Teaching my 9yo to cook - recipe ideas?

[beela]

Ds wants to learn to cook 'everything'.

We have always baked together and he can happily knock up a batch of cupcakes on his own. He can also do a mean bowl of porridge / scrambled eggs / beans on toast.

Where shall we go next? I love cooking and will turn my hand to most things, but need simple ideas that ds can learn and then be able to cook on his own.

Tomato sauce for spaghetti?

Bread?

Soup?

Spaghetti sauce using cream cheese.

You can just put cream cheese in a pan and melt it, I usually add a couple of spoons of the pasta water.

You can then go on to cooking mushrooms or bacon before the cream cheese. Then smoked salmon and whatever he wants to try.

Teach him to chop an onion correctly.

Omelettes, again with different ingredients. You can then go on to a souffle omelette - seperate the eggs, whisk the whites to soft peaks, fold in the yolks and cook.

A plain white sauce which can go with fish or gammon, and then add more ingredients to make cheese or other sauce.

Apple crumble
Cookies
Scones www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/scone-bake
Pancakes www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/pancake-recipe
Cheese straws www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/thingstodo/jbo-recipe-cheese-straws
Brownies
Muffins
Flapjacks
Banana bread www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/thingstodo/bp-banana-bread-recipe
Tomato tart www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tomato-tart
Cornflake chicken nuggets realfood.tesco.com/recipes/cornflake-chicken-nuggets.html
Mini beef burgers www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/mini-beef-burgers-/
Toad in the hole www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/mini-toad-holes
Fish fingers www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/143607/homemade-fish-fingers
Sausage rolls www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/sausage-rolls/
Pizza dough www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/bread/quick-pizza-dough

Rock cakes are good, as it teaches the "rubbing in" method, and needs no complicated equipment.

With Christmas approaching, mince pies made with shortcrust pastry are a good idea, maybe do them with a star cutter for the top rather than the fiddly sealed top.

Anything you like to cook and eat. It takes ages but at 9 there is nothing he isn't capable of. Somethings might not turn out right but that in itself is a good lesson.

I'd go for pancakes. Easy to make but useful skills about the consistency of the batter and knowing when the oil is hot. You can they get him to master Yorkshire puddings (with help as the oven and oil are very hot).

Rubbed in method is a good suggestion. Scones, pastry, some cakes.

Work on different food processing like boiling (pasta,potatoes,eggs) or frying (eggs,sausages) with food prep in between(wash and peel veg)
Then move onto more complicated things like tomato sauce or pasta bake.

That's a fab list @Ricekrispie22!

Is say an omelette is a good next step as you can add lots of different things. French toast is really easy and so tasty.

I love the idea of using the cream cheese as a pasta sauce base.

We've done homemade nuggets but it's pretty messy and sticky.

I would teach him how to chop and then he can be useful in prepping those weeknight dinners!!

Mince - start with a basic bolognaise. Then he can learn shepherds pie, chilli etc.

Also cook the food he likes to eat and that you eat as a family.

Look at Hungry little bears on insta, she does loads with her 8yo and so far I’ve only had praise on the food from my kids! (I’m not her incase I need to state!!)

I've been cooking meals with my grandchildren using a book called Nosh for Students. Easy proper meals with ordinary ingredients and each recipe has a picture. All of the meals they have cooked have been really great. I got it from a charity shop but it is available on Amazon.

Whatever he likes eating best.

Send off for the BERO cookery book, it's not expensive. It's packed with basic well tried recipes with straightforward instructions that a nine year old could follow.

Thank you for all the ideas, and especially all those links @Ricekrispie22

He's a big pasta fan so I think we'll do that next.

Depends on your budget but the recipe boxes (Gousto / HelloFresh etc) were invaluable for DS.
He chose what he fancied, all the ingredients were measured out and the result was inevitably ok good. This gave him the confidence to try on his own on another occasion.

Oh, that's a good idea, we do use those occasionally but haven't for ages. I must be due a 'come back here's 30% off' code sometime soon

teach her how to read and follow recipes.

teach her how to cook the carbs (potato, rice, pasta) and how to make 2 different simple sauces (bechamel + tomato)

ministry of food is good.

That's when we use them beela

Home made burgers- pretty easy

Spanish tortilla is a good one.