[1] Cassoulet. Here’s a recipe (photo © Reserve Media).

[2] Crêpes Suzette. Here’s a recipe (photo © Betty Crocker).

[3] Reine de Saba cake. Here’s the recipe (photo © ).

[4] Quiche Lorraine. Here’s a recipe (photo © Natasha’s Kitchen).

[5] Vichyssoise. Here’s a recipe (photo © Umami Information Center).

August 15th is Julia Child’s birthday. Julia Carolyn McWilliams was born on August 15, 1912, in Pasadena, California. She dies a few days short of her 92nd birthday, on August 13, 2004, in Montecito California.

From a well-to-do family, she lived a life of privilege. She graduated from Smith College in 1934 and moved to New York City, where she worked as a copywriter in the advertising department of W. & J. Sloane, a fine furniture store.

In 1942, after the U.S. entry into World War II, she joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—after finding that, at 6’2″, she was too tall to enlist in the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) or in the U.S. Navy’s WAVES.

While posted to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) she met Paul Cushing Child, also an OSS employee, and the two were married in 1946. Paul, who had lived in Paris as an artist and poet, was known for his sophisticated palate and introduced his wife to fine cuisine.

And so begins the legend.

The State Department assigned Paul to Paris, and Julia enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. She joined the women’s cooking club, Le Cercle des Gourmettes, where she met Simone Beck, who was writing a French cookbook for Americans with her friend Louisette Bertholle.

Beck invited Child to work with them to give the book the right appeal to Americans. The result: the iconic Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, published in 1961, with 524 recipes which became so popular that the publisher released a second, equally weighty Volume II in 1970.

In 1951, Child, Beck, and Bertholle had begun to teach cooking to American women in Child’s Paris kitchen, calling their informal school L’école des Trois Gourmandes (The School of the Three Food Lovers). When Child returned to the U.S., she continued her teaching and had a show on the local public television station.

In the 1970s and 1980s, she was the star of television programs, including Julia Child & Company, Julia Child & More Company, and Dinner at Julia’s. In the process, she not only expanded the awareness of French cuisine, but taught French cooking to enthusiastic fans nationwide—becoming an award-winning national treasure.

Here’s more about her life.

So what are the most popular Julia Child recipes?
 
 
THE MOST POPULAR JULIA CHILD RECIPES

There’s no single list, of course, but here’s one from Southern Living magazine, “10 Essential Julia Child Recipes Everyone Should Master.” In alphabetical order, they are:

 
We’ve made most of them but for two: French Baguette and Chicken Waterzooi, the latter of which we’d never heard of (etymology: water (“water”) +‎ zooi (“something boiled”).
 
 
Chicken Waterzooi

It turns out that the name and the recipe are Flemish, a wine-accented Belgian stew originally made with fish, but subsequently of chicken.

chicken nestled in a silky sauce of cream and egg yolks. It’s

Julia swapped the fish for chicken and layered the chicken with vegetables, all simmered in chicken stock and vermouth. “Chicken Waterzooi is undoubtedly one of Child’s most underrated recipes (if not for the fun name alone),” says Southern Living.

Here’s the recipe, which she gave to The New York Times in 1987.

The Times commented:

“It is easy weeknight cooking: the dish can be assembled in the morning before work, or even the night before. Then, in the evening, simmer it for about half an hour, and then use the cooking liquid to make a light but creamy sauce. Serve with potatoes or good bread.”
 
 
Reine de Saba Cake

And how about a birthday cake for Julia?

The Reine de Saba cake (Queen Of Sheba) is one of the first French cakes that Julia Child ever ate (photo #3). She could not help but fall in love with the rich, chocolate cake, so sophisticated compared to American cakes [source].

The chocolate was combined with ground almonds, rum, and meringue, and topped with a chocolate ganache and an optional decoration of almond slices.

Here’s the recipe.

Happy Birthday, Julia!

What do you do on National Creamsicle Day, August 14th? Make a Creamsicle-inspired recipe, combining orange and vanilla flavors into formats beyond the original Creamsicle ice cream pop.

The original and still beloved, a childhood flavor of ours, is a vanilla ice cream pop covered with orange sherbet.

