What can your 10 year old cook?

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

Right - ds is 10. I want him to start cooking dinner one night a week or so.

He's a bit cack handed dyspraxic , which scares me (knives! kettles! heat!), but I need to get over my fear

So, do we have any suggestions for dishes that aren't too complicated or faffy but will give him a sense of satisfaction? What can/do/did your 10 yos cook?

My DD learned how to make coleslaw at school last week. We enjoyed having it with baked potatoes for tea.

A couple of nights later she thought we could make some more, so we prepared supper together.
She taught me how to cut an onion !
I'd never learnt before !

It was very companionable having her company in the kitchen, as we prepared our simple supper for the others (and us)

DS is now 9 but has been interested in cooking for a few years now and avidly watches all the cookery programmes he can. He helps DD1 who is 20 and a fine cook, so has picked up lots of tips from her and he adores to bake. He can easily manage a sponge cake, muffins, cookies or loaf from scratch with no assistance whatsoever.
Stirfry is an easy one with lots of chopping, couscous is idiot proof, and baked potatoes with lots of different toppings can be done by a little one with minimal help.

Lovin this thread! Wow, I will have more than half my week covered in a few years!!! My 4 year old can already make a cake if I measure the ingredients (only cos she can't read yet and is not yet confident enough to guess it like I do)

I also think that the Usborne Cookbook for Boys is a good start, and can really recommend "Start to Cook www.amazon.co.uk/Start-Cook-Usborne-Cooking-Chisholm/dp/1409504972/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296941101&sr=1-1", which I was given for Christmas (by the same person). A huge range of ideas - from how to heat up a can of beans to making your own bread - not hard to find a level.

I would also not discount BBC GoodFood website, their magazines always do a recipe aimed at children (and competitions too!) but also they have easy etc if you look online. (and some tutorials on how things are done for those who want to learn stuff you can't teach them!)

nothing wrong with Delia ime - she explains things pretty thoroughly, and teaches methods, which is really important.

i am the daughter of a Home Ec teacher, who was an evangelical teacher - I was reading Constance Spry before I was big enough properly to hold it (it's a big thick book!) and was completely hooked by cooking, just because there was so much of it going on in the house already.

My Mum always taught me how to do things, and I'm doing the same with my DDs, so they know how to do things even before they hit the recipe books. That way, if you know how to stabilise a sauce, for example, it doesn't matter how badly the recipe explains it because you already know what they're getting at. When people say that they "can't cook" or that recipes don't work, I think it's that initial step that's missing.

IMHO at any rate!

Mine does a lasagne and spag bol , full English, various cakes and puddings completely unaided. If he is bored and at home he will go and bake, my faves are his sticky toffee and lemon drizzle cakes.
My 7 year old does a full English, makes herself omelettes scrambled eggs and makes a mean cuppa

Oh yes and Sam Stern books are ace, we have three

which Sam Stern do you recommend please?

ds1 (11 yesterday) and ds2 6 both cook dinner one night each/week. Ds1 can make chicken curry, spaghetti bolognaise, casseroles etc. However I do strain the pasta/rice as the pot's too heavy. Both can make chocolate brownies and muffins although I put them in the oven and take them out for ds2.

DS1 is lucky that he's been on a holiday cooking programme 3 times. I sent him originally as he was soooooo fussy about food and it worked a treat - he will try anything and now loves cooking. He also doesn't moan when I cook something he's not keen on as he knows how much work can go into making dinner. We also all choose a meal each (4 choices) and I choose the rest in an attempt to get them to eat and not moan about other's choices.

Both of course love doing the BBQ with DH - we live in NZ so it's summer here at the moment so ds2 did dinner on the BBQ last night - sausages, steak, burger while ds1 made the salad, garlic bread and corn on the cob.

Took me a while to get over the mess and various shaped pieces of veggies - but I think they can do anything if you get them interested.

thought I should post brownie recipe:

1/2 pack of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of self raising flour
3/4 cup of cocoa
4 eggs - beaten

melt butter (we do it in microwave!)
add sugar - mix
add cocoa - mix
add eggs - mix
add flour - mix
cook at 180 for 15-20 mins
cool for 2 mins (so still hot) and ice with chocolate icing.

Doesn't matter if there are some lumps, also have done it without sieving (although is better if sieved)

plus this is the chicken curry DS1 makes and loves - minus the nuts as he has an allergy - niciwickes.com/bali

For those worried about knives - we have something similar to this great for chopping veg for soups, stews etc where it doesn't need to be neat for presentation.

