Judith Jones had been at Knopf for three years as a general editor, specializing in translations of French books, when a huge manuscript turned up on her desk in June 1960. It was to become, of course, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child—the culinary icon who died August 13—and Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. "I didn't know the manuscript was coming, but people knew I loved French food," remembered Jones, now Knopf v-p and senior editor. "The book was a godsend to me. People never understood, until Julia did it, how important it is when translating a cuisine that you translate the techniques and all the whys and wherefores. What was so important was the teaching, taking you by the hand, telling you the difference between Beef Boiled in Red Wine and Boeuf Bourguignon."
Jones noted that the book was "beautifully conceived from the start." One aspect that required attention, however, was availability. "Julia hadn't been in America for quite a while, and I had to say that you couldn't buy this or that ingredient, so what would work as a substitute? But she was wonderful to work with."
Some editing was done in Child's kitchen. "I'd never made puff pastry," recalled Jones, "so I went up to Cambridge [Mass., where the Childs lived] and said that I didn't feel that I'd grasped it. So Julia told me to make puff pastry and we'd see how the recipe worked. Or I would make suggestions on paper, and she would want to test it out. I never saw someone with so much energy. She'd work, work, work all day long, barely stopping for lunch. At 10 or 11, she'd stop and say [to her husband], 'Paul, you make cocktails. Judith, you do something with potatoes.' And she would make the meat course."
Illustrations in Masteringwere drawings because the Childs thought they would be more accurate than photographs. "You could focus on what was important," explained Jones. "Paul took all the pictures for our artist to work with."
When presenting the book to Alfred Knopf, Jones enlisted the help of a colleague, Angus Cameron, who had been at Bobbs-Merrill when The Joy of Cooking was published. They persuaded Knopf that Child's book (the title of which he really, really didn't like) would make all the other French cookbooks that didn't work actually work by virtue of its elegant instructiveness. Masteringwas published October 16, 1961, and after Craig Claiborne called it "a masterpiece" in his New York Timesreview, it went into a second printing before Christmas.
"Julia had the truly revolutionary idea of ingredients appearing within a recipe as you use them," said Jones, who always believed the book was destined to become a classic. "She changed the way cookbooks were written. I particularly love her writing. She used words that were visceral. She wouldn't say, 'In a bowl, combine....' That's meaningless. Do you fold the ingredients together? Do you whip them? Language is so important, and not just in the headnotes. Even in the recipe itself, you have to make it sound fun and sensual."
The year of publication was propitious for the book, which would go on to sell well over a million copies. "Julia was very modest. She often said, 'The time was right,' " Jones said. "It was when a lot of people had traveled and were traveling abroad. Our tastebuds were awakened. We really needed her."
