Julia Child's cooktop

[deeptub]

There's a thread about vintage washers and dryers in the movies in the Imperial forum, but it started to take a turn toward cooking machines on television, so I thought I'd put this here.

I love Julia Child's cooktop from the French Chef series. It was in both her b&w (once she was in her own digs and not at the power company) and color series. It seems to be a 45" Thermador with SEVEN coils, including a smaller-than-usual wee little coil at the center rear position. I have never seen one of these anywhere other than on her show. 45" Thermadors are rare anyway, and they always seem to have that great big griddle/grille in the center.

If anyone ever comes across one of these 7 burner beauties and has no use for it themselves, PLEASE give a shout! I'll pay exorbitant amounts of money for it.

Thanks.
T.

OH, and the rest of her machines in the color episodes were Thermador wall ovens and warming drawers and a Sub Zero over-and-under fridge. Not sure of the b&w ovens, the fridge might be a Frigidaire. And when she was at the Cambridge electric company, she had a GE pushbutton cooktop and a GE double wall oven. And a Frigidaire washer and dryer.

 

[toggleswitch]

Gas Vs. Electric

Funny how they say chefs prefer gas cooktops....

I heard she learned to cook during her extended stay/residence in Paris, France and am guessing she had electric there.

PS I'd love to see a pic of this 7 coil unit....

 

[foraloysius]

You can view programs made with Julia Child on the PBS website. A lot of them were made in her kitchen.

PBS: Public Broadcasting Service

Watch full episodes of your favorite PBS dramas, find in-depth news analysis and explore documentaries on history, science, art and more!

www.pbs.org

 

[tomturbomatic]

Actually in the intro to TAOFC, she mentions both gas and electric and it was there, I believe, that I read of the advantages of having a good electric surface unit or hot plate for good fast searing and pan broiling when the gas pressure was low. In so many European setups, you see a couple of electric surface units with gas burners. A friend explained that was for the times the delivery of bottled gas is delayed but you are still able to cook with the electric units. Julia was not adverse to cooking with electricity. I still am not sure why she had that 30" Westinghouse range tucked back in the pantry off the kitchen at her house, but I did see it once. She also presided at her two unit electric cooktop while JP cooked on the gas cooktop on their last series. On the B&W French Chef, it was not always possible to see, but while she was filming, some of those elements were kept on at various settings to have instant heat. If you know your stove and your pans, you can have absolute control with electric cooking. Today with so many people using their range several times a week instead of daily, it can be harder to learn the characteristics of each. She once showed how to make sauce hollandaise without a double boiler on an electric surface unit. Once in an emergency at a party, I had to do it and it worked.

Ask Mark (Lighted controls) about her electric cooking. He cooked with her all over the place.

John's Thermador slide in/drop in range has 5 elements and one of them is the 4" element. When I was in school, right after Edison invented the electric light bulb, a friend's mom had an early Thermador cooktop with the big fat TK elements (like Frigidaire Radiantubes)and a deepwell. Now, you cannot buy a new Thermador with regular coil elements.

 

[deeptub]

Julia also used an electric cooktop on the "The Way To Cook" videotape series. I've always had electric coils and they have never bothered me. Tom, that's interesting than JC made hollandaise w/o a double boiler. I've never used one--every electric range I've used has been able to keep an extremely low temp. Of course I'd use one on a gas stove. I don't think I'd mind a high-BTU gas range with some sort of extra-low simmering device. But when I've cooked at friends' houses on ordinary gas stoves (I imagine in the 7000-9000 BTU range) I find myself wondering, if the task is boiling pasta water, if we'll ever get to eat, or, if the task is simmering garlic cloves in cream for garlic mashed potatoes, just how far off the burner grate can I put the pot so the cream doesn't BOIL.

We're going to split the difference (apparently in the continental way) in our upcoming kitchen renovation. Todd has his grandmother's Chambers B and we're going to pair it with a 2-burner electric cooktop.

T.

 

[toggleswitch]

Induction?
Coils? OR
vitro-ceran (glass / "smooth-top")?

Any chance of talking you into a 20" wide electric range with a smooth-top, this way you get an electric oven too?

The are now made with smooth-tops! See Avanti.

 

[deeptub]

It's just an inexpensive 2-coil Kenmore that I got for half-off because of a small scratch. On the baking end of the kitchen will be a 30" Thermador CT230 double oven that I got for a steal off ebay, so the oven department is covered. It doesn't have 3rd element convection, but it IS the last Thermador to have an external exhaust.

T.

 

[deeptub]

I should probably add, I wouldn't try not using a double boiler on an electric element if I didn't have a very good quality pan.

T.

 

[toggleswitch]

very nice---- gas and electric...PERFECT!

 

[hoover1060]

If memory serves...

In one of Julia's books I remember reading that she cut a deal with Frigidaire to feature their appliances in her "French Chef" series.
In the 1970's color shows wasn't all that stuff Frigidaire? Cooktop, ovens, fridge?

 

[deeptub]

Looking at it today, none of the color series equipment seems to be Frigidaire. I believe in the B&W episodes, the fridge and maybe the wall ovens were Frigidaire. The cooktop (which I believe was the same in both B&W and color) wasn't, as it didn't have Frigidaire-type coils. My copy of The French Chef cookbook lists a number of equipment suppliers, Frigidaire included. The Thermador and Sub Zero equipment was probably provided by a distributor, not the companies themselves. She must have had dishwashers somewhere--maybe they were Frigidaire? And maybe there was a prep kitchen stocked with Frigidaire machines.
Hmm.
T.