Test Kitchen Outtakes: Channeling Julia

We turn to her when we need omelette-flipping confidence. We page through her works when we're looking for some firm, friendly instruction on how to roast a duck or make the perfect gratin. In the kitchen, nobody commands our respect -- or our trust -- like Julia.

This week, we spent two days in the test kitchen, cooking our way through lists of recipes and eating our way through the results. While this had nothing to do with Julia Child, we're still dedicating this post to her. Just because. And now we're wondering: what would Julia Child's Instagram feed look like?

We worked hard this week. And hard work takes research -- which is what we're doing here, obviously. (Really though, it was completely necessary.) After work, at an hour of the night that should be spent either sleeping or doing much more scandalous things, we also dug up the original article that Amanda wrote on Julie Powell in 2003. How's that for some research?

Mortars and pestles and love. Julia Child's husband once bought her a mortar and pestle for Valentine's Day; it was one of her favorite cooking tools. We're smitten with this idea, as well as with Amanda's elegant white version. We paid it our respects by smearing it with garlic and cilantro; isn't that how everyone shows affection?

Honing our knife skills. Here, Kenzi demonstrates the most appropriate way to carry knives through a busy kitchen. As Julia always said: never apologize! (Unless, of course, you accidentally impale somebody with a 9" chef's knife. In which case, you should probably apologize. And get a Band-Aid.)