Julia Child's Requirements For Good Copper Cookware

Before we had Alton Brown or America's Test Kitchen, we had Julia Child, a 6'2" former high school basketball player who designed shark repellent when working for what would become the CIA during World War II. After bringing haute cuisine to American households with "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," Child got her own show on public television, "The French Chef," where she taught us how to make beef bourguignon and tell different roast chickens apart with her characteristic know-how and good cheer. Simply put, she was the most trusted cook in America, and even today her advice is well worth heeding. Take the matter of copper cookware, which, as you can see from the picture above, Child was quite passionate about.

Child always made use of copper pots and pans in her cooking, as she believed (with good reason) that they were unrivaled when it came to conducting heat, leading to more efficient cooking. But not just any old copper pan or kettle would do for her beloved vichysoisse: Child insisted upon copper pans that were at least ⅛ of an inch thick, with iron handles for holding. If they didn't have those, there was a good chance they were mere brass being sold as copper. (Another favorite of Child's, the "revolutionary" food processer, does not come in copper, as far as we know.)

There is one major sticking point you will probably have with copper cookware that Julia Child did not: It is very, very expensive. Each individual piece will probably set you back anywhere between $200 and $500. If you want a whole set, well, you'd better get to work rustling up some "French Chef" money, buddy. But if you recently received a sizable inheritance or married a Rockefeller, you'll be rewarded with dependable cookware that heats through quickly and evenly, cutting down on cook time and avoiding unsightly undercooked patches on your food. (If you're on a budget, Cuisinart offers a six-piece set for $300, or a very reasonable $50 a piece.)

Once you have that copper cookware, though, you're not going to want to just hang it on your wall. You're going to want to cook with it — but how do you do that without ugly discoloration? Julia Child would make use of a solution made of salt, white vinegar, and scouring powder, which she would scrub across the surface with steel wool. You, on the other hand, might be better off using a gentler soap and scrub — chances are you won't have as many copper pans as Child did, so you'd better treat them nicely. (And if you don't cook with them every night, that's okay; Julia went to get In-and-Out every so often, too.)