I'm listening to the audiobook "My Life in France" - about Julia Child's experiences as an American in Paris, and the evolution of her revolutionary cookbook and career.
Parisians take nothing for granted - every detail matters. I love this. At L'Ecole du Cordon Bleu, even the making of the simplest scrambled eggs was revered by her beloved instructor Chef Max Bugnard. His exactingly high standards for this well-known dish were described in vivid detail. Most important was to only lightly scramble the eggs with a fork.
Ina Garten, whom I revere as a fabulous home cook, made scrambled eggs on her show yesterday. She was guiding her neighbour through it. He asked "can you over-scramble them?" to which she replied "you can't!". Two trusted advisors - and two totally different messages!
I believe both of them. It's like that joke : if you have two lawyers in a room, you have three opinions.
These questions and contrasts leave me hungry for more - even if my stomach is full.
I am afraid sometimes of how much more I want to know about cooking. I hit a point a while ago where I finally felt like a really solid capable cook. And now this whole scrambled egg thing is scrambling my confidence because apparently there was a lot that I am now quite sure I DIDN'T know even 6 months ago.
I guess knowledge is like one of these omlettes - always satisfying with endless variations.
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