Please can I pick your brains. If you had one day, maybe two, to teach someone basic cookery

[AnguaVonUberwald]

What key skills do you think they need to learn and what food would you use to teach them?

Been on mumsnet for years - just changed back to a (very old) username as was becoming too identifiable under my previous one.

Am looking at starting a small business teaching people basic cookery.

I was wondering what you all think the key skills are, and what recipes you would use to teach them?

My current thoughts are:

1. Banana bread - covers the basics of -creaming butter and sugar, mixing, folding in flour - easy to make and tasty to make for kids

1. a beef slow cooker recipe, as that includes browning meat, using a slow cooker, thickening gravy. (not really sure need a slow cooker one, but then do I need another one to show browning meat) - Benefit of this though is do it first thing, then leave alone till the end of the day while teaching other things.

1. shepherds pie - basic good meal, includes mash potatoes, also can use to show to make individual portions, to show freezing portions, defrosting, reheating. also both slow cooker and shepherds pie have basics of start with onions, add other flavors.

1. Either roast chicken or spag bol. Roast chicken is a different skill set - spag bol not that different from shepherds pie. but spag bol might be more useful?

1. Basic pasta one - mushrooms, bacon, eggs to make a bit of a sauce - so quick and easy

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Maybe pancakes & omelettes?

I'm a terrible cook and have been thinking of looking for something like this.

Personally I would like to learn the basics of cooking a roast, including potatoes etc so could you add that to the chicken?

I would also appreciate an explanation of some basic stuff so I generally felt more kitchen literate.

I recognise your name Angua!

I'd probably do eggs in all formats (poached, boiled, scrambled, fried)

Sausage, mash & onion gravy

Pies using shop bought pastry (savoury & sweet)

Crumbles

Toasties

I'd include a vegetable soup. Very easy and good for a lunch option.

How to make a bechamel/cheese sauce.

I can't cook and I would say

Eggs- in all forms
How to check meats are cooked properly including a rare/medium steak.
Basic tomato sauce for all those meals you mentioned
Steaming fish

Fish pie? Covers some basics of simple fish cooking, also white sauce. But is mashed potato again!

Stir fry- preparation of vegetables to teach knife skills, also making a marinade or sauce?

I like the idea of showing how a base of finely chopped veg and mince can be turned into a variety of meals according to the other flavours added, eg ragu, shepherds pie, chilli etc.

Meals that can be made from onion, garlic, minced beef/lamb and stock or tomatoes as a starting point - so bolognese, chilli, shepherd's pie.

Two or three things to make with dried pasta (including a roux sauce).

Principles of stir frying.

Principles of roasting veg and steaming fresh veg.

Cakes and puddings are advanced stuff, people who really have no clue about cooking need to be able to cook main meals.

Cheese Sauce
Bolognaise sauce/basic tomato sauce
Stir fry
Sausage & mash
101 ways with potatoes
Simple cakes
Soup
Pasta and 3 different sauces
Yorkshire puddings/pancakes

Could you teach how to meal plan for a week too? That would be helpful for so many people - ie. how to use up leftovers and avoid waste

Jamie Oliver's 'ministry of food' is fantastic in the way it gives you a base recipe and shows you ways to build on it, so you could show a mince base recipe, and explain how to change it into bolognase, chilli, cottage pie etc.

A basic cake recipe...for fairy cakes or a birthday cake with buttercream.

I think if you're going basic basic, some veg prep would be helpful, like how to make mashed potatoes etc.

It's a great idea.

Angelto, pancakes is a good idea, omelettes too. Just trying to work out how much I can fit in to the day/two days. I think everything would take 2/3 times as long to prepare as they would have to watch/try it themselves, make notes .

Drcarolinetodd, if I did roast chicken I would do roast potatoes, gravy, everything with it. When you say explanation of basic stuff, is there anything specific you had in mind? I plan to put together a folder with recipes, hints and tips etc, so thinking about what to put in.

Was thinking of things like how you can tell from the juices when baked chicken is done, basics about freezing and reheating food. How to tell when cakes are baked.

Ikleboo, really good ideas, I specially like the pastry idea.

Roast chicken, bolognese or chilli, a basic curry, a stir-fry using a simple soy-based homemade sauce, a simple soup, homemade pizza.

Knife skills (onion, garlic, herbs) - then they'll feel more confident to follow other recipes
Eggs - boil, poach, scramble, omelette
Pasta - don't over cook - then basic tomato sauce you can take in various directions . . . Chilli n anchovy, bacon, add some marscapone etc
Bolognese - once you can do this you can know how to make a stew too really . . .
Soup - see above - once you got onion, celery, carrot n garlic under your belt you can do soup, stew etc
Risotto - again, make basic and very stock to match whatever you have
Roast a chicken
Make all in one sponge

I would work on the basis of using one key ingredient. So roast chicken, then chicken pie, chicken curry, stir fry, stock while the roast is cooking do the basis of a tomato sauce (onions, celery, carrots and tomatoes etc) which can be used for pasta, veg soup.

