View Full Version : Teaching Kids to Cook- What would you teach?
DH and I mentor one of my friend's kids. He's 12 years old and on and off I have been teaching him how to make a few basic things. Really basic, like grilled cheese sandwiches and stuff like that, but he seems to get a real kick out of it and wants to learn more. He'll be home alone some afternoons this summer and I thought it would be nice for him to start planning and cooking his mom one dinner a week. It would give him a sense of accomplishment and give her a break. I'm teaching my own kids to cook, but he's much older and capable of doing more, so I'm trying to think of how to break this down to teach him the basics of cooking. I think doing this now will help me later on with my own kids.
Here's what I've come up with so far.
-Basic kitchen safety. Knives, stoves, hygene, etc.
-Basic sauces
-Various ways of cooking various cuts of meat
-How to make basic starches (rice, pasta, etc.)
-Casserole basics (I figure that's an easy thing for a 12 year old)
-Various ways to cook vegetables
-Egg dishes
-Knife basics (slice, dice, etc.)
My goal is to give him the tools to eventually become the kind of cook who can improvise and experiment pretty easily. Anything else you'd add to the list?
earthshepherd
4-3-11, 7:31am
My mom taught me to make biscuits, muffins, cake and other baked goods at that age or younger. I may have been 10 or 11. I also could scramble eggs, cook pasta correctly, grilled cheese as you mentioned. I don't remember too many specifics anymore, but I do remember that, with supervision, I was fairly handy in the kitchen by age 12 or 13. I admire you for teaching him! Lessons on using a mixer might be useful too.
What is funny now is I remember how much I begrudged helping Mom can. My sister and I helped blanch and skin tomatoes, snap green beans, slice cucumbers etc and just thought it was slavery. And now, every summer, I can't wait till canning time and I work myself to the bone canning all my garden veggies.
The master recipes for muffins and casseroles from The Tightwad Gazette are both great -- you get the basic principals down, and then can experiment with different variations.
Learning to make biscuits and a couple of good easy breads is a great idea -- the cuban bread recipe in The Tightwad Gazette was the first bread I ever made, and I still love it.
Cream of (name your vegetable) soup is also a good basic to master.
Hummus, if he likes it. I am loving that recipe earthshepherd gave me!
Pizza. What kid wouldn't love learning to make his own pizza?
Hard boiled eggs. I am not kidding. This can probably go near the top of the list. Then variations like hard boiled eggs and egg salad.
Quesadillas.
Yogurt. I mean making it from milk.
I wish I could spend the summer at your house :)
lhamo
PS: If he is into science, there are a couple of books that look at the science of cooking. One is called "Ratio" and I think it is focused on baking. There is another major one by Harold McGee that people often refer to -- name escapes me at the moment. And a former exec from Microsoft just came out with a really fancy series on molecular gastronomy that supposedly has some really cool pictures in it -- cross sections of things actually being cooked, including the pots. If you could find that at the library a kid his age might find a whole new appreciation for cooking.
I suggest asking him his favorite foods, and then teaching him to cook those in a healthy way.
For instance, my DH's favorite food is beef tacos. Those, you can improve by:
mixing beef and lentils, seasoning from spices instead of a mix
making your own taco shells by baking corn tortillas over the rungs of a rack instead of using shells fried in bad fats
using red cabbage instead of lettuce, and other vegetables
making your own beans
using yogurt instead of sour cream
etc
Excellent suggestions everyone! I think this could be a fun project.
My teachings reflected many already mentioned here. Here are a handful more.
Kitchen safety including appliance/knife handling.
General no-no's. i.e. Water and hot oil, etc.
Preparing macaroni/pasta/spaghetti. i.e. Bringing to a boil, adding salt to, tenderness.
Simple entry level seasonings and how to add garlic cloves to roasts.
Simple breakfasts. (Bacon and eggs, toast, fried potatoes).
Easy salads.
Mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.
Ground beef recipes. (Tacos, burritos, hashes, etc).
Maybe teach him which things freeze well and which don't, and how to package them so they last?
Serving a combo of all the nutrients needed, in one meal.
Which veggies/fruits, etc., have which needed nutrient?
healthier deserts
teaching him how to read food labels.
Sounds like you're doing a great job Stella!
You guys are the best! I knew this group would have good suggestions.
