Blanching the beans

It is important to use a large pot and lots of water (8-9 quarts) for blanching green beans. Why? Because the larger amount of boiling water you have, the faster it will come back up to a boil after the beans are in.

Give them mushrooms a squeeze

When using mushroom stems for a mushroom stuffing, after chopping the stems it is a good idea to squeeze the juice out of them. This can be done by placing them in a tea towel and twisting the liquid out. This prevents the stuffing from getting gooey.

Lessons from Julia is a weekly series where I post what I am learning from watching episodes of The French Chef with Julia Child starting at season 1, episode 1.