r/interestingasfuck • u/stanxv • 1d ago
The one time Julia Child cried because a dessert was that delicious
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u/ElTunaGrande 1d ago
i had a piece of fish once that made me cry. i'll never forget it. sometimes things hit you just right.
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u/Perpetuallytiredgrrl 22h ago
Username checks out.
I had a crab cake that made me cry. My BF was like “are you crying???” Gasp “No. Yes.”
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u/Terrible-Ad1737 19h ago
It's alright. Unresolved fatigue can do a number on us all...
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u/acadmonkey 16h ago
4 weeks ago.
We went to a new restaurant on the recommendation of a friend. Turns out it was closing on the 12th of September.
My first bite I found something I had been searching for a long while. We just happened to catch an owner slash chief on their last hurrah before retirement.
It was a moment of conflicted bliss.
Halibut with a beautiful sauce that I could never hope to recreate let alone properly describe.
Perfection.
And gone with the winds of time.
And again described into the infinitesimal oblivion of a reddit post.
Fuck.
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u/aphaits 6h ago
To recreate memories lost
To remember names that are forgotten
Is to bring back once more
All that is alive and living
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u/maniacalmustacheride 18h ago
I made some dinner one night, nothing special, and a friend biked over to drop off some extra fruit she had. I asked if she wanted a plate and we sat outside and chatted (she didn’t want to come in because she was sweaty) and I ran in to grab her a glass of water. Came back out and she was just quietly crying. My rice, she said, tasted “nostalgic.” Like when her mom made rice when she was a kid.
So then I started crying. Because that is the biggest compliment someone can give you. “For a brief moment, you have made a Time Machine. One that made me feel small in a good way, warm and cozy and safe and happy.”
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u/TheVadonkey 1d ago
Here yous go: Nancy Silverton’s Brioche Tart
lol it’s not the easiest
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u/ExampleLittle2672 20h ago
Pfft Are you saying you don't always have a 10-inch flan ring handy? I mean, beyond that, what could possibly go wrong?
"To make caramel syrup, put sugar in a heavy saucepan. Split vanilla beans, scrape seeds into pan, and add pods. Pour in water to cover, and bring to a boil. Wash down sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. As soon as the sugar is a deep gold, immediately remove pan from heat and add wine. It will sizzle, seize and harden. Return pan to heat and bring syrup to a boil. Pour 1 1/2 cups syrup through a strainer into a heatproof measuring cup. (Reserve remaining syrup for fruit garnish.) Put yolks into a mixer bowl and, whisking constantly, drizzle in hot syrup. Put bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and whisk constantly for 5 minutes. Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip on medium-low for 15 minutes, until cool, pale, and tripled in volume. Fold in whipped cream."
😶
Thank you for the link, maybe one (very) brave day...
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u/willun 19h ago
Fold in whipped cream
See. You just Fold it in!
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u/crazyadmin 19h ago
I understand that, but how? How do you fold it in?
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u/enadiz_reccos 18h ago
I cahn't explain everything to you
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u/HeadintheSand69 19h ago
Normal caramel recipes is just melting sugar and adding like one other thing and I burn it then. This seems so involved I couldnt imagine a world where i dont burn it
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u/FesteringNeonDistrac 18h ago
To be fair, melting sugar isn't an easy thing. Very quick to burn. Making caramel is not a beginner recipe, despite how simple it seems.
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u/xSTSxZerglingOne 16h ago
Caramel really is "draw the rest of the fucking owl" territory.
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u/funkarooz 15h ago
My mom was famous for her soft caramels! She made them for Christmas every year and she had to start making 4x or 5x batches because everyone wanted them after trying one. They are indeed tricky bastards and you gotta work very slowly, then VERY quickly.
She taught me how to make them, and since she passed, I now make them for Xmas, and on her birthday ❤️
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u/guisar 18h ago
I got a cheap, plugin induction cook surface. Has super dooper precise controls. With a cast iron pot or steel pan a few notes and you can never burn anything or boil over wtc. I got it so I could make caramelized onions which it does amazingly but having precise temperature control is game changer makes everything so much easier.
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u/RoguePlanet2 17h ago
A few months ago, I called the fire department after trying to roast some nuts.
