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Unlike Nora Ephron, Ina Garten, Julie Powell and hosts of Americans, I did not learn how to cook French food by plodding through “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child. In 1988, when I was in my late salad days as a food columnist, Workman Publishing sent me a copy of “At Home with the French Classics,” by Richard Grausman.
The book became my bible as I cooked my way through it preparing everything from coq au vin to soufflés. Workman recently sent me an updated version of Grausman’s fine tome. “French Classics Made Easy” should make its way into your home library.
I wanted to meet the man responsible for teaching me how to cook French food. On a hot late June day, I took the train to New York City and lunched with Grausman at Asiate in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The views of Central Park from the 34th floor were breathtaking.
Grausman, who is 73, grew up on the Upper East Side. His father was a physician and he has an older brother who is an artist. He told me his family employed a cook.
“My first food memory is cream of wheat,” he said as he lifted a spoon of pureed corn soup to his lips. “I went to the George School in Bucks County and then to the University of North Carolina.”
After graduation, Grausman went into the import/export business. His boss signed up for a series of cooking classes.
“He told me he had to miss two of them and since they were already paid for, my Jewish guilt kicked in. I told him I would go in his place,” Grausman said.
The teacher turned out to be James Beard.
Grausman liked to cook only as a hobby. One day he decided to make cooking and teaching his career. In 1967, he enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. He earned his diploma and was asked by the school’s owner, Madame Elisabeth Brassart, to be the school’s first exclusive representative. He taught in major cities throughout the country.
“By the way, Madame Brassart was not as nasty and mean as she was depicted in ‘Julie and Julia,’” he said with a smile.
A natural born teacher and prolific writer, in ’90, Grausman founded Careers through Culinary Arts Program, a nonprofit organization in public high schools. His daughter Jennifer Grausman directed “Pressure Cooker,” an award-winning film about Wilma Stephenson and her cooking students at Frankfort High School where she runs a culinary boot camp.
Chef Peter Rosenblatt owes his career to the program. The 30 year-old Chef de Restaurant at the Fountain Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel began Saturday morning classes at Northeast High.
“My mother has been a bartender at Moonstruck for many years,” he said. “Toto Schiavone and Claire DiLullo, who own Moonstruck, saw how much I loved to cook so they sent me to The Culinary Institute of America.”
Rosenblatt has been with the Four Seasons for nine years. He cooked lunch for me and is a most talented man. It sounds corny but he is as happy as a clam in his chosen profession.
Broiled Tomatoes with Garlic and Herbs (Tomates a la Provencal)
Ingredients:
3 medium to large tomatoes, cut in half crosswise
3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon of fresh or dried thyme leaves
5 sprigs of parsley, chopped
1/3 cup of bread crumbs
Pinch each of salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions:
Place the tomatoes skin side up in a roasting or broiling pan.
In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the garlic and shallot and gently sauté until softened, but not browned, for about two minutes.
Add the thyme and remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley and enough of the bread crumbs to absorb the oil. Season with the salt and pepper.
Spread the bread-crumb mixture over the tops of the tomatoes.
Just before serving, preheat the broiler. Broil the tomatoes 3 to 4 inches from the heat until they are heated through and the crumbs are browned, for about three minutes. If the tomatoes are ripe, they will emerge from the broiler hot (but not fully cooked), soft, moist and flavorful.
Serves six. SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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