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Non-Fiction
Cooking 101: A Recipe for Success
By Brittany, Student Editor-in-Chief
Pic by Aaron Logan
Some of the greatest chefs in the world didn’t know how to boil water until they packed their bags for a culinary institute. But you don’t have to become a chef to enjoy cooking; in fact, you can enjoy it as a kid! I know what you’re thinking: Why? As kids, we don’t usually have to worry about cooking anything. While I may not be able to convince you that it’s worth it, I’m sure that you’ll find a few reasons of your own to keep cooking. Reasons like the delicious taste of cinnamon buns, the accolades of friends and family, and the experience to spread the word: Anyone can cook, and everyone should try!
Waffles!
Pic by Parkerman & Christie
Imagine your favorite food: maybe a mouthwatering hot fudge Sunday, or a hearty beef stew; now, imagine having a machine that could produce that food for you at your bidding! You can have that reality, if you take a moment to learn to cook.
After all, every food (even hot fudge) is made by someone, and with a love for good food and a dint of hard work, that someone might as well be you!
So get prepared to get messy and have fun in the kitchen with these tips and tricks on cooking from scratch as a kid; who knows? One day you might just become a culinary master!
Basic Kitchen Safety Tips
Any seasoned gourmet chef worth their salt will verbalize multiple cautions while watching you cook. Here are some basic kitchen tips that’ll keep you safe.
Never, ever, ever…
- touch a burner to see if it is hot (don’t place any dishes, plastic cups, etc. on a hot burner, and don’t put a plastic colander on hot burner either, or it will smoke and stink and melt into fibers of burnt plastic goo. Ask me how I know this…).
- put water in hot oil or on a grease fire, unless you want your own (dangerous!) fireworks display indoors!
- microwave disposable plastic (it can cause a second degree burn…ask me how I know this).
- touch a moving blade or paddle in a food processor or stand mixer.
- undercook meat and shellfish, or eat raw eggs (even in a cookie batter!).
- play or run with knives and kitchen shears (but we all learned that in kindergarten, right?).
Always remember to…
- turn all pot and pan handles to the back of the oven
- wear oven mitts when you take something out of a hot oven or the microwave
- cut away from your body, and watch your fingers when you grate stuff!
Common Kitchen Tips
Some of these are common sense; others are culinary tips, and still others may be surprising ideas. Below are common kitchen tips that will help your food on its way to yummy-land.
- Don’t rinse pasta when you drain it (unless you’re making pasta salad).
- Don’t leave cheese, milk, or other dairy products out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours.
- Try not to over mix pancake, biscuit, muffin, and waffle batters (even if they look lumpy!).
- A pinch of salt in boiling pasta water adds flavor and allows a better pasta texture.
- If you’re freezing fruit for a smoothie, try freezing it on a nonstick sheet pan before transferring the fruit to a freezer bag, or it will be…one…BIG…frozen…clump of berries and will not fit into a blender.
- Garlic burns. Fast. Whenever you work with garlic, try to keep it on the heat for as short as possible, or keep it on very low heat, because, while I never met a garlic clove I didn’t like, burnt garlic tastes like tree bark, or charcoal…er, possibly a mix of them both.
- Onions make even the toughest cook cry because of their strong chemicals. To back down on the harsh bit, chop onions quickly under running water, or chill them in the fridge for a day to lessen the sting. It’s much easier than wearing swimming goggles while you chop onions…trust me.
- While we’re on the subject of crying, always add less spice or peppers than you think you will need to add a special “zing” to your dish, or your dinners may be “zinged” to tears. You can always add spice in, but you can’t take it out.
French Onion Soup
Pic by Ilmungo
Websites for Yumminess
Eating is fun, and cooking is great, but sooner or later you will find that at the heart of every great meal, there is a great recipe. Cooking is a science as well as an art, so having a good recipe will get you off on the right foot when it comes to whipping up a great meal. Here are some sites that are sure to get your creative juices flowing!
http://kidshealth.org/teen/recipes/ -Have your heart set on makin’ a meal, only to balk because you have special dietary needs (or are cooking for someone who does)? This website features some great, kid-geared recipes that are smart choices for those with Cystic Fibrosis, Celiac Disease, Lactose Intolerance, Diabetes, or those with a vegetarian diet, and the recipes are divided into categories. It also has good recipes for kids just looking for a healthy, tasty bite to eat!
http://www.allrecipes.com/ -AllRecipes.com is a great place to find the best recipe for a traditional favorite, and it includes a wide variety of options. My favorite feature on this site is the rating system; hundreds of cooks log on to tell you what they think, adding their own adjustments to the recipes to make it perfect, so you don’t have to find out yourself!
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/ - Family Fun’s recipes are legendary and delish. Here’s the place to go for charming classics, feisty newbies, and whimsical treasures. From traditional to outlandish, these recipes are made with a kid taster in mind, so most of them promise to deliver!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/for-kids/index.html - For the serious cook, there is a fun recipes for kids section on Food Network’s Website. With simple, easy to assemble recipes that are healthy and fun, these recipes are a simple gourmet challenge for the beginner, and a delicious treat to the diner!
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