{"id":2136192,"date":"2025-04-25T16:28:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T21:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=2136192"},"modified":"2025-04-30T12:34:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T17:34:50","slug":"this-dessert-is-so-good-it-made-julia-child-shed-a-tear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/this-dessert-is-so-good-it-made-julia-child-shed-a-tear\/","title":{"rendered":"This Dessert Is So Good, It Made Julia Child Shed a Tear"},"content":{"rendered":"Every few years, a beloved video from Julia Child\u2019s PBS series Baking with Julia<\/em> goes viral, and it seems to be what we all need at that exact moment. The most recent clip is close to my heart. It shows a touching scene with a young pastry chef named Nancy Silverton, one of my favorite chefs in the country, making a delicious dessert. After one bite, Julia is moved to tears<\/a> and says it\u2019s the best she\u2019s ever eaten. Even I shed a tear while watching the clip\u2014it\u2019s beautiful.\r\n\r\nOf course, Julia was no stranger to fabulous food, and her enthusiasm for cooking is unparalleled. With nearly 20 books and cookbooks, over a dozen cooking shows, and movies, TV shows and countless blogs dedicated to her, she was instrumental in shaping how and what Americans cook and eat today. We still attempt her most iconic dishes<\/a> from Mastering the Art of French Cooking<\/em>, and love classics like sole meuniere<\/a> and chocolate mousse<\/a>. She taught us<\/a> not to take ourselves too seriously in the kitchen. And the fact that her favorite cocktail is an upside-down gin martini<\/a> is something I am personally 100% behind.\r\n\r\nTo make her cry with one bite of dessert? Chills.\r\n

What dessert brought Julia Child to tears?<\/h2>\r\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@viewerslikeme.pbs\/video\/7492111302219812142\" data-video-id=\"7492111302219812142\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;\" > <section> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@viewerslikeme.pbs\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@viewerslikeme.pbs?refer=embed\">@viewerslikeme.pbs<\/a> Ultimate chef achievement unlocked. (Could also be the perfect Easter recipe, hint hint.) <a title=\"viewerslikemepbs\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/viewerslikemepbs?refer=embed\">#viewerslikemepbs<\/a> <a title=\"pbs\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/pbs?refer=embed\">#pbs<\/a> <a title=\"ilovepbs\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/ilovepbs?refer=embed\">#ilovepbs<\/a> <a title=\"juliachild\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/juliachild?refer=embed\">#juliachild<\/a> <a title=\"chefs\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/chefs?refer=embed\">#chefs<\/a> @PBS <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"\u266c original sound - Viewerslikemepbs\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/original-sound-7492111450761300778?refer=embed\">\u266c original sound - Viewerslikemepbs<\/a> <\/section> <\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script>\r\n\r\nFor a woman who celebrated the best of everything, what recipe could make Julia Child cry? Nancy Silverton\u2019s brioche tart with cr\u00e8me fraiche custard, poached fruit, whipped cream and sabayon<\/a>\u2014a dessert she served at her first Los Angeles restaurants, La Brea Bakery and Campanile. Nancy has always been known for using seasonal, locally grown ingredients and exacting techniques that make everything look effortless on the plate. (If you\u2019ve seen her Chef\u2019s Table<\/em> episode<\/a>, you know what I mean.) It\u2019s the same today at her fantastic restaurants, Pizzeria Mozza, Osteria Mozza and Chi Spacca.\r\n\r\nBut watching<\/a> vintage Julia and Nancy cook is a joy. Julia towers over Nancy at the counter and stove, genuinely interested in how the younger chef crimps the buttery brioche in a baking ring, makes a light-as-air custard and poaches fruit in a wine-infused syrup. They talk about making cr\u00e8me fraiche<\/a>, a rich, cultured cream\u2014about 1 tablespoon of buttermilk per cup of heavy cream\u2014and how combining it with whipped cream simply \u201cadds a little more character,\u201d per Julia.\r\n\r\nThe dessert is a labor of love, and Julia loves it. After it\u2019s plated, she takes one bite and there\u2019s a pause. Nancy asks if it\u2019s \u201ca good combination,\u201d and Julia is speechless. She pats Nancy on the back and declares with a quivering voice, \u201cIt\u2019s a dessert to cry over,\u201d adding that it\u2019s a triumph (or did she say cry-umph?!) and the best dessert she\u2019s ever eaten.\r\n\r\nWhen Nancy looks back on that episode, she's a bit nostalgic. But in the moment, she was terrified! \u201cIt\u2019s a beloved clip now, but believe me, when it was happening, the first several seconds were frightening to me,\u201d she told Taste Recipes<\/em>. \u201cI saw those tears and immediately thought, \u2018Oh my god, I have burned Julia Child.\u2019 I really thought those tears were from the brioche tart dessert being scalding hot! Whew, what a relief it was to realize those were Julia's tears of joy.\u201d\r\n\r\nIf you want to make the brioche with cr\u00e8me fraiche custard, you can find it in the series\u2019 companion cookbook, Baking with Julia<\/em><\/a>, written by Dorie Greenspan. (Nancy was a contributing baker for the book.) Set some time aside: The recipe is six pages long. But oh, is it worth it!\r\n\r\nRelated:\r\n