Simone Beck
cooking teacher and French cookbook author
Biography
Simone Beck, known as Simca (Normandy, 1904 – Plascassier, 1991), was a French cooking teacher and cookbook writer whose work bridged France and the United States. Together with Julia Child and Louisette Bertholle, she played a decisive role in bringing French cooking techniques and recipes into American kitchens.
She came from a wealthy family linked to the production of Bénédictine liqueur and loved preparing desserts and meals from an early age. After an early marriage ended in divorce, she enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in 1933. After the Second World War she began her career as a cook and teacher through Le Cercle des Gourmettes, an exclusive club for women interested in cooking, where the idea of a book for Americans took shape. The first attempt was unsuccessful, but in 1952 she and Bertholle published the short What's Cooking in France?. After meeting Child, the project came together as Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961), and a second volume, written by Beck and Child without Bertholle, followed in 1970.
The three women founded L'École des trois gourmandes, which taught American women living in Paris. While Child became a television star in the United States, Beck kept teaching from her home. She went on to publish Simca's Cuisine (1972), with Patricia Simon, and New Menus from Simca's Cuisine (1979), with Michael James, once her student and assistant. Her memoir with recipes, Food and Friends, appeared in 1991, the year she died. Her legacy lies in the books that helped bring French home cooking to a generation of American readers.
Key contributions
- Co-author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961), a key book in spreading French technique in the United States.
- Co-author of the second volume (1970), focused on baking and charcuterie.
- Co-founder, with Child and Bertholle, of L'École des trois gourmandes in Paris.
- Author of Simca's Cuisine (1972), which included recipes absent from her earlier books.
- Author of New Menus from Simca's Cuisine (1979), written with Michael James.