Part 2: Chapter 6, Mastering the Art Summary and Analysis

An editor at Knopf, Judith Jones, immediately recognized what Julia and Simca were trying to do. She pushed Knopf to publish the book and she wrote Julia of the decision to publish. Knopf offered Julia and Simca a fifteen hundred dollar advance against seventeen percent royalties. They wanted to price the book at about ten dollars and would publish it in the fall of 1961. Judith had never edited a cookbook, but she enjoyed the writing style.

Judith made several suggestions. First, she felt that Julia and Simca had underestimated how many Americans the dishes would feed. She also wanted them to add more beef dishes, so Julia and Simca added a recipe for cassoulet. The recipe proved to be a point of contention between Julia and Simca, who didn't agree on the ingredients...