AmeliaJane
4-3-11, 12:53pm
Crockpot cooking might be a good thing to know--I could have saved myself a lot of money as a young poor graduate student if I had known about crockpots. I have the "Make it Fast, Cook it Slow" cookbooks and most of those recipes are easy and low on processed foods.
domestic goddess
4-3-11, 3:34pm
This is a very timely thread for me. Dgd1 will be 10 this fall, so it is time to get her comfortable with the basics of cooking, especially since her mother (my dd, I'm embarassed to say), cooks so little. She is still very small, size wise, so it is difficult for her to reach the stove unless she is standing on a chair, which I am not very comfortable with. She helps me when I bake, though, so she is very accomplished at breaking eggs and mixing things. One day, we are going into the kitchen, and we will talk about appliances, safety, knives, etc. Maybe we can have a cooking session a week. I sure don't want her dad teaching her; he makes a huge mess and walks off and leaves it for others to clean up. And he likes very, very spicey food, which my poor old stomach can't tolerate.
I like the idea of teaching crockpot cooking. I use one quite a bit, and it is a good thing for poor students, and struggling families, too. So that is a definite addition to my course. Basics of soup making, esp. using left-overs. Easy quick breads, like muffins and biscuits, too. We'll get into yeast later. Pancakes and French toast, which she is always asking me to make for her. Scrambled eggs with cheese are another favorite. And I can't make hard boiled eggs and keep them long enough to make egg salad or tuna salad, because everyone but dd just wolfs them down. Anyway, keep the ideas coming!
This is a timely thread for me, too, as I'm giving DD (8 yrs old) cooking lessons this summer. She knows how to do many things, but between knives and our gas stove, I've held off on additional skills up to this time. We'll start with knife safety and work our way up.
Bastelmutti
4-3-11, 7:13pm
Another great thing I remember from when I learned to cook (besides timing!) is what types of aromatics and spices to combine to get the flavors of various cuisines. What I mean is a few simple (very simple) formulas, such as Chinese - soy sauce, garlic, ginger; Italian - basil, oregano, Parmesan; Mexican - cumin, onion, jalapeno, Vietnamese - lime, garlic, cilantro, fish sauce (optional), etc. Of course, it can go much, much deeper if he's interested in a particular cuisine, but combine a few veggies and a box of spaghetti or cup of rice + a chicken breast with these formulas, and you already have a variety of dishes.
A book along these lines is The International Pantry Cookbook by Heidi Cusick:
http://www.amazon.com/International-Pantry-Cookbook-Everyday-Seasonings/dp/0811816702/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1301872375&sr=8-2
World cuisines and the spice blends that season them. Meat mastery, cuts and cooking approaches. Videos from Julia Child to Guy Fieri.
ApatheticNoMore
4-3-11, 11:26pm
PS: If he is into science, there are a couple of books that look at the science of cooking. One is called "Ratio" and I think it is focused on baking. There is another major one by Harold McGee that people often refer to -- name escapes me at the moment.
The book is: On Food and Cooking. I own this book. Don't ask me why I own this book, I'm not sure. But it is interesting reading if you like knowing odd trivia about ordinary things. You can extract a few cooking tips from it but it is extraction as it's sciency (it's not a cookbook and it's not a nutrition book - it's science of food).
[thread jack]
Interesting trivia from the book:
* Bleaching of flour is not allowed in Europe (just one of 10 million reasons they eat healthier than us imo, there food isn't so adulterated)
* a flavor modifier exists to make sweet foods taste less sweet used in confections etc. (useful for reducing the sweetness of a preparation who texture depends on high sugar concentration) - eat this if you want diabetes, imagine not even being able to taste how much sugar you are eating!
* says "low-salt diets have surprising side effects of their own including undesirable increases in blood cholesterol levels" - can't vouch for this but it is intriguing
* classifies spices by flavoring
* explains why leftovers always taste a little leftoverish (it's inevitable, but antioxidants in food can help)
* talks about early sauces (really gross, these took massive amounts of meat to make a tiny amount of sauce, since sauces were mostly considered to be the essence of meat. I mean I'm not a veg but this stuff is a bit much)
chrisgermany
4-4-11, 8:07am
I would start with a list of kids favourite food, then showing kid the recipes on a nice basic book or on the internet. Then let the kid start.
And PRAISE whatever is on the table thereafter.
Or do some cooking together, but the kid not only as kitchen helper but as the one who "does it".
Honestly, cooking is no rocket science. Everybody who can read and follow orders can cook if the recipe is not too complicated, definitely at age 12.
I was always interested in food and recipes but refused to learn cooking from my mom. Her cooking was also not what I wanted to learn....
