European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 15, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 15, 19s6 the stars and stripes Page 17 video cookery too much to stomach Bojoh Demers United press International e says to May to and she says to Mah to bul food gurus Craig Claiborne and Julia child Are plunging simultaneously into the fiercely competitive Home video Markel. Of the two projects child s the Way to Cook is the More ambitious proclaiming sell " he first Complete cooking course on video cassettes and comprising six one hour lessons divided by theme. Claiborne s new York times video Cookbook is a single two hour cassette and. By Deli Nullon less a skills course than a Celebration of the famous food writer s culinary loves. As such it succeeds magnificently with Claiborne s misses suppl born friendliness a period balance to the sophistication of his chosen recipes. I i Hank this has tremendous significance child said. Television leaching is one of the Best and most a Ltd ways of teaching anything of a How to nature from  to fixing a toilet. You Hava to have the right people doing it  few would quibble with child s credentials. She made her first appearance As the French chef on Public television in the Early 1960s, later working with we by Boson on a series of to projects including Julia Chad and company. Mia child and More company and dinner Al Julia s. Through it All she has complemented her television work with companion cookbooks and even found time for appearances As varied As Abc s Good morning. America and the synd caled sunday supplement Parade. Though 72 and comfortably trl coastal with residences in Cambridge mass. Santa Barbara calif., and the South of France child sees nothing unusual about leaping into a challenging new medium. This is entirely different she said. A television show runs right through 15 or 20 menu Les with no stops. These video classes were done in very Short takes since every operation had to be right. It s not a show it s a video reference Book. Yet it s supposed to be  and  that last phrase applies More to he viewing than to the making for child s recipes Are often time consuming. Claiboine s tape on the other hand relies a Good Deal on the cooking he sampled during his Mississippi Delta boyhood. Though he concedes insecurity when he watches himself on tape Claiborne says he would entertain going Back for seconds if the project is right. He might goo cooking thu Matr chef \ hew to Eek i Pei Ore the latest rage in the Homo video Market. New York to ital How like to do an entire tape preparing Cooks for a single Mammoth dish club Lac of Salmon Tor instance made Wilh brioche crepes Salmon and the spinal marrow of Sturgeon on the other hand he observes the whole idea of video cookery might fall Flat on us lace. The thing is Olally speculative said Claiborne. Time Alons is going to Tell what s going to happen to these things. For now the tape is food i happen to enjoy cooking for myself food i enjoy serving my  some mashed potato fans take their lumps and like it by Marian Burros new York times a n unscientific Survey of 26 people proves thai the vast majority prefer smooth mashed potatoes to those with lumps. Only our of those asked said they liked Lump Sand Only one gave a rational explanation. With lumps she said i know they Are  ii was 1 until about a year ago when the revival of mashed potatoes along with such other oldies As meat loaf and Creme Brulee turned them into trend setters that i first Learned there were some people who actually1 preferred Lumpy mashed potatoes. Perhaps they like Lumpy Gravy too. The subject had t come up much for the last 30 years Ever since the reconstituted potato served in a rations during world War ii to soldiers in Foxholes joined she civilian world and almost drove real pole toes out of the supermarket. Wilh dried potato flakes ii is probably impossible to produce Lumpy mashed potatoes. But before heir Advent smooth potatoes were the sign of an accomplished Cook. Or so i thought. Al the very least they were a sign of a Cook who look the time 1o put the potatoes through s racer or Mash them thoroughly with a potato Masher. Erma Bumbeck but Jane and Michael Stern authors of Square meals Alfred Knoll 19b4a nostalgic look at american food who admit they Are pro bumpers have a different View. Pro bumpers they say Are a category of people who View the Little nubs of unmasked potato in the same Light As the Small Haws tha Renaissance artists consciously put into their masterpieces symbols of Huml Llly a nod to the imperfection of Man s  anti bumpers according to the Sterns consider lumps a red Flag that the potatoes have been made by a Slattery a slug Abed with no respect for Domestic  pro and anti bumpers aside there does not