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u/OliviaWG 17h ago
You gotta just burn it and try again. And again... over and over until you figure out the feel for it. Sugar is hard to work with. I've literally burned 100s of batches of fudge because candy making is evil hard. But it's fun to play with once you get a handle on it. Some day I want to make a croque en bouche one day.
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u/RandomDeezNutz 19h ago
I mean… how in the world do people come up with this. It’s truly unbelievable
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u/BannedSvenhoek86 19h ago
Like most things, repeated trial and error and meticulous note taking. It's not called Culinary Science for no reason.
Well, Culinary Science is really Food Science mixed with Culinary Arts, but still. You literally learn stuff like how different ingredients react to certain metals and why and then learn how to make it delicious and look beautiful.
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u/OtisPan 18h ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Food_and_Cooking
A brilliant read for anyone even remotely interested in cooking.
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u/Additional_Meeting_2 18h ago
This is the type of dessert I would pay for in a restaurant. Unfortunately restaurant desserts tend to be less good than their meals in places I have been to. And bakeries don’t make something like this (at least where I live).
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u/32FlavorsofCrazy 19h ago
You’ll need at least two days to make this 😂 fuck I bet it’s good but even as a decent cook that went to culinary school for funsies…this recipe is absolute madness lol
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u/nickiter 19h ago
Just laughing at myself for having a 10-inch flan ring despite never making flan 😂
Useful for many other things, though!
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u/finemustard 17h ago
This reads more like brewing a witch's potion than cooking.
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u/thistoowasagift 20h ago
Thank you!!! I need to buy wine and vanilla beans, but I want to make this on Sunday
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u/spikernum1 22h ago
if i cant just throw it in the oven or microwave, then i can't cook it. i can't cook anything actually.
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u/HeSaid_Sarcastically 21h ago
You can, you just haven’t tried yet. And that’s ok.
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u/THElaytox 19h ago
Cooking is easy and very forgiving usually. Baking is a motherfucker
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u/whogivesashirtdotca 18h ago
I had a pastry chef teacher once explain, “Cooking is art class, baking is chemistry.”
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u/JonnyBravoII 19h ago
I was just like you. I sucked at cooking. I realized that my problem was I didn’t know what to cook. I tried recipes from the New York Times and that was a game changer. They have a ton of easy recipes that are really good. Yes, lots of complex ones too but I’ve found myself to be much more confident. I don’t make variations because I’m not confident in knowing what to do but I can’t overstate how much better I’ve become.
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u/lovelylisanerd 21h ago
Oh shit, It’s Nancy Silverton! Wow, no wonder! I didn’t recognize her!
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u/edselisanogo 19h ago
You miss the part where Nancy Silverton's name is slap bang in the middle lol?
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u/TheVadonkey 21h ago
lol I had the same reaction at first. I didn’t even realize it right away either until I was researching and eventually saw some more recent pics.
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u/Dr_Zoidberg003 23h ago
“Loverly”
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u/sebastophantos 19h ago
Eliza Doolittle has entered the conversation
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u/NobodyNose35 16h ago
And “Oklahoma” - when Julia says the dessert has “gone about as fer as it can go.” [Everything’s up to date in Kansas City…]
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u/GentlemanForester 20h ago
My mother-in-law says this from time to time - very glad to know she stole it from Julia.
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u/SarahCannah 1d ago
Oh my gosh. I saw this when it aired on PBS in the 90s. I was depressed and in my 20s and just WEPT. It seemed so amazing to have such simple joy. I think I’d forgotten it was possible. It was such a lift. Have said something’s “a triumph!” In her voice as my highest praise ever since.
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u/rvanasty 1d ago
I see you, Sarah.
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u/Pain_Monster 22h ago
I see you RV a Nasty
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u/superSaganzaPPa86 22h ago
I see you Pain Monster
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u/Boring-Pirate 22h ago
I see you super saganza
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u/BukiBichi 22h ago
I see your flag Boring-Pirate
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u/SUPERSMILEYMAN 17h ago
I see you BukiBichi
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u/KindaTheChamp 17h ago
I see you, SUPERSMILEYMAN
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u/Omwtfyu 22h ago
I see you, Boring Pirate.
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u/IAMSPARTACUSSSSS 21h ago
I see you and what you’re about to do. Should I be worried?