IshbelRobertson
4-4-11, 8:39am
When my children were learning to cook, I used family recipes that they knew and loved but also used a couple of children's cookery books. These were written in a large font, had great illustrations and were things that children adored to eat, pretty little pies, flapjacks, scones, french toast (known in our home as eggybread), pancakes, drop scones. This taught pastry making, blending, rubbing in of fats to flour, creaming, mixing milk to flour/eggs and so on. But, they were doing this at 5-6, so they may be too simplistic for a boy of 12.
I was taught to cook my three favorite things: lemon pie, guacamole, mashed potatoes. I wouldn't have learned anything else nearly as well, and I still value knowing how to cook those things, though lemon pie is usually verboten to me for health reasons, likewise potatoe, but guacamole I make about once a week. Once someone screamed when she took her first bite of it, it was so unexpectedly good.
For kids under the age of 10, Mollie Katzen has 3 kids' cookbooks that have reasonably healthy and kid-friendly recipes.
Another book that delves into food science is Cookwise by Shirley Corriher.
Congrats to all of you teaching children how to cook! It seems that a lot of young people nowadays know nothing about cooking. I never understood how to raise a family without being able to cook. I taught my boys to cook and they are quite accomplished in the kitchen. Have fun!
you guys, I don't know, some of this sounds pretty complicated to me. sorry but I'm not going to show a 12 year old boy Julia Child videos.
Eggs and egg dishes--assuming that the pupil likes eggs--is a good place to begin.
Pizza toppings I can see, but pizza dough? Not in the beginning.
I decided that I hated Amy D's casserole formula. While I like to EAT casseroles, I've just decided that they are too much trouble. First, you have to cook stuff on top of the stove. Then you have to cook it some more in the oven. Nope.
I do top-of-stove cooking mostly, and seldom use the oven.
The simple dishes we eat are rice and pasta and something to put on top of it.
When my daughter was ~8, a local chef took her aside, took her back into the kitchen while my wife and I were having dinner, and taught The Offspring how to make omelettes. My daughter has gotten more mileage out of that than most anything.
chrisgermany
4-5-11, 7:08am
To Iris: I wonder why not the pizza dough?
People give "play dough" to kids... why not the real thing?
How much fun for a kid to mash all components together, to watch the yeast rise, to knead the dough. It is even biology put to good use....
Of course the hands should be clean - but this applied to us grown ups, too.
We don't do casseroles, either. I suppose that if you have all the ingredients on hand as leftovers, then it makes sense to make a casserole.
My daughter has been helping me with pizza dough since she was 3.
To Iris: I wonder why not the pizza dough?
People give "play dough" to kids... why not the real thing?
How much fun for a kid to mash all components together, to watch the yeast rise, to knead the dough. It is even biology put to good use....
Of course the hands should be clean - but this applied to us grown ups, too.
Because *I* can't do pizza dough! Why should a 12 year old learn that if I can't do it!!!?? ha ha ha. But seriously, I don't make pizza dough. DH will make it sometimes, though, so it's not as though we are pizza dough-less here.
Because *I* can't do pizza dough! Why should a 12 year old learn that if I can't do it!!!?? ha ha ha.
:)
Iris and Rosemary I don't usually make casseroles either, but his mom makes them all the time, so I figure that's probably the kind of thing they are likely to have on hand as far as ingredients. There's also the familiarity factor for him. Several of his favourite foods are "hot dishes" (Minnesotan for "casserole"). :)
bae, I was just thinking this morning as I made them for breakfast that omelets might be the next thing I teach my oldest daughter to make. They are easy, cheap and versitile.
You guys have some excellent ideas! I was pretty proficient in the kitchen by 12 years old and my mom was fully in charge of making dinners for her family at 12 years old so I know it's something he's capable of and it's something he's excited to learn.
"you guys, I don't know, some of this sounds pretty complicated to me. sorry but I'm not going to show a 12 year old boy Julia Child videos. "
I watched and enjoyed Julia Child on Tv when I was not too much older than that. Can't say it rubbed off...
At 12 I was watching and trying things from Julia Child and I still use the cobbler recipe from the Galloping Gourmet that I got from his show at the same time. I was cooking from scratch for a family of nine when I was 10 years old.
I would teach how to use a fire extinguisher and how to use baking soda to smother a grease fire. Or a pot lid. How to treat a MINOR burn. When to ask for help. How to make a simple salsa-1 can diced tomatoes and 1 jalapeno in blender. Blend. Pour into bowl. Add chopped onion and chopped cilantro. Grate in a little fresh garlic if desired. Fire-roasted, diced tomatoes are very good. My thanks to Rick Bayliss for the recipe.
