Ideas for teaching kitchen Newbies how to cook....

[mamachef]

Hey y'all: as you know from my posts on the home cooking board, I'm undertaking to teach a couple fellas from work how to put together some decent meals. I'm interested in any ideas you may have about "basic, but not too basic" dishes that it would be fun and appropriate to work with them on. I want them to learn more than, "wash and dry your chicken parts; bake at 350 for an hour" but at the same time am wanting things that aren't complex or difficult. Recipes, suggestions, any thoughts on this topic gladly welcomed. We've got meatloaf down, and bechamel and pasta cookery, but otherwise would love to hear your thoughts on this please.

[Emme]

aside from asking them their dishes they'd love to learn, i'd do as other suggest and teach about flavor combos. pick out an herb or veggie or fish or meat, etc, then prepare it several different ways, so they can see how pair and/or do/don't vary.
ie basil can pair in italian, but also goes with grilled peaches, or brighten a simple salad
shrimp can be done as scampi, or breaded or cocktail or in pasta dishes or salads etc
eggplant can be done parmesan or ratatouille, or stuffed or baba ghanoush

also teach about multiple use and re-use, which falls under recipe/menu planning i realize as i write this... roasted chicken -> enchiladas, salad, etc.

oh and also how simple preparations can be elevated by superior or unique ingredients... adding a special cheese to a panini let's say, or more "out there" fillings for omelettes, etc.

sounds like a lot of fun, esp with willing and eager students!

[mattstolz]

I think the most important thing you can do is teach the basics. I agree that knife skills are important, but i think just as important are teaching the importance of putting together spices and flavors to create balanced dishes, while showing them a few good techniques in the process is so important.

in my opinion, a balanced beginning cook should be able to do several things:
1) handle a knife (dice, chop, slice, etc)
2) saute with proper temperature control
3) sear meats for baking and braising
4) actually bake and braise said meat
5) roast
6) grill
7) season properly
8) stir fry
9) know several good combinations of flavors (i would teach them based on nationality/part of the world. for example, teach them a dish or two based on asian flavors, hispanic flavors, spanish flavors, Caribbean flavors, etc)

that is how i try to teach my friends!

[mangeur]

To paraphrase, teach process rather than how to follow a recipe. It is surprising to me how many people do not understand the concept of "process cooking". It is essentially paying attention to and understanding the process so that you can apply to other foods. Recipes will/should be a point of departure, not scripture.

[mattstolz]

exactly!

like Mike Simon says on the commercial for "cook like an iron chef":
Teach a recipe, you have a great dish, teach a technique, and you can make hundreds

[4Snisl]

One of the things that I get the most questions about is what kind of meat is approrpriate for what kind of cooking method (e.g. stir fry, roasting, searing, braising, etc.) Having a little primer on where meat cuts come from, and how that influences the cooking method that suits them....that would be pretty fabulous.

Also, I think that part of teaching how to cook involves menu planning. I'd be explicit when you describe how the menus you cook together balance sensory components- appearance (e.g. the color that fruits and vegetables add), flavors (tuning the sweetness, saltiness, savoriness and bitterness of dishes), and textures (e.g. avoiding all mushy texture or all crunchy textures on a plate).

Whether you have a session themed around these particular concepts or you simply address them as you go along, I think these topic areas help people feel confident in stepping beyond the basics that you teach them! Good luck!

[mollyomormon]

I think lasagna is perfect for something like this. Basis lasagna is one of the first things I learned to cook and I have yet to meet a guy who doesn't love lasagna, easy to make and even picky eaters enjoy it.

[mamachef]

good call indeed, mollymormon!! we could swing right into the myriad possibilities for fresh tomato sauce off this one....

[mollyomormon]

exactly! it's such a great jumping off place. my only reservation is that if young men are learning how simple lasagna is to make, i'll no longer be able to impress them as easily... ;)

[mamachef]

Don't fool yourself, MM. The difference is, YOU'd be the one making it, which raises you way high on the pedestal!!

[tim irvine]

great points on temperature control. A great way to instill a respect for that is to do something that absolutely demands that you control temp and temper things so that you don't get that "hot meets cold'' clumping. That is why bechamel was such a great intro. You can make the loveliest roux imaginable and pour in a pint of cold milk and have a sauce that, without a chinois, is going to embarrass you unless you eat it alone or use it to make SOS so no one can tell it lumped.

Doh!

[mamachef]

Hey Tim - the last sentence grabbed me because I sometimes make breakfast for dinner there, and SOS or ground-meat gravy's another winnah: "and the subject was roux." And the biscuits would be a great start for a lesson on baking, yeah?