We often combine a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a scoop of orange sherbet into a simple, heavenly, dessert.

But for those who like a more complex recipe, we’ve got seven of them below (cheesecake, ice cream cake, milkshake, and more).

Our legal department would like us to note that while “Creamsicle” may seem like a generic term, it is, along with Popsicle®, Fudgsicle®, and Yosicle®, a registered trademark of the Unilever Group of Companies and can only be used to identify the frozen confection products of Unilever.

That means only Unilever can sell anything by those names. But to identify recipes with the combination of orange and vanilla on our little website, we have some editorial license.

> The history of the Creamsicle.
 
 
RECIPE #1: CREAMSICLE ICE CREAM

This is a non-dairy recipe, made with coconut milk instead of dairy milk.

Thanks to Fruits From Chile for this delicious ice cream. Chile’s seasons are the opposite of North America’s, so their orchards are bursting with fruit while ours are hibernating.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. CUT the peels from the oranges, then slice the orange flesh into thick rounds. Place the rounds on a baking sheet and freeze for 1 hour.

2. PLACE the frozen oranges, coconut milk, salt, agave, and vanilla extract in a food processor or a sturdy blender such as a Vitamix. Blitz until the ingredients are fully combined.

3. TRANSFER the liquid to a freezer-proof container. Cover and freeze until set. Before serving…

4. LET the ice cream thaw at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before scooping. Serve in bowls with slices of clementine and crumbled sugar cones.

Can you scoop it directly into cones? Sure!
 
 
RECIPE #2: CREAMSICLE FUDGE

This easy recipe for marbled orange fudge, from Diane Wampler of Morristown, Tennessee, came to us via Taste Of Home.

 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. GREASE a 13×9-inch pan with 1-1/2 teaspoons butter; set aside.

2. COMBINE the sugar, cream, and remaining butter in a large heavy saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 4 minutes.

3. REMOVE from the heat; stir in the chips and marshmallow creme until smooth. Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside.

4. ADD the orange extract and food coloring to the remaining marshmallow mixture; stir until blended. Pour into the prepared pan.

5. DROP the reserved marshmallow mixture by tablespoonfuls over the top. Cut through with a knife to swirl (if you’re not sure how to do this, here’s a video). Cover and refrigerate until set.

6. CUT into squares.
 
 
MORE CREAMSICLE RECIPES

[1] Creamsicle-style ice cream, combining the classic duo of orange and vanilla (recipe and photo © Fruits From Chile).

[2] Creamsicle Fudge (photo © Taste Of Home).

[3] The original Creamsicle (photo © Unilever).

[4] Cheesecake lovers: Here’s a Creamsicle Cheesecake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Sweet Street).

[5] How about a Creamsicle Ice Cream Cake? Here’s the recipe (photo © Life, Love And Sugar).

[6] Cool off with a Creamsicle Milkshake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Williams Sonoma).

[1] Guinigi classic bianco (white) and rosé Prosecco. An Italian label, Guinigi Wines were introduced in September 2020. The portfolio of wines, both sparkling and still, honors the Italian heritage of 3 Badge proprietor and fourth-generation vintner, August Sebastiani (all wines © Guinigi except as noted).

[2] This is the second year that rosé Prosecco has been available (all photos © Guinigi Wines).

[3] The retro coupe glass is popular in some parts, but most authorities recommend that sparkling wines be served in flutes, tulip glasses, or standard white wine glasses, where the tall, slender shape keeps the bubbles from escaping.

[4] The Torre Frizzante Cocktail (recipe below), the “sparking tower” referring to La Torre Guinigi (photo #7).

[5] The Guinigi Spritz Lucchesi (recipe below).

[6] The Guinigi vineyards in Treviso (photo © Jonas Van der Wende | Unsplash).

[7] La torre Guinigi in Lucca, Italy (photo courtesy H005 | Wikipedia).

Prosecco is an ideal sparkling wine for summer: light, aromatic, crisp, and affordable. National Prosecco Day, August 13th, is a day to head to the store and buy a bottle or two. In addition to serving as a delightful aperitif or mixed into cocktails (recipes below).

