Gifts for cooks: 'The Way to Cook'

New on DVD is Julia Child's 1985 cooking series "The Way to Cook." The two-DVD set makes a thoughtful stocking stuffer for a beginning and French-leaning chef or one who'd like to brush up on basic skills. That's 360 minutes of the beloved Julia preparing six hourlong lessons.

The set comes with a recipe booklet and none of the recipes inside look particularly daunting. Some are just a paragraph or two or three long, easy delicious stuff -- variations on sautéed chicken, coq au vin, pot roast braised in red wine, cauliflower au gratin, crèpes suzette, all old-fashioned dishes that work today.

Julia Child: "The Way to Cook," produced by Julia Child Productions Inc., WGBH-Boston and Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House Inc.; two DVDs/Color, 360 minutes, $24.95.

--S. Irene Virbila

Scan of DVD set cover with photograph by Brian Leatart