Julia Child's Hilarious Solution For Her Failed Dishes

Julia Child and her husband Paul laugh and cheers glasses of white wine.

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Legendary celebrity chef and cookbook author Julia Child may have brought fancy French cooking into the homes of the American public, but she always did it with a sense of humor and a breezy honesty that was refreshing and accessible. And like any good chef, Child could admit when a dish didn’t turn out quite like she hoped.

In a segment during a 1987 episode of “Late Night With David Letterman,” Child deftly jokes her way through the process of making a hamburger when her heat source malfunctions, and in the middle of the funny, improvised bit, Letterman asks her if she ever “cooked something that just turned out awful.” Julia’s immediate response is, “Yeah, lots of times!” When he asks her what she does in those cases, she doesn’t miss a beat before she answers, “I’ll give it to my husband.” Not only did that get her an applause break from the audience, but she moved right on to cracking jokes about her sad, raw hamburger meat on the cold hot plate.

Paul Cushing Child was the biggest fan of his wife and her failed dishes

Julia Child sits in front of a table of fresh vegetables, an eggplant dish, and a bottle of white wine.

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It may have been a joke that Julia Child fed her bad cooking experiments to her husband (though he really was her taste tester), but it’s true that Paul Child was the ultimate celebrity chef HAB (like WAG — wives and girlfriends, but HAB — husbands and boyfriends, instead). They met in 1944, and though he wasn’t initially taken with Julia, he ultimately grew into her biggest fan, sitting on the floor while episodes of her show, “The French Chef,” filmed, holding up signs that said things like, “Wipe brow!” and “Don’t forget mushrooms,” per a profile in the Los Angeles Times.

Julie Cohen, director of the Julia Child documentary “Julia,” said of Paul, “It’s not just that Paul helped out and was on set. It’s that he was willing to support and cheer Julia on in decisions that might sometimes make his career take a back seat to hers. He got that she was going places, and wanted to help her get there.” It was a big deal to have a “supportive, loving, feminist husband,” as Cohen said, in the mid-20th century. But on top of being Julia’s biggest champion and most reliable taste tester, there may be another, more scientific reason that Paul — and husbands in general — can be such willing guinea pigs for their wives’ culinary creations.

Women have a better sense of taste than men

Julia Child chops a vegetable while her husband Paul sets up a photograph.

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We’re not talking cannibalism here, but several studies have found that overall, women have better taste function, i.e., are able to pick up specific, different tastes, more easily than men. Women are also more likely to be supertasters, meaning they are more likely to experience the extreme ends of the spectrum of bitterness and sweetness.

So sure, this might have something to do with the fact that Julia Child’s husband (and husbands in general) seem more than happy to gobble up dishes from their wives that may not be top tier. However, even though Julia Child refused to use the word “gourmet,” we’re fairly certain her failed dishes were usually still quite delicious. One thing is for sure: Paul was there to support his wife in all the ways, and Child often showed her love for him in the form of her favorite foods, including their traditional Valentine’s Day duck, which was probably perfect every time, but even if it wasn’t, chances are Paul ate it happily.