[tim irvine]

well who doesn't love cream gravy on biscuits? also I think there is tremendous value in learning early on the a really good gravy does not necessarily mean one free of little pieces of stuff, like fond from a roast or pepper from pepper bacon.

[Jen76]

Teach them about heat. I have a friend that's always asking me how to cook things and it wasn't until I went to visit (she moved away) that I realized she was cooking everything on the one burner on her stove with a super high heat setting. Once I showed her that medium heat doesn't mean "9" and low doesn't mean "8.5" she had a lot more success. Learning to have patience and knowing the appropriate levels of heat to use for different techniques is absolutely critical to cooking well.

[mamachef]

That is SUCH a good point, Jen76. My Darling Baby Sister's still working her way through the mysteries of temperature control, and admits wholeheartedly that, say, scrambled eggs are ever so much better when not cooked over a roaring flame!

[Jay F]

I knew someone like that. She used to criticize me for being "so gourmet," when her idea of cooking was to turn the heat all the way up under the thinnest stainless frying pan I ever saw, and then burning some piece of meat about five minutes past well done. Ugh. The smell in that house.

[Jen76]

Yes, my grandmother often deep fried pancakes in a similar manner. Yuk! You can have all the knife skills in the world and the best ingredients, but unless you plan to be a raw foodie, if you don't know how to apply heat appropriately, you'll never be a good cook.

[Jay F]

It was how my mother made omelets, letting them cook up from the bottom. No maneuvering with a spatula or fork. No turning.

[Jay F]

I like the idea about knife skills and the field trip to go shopping. The latter is one of the most important concepts I ever learned; I got it from Marcella Hazan's first book.

Teaching them to clean and cut fish, de-bone a whole chicken, and deal with cuts of meat would be great ways for them to hone their knife skills.

[greygarious]

Also some basic baking like fruit crisps, oatmeal cookies, brownies, and other bar cookies. I would stick with one-bowl recipes that don't require an electric mixer, as single men may not own that appliance.

Oh - spaetzle too, or some other drop dumpling. Good to learn how easy it is to make your own pasta equivalent from scratch. As I posted on another thread, I made my own spaetzle press by poking 1/4"+ diameter holes in a styrofoam tray that came under some chicken parts. They can use a second tray as a bench scraper to trowel the batter over the holes. Rap the tray against the pot rim if the holes start to clog.

[mamachef]

Beautiful. The crisps I especially like; something that will work in the OMG-sized hotel pans I work with. And again, also translate-able to so many different fruits and topping varieties. The spaetzle is a delicious idea - but am not sure I'd make it for 30 vis-a-vis the time constraints and the fact that I'd actually have to make 60 portions, as seconds and leftovers are a must. Large drop dumplings though: I might do that one, as in chicken and dumplings. I like that idea a lot, and can just see the startled look on their faces when those babies "magically" grow to four times their size!

[greygarious]

Stop the presses! Your OP was about teaching a few co-workers some basic recipes but now you are talking about cooking for large groups with food-service sized equipment.
Sounds like we need ot know more about your parameters.

[blue room]

Yes, -- this is "Home Cooking"--but mamachef, are you looking for/teaching for restaurant or institutional cooking?

[mamachef]

Greygarious, I work as a frat-house cook so am always cooking in quantity and working with large-scaled equipment. The fellas I'm teaching live at the frat, so whatever I teach them is going to be large-scale also. But, we do talk about proportions and reducing sizes and what equipment is appropriate for those smaller-scaled items. My parameters aren't too vital, though, because I can pretty much translate anything and break it down for them. I should've been more clear in the OP. And I thank you for your responses.

[tim irvine]

If you teach someone how to pan sear a steak or chop and deglaze the pan to make a pan gravy, perhaps with a lesson on how to build the sauce with a few well chosen seasonings, they will have a solid skill set they can use on a lot of cuts. If you teach them how to take basically anything, out it in a half jelly roll pan, drizzle olive oil and rub on it, sprinkle with some rub or spice mix and/or some minced garlic and roast at 450 there is another very basic and readily transferable skill set. I'd suggest fingerling potatoes if these are meat and potatoes students or asparagus. Teach them how to squeeze a little lemon and a sprinkle of salt on most anything to "wake it up." Throw lettuces, rinsed and torn, in a bowl and teach them how to make simple vinaigrette with 3 parts olive oil, one part wine vinegar, and a scant teaspoon of Dijon, all shaken in a small bottle. This will teach how to balance oil and vinegar (they can then vary up or down from my suggested 3 to 1 until they find what they like and learn, as I have, 4 to 1 or even higher works with really good oil) and less than 3 to 1 masks crappy oil but moves into the unappealing range pretty quickly on most salads) and how to achieve emulsification 101. For emulsification 102 make mayonnaise and/or hollandaise or one of its derivatives, like Bernaise, by hand. I know there are other ways to do all of these things, but these are three super simple techniques that will be easily parlayed to a wide range of meals.

