Julia Child’s ‘The French Chef’ Heads to Streaming on Magnolia Network

The French Chef Julia Child
Preview
Courtesy of the Everett Collection

It’s a testament to Julia Child, and her passion when describing melted cheese, that the early episodes of the 1963–73 PBS cooking series, The French Chef, still make our mouths water despite being shot almost 60 years ago.

Starting Monday, January 10 — with tutorials for boeuf bourguignon, French onion soup, and casserole roast chicken — three episodes air back-to-back Mondays and Thursdays. Another trio join Friday’s lineup January 21.

The French Chef Julia Child

(Credit: Paul Child/Courtesy of the Everett Collection)

“A lot of people just see me as a clown. A clown who cooks,” the 6-foot-2 icon once told TV Guide Magazine. Born in California and trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, Child did bring classic French cuisine to the masses with the joyous wielding of a meat mallet and occasional “rather undignified” handling of poultry (her words).

But watch her recover from the flubbed flipping of a flimsy potato pancake, and you’ll view her as a life coach. “Any time that anything like this happens, you haven’t lost anything, ’cause you can always turn this into something else,” she said. Have the courage to fail. And make a baked potato dish.

The French Chef, Monday, January 10, 7am/6c, Magnolia Network