon in Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking.



I know, I know, but she lived to be 91 years old!

----------


## phil62

Andy, I was laughing at this very same line not 5 minutes ago! I have my original on the countertop- the red cover  edition, not the blue cover pictured in the NYT.  Have a great day, Amy

----------


## andynap

> Originally Posted by Andynap
> 
>  QUOTATION OF THE DAY  
> 
> "Im looking at these ingredients going, Oh, sweet Lord, well die."
> MELISSAH BRUCE-WEINER, on reading the rich recipe for boeuf bourguignon in Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 
> 
> 
> 
> I know, I know, but she lived to be 91 years old!




Yeah but you don't know how long you will live until you don't anymore. LOL
It's not just the unhealthy recipes, it's the long prep and some ingredients that are difficult to get.

----------


## Jeanette

> Originally Posted by Jeanette
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Originally Posted by Andynap
> ...



Ain't it the truth! And I inherited the worst cardiobascular genes from both sides of my family...

I am looking at this as a bonding opportunity with my daughter.  She is 15 and there are few things we share in common that don't involve pulling out my credit card for her.  At a young age, she is already a bit of a foodie and she is really excited about delving into the world of French cooking with me.  She is a competitive athlete and extremely health conscious.  So, it will be interesting to see her reaction to some of the ingredients.

----------


## andynap

Here are 2 you could try for her

The Nouvelle Cuisine of Jean and Pierre Troisgros and 
Italian Cooking Wisdom from the Legendary Teacher's Master Classes, with 120 of Her Irresistible New Recipes by Marcella Hazan and Victor Hazan

----------


## lps

After seeing the movie last weekend, I dug out the old cook book that I had bought 30 plus years ago. I was always a bit intimidated by Julia's recipes. My husband was inspired to make the Lobster Thermidor. It was absolutely delicious and not as difficult as you might think. We had it with a wonderful Puligny-Montrachet and it reminded us of a memorable meal we had many years ago at L'Ananas.

----------


## amyb

Was that when Michel Royer was the chef there?

----------


## MIke R

pre cardiac stent I made Lobster Thermidor  many times at home.....wonderful way to do lobster...sherry...heavy cream...butter..egg yolks...mushrooms...ooo lala

----------


## amyb

Things that make one feel so good that are not good for you-Sunshine, butter, if someone says rhum vanille then I might as well quit altogether. Oh, I forgot Domaine Ott and Dover Sole!!

----------


## MIke R

I'd rather die  while I'm living then live when I'm dead

----------


## MIke R

I made a lobster bisque for Theresa and Mike that I guarantee you raised their cholesterol levels substantially..LOL

but hey..they re  young

----------


## andynap

Lobster Theridor is rather easy to do and I would do it once a year now but steamed lobster and even lobster salad or lobster roll is my fix now.

----------


## amyb

Simple lobster is simply divine-I too am happy with steamed. (Then a bit of butter and lemon and I am happy).

----------


## MIke R

yup..I agree....every once in a while a nice Lobster fritatta is nice..and easy too

----------