seem to be much agreement on the Best Way to make mashed potatoes. The Sterns counsel mashing the potatoes with a hand held mixer potato Masher heavy wire whisk or wooden spoon. Myrna Davis who wrote tha potato Book Morrow Quill paperbacks 1973a resident of new York s Long Island Home of some of the most Lamous potatoes in the United states advises using a food Mill electric blender or a Fork. If she had written the Book after the Lood processor had become More popular she probably would have suggested one of them. But the author of potatoes Inez m. Krech Primavera books 1981says the Best mashed potatoes Are made by hand using a Bette a wooden Pestle or Polato Masher for Best flavor and tenderness she says do not use an electric mixer a blender or a food processor As these develop Loo much gluten and make the potatoes  blenders and food processors Are especially harmful to the texture of mashed palates. Next comes the thorny question of what to put in them Cream half and half milk butter Salt Pepper these questions weren t so thorny before americans were so interested in health. While we never put Cream in our mashed potatoes milk was the liquid of Choice we never tinted on the Butler. Simply enough to make the potatoes taste creamy and buttery. Mailed potatoes Are a Comfort Lood for which most children have a ritual the Lei using them to disguise disliked foods or combining them with favourites. The most interesting combination i Ever heard comes from Jane Carr who grew up in Maine. In Carr s family they Are eaten this Way. To this Day half of the mashed potatoes Are carefully smoothed out with the lines of the Fork. A mixture called posts fled pickles chopped relish of cabbage and Green tomatoes is spooned Over and then covered Wilh the remaining half of the potatoes the tines of the Fork once again pressed evenly into the potatoes to look like so Many Railroad tracks. Everyone remembers the prettiest girl in their class i know i remember Ginger Angel nother real name she had porcelain skin hair that curled on Rainy Days and Pompon hands. Whenever and where Ever a phone rang it was for her and she was eternally dredging up a Chain that held a class ring the size of a Flea Collar now i read where a club has been formed in califor Nia Lor people like Ginger who consider being born Beautiful a curse and a problem. They say they feel insecure about their appearance and their sell Worth they have fell the pains of discrimination of being Good looking by a Public that does t consider Beautiful peo ple Overly Bright. They can t Trust people who say they Lova them for themselves and they re tired of being thought of As aloof and cold Wien they Are just disturbingly Beautiful. Give me a second Here. I m trying to relate. I could have sworn Ginger was having a Good time All those years l guess 1 did t know How miserable she was going out weekend after weekend desperately hoping to kiss a Prince who would turn into a Toad heaven knows she kissed enough of them it s not that i m insensitive to people s feelings it s just that their problems did t seem As major As those of. Say an unattractive person. We Al carried our Stig Mas and stereotypes Wilh us. Sure being Queen suggested our bust size was larger than your id but if you were editor of the school paper everyone assumed you had bad breath and the Light Hurt your weak eyes. There s a difference Here. Disturbingly Beautiful people say they spend a lot of saturday nights at Home because everyone feels they already have dates or they re too intimidated to ask. Wilh unattractive people no one cares. Def sit around wondering it they Are being invited out because they re Beautiful or it someone really cares for them As a person. With unattractive people we wonder if they asked us out because they lost an election bet. The criterion for joining this group of put upon beauties is admittedly subjective. Who can define Beautiful As one member said. There were a couple of people who came to the meeting whom i did t think were that Al Ira Clive bul they decided to leave Beloro things got under  a few years ago 1 went to a class reunion and sure enough there was Ginger still surrounded by a group of males. I Felt pretty Good about myself. I had written seven books a column read by an estimated 31 million and was a regular on National television. Ginger came Over to to and said so what Are you doing now did you finally get married i do have empathy for the gingers of the world. They Are much maligned and Are discriminated against be cause of their looks. I found myself using one syllable words with her. And when i Lei i vowed that i would stage a telethon for this poor unfortunate if Joan Riv ers can help me co Host it Ginger will never complain again. C 1916, to Ann Tei Titi Send Scala