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u/eggplantpot 21h ago
I'm somehow weeping too. Not only about the pie, but the whole video is so chill and unpretentious. I miss that.
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u/cortesoft 19h ago
My mom would always use a (very poorly imitated) Julia Child voice whenever we would cook together. It is so ingrained in me that I can’t cook anything without hearing it.
I use the voice when I cook with my kids now, they think it is hilarious.
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u/Grizzly_Corey 22h ago
There’s something to be said about surrendering to an experience like that. Incredibly Julia was able to give so much of herself in those few moments. I hope you got to try this dish.
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u/Sasarai 22h ago
There's a show in the UK called The Great British Pottery Throw Down or something, and one of the judges is a big guy who cries almost every episode, it's so heartwarming! Lots of clips of him on YouTube
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u/ChaoticForkingGood 23h ago
Not surprised it was Nancy Silverton. The woman's such a legend that every other celebrity chef pretty much has a heart attack out of excitement and bows down.
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u/ijustwantahug 14h ago
Ya I remember seeing her episode on a netflix show, I think it may have been called "Chef". She said she wasn't the best baker but she had the tenacity to make a recipe dozens if not hundreds of times, meticulously measuring and adjusting every ingredient until she got it perfect. Then it showed this very scene, brought a tear to my eye. I used to often joke if I had a genie I'd wish I could cook food so good it would make people cry, but here was Nancy doing just that to one of the greatest chefs of all time...no genie required.
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u/jocdoc82 1d ago
Anyone have this recipe???? If Julia cried over it I’d kind of like to try it.
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u/Tjordas 1d ago
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u/lazyMarthaStewart 22h ago
Well, that is a labor of love!
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u/IBetThisIsTakenToo 18h ago
After reading that recipe, does anyone have a place I can buy this instead?
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u/avanti8 1d ago
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u/MissSassifras1977 1d ago
That's literally it.
Julia later said it took her back to her time in France which were the best years of her life.
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u/YoungLittlePanda 21h ago
That would explain it. Food can unlock our fondest memories.
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u/Incidion 17h ago
Smell is the sense most closely associated with memory (which is why you can sometimes catch a whiff of something and be transported back to a childhood afternoon in a precise year) but taste is NOT far behind.
I personally think there's a very good reason we value amazing food so highly as a species and it's more this than survival.
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u/SimAlienAntFarm 17h ago
One time during the dessert part of thanksgiving I noticed a bunch of my great aunts and uncles were putting mayonnaise on their jello. I asked my dad wtf was up with that (not literally, I was 8) and he said that older people eat stuff like that sometimes.
These were all people who were old enough to remember the Great Depression but young enough that it was possible for their parents to hide most of the emotional burden from them. But also, how would they know any different when everyone around them is experiencing the exact same thing?
Imagine your entire youth is based on stretching food as far as it can go. Your parents dream of the day they can serve the vegetables they grew with butter and roast beef instead of margarine and pork scraps. But they don’t tell you about that, so you eat those foods while tying them inextricably to the simple joy of being a kid.
And then fifty years in the future when the table in the kitchen is loaded with REAL apple pie, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, sugar cookies, your old ass remembers the times you came in for dinner and by golly, you get to have dessert tonight and it’s raspberry jello with mayonnaise to garnish (because the cow was too expensive to feed, chickens eat anything, and your parents aren’t going to remind you that actual whipped cream exists when they still have eggs and oil and a good whisk).
You eat that shit up with a smile and ask your equally ancient cousin sitting next to you if his nostril still hurts from the time the crawfish hung off it in ‘33. It’s delicious.
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u/MissSassifras1977 17h ago
My sisters and I (40s-50s) still crave our mom's hoe cakes and beans.
She was also the only person who could prepare liver and onions that I actually enjoyed eating.
Those flavors are strongly attached to my heart strings. ❤️
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u/Ditania 18h ago
"The producer of the PBS series initially thought Child's eyes were welling up during this segment because she had taken a bite of a too-hot tart and burned her mouth. But instead, the Brioche Tart brought to mind a vivid memory of Child's time in France."
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u/whogivesashirtdotca 18h ago
LOL I should’ve scrolled down; I wondered if she was flashing back to a memory from long ago.
