Teacher’s Book Gives Students a Survival Course in Cooking

The University of Dayton doesn’t offer Cooking 101, but help is available to students who don’t know their way around the kitchen.

“Favorite Recipes . . . by George!” is a booklet designed for the university’s resident undergraduates. Almost half of the undergraduates live in campus apartments or houses that have kitchens.

The booklet, offered for sale at a student convenience store in the student housing area, contains chatty instructions, hand-drawn illustrations and light-hearted observations. The author is music instructor George Zimmerman, who describes his theory of cooking as “nothing fancy, but a step beyond survival.”

“The recipes are simple, and you can prepare them with ingredients you have in your cupboard,” Zimmerman promises. “Very seldom do I go out and buy an exotic spice.” Among his cooking tips:

* Keep the meal colorful. Don’t put bland-colored creamed chicken, mashed potatoes with chicken gravy, and cauliflower together on one plate. It won’t look good and probably won’t taste good, either.

* Serve foods with different textures. If you plan to serve a crunchy food, serve something “mushy” with it.

Zimmerman says he was prompted to compile the booklet because of his own experiences as a kitchen novice. He and nine other young men set up post-college residence in a Dayton duplex in 1953. “We each learned to cook,” Zimmerman remembers. “Each became a specialist in his own culinary treats. Mine took on the form of casseroles and, of course, desserts.”

Baked Chicken

Place chicken pieces (boned or not) in an uncovered glass dish. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes each side. Skin can be left on or removed. (At this stage of the game, the chicken could care less.) You can rub the pieces with mayonnaise or not. For the eater, removing the skin will reduce some of the fat. However, adding the mayo will put it back on.