Fans love Prosecco for its fizzy bubbles, fruit nuances, light body, and affordable price points. Many of us love it year-round—on its own and as the base for a Bellini or Mimosa and instead of the much more expensive Champagne in a Champagne Cocktail or a French 75.

The United States remains the leading Prosecco export market, and Prosecco rosé was expected to account for 10% of the half-million bottles of Prosecco produced in 2021 according to the New York Times—an impressive feat considering the Italian wine authorities only deemed it an official wine category in 2020.

> The history of Prosecco.
 
 
PROSECCO FOOD PAIRINGS

Prosecco is sweeter than Champagne, and pairs well with most foods as long as they’re not heavy, such as grilled meats, roasts, and stews. It can be enjoyed throughout the meal. Consider:

 
> The history of Prosecco.

> The history of Prosecco rose is below.
 
 
WHAT IS PROSECCO ROSÉ

We tasted our first bottle of rosé Prosecco last year on this very holiday. That’s because, in the world of Prosecco, the rosé version appeared for the first time just last year (more about that below).

Rosé wines are called pink wines in the U.K. and elsewhere, rosato in Italian, and rosé, is the French term.

What exactly is Prosecco rosé? It’s a new combination of two classics, Prosecco and rosé. Otherwise stated, it’s the rosé version of white Prosecco, just as rosé Champagne is the rosé version of classic Champagne.

Prosecco rosé was born, officially, in May 2020, when the Prosecco Denomination of Controlled Origin (DOC) Consortium, which manages all Prosecco production, updated its rules for production, authorizing the new style of wine.

The Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food, and Forestry Policies’ National Wine Committee also approved new guidelines for the blend.

Prosecco rosé became official as of January 1, 2021. Previously, the red Pinot Noir grape was allowed in the production of white Prosecco, but only the flesh (which is white) and not the skin (which is red and used during the phase called skin contact to make all rosé and red wines).

To be considered Prosecco rosé:

 
Prosecco rosé was launched in Italy and the U.K. in the fall of 2020, and the first bottles appeared in the U.S. in December of 2020, just in time to usher in 2021.
 
How Is The Flavor Different From White Prosecco?

Prosecco rosé has the same style as the white Prosecco i.e., light and fruity. Since there is skin contact with the Pinot Noir grapes, the rosé version has not only a delicate pink color, but some of the delicate fruit flavors of Pinot Noir.

As a comparison:

 
But you don’t have to be a wine connoisseur to enjoy each sip of these lovely wines.

Here’s a tip: Stock up on the rosé Prosecco for Valentine’s Day.
 
 
PROSECCO COCKTAIL RECIPES

Prosecco can be substituted for Champagne or any other sparkling wine in cocktails. Here are two created by the mixologists at Guinigi Prosecco, a leading producer.

You can make these with either the white or rosé Prosecco.

Both the name “Guinigi” and the label art are inspired by La Torre Guinigi, a historical landmark in the town of Lucca, Tuscany, where ancestors of the Sebastiani family resided. Built in the Middle Ages, the Romanesque fortification overlooks the city.
 
 
RECIPE #1: GUINIGI TORRE FRIZZANTE (SPARKLING TOWER)
 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. POUR the elderflower liqueur into the bottom of a flute. Fill with prosecco. Give it the lightest stir with a swizzle stick.

2. garnish with a lemon twist and rosemary spring and serve.
 
 
RECIPE #2: GUINIGI SPRITZ LUCCHESI
 
This cocktail is named for the Villa Guinigi, located on the hills overlooking the medieval city of Lucca. It is part of the Associazione Ville e Palazzi Lucchesi.

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. FILL a coupe glass with ice, and add the vermouth.

2. FILL with Prosecco and garnish with an orange twist or slice.

*Italy’s denominazione di origine controllata (DOC, designation of origin) system, introduced in 1963, is based on the French model, but goes one step further: It specifies not only the production area and methods for each wine, but also guarantees the quality standard of certain wines which pass a government taste test.

Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC), and the higher-level Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG), together are called Denominazione d’Origine Protetta (DOP, protected origin). These label classifications help consumers understand the quality of the wine they are buying and where it came from.

Some classifications can be found on the label of the bottle. All DOCG wines and some DOC wines will have a paper band containing a serial number that covers the cork or wraps around the neck of the wine bottle.