Consider teaching how to shop for food. How to compare prices and sizes. How to pick out the freshest produce.
How to bake potatoes and top with different things to vary the flavor and make a meal with one. How to cook corn on the cob. Making a basic vinagrette for salad. Varying the flavors by using different herbs/acids. Various sandwich fillings, especially from leftovers. One-pot cooking-soups, stews.
Pizza dough is a big hit. To start, I'd use a good quality tomato pasta sauce for the tomato part. When he has a medium level of skill and tomatoes are ripe in your area, you could teach the tomato sauce part.
Also, you might show him some basics with the bread in 5 minutes a day book or the second healthy bread in 5 minutes a day.
Easy soups from pasta sauce, jar(s) of water, mixed frozen vegetatbles that go with that flavor of pasta sauce
Strawberry freezer jam
Homemade tortilla chips
Homemade nachos
Nutritional bang for the buck such as
Large onions are more frugal than pearl onions
When you can substitiute a more nutritious ingredient
When you can substitute a similarly nutritious but more frugal ingredient
Homemade bean and cheese spreads
DIY herb mixtures
Finding the patterns in recipes
Soup = Xprotein + Yred/orange/yellow vegetables +Zgreen vegetables +Aliquid +BStarch +Cflavorings per serving
Bringing out flavors in food by roasting or sauteeing
Seasonal food combinations
Making healthier and better tasting faux ramen with regular pasta
Iced tea
Coffee house style coffee and tea drinks
Medium level:
When he is tall enough that his face is a safe distance from the grill: How to grill a hamburger to medium well without burning the outside. Grill and meat handling safety.
Handcranked ice cream with cooked custard base. Egg handling safety.
How to roast a chicken and make 4 different meals out of it for him and his mom. Raw and cooked chicken handling safety.
All the ways you can cook with a wok
Cooking while camping
Replication of favorite restaurant foods (series of books on this)
Related skills
Gardening the easier favorite foods--perhaps a 4x25 plot for each family member.
How to tell when something is ripe.
How to harvest.
Drying foods for winter.
While Julia Child may not be a good starter for some beginning cooks, a lot of them may like Giada or Emeril.
Guy Fieri might be just the right mentor for a 12-year-old boy.
Here's what my 14 year old daughter made for me last night, from mostly local ingredients:
Goat steaks, broiled medium-rare, seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, sumac berry. She raised the goat too.
Potato wedges, baked for 1+ hour with garlic, lemon, lemon zest, olive oil, broth, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, marjoram
Green beans, lightly blanched, salted
Flatbread with a touch of cheese and herbs
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-GtFMIy4nrZA/TrSi_xQxjEI/AAAAAAAAEHo/fAX-TY8ceQI/s640/IMG_0208.JPG
oh WHY didn't I have children???!!!!!!!
I have only a 3 year old and a 4 1/2 year old, grandbabies, but they can already do most of the prep for meals, like mixing eggs for omlettes, adding ingredients and forming meatballs, cleaning and cutting vegetables.. using a pumpkin cutter...for meals and pizza and lots more. They are perfectly capable of buttering bread and adding cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches. They love making egg or tuna/seafood salad. They have prepped, measured and mixed up the ingredients for quick breads, salads, soups and casseroles. I let them season meats for the grill or oven/broiler. I let them watch whilst the actual cooking is going on, and they are so proud to share their cooking with their parents, even though they have done only the safe parts.
They are too young to use most appliances and the oven/stove, of course, but I do let them put things into the blender and push the buttons with decent supervision. Anything that needs an appliance or a knife or something like that, they know that they need to be older to use those things. I do know that I allow them to do things that are probably beyond their years, but I supervise carefully and they love it so.
When they come over, the first thing they want to do is to cook or do art. Seriously, reading these ideas, I can hardly wait until they are much older and can do so much more.
Simpler at Fifty
11-6-11, 3:12pm
I would teach a kid how to plan a weekly menu based on recipes and explain how much easier it is to cook when there is a menu. Teach them how to combine items on the list. If you need 4 oz of cheese for 2 meals, buy 8 ozs and save money. I think planning the meal is as important as cooking it.
That looks delicious, bae. What a chef you have raised!!! My own DD is now on the cusp of turning 16 so doesn't spend nearly as much time in the kitchen with us as she used to. A dizzying social schedule has something to do with that. At least she still likes to snuggle in at home on chilly nights and bake cookies. Not the best thing for my waist line, but I'll gladly take the trade off.
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