Great Home Cooks : HOME COOK : Teach Your Children Well

A 32-year-old executive secretary made a cucumber salad for the first time and said it was too much work: She peeled and thinly sliced the cucumbers, then picked out the seeds from each thin slice--and felt it took an awfully long time.

A twice-divorced television producer was tired of eating in restaurants and wanted to learn to cook. He tried making his favorite dessert, tarte tatin , from Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” He read the recipe several times, lined up the ingredients and started in. He peeled, cored and sliced the apples, then put the bowl across from where he was standing and tossed the slices into the bowl. He said the directions read, “Toss the slices in the bowl.” He thought perhaps the slices needed to be in the air a few seconds.

An 8-year-old boy was shown a Russet potato in a gardening class and he thought it was a rock. However, he did recognize French fries and potato chips.

There is an ever-growing, deep concern in the food community that we are becoming a nation of illiterate cooks. This worry is not limited to the United States; in France, chefs are being asked to teach cooking at local high schools because students’ parents aren’t cooking much at home.

More and more, reports Johns Hopkins anthropology professor Sidney Mintz, people are eating small snack-like meals all through the day, often while walking, driving or working.

The implications of this go beyond just nourishing our bodies in a different style. Sitting together in front of a TV isn’t the same as eating together at a table where it is necessary to talk and listen to each other. How can we reverse the exodus from the home kitchen and the family table?

Start with the young and teach them the basics of cooking. Years ago there was only one way to learn to cook and that was to watch someone else do it. The need to have every adult in the work force has left the home kitchen empty, except on weekends. Some children are learning a little about cooking at home on Saturday and Sunday--most are not.

I think the best solution is to teach children cooking in schools and community centers. After recently giving several cooking classes for boys and girls from 8 to 12 years old, it became apparent that they are far more able and interested in cooking than one might guess. It’s a mistake to think we have to entertain children in the kitchen for fear they will think it drudgery to cook.

At the same time, most children’s cookbooks are a collection of recipes with cute names for decorated snacks and sweets. They have very little to do with basic cooking. Any parent, friend, aunt or cousin who can spare some time to teach a child a little basic cooking will be giving an important gift.

Here are some of the lessons and the recipes I taught.

* Wash your hands.

* Read the recipe and ask questions when the directions aren’t clear. (If you are going to bake turn your oven on now to the directed temperature).

* Put all the utensils you will need on the work counter.

* Put all the ingredients on the work counter.

* Measure the ingredients you need for the recipe carefully.

* Combine the ingredients as directed in the recipe.

* Cook or bake as directed.

* Keep a bowl of hot, soapy water in the sink and wash up as you work.

* Give comparative tastings of two or three different examples of the same ingredient, so the children can become discriminating. It will develop their palate. To become a good cook one must be critical.

* Safety rules: Be sure hands are dry when plugging or unplugging appliances. Don’t put your fingers into any mixer bowl or blender while the appliances are running. Turn pot handles to the center of the stove while cooking. Use potholders or a mitt when handling hot pots, pans or baking dishes. Use a serrated paring knife with deep grooves when first learning to chop or cut. The teeth will firmly grip whatever is to be chopped or cut, and so are safer than smooth-bladed paring knives.

In my classes, the first lesson was how to read a recipe, how to measure ingredients, how to mix a batter. We made nutmeg muffins. The second class was about learning to chop and cut vegetables. The children chopped garlic, tomatoes, parsley and basil leaves. They put them over hot spaghetti and ate it for lunch. The third class was making yeast dough. Each child mixed and kneaded his own dough. They divided the dough in half, put one half in a small loaf pan to bake at home and formed the remaining piece into a pizza, which we baked.

Learning to cook improves and enriches our lives on so many levels. Except for reading, I think it’s as important as any course taught in school.

*

AMERICAN WHITE BREAD AND PIZZETTA

1/4 cup warm water

1 package dry yeast

1/8 teaspoon sugar

1 cup warm milk

1 tablespoon butter, very soft

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 cups white bread flour or all-purpose flour

Toppings: cheese, sliced tomatoes, olives, sliced onions, sausage, sweet red and yellow pepper slices, or combination of favorite toppings

Put warm water in bowl and sprinkle in yeast and 1/8 teaspoon sugar. Stir and let stand 5 minutes until yeast dissolves and foams bit.

Add warm milk and soft butter. Stir to mix. Add 2 teaspoons sugar, salt and 3 cups flour. Briskly stir with spoon until dough collects in rough mass. Sprinkle board lightly with flour and put dough onto floured board.

Knead dough, adding enough flour to board so dough doesn’t stick. Knead about 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and stretch-y.

Put dough into greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour, depending on how warm room is.

When dough has doubled, punch down and divide in half. Form loaf with half and place in small, greased loaf pan. Let loaf rise until doubled in size again, to top of pan or little higher.

Bake at 375 degrees about 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden on top.

Take remaining half of dough and stretch and pull into round shape, or use rolling pin and roll into about 10-inch round and about 1/4-inch thick. Turn edges up little and brush olive oil over top surface. Bake at 450 degrees about 10 minutes.

Remove pizzetta from oven and put any choice of topping over pizzetta, put back into oven about 4 or 5 minutes. Eat while warm.

Makes 1 small loaf, about 6 slices, and 1 (8-inch round) pizzetta, about 6 slices.

Each serving contains about:

128 calories; 316 mg sodium; 4 mg cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 24 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 0.09 gram fiber.

*

NUTMEG MUFFINS

4 tablespoons soft butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg or 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Put soft butter and sugar into mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Add egg and beat until smooth. Add milk and vanilla and mix well.

Combine flour, nutmeg, salt and baking powder in separate bowl. Stir into wet ingredients and mix well.

Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling to top of tin. Bake muffins at 425 degrees about 10 minutes. Check muffins for doneness by inserting wood pick into center. If wood pick comes out dry muffins are done. Remove muffins from oven and let cool in pan about 3 minutes. Remove and eat warm or cool. Makes 12 tiny muffins.

Each serving contains about:

108 calories; 134 mg sodium; 29 mg cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.03 gram fiber.