Here’s more about Italian wine classifications.

†The French word millesime (millesimato in Italian) means a great vintage. In Champagne, a vintage year can be declared when the grapes reach a certain level of ripeness. In the Valdobiene, in the production of Prosecco, it simply refers to a particular year.

Chilled borscht in the summertime? We buy it at Zabar’s by the quart, along with chilled cucumber soup, fruit soup, and gazpacho.

In the summer, there are more chilled soups than you can shake a stick at*, as my Nana would say. Our personal Top 10 favorites (including those previously mentioned):

 
Most chilled soups (a.k.a. cold soups) are also delicious hot.

While chilled soups are typically served as a first course, we like to serve the fruit soups as a light summer dessert.

This brings us back to borscht.

Recently, we had a bowl of hot borscht at the legendary, luxurious, and enchanting Russian Tea Room in New York City (photos #4, #5, and #6). We liked it so much that we asked for the recipe, which we’ve shared below.

We then added a twist to the second batch we made: We used golden beets instead of red ones. A bit about golden beets (photo #7) is included in:

> The history of beets.

Today they are still a specialty item, sold at specialty grocers, farmers markets, and through online seed retailers worldwide [source].

> National Homemade Soup Day is February 4th.

> National Cold Borscht Day is May 22nd.

> The history of soup.

> The different types of soup.

> The history of borscht is below.
 
 
RECIPE: THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM’S COLD BORSCHT

See the finished recipe in photo #4. If you like to serve bread with your soup, pumpernickel or seeded rye are culturally good cultural choices, although brioche is always delicious.

We like our pumpernickel or rye with sweet butter and crunchy coarse sea salt to sprinkle on top of it.

(We enjoy this combination far more than salted butter, with the exception of a great salted butter, Vermont Creamery’s Cultured Butter With Sea Salt.)
 
Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. BRING lightly salted water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Add the chopped beets and carrots. Once the beets and carrots are cooked…

2. STRAIN and reserve water and vegetables, cool to room temperature. Once the vegetables are cooled, place them in a blender or food processor and purée.

3. ADD the beet juice, sour cream, and vinegar and adjust the seasoning. (Season to taste. You can start with 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

4. BLEND. Once the purée is smooth and homogenous…

5. PUT the soup in the refrigerator to chill. To serve:

6. PLACE the soup in a bowl, and garnish with dill and sour cream.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF BORSCHT

Borscht, also spelled borsch, borsht, or bortsch, is a beet soup that is popular in Slavic countries. It is a key component in Russian and Polish cuisines, although Ukraine is frequently cited as its place of origin, and borscht is their national dish.

The name is thought to be derived from the Slavic word for the cow parsnip (a.k.a. common hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium), which is borschevik.

In early Slavic cuisine, the stems, leaves, and flowers of the cow parsnip were made into soup or fermented, yielding something along the lines of sauerkraut.

Beets Take Their Place

The more flavorful cultivated beet eventually replaced the wild cow parsnip as the basis of the soup [source]. The beets also gave borscht its striking red/magenta color.

It is commonly believed that the origins of modern borscht date to the 14th century, in the area that is today Ukraine. Old recipes seem to affirm that it was the Ukrainians who made the soup from beetroot.

Originally a peasant food, borscht spread across regions, becoming a culinary staple for all classes [source].

Hundreds Of Recipes Evolve

Today, the quintessential Ukrainian borscht is made with beetroot, potatoes, and pork fat (and of course, many variations thereof).

But cooks everywhere added other ingredients according to both what they liked and what was growing in the region.

 
The Borscht Diaspora

By the end of the 19th century, borscht had spread as far as Persia, France, and, the U.S. (via Jewish immigration).

Each country or cultural group has its different take on borscht: Recipes vary between Ashkenazi Jews, Belarusians, Georgians, Lithuanians, Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians. Even China has a take on borscht, called luó sòng tāng, or “Russian soup” [source].
 
Your Signature Borscht

What would you like in your borscht?

In our family, cabbage, onions, and dill were added to the beets, and the soup was garnished with small boiled potatoes, sour cream, and more dill.

Summer borscht was served cold, hot winter borscht added carrots and meat: brisket or flanken (short ribs).