Food safety such as storing and preparing raw meat. Also, some vegetarian meals.

good housekeeping New basic cookery

I was given it for my birthday the year I went to university (1986) I've been married almost 25 years and have two DDs, I still use it to answer stupid basic questions.

It has everything from how to boil an egg, through various cooking techniques for fish, meat, roast, how long to cook different veg, quiche, white, cheese sause, gravy. Classic simple puddings to baking simple bread. All in 125 very clear pages.

Seriously buy a copy and a good book on basic food hygiene and you have your course resources.

Loads of really good ideas here. Totally agree re tomato sauce and white sauce.

Lots of the ideas depend on how long a course I would run and how much I could charge (to make it worth doing) and how much people would pay.

I.e meal planning for a week, all kinds of eggs.

Definitely need to do, how to tell if meat is cooked. I think the basic cake recipe to make cupcakes/one cake is better than my previous idea of banana bread.

Definitely yes to the basic mince/veg base to turn into a variety of dishes.

I will be doing this from home so could probably do a max of 3 people at a time so that impacts on how much each would have to pay to mark it work.

Agree that anything over a basic cake mix would have to be a separate thing.

I also thought I could offer a course on how to make your own bread (I have a really good easy way to do it that works)

I thought maybe I could even offer little party evenings where I could come to someone's house, show them all how to make scones or something, bring cream and homemade jam and they would make the scones and then eat them together with wine.

I'd probably go for a mince thing and cheese sauce so that they could do bolognese, lasagne, sheperd's pie, macaroni cheese etc.

But otherwise I'd think about what basic skills there are and teach those so that they could follow a recipe which uses those skills without needing to be taught the recipe. Also find skills demos on YouTube so that they can watch them later if necessary or look up other ones.

I'm a crap cook, but have found that the ability to make cheese sauce goes quite a long way, i.e. it goes with lots of different things.

Basic ideas that are adaptable for using up leftovers are really useful, such as basic soup which you can then chuck any veg etc in that you have hanging around.

There are lots of other things I needed to learn too which were not just about a specific recipe but more general things you could fit into a session whatever food you were actually making:

Food hygiene, e.g. how long things can be kept, why food needs to be either cool or hot not sitting around warm, keeping raw meat away from cooked and things that are eaten raw, how to tell if meat is cooked properly, how to wash hands properly, that sort of thing.

Also how to tell what is good quality when you buy it, e.g. veg firm not soft, the difference between waxy and fluffy potatoes, colour and smell in tomatoes etc. The Vegetable Bible is a great book for this www.amazon.co.uk/The-Vegetable-Bible-Definitive-Guide/dp/0007289588

Care of equipment, e.g. don't leave iron pans full of water or they will rust, don't boil water in them as it strips their oils, don't leave wooden boards or utensils soaking or they will swell and rot. Don't stack glasses inside each other they expand with heat and may stick together or crack. How to sharpen a knife. Use plastic or wood utensils on non-stick pans to avoid scratching, etc.

How to mouse-proof a kitchen - people never believe what they can gnaw through or how agile they are until they see for themselves, so you need to stress that yes it can reach that, they can almost climb walls! This video may help and is also dead funny :)

Elephantsneverforgive. Thanks, will look at that and the Jamie book mention above.

Good point about getting a basic food hygiene book as well. I am doing food safety level 2 and 3 before I start. I have to be 100% sure everything I say is correct.

Risotto also a really good idea, as is soup. And totally agree about pasta, easy to do variations and about making sure not overlooked.

I thought maybe also a list of easy to put together meals that don't require actual cooking, I.e. Fish fingers, peas and chips. How to microwave rice.

Def basic tomato sauce, and basic food safety, how to prepare, store raw meat, washing hands, not using the same chopping boards, knives etc.

Wouldn't a couple of hours a week for say four weeks work better, then folk can put into practice what they've learnt. So knife skills and basic tomato sauce in week 1, then their homework is to replicate and enhance by adding a couple of extra ingredients from a list you provide.

Don't teach them set meals, teach them to follow a recipe (teach them what the abbreviations and techniques and tools are and how to get organized before they start, getting everything out to make sure they have everything etc.) That's how I taught my 9 year old, who can now follow moderately complex recipes successfully with almost no help.

Also though if they are on a budget or likely to be, teach them to make pizza bases from flour, yeast, pinch of salt and water - a couple of pence instead of much more on a pre-made base :) DD also makes her own pastry - again easy, money saving, means you can always make a pie crust to transform leftovers not have to buy pastry specially.

If they really know nothing you'll have to teach them how to cook rice, potatoes etc.

Mostly you need to give them the confidence to have a go.

It's why I like the book so much, it answered really daft questions like how long to cook cabbage or a chicken breast or a chop.

Less of a problem now as most supermarket meat has instructions, but invaluable as a student before such packaging or the internet.

It always amazes me are so many threads on here of people being really unsure how to tell if things are cooked and wether left overs are safe.

(Or safeish, clearly you can't tell paying tutees it's safe to reheat rice, although everyone does).

What a good idea.
Who are you aiming it at? Students will want quick & cheap and probably less interested in making pastry or cake.
