Front Burner : COOKBOOK WATCH : He Said, She Said

Cooking is such a personal thing that I’ve always wondered about books written by more than one person. What if there’s a disagreement? Do they compromise (meaning you get neither person’s ideal version)? Do they vote? Do they slug it out? In the case of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin’s “Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home” (Alfred Knopf, $40) by Child and Pepin, it’s the last.

Of course, the authors are far too well-mannered for actual fisticuffs, as amusing an idea as that might be (Pepin is younger and quicker; Child has reach and experience). Instead, they hash it out in print. It’s an interesting concept and it works so well that this might be the best book in a little while for either of them.

Take green beans, for example, a seemingly innocuous topic. Child says the key is using lots of water and bringing it very quickly back to a boil. “My old chef Max Bugnard . . . used to drop a red-hot stove plaque into the pot as he put in the beans, to bring the water dramatically and instantly back to the boil.” Pepin declines. “Instead of a big pot of water, I use a little liquid, so it almost all evaporates by the time the beans are cooked through.” In many cases, the argument is at least as interesting--and instructive--as the recipes.

Although Child and Pepin are engaging in person, many of their previous books have suffered from a certain stodginess in tone. A lot of the credit for the success of this one goes to co-writer David Nusbaum, who has done an admirable job of bringing these two charming characters to life on the page and then getting out of the way while they go at it.