A great easy dessert is a tart, making a food processor pate sucree, a simple custard, and fruit of your choice, glazed with apricot jam thinned with the ingredient of your choice, maybe kirsch. Another simple one is bread pudding. Both custard and bread pudding will teach the wonders (and things to beware of) when cooking with eggs.

What a cool project!

[mamachef]

Thank you, tim irvine. These are well-thought-out suggestions. Bread pudding: SO going into the "to do" file. At week's end, what's left in the bread bin and pastry bin would boggle anybody. I can teach them to use some of those leftover Danish, etc. in it too.
What I especially liked is your thoughtful response about all the things that will translate perfectly when used with many different types of ingredients, both method and ingredient-wise. One thing that was great fun yesterday was teaching them the bechamel basics. The look on their faces when they added the milk and it started to thicken was totally priceless, like such a novel thing hadn't occurred to them EVER. (probably, it hadn't, now that I think about it.) And Jessie's a Chem. major!!

[Cachetes]

I'd give them a basic primer on how to handle knives. I find that most of my friends who are reluctant cooks are afraid of their expensive knife sets sitting in the corner of the kitchen.

Supermarket trip is a GREAT idea for getting started also.

Fish is healthy and so simple to do - maybe teach them this as a lighter alternative to some of the heavier guy fare?

[mamachef]

So basic. I'd never have thought of this one, but it's so vital to really good cooking, isn't it? The only kitchen discussion re: knives that I've had at AGO was more about the fact that I lock them up at night when I leave. (They have knives in house, so not a problem.) I'm not worried that they'll get stolen, I'm just not wanting anyone to blow off the edges!! That being said, they know that a sharp knife is much much safer than a dull one, so it's a beginnning spot. And while we're at it, I'd love some suggestions for reasonably-priced knives to suggest to them. I wouldn't call them starving students but am positive they haven't got $100+ to throw at cutlery. $40 is probably on the doable end of the range.

[will47]

Teach them how to stand and how to hold their hands and the knife (fingers of non-dominant hand curled, holding the food being cut, thumb safely behind, side of the blade touching the knuckles, tip of the knife staying on the board; pinch grip on the dominant hand). Even if you've read about how to use a knife, it's something that helps when someone actually guides your hands through the motions, and forcing them to get used to proper (and safe) knife handling early on will hopefully make it a habit.

As far as reasonably priced knives, a Forschner / Victorinox 8" or 10" chef knife is pretty reasonably priced, and is a good place to start.

Teach them the basic cuts (brunoise julienne, batonet, chiffonade), and have them practice on potatoes, onions, etc.

[Cachetes]

Didn't someone once post a video here that showed proper knife technique? In any case, teaching how to curl the fingers of the 'holding' hand, keeping the knife tip on the board, using the right size cutting board, and practice, practice, practice, all good suggestions.

Like Will, I agree that maybe not getting a whole knife set but just one or two or three is the best place to start. I love my knife set, but there are a few that I use maybe once or twice/year. A chef knife is perfect, I always thinking a paring knife is very handy also as an all purpose knife. And maybe a bread knife.

[mamachef]

Victorinox. Perfect, and not a cause for suicide if someone makes off with it.....
Yeah, the only knives I really get any use out of are the chef's knife, the utility knife and my paring knife, and the bread knife. Filleting knife get pulled into play from time to time as well, but as far as the companies that try to sell a "starter-set" consisting of 32 knives......a pox on them. Oh well. I guess everybody needs to make their money somehow.

[mcel215]

I would start with easy main things, that guys like. Chili, Ham, Ribs and pulled pork. Also basic sides, like mashed potatoes, rice, roasted veggies.
I make an easy Curry Chicken, that you basically cut up two b/s chicken breasts in 3 or 4 pieces, brown it in a couple of T. of oil. In a bowl, add 1 cup milk, some mago chutney, cumin and tumeric and stir it together. After chicken is browned, stir milk mixture into the skillet with the chicken, turn it down to low and simmer on low for about 20 minutes. Easy, peasy.
I taught my sons to make my spaghetti sauce and a good beef stew too. They both like to cook.

[mamachef]

I like all these suggestions, mcel. Especially the curry. I make a very similar recipe, only I use unsweetened coconut milk, so I can figure the proportions for the whole gang of them from here. Spaghetti sauce and stew too: more winners.

[greygarious]

I would take them on a field trip to the supermarket, to show them what to look for, and avoid, when selecting fresh produce - especially fruit.

[mamachef]

A truly outstanding idea, greygarious. Mr. says I take more time selecting produce than anyone else he knows. This is a GREAT start.