I am basically a self-taught cook, due to the fact that I found my mother’s cooking dull and insipid. So from a very early age, I began to putter in the kitchen. The first cookbook I acquired was one that I submitted labels from a couple of cans Carnation evaporated milk along 50¢ or so and in a few weeks, I received a fine paperboard children’s cookbook filled with simple recipes utilizing evaporated milk. Pretty disgusting to me today, but it was pure excitement to receive that package from the mailman and rip it open with anticipation. I think I tried every recipe in that book at one time or another. As I recall, they had a pretty mean mac & cheese recipe in there.

Over the years, I collected many more cookbooks and watched the various cooking shows that PBS offered, honing my skills with each passing year. I never really watched Julia Child that much, because I thought that French cooking was “so involved.” But my friends began to appreciate my cooking more and more (after years of cooking for my family and their pedestrian tastes) and I found cooking both relaxing and challenging at the same time.

A few years ago, while perusing the books at Costco, my eyes rested upon a book by Julia Child entitled, “My Life in France.” A slim little tome, I quickly picked it and threw it in my cart. I was entranced. I read this book almost overnight. Julia married her husband, Paul Child, who was an information officer in the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA (hence, the spy connection). After travel to various cities in numerous countries, they ended up in France: first in Marseilles and finally in Paris. There being just so much one could do with one’s free time in Paris, Julia (who believe it or not, was a horrible cook!), decided to take cooking lessons. However, she was quickly bored with the lessons offered to the “American housewives” and wanted to learn the master courses normally reserved for the professional chefs. Long story short, that’s how Julia Child ended up becoming an icon of the culinary universe. She will always be remembered for her wit, panache and self-deprecating style of teaching Americans how to cook le cuisine Française.

But I digress. In all the years of my cooking experience, I had yet to boil an egg without mangling the shell, or having the shell stick to the white. I simply couldn’t believe that I, with my years of experience in cooking all types of cuisine, could not do something as simple as boiling an egg. In reading Julia’s book, however, I realized I was doing it all wrong. I tried her method et voila! I had boiled the perfect egg. Bravo, Julia!! Et merci beaucoup!!

Oeufs Mollets or Six-minute boiled eggs from the “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”  By Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck

(For an egg with a set white and a soft yolk)

2 qts. boiling water

6 eggs with uncracked shells

Lower the eggs into the boiling water and boil slowly according to the following table, adding 1 minute if the eggs are chilled.

U.S. Large Eggs 6 minutes

Extra Large 6½ minutes

Jumbo 7 minutes

As soon as the time is up, drain off the boiling water and run cold water into the pan for a minute to set the white and to cool the eggs enough to remove the shells. Tap gently on a hard surface to break the shells, peel carefully under a stream of water.

If to be served cold, refrigerate. If to be served hot, warm for a minute or two in a bowl of hot water.

NOW, IF YOU WANT TO READ SOME GOOD SPY BLOGS, check out St. James’ recent blogs and stop reading about how to boil an egg, for Pete’s sake!