8yo dd lives cooking and enjoys making a meal for us most weeks. She uses all my cookbooks to chose her recipes and I order the stuff in on the online shop. People like Jamie Oliver are good as use rough measurements and do lots of informal meals. Nigella too.

She can read and follow a recipe, is pretty accurate with the scales and uses a jive and other utensils safely. I help with the oven as a bit high and with lifting hot pans for draining.

She has made lots of things such as moussaka, pasta, pizza, salads, f ish, curry, etc. Last week she made nigella's lamb with port and Rosemary sauce.

We don't bake much as I prefer cooking, as does dd.

Delia also good for teaching basics and techniques. We don't really use kids cookbooks much as they generally focus on baking.

On iPad so apologies for typos.

Dd uses sharp knives. A cut with a sharp knife is better to have than a cut from a blunt knife. Dd has used knives from being quite young.

My DS is 7 and I have been giving him cooking lessons for about a year now, plus he has alwyas helped out in the kitchen.

During our cooking lessons he writes everything down in his recipe book, and then when he wants to cook for us without me there he uses his book to help him.

I think childrne can cook anything, if they are shown how to first, and know th basics like how to use a knife safely, how to boil things, fry things, ue a wok, carefully take things out of the oven and put them in, etc. etc.

DS is now at the stage where he can improvise a bit and adapt recipes based on what he knows. He knows how to make a stir-fry sauce for example, using corn flour and stock and soy sauce, and can now add other flavours experimentally and still produce something edible.

I tihnk the main thing is to show them how to be safe and have confidence in them. Then they won't be scared and nervous around knives and heat so less likely to make mistakes.

The Sam Stern we have are:
Get cooking
Real food real fast
Cooking up a storm

The photos are a bit cheesy but don't let that put you off

I use Sam Stern, hes great!!

Another vote for Sam Stern, we love his books.

DD is 9 and does various pasta dishes, her favourite is carbonara, she bakes simple cakes, can do meat and two veg type meals, and helps out when I'm cooking most nights with fetching, carrying, chopping, stirring etc.

Her friend is staying over this week and they have asked for chicken korma, so I've told them they can make it themselves

I don't expect her to cook on her own now, though she can, but once she's at high school I will expect her to cook for us once a week.

www.mydaddycooks.com

thanks!

my DD loves doing grown up things shes on 18months but still likes to try, her favourite game is mop the floor . She loves helping out in the kitchen, i let her "mix" some things and she loves mashing potatoes, its very messy but we love it. the messiest was i washed her hands and let her make crumble. put the flour sugar butter and oats in a bowl and she went mad doing it, it was everywhere but she thought she was great!

Fish wrapped in foil with sprinkling of herbs,chopped tomatoes,courgettes,mushrooms seasoning.Bake in moderate oven for about 30 mins and serve with little new potatoes boiled in their skins.My dgs[4] does all except the chopping[is given stuff pre chopped]and boiling :)

DD1 is 4.5 and loves helping to cook, which she can do because we got her a step stool when she was about 2 - this brings up to sensible height on the work surfaces & stopped her constantly asking to be picked up whilst we cooked.

She has been peeling veg for about a year & chopping the softer stuff (such as mushrooms & peppers) for about six months - with a small Kitchen Devil veg knife - my mum's top tip was to make sure the knife is sharp since a blunt knife actually requires more force to cut things & so increases the likelihood of slips & cuts. She has only cut herself once & that was because she became over confident. She also stirs things on the stove using her step stool(such as gravy & scrambled eggs, turning saute potatoes) but supervised at present. The hand held mixer is also great fun & breaking eggs for cakes.

We got an old fashioned set of mechanical scales so she could weigh out dry ingredients without having to know her numbers - you just indicate where of the dial the hand needs to be, plus they don't reset like the electronic ones if you pick the bowl up before you've finished.

I would avoid asking a small cook to chop onions or chillies (as the fumes are very strong near the work surface) and avoid raw chicken as that's the only meat that carries serious bugs. Other than that ask him what takes his fancy & go from there.

Show your son how something is done & then let him practise with you at a safe distance to provide help if required.

fried eggs, scrambled eggs, ice cream, meringues, cakes, spag bolognese, chicken casserole (obviously things like sausages and fish fingers)

he is quite into cooking!