EQUIPMENT : With a TV-VCR in the Kitchen, Cooks Look Beyond Books

It is widely believed that the best way to learn is by hands-on experience, and yet many would-be chefs sit in their living rooms, watching videos on how to perfectly poach salmon or concoct a marvelous meringue.

Because manufacturers recognize that cooking requires equipment other than a remote control, and senses of taste and smell as well as sight, they are bringing food preparation videos and VCRs into the kitchen.

Amateur gourmets can now chop and saute along with all their television role models using a product such as General Electric’s new KitchenVision TVCR, which combines a television and two-head videocassette recorder. With a list price of $499, the 13-inch unit rests on a 180-degree swiveling base for versatile viewing and comes complete with a recipe tape and a catalogue of 200 cooking videos. It is marketed in one color, kitchen white.

As 20 million Americans regularly watch TV in the kitchen anyway, a TVCR could easily become another commonplace kitchen appliance.