James Beard Awards honor Julia Child

The highlight of the evening for me was the four restaurants honored with the America’s Classics awards

By: Faith Bahadurian

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Photo by Faith Bahadurian
An ice sculpture of James Beard greeted attendees at the 15th annual James Beard Awards in New York City.


   The 15th annual James Beard Award winners were announced earlier this month, amid a nearly audible collective sigh of relief from a beleaguered awards committee, due to recent months of turmoil and reorganization in the wake of disclosure of financial mismanagement at the James Beard Foundation.
   Although some award committee members quit over the scandal, new ones came on board, so once again, in a May 2 shindig in New York, hosted by Charles Gibson, outstanding food professionals across the country were honored in the Oscars of the culinary world.
   Jacques Pepin, cookbook author and television cooking-show host, received the 2005 James Beard Foundation lifetime achievement award, and also oversaw the reception that followed the awards, a "Chefs’ Tribute to Julia Child." Ms. Child was a close friend of Mr. Pepin and James Beard, and a founder of the Beard Foundation. She died last August, just as the Foundation’s problems became public.
   Other awards went to (in part):
   Outstanding Chef: Mario Batali. Outstanding Restaurant: New Orleans’ 100-year-old Galatoire’s. Best New Restaurant: Per Se, New York. Rising Star Chef of the Year: Christopher Lee of Striped Bass, Philadelphia. Best Chef, Midatlantic: Marc Vetri, of Vetri, Philadelphia. Cookbook of the Year: "Rick Stein’s Complete Seafood" (Ten Speed Press) by Rick Stein. Humanitarian of the Year: Judy Wicks, owner, White Dog Café, Philadelphia.
   The highlight of the evening for me was the four restaurants honored with the America’s Classics awards. These are humble neighborhood joints, beloved by locals, but mostly unheralded elsewhere. The abashed owners received their awards to thunderous applause.
   Socorra Herrera of Yuca’s in Los Angeles (a taco stand, really) was so overcome that her granddaughter had to speak for her. And Willie Mae Seaton of Willie Mae’s Scotch House, New Orleans (fried chicken), apologized for the long wait as she made her way to the stage, because, the nearly 89-year-old explained, "My feet are just so bad." Also honored were Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe, Boston, and El Chorro Lodge, Paradise Valley, Arizona.
   As I noshed my way through the reception afterward, I enjoyed many wonderful dishes (menu at www.jamesbeard.org), but what I remember most fondly was the delicate chocolate-and-caramel custard with maple syrup and sea salt, served in a brown egg shell, by Michael Laiskonis, the pastry chef at Le Bernardin.
   I used to follow Julia Child around Savenor’s Market in Cambridge, Mass., in the late 1960s but didn’t work up the courage to introduce myself until I met up with her again at the 1997 Aspen Food & Wine Classic. I treasure the cookbook she signed for me that day, as I do my signed (by both authors) copy of "Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home," from which the humble recipes below are adapted.
   The book reflects the friendly quibbling between the two in the televised series, so their cooking methods below vary. My suggestion would be that if you have a panini grill, use that instead of either method.
   Bon appétit!
JULIA’S
CROQUE MONSIEUR
"Julia and Jacques
Cooking at Home,"
Julia Child and Jacques Pepin,
(Knopf, 1999)
1 sandwich
2 slices fresh, reasonably soft home-style white bread, of equal size
   1 tablespoon mayonnaise, preferably homemade
   ½ teaspoon Dijon-style prepared mustard
   2 or more slices Swiss cheese (Gruyère or Emmentaler), 3/16 inch thick and large enough to cover each bread slice
   1 slice excellent baked or boiled ham, 3/16 inch thick, trimmed of fat, and same size as cheese
   2 tablespoons clarified butter
   Lay the bread in front of you and open it up like a book, so left and right match exactly. Spread an even coating of mayonnaise on the top of each slice, and a smidge of mustard. Lay a slice of cheese on the right slice, followed by a slice of ham, then a slice of cheese. Turn the left slice of bread over on top of the right, and press firmly down on the sandwich with the palm of your hand. Rotate and press several times to hold the sandwich together. Use a big sharp knife to trim off the crusts all around to form a neat sandwich.
   Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Film an oven-proof frying pan with a tablespoon of clarified butter and set over moderate high heat. When very hot, but not browning, lower heat to moderate and lay the sandwich in the pan. Press down upon it with a spatula, and press down several times as the sandwich browns slowly on the bottom – 2 minutes or so. Add another tablespoon of clarified butter to the pan, then turn and brown on the other side, pressing down upon the sandwich several times until its bottom, too, is lightly browned.
   Set the frying pan in the middle level of the oven and bake for 7 to 8 minutes.


JACQUES’ CROQUE MADAME
1 sandwich
2 slices home-style white bread
   1 tablespoon soft butter, or more if needed
   2 or more slices Swiss cheese (Gruyère or Emmentaler), about 1/8 inch thick, to cover bread slices
   Several slices cooked chicken, about 1/8 inch thick, to cover one bread slice
   1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
   Dashes of Tabasco sauce (optional)
   Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread a thin layer of butter on one side only of both bread slices, then cover buttered sides neatly with a layer of cheese. Arrange a layer of chicken on one slice, sprinkle on chives and a few dashes of Tabasco, if desired. Flip the other piece of bread over on top, cheese inside, of course, press together, and spread more butter on outsides of sandwich. Lay sandwich on shallow baking sheet or dish. Bake for 10 minutes or so, until bottom is crisp and golden. Flip over and bake about 5 minutes more, until second side is well toasted.