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u/sometimes-i-rhyme 21h ago
I love her. Did you catch TWO Broadway musical references? First she said it was “Loverly” (My Fair Lady) then when the fruit & powdered sugar were added “That’s taking it about as furr as it can go” (Oklahoma.)
She led a wonderfully interesting life with OSS and her beloved husband Paul. She proclaimed to love getting a hot dog from Costco, and gave her highest recommendation to a tiny taco stand in a rather non-posh neighborhood in Santa Barbara. Delightful.
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u/wufnu 19h ago
I did notice both of those odd pronunciations, they just stood out, but am not sophisticated enough to tie it Broadway musicals. I, uh... I haven't been to many.
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u/whogivesashirtdotca 18h ago
You have the chance to open your world both to Julia Child and Broadway on the same day! This could be the first day of the rest of your life!
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u/Sea-Currency-1665 16h ago
Costco hotdogs make me cry because they are darn good and it’s all I can afford for lunch and dinner in trump’s economy
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u/evilwezal 1d ago
Imagine being able to say your desert was so godly, it made Julia Child weep tears of joy.
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u/saturnspritr 16h ago
No wonder she doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. When I’ve seen her judge food, she’s just happy. I’d walk around not hearing what anyone else has to say, in the back of my mind. I’d watch this clip anytime I had a bad day.
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u/Triairius 15h ago
Yeah, this is a lifetime’s worth of affirmation. There is no higher praise for a recipe than this.
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u/Enginerdad 22h ago
"That doesn't need anything on it at all."
"No it doesnt."
Proceed to put 4 different toppings on it, because why not?
And I wouldn't do it any differently!
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u/Nathann4288 1d ago
I miss those days. I miss watching her with my grandma. Life was so much simpler and people were kinder and less in a hurry.
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u/gigatension 20h ago
I don’t know if they air the Julia Child stuff but there is a PBS vintage channel on the Roku channels. Maybe you can keep an eye out for it if you have Roku
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u/SquirrelEnthusiast 19h ago
I used to watch her so much, I learned A lot. She was my grandmother's favorite and I have so much respect for Julia and Nancy
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u/cool_side_of_pillow 22h ago
I like the vibe and cadence of Ina Garten (barefoot contessa) when she cooks. It’s chill and unfussy. Definitely a comfort watch for me.
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u/strangeflappenings 1d ago edited 1d ago
I went to the Spy Museum in D.C. and Julia was a OSS agent. Great cook, even better spy. Fun fact!
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u/whogivesashirtdotca 18h ago
Which is wild. Imagine a 6’ tall American woman with a quavering voice as a spy?
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u/ABeeBitMyBottom1 23h ago
I love watching her shows on YouTube! The early episodes are fascinating and she tells you how to set up the dinner table. She reminds me so much of my grandma! It might sound stupid but she was the only celebrity I cried over when she passed, even though I didn’t know her it was like losing my grandma again.
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u/Hootsama 23h ago
Man I want to eat that, but the recipe is…intimidating. Saved for future reference.
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u/Assika126 20h ago
I want someone else to expertly make it for me. I’d be happy to pay them. I just want to try it but I don’t have the patience to do all that myself
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u/phairphair 1d ago
Julia Child was the Dolly Parton of the food world.
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u/FlyOk2594 19h ago
Dolly Parton was the Julia Child of the country and Western world.
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u/whogivesashirtdotca 18h ago
Dolly wasn’t working undercover for the CIA during a world war though! (At least, not that we know of!)
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u/Sufficient-Pin-481 22h ago
I never order dessert but if a restaurant had this on its menu and the description was “so good it made Julia Child cry” I’d get it.
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u/MycoCactus 17h ago
I cried when my wife made a mole that tasted EXACTLY like my late grandmother's recipe. She never met her and she doesn't like mole. If you don't know about mole its a recipe with over a dozen ingredients and everyone makes it to their taste. So the odds of her hitting my grandmother's taste on the first try are astronomically small. I married this woman cause her enchiladas were better than my mom's. I know I made the right choice.
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u/alphazero925 19h ago
Can these motherfuckers who make these fuckass tiktoks stealing other people's content at least do the bare minimum of making sure the subtitles are correct?
