The French Chef

Gateau Saint-Honore is made up of three parts: a pie crust base, a pate a choux halo and tiny pate a choux puffs fixed upon the halo with sugar syrup. This glistening pastry shell is then filled with creme Saint-Honore, a delicious mixture of gelatin, beaten egg whites, whipped cream and liqueur, and then topped with strawberries or any other fruit in season.

The meal begins with oysters broiled on the half-shell and ends with Crepes Flambees, Sainte Claire. An in between comes the humble hamburger under a French disguise - Bifteck Hache, Saute Nature, or sauteed hamburger with a wine, cream and tomato sauce.

The Mediterranean salad that's a meal in itself. Lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, eggs, tuna fish, capers, anchovies - all spiced with the authentic flavor of the Riviera - and filmed in Nice.

Julia shows you how to slice the turkey breast into large, even pieces. Then, when the slices are marinating in Cognac, the turkey carcass is cooked with carrots, celery and onions. The slices are shaped into a roast, with stuffing between each slice, then browned with white wine and herbs. Finally the roast is set into the oven, and served with a sauce made from the roasting liquid.

A great way to use yesterday's roast, be it poultry, veal or pork. Julia's French lasagne is a delicious concoction of pasta, Italian tomato sauce, saffron threads, dried orange peel, leftover turkey, veal or whatever, and an "inner sauce" that's rich and velvety.

On a sunny terrace in Provence an expert maitre d'hotel gives Julia a private lesson on leg of lamb.

When you want a rib-sticking soup, when you are tired of the cliche vegetables, when you want a main course dish with a difference - when you want a lot for a little, how about lentils?

The great fish dinner borrows the name of the monks of La Grand Chartreuse for the colorful vegetables the fish is braised with. The fish is browned and braised in a mixture of herbs, carrots, lettuce and onions, topped with vegetables, anchovies and black olives and served with a tomato mixture.

A golden cage of caramel encloses a sponge cake filled with wines and fruits. Gateau in a Cage is the invention of Parisian chef Jean Deblieux, who gives Julia a private lesson in creating this stunningly dramatic dessert.

When you want a change from the usual cocktail routine, or would like to give an informal after-dinner get-together, a cheese and wine party is both easy to organize and fun for hosts and guest alike.

Crumble a Bombay Duck, puff up a Poppadum and squeeze milk from a coconut and leftover almost anything becomes an exotic Indian curry.

La Tarte Tatin: This is a bottoms-up French tarte which when served in the best Paris restaurants is named after the Demioselles Tatin.

Pate en Crout: Join Julia in France for a private lesson in the art of French charcuterie - how you mask a meat filling in an elegant free form pastry crust.

Rediscovering Grandmother's Sunday dinner. The delights of the large bird - how to prepare it for the oven or rotisserie and how to carve it.

Hard-boiled answers to your unasked questions about cooking, peeling and keeping eggs and some ingenious French ideas for stuffing and serving them.

How to take advantage of beef specials and how to turn them, with the addition of a little red wine, mushrooms, and onions, into the most famous of all beef stews.

Strawberry Souffle for dessert: How to fabricate this fancy phenomenon and how to work a dessert souffle into your menu without having a nervous collapse.

Another gem to add to your treasury of three-course dinners. Everyday ingredients put together with a flare.

Forming the Loaves: A private lesson in Paris at the Bakers' Institute where Professor Calvel show Julia how to form a variety of French breads; then Julia shows you how to turn your own kitchen into a home bread bakery.