You can play with the recipe and add just about anything:

 
Enjoy your delicious beet soup.
 
 
________________

*The origin of this phrase: In merry olde England, farmers controlled their sheep by shaking their staffs at the animals to indicate where the sheep should go—human herding instead of dog herding. When farmers had more sheep than they could control, it was said that they had “more than you can shake a stick at” [source].

†Doukhobors are a sect of Russian dissenters, many of whom now live in western Canada. Here’s more about them.

[1] A beet and tomato borscht from Jamie Oliver. Here’s the recipe (photo © Jamie Oliver).

[2] This Doukhobor† borsch is very different from typical borsch. It’s loaded with butter and heavy cream, and always and beet isn’t the main ingredient—it’s primarily used for color and then discarded before the soup is served. Here’s a recipe (photo Public Domain | PX Here).

[3] A tempting pot of borscht (photo © Monika Grabkowska | Unsplash).

[4] Russian Tea Room’s famed borscht (photos #4, #5, and #6 © Russian Tea Room).

[5] A sumptuous banquette at the Russian Tea Room.

[6] The entrance to the Russian Tea Room.

[7] Beets grow in different colors, including white, golden (orange), red, purple, yellow, and even red- and white-striped chioggia beets (photo © Edible Madison | Cibo e Vino | Facebook).

[8] Some golden beets have orange skin, but are golden yellow on the inside; others have yellow skin as in the photo aove (photo © Good Eggs).

[9] “Petroleum borscht,” made black with cuttlefish ink, at The Mad Cook in Moscow (photo © The Mad Cook).

Souvlaki, which means “little skewer” in Greece, came to the U.S. with Greek immigrants and became a staple of street carts, Mediterranean restaurants, even diners.

When you grill chunks of meat on skewers, you’re making souvlaki. Kebabs are the Arabic word for the same thing.

The protein can be beef, chicken, lamb, pork, a plant-based protein (photo #5), or a combination. You can also use meatballs, sausages, and cubes of a firm fish (e.g. salmon, swordfish).

If you prefer vegetables, those work, too (photo #2).

Classic souvlaki serves the grilled skewers on a platter with salad or other vegetables, fries, pita bread, tzatziki (yogurt dip), and a wedge of lemon.

A gyro is a Greek sandwich made not from skewered meat, but by thinly slicing meat from a large piece that’s grilled on a vertical rotisserie. The meat is wrapped in pita with tzatziki (in the Middle East hummus is used). Gyros are handheld street food, while souvlaki is typically plated. (Gyro means circular, referring to the rotisseried meat.)

A kebap in Greece is different from the Turkish doner kebab. A Greek kofta kebap is spicy minced meat, mixed with parsley, onions, and garlic, formed into balls or a longer shape and grilled on a skewer. (We suggested Americanized meatballs, above, but you can make a kofta recipe.)

You can serve the grilled skewers as snacks, appetizers (see photo #3), entrées, or as a base for sandwiches (photo #1). You can just slide the meat off the skewer into a piece of flatbread with a sauce, from Greek tzatziki to the numerous other flavorful sauce below.

Here are tips and some modern sauce pairings for summer grilling, from Flavor & The Menu, a website for chefs that follows restaurant trends, for the idea. It starts with a few tips:

 
 
SOUVLAKI & SAUCE PAIRINGS

FOR BEEF

Use flank steak, strip steak, or top sirloin for:

 
 
FOR CHICKEN

For the breast or thigh:

 
 
FOR PORK

For the belly, loin, or tenderloin:

 
 
________________

*This is a great use for herb stems that usually get thrown out. Toss them into the freezer. Of course, you can mix the different herbs in your soaking liquid.

[1] Classic souvlaki is served with pita, tzatzii (cucumber-yogurt sauce), fries, and often, onions (photo © Williams Sonoma).

[2] Vegetable skewers, with beef on the side, can be served with just about any dip (photo © Sun Basket).

[3] A fun idea for a first course: a kabob atop salad (photo © McCormick).

[4] Argentinian-style: beef skewers with red chimichurri sauce. Here’s the recipe (photo © McCormick).

[5] Plant-based fish skewers from Good Catch.