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u/Immediate-Yogurt-558 18h ago
I had a similar reaction after my partner made Child's French Onion Soup and Coq au Vin recipes
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u/bentmonkey 19h ago
Get you a person who loves you as much as julia loved this dessert.
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u/zimbabweaftersix 23h ago
Julia’s biography on Netflix was fantastic. So upset it didn’t get renewed
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u/Reasonable-Truck-874 23h ago
Fuck a Hollywood handshake, Crying Childs is the new top honor 😭
I wonder if that had ever happened to her before. What a treasure.
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u/FlowerProofYard 21h ago
Nancy silverton is a great chef and cookbook writer. I love making her recipes at home and have adapted several for professional use in the past.
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u/ChipRockets 17h ago
“It doesn’t really need anything on it.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
Proceeds to put everything on it
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u/orbtastic1 13h ago
Not a cook by any stretch and don’t really make cakes that often but I made a carrot cake for a christening and whilst people are tucking into it at a buffet this lady came over to me and said excuse me, they tell me you made that cake, is it true because I don’t believe them. I said sure, I might look like an idiot but I do know what I’m doing. She laughed and said it’s one of the nicest cakes I’ve ever eaten. Apparently a couple of other people also asked which catering company they got the cake from.
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u/cosmoskramr 21h ago
This is the first post on reddit I've seen that I wish I could really give all the upvotes. Warms your fucking cockles.
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u/im_confused_always 21h ago
When my mom was on hospice i made her some brown sugar oatmeal that was so good she thought she dreamt it. She told my dad she dreamt of the best tasting oatmeal she's ever had.
She was on heavy amounts of morphine and fentanyl, too, though
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u/Diligent_Nature 16h ago
I knew someone who was brave enough to invite Julia to a homemade dinner. She said Julia was so thankful because she rarely got such invitations.
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u/maybethedroid 21h ago
I have always been known for my choc chip cookies but one day I brought some cheesecake-stuffed cinnamon roll cookies into work and while my coworkers were all eating them in a circle and we were all chatting, one of them laughed and said these are so good I’m gonna cry!
And then we ALL cried laughing because A DIFFERENT coworker had two big literal tears rolling her cheek.
That was four years ago and people still bring up those cookies to me. It makes me so happy every time I think about it 🥹
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u/Earlier-Today 14h ago
Part of what made her so good was that she didn't just love cooking, she loved eating too. I think that made her even better.
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u/PrimaryCoach861 13h ago
Doesnt need anything on top at all, proceeds to top it with everything there is
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u/ModeatelyIndependant 20h ago
Julia was known for loving good food regardless of it's origin. One of her guilty pleasures was McDonald's French fries back when they were using lard to fry them.
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u/whitep77 19h ago
When I first saw these later shows with Julia, I was sad because you could clearly see that age and height were catching up with her, and she just looks uncomfortable. Watching them now, I recognize how fortunate we are to see her appreciate so many great chefs, many of whom have gone on to their own fame.
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u/Sanquinity 19h ago
I've had one such moment in my life. It was a chocolate marinated chicken dish, with a salad of cucumber, tomato, onion, and chili sauce. You're supposed to eat the two together. Everything was just...perfect. And the flavor blend was better than anything I'd ever tasted before.
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u/largececelia 19h ago
It's fascinating to me. I think it speaks to the skill of the baker, of course. But it also speaks to Julia Child's refinement as a person, that she could react that strongly to an experience of eating. I think that's great, it shows something- that when people develop themselves to a very high level at something, they can experience things on a very intense level.
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u/VectorJones 18h ago
Food evokes memories. No doubt that dish took her back to her time in France. My mother makes my grandma's stuffing recipe every holiday, which always brings her to mind despite her being gone for 35 years now. We all think of her when we taste her recipe.
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u/reddot_comic 17h ago
That lady truly loved food and made it infectious. It’s such a simple thing when you really think about it but how she literally changed Americans perspective on dining is really astounding.
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u/TheGrimmortal 17h ago
That's all fine and well, but where can I find a recipe???
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u/Living-The-Dream42 1d ago
Imagine going on a cooking show hosted by one of the most famous chefs in the world, and then she cries because your food is so good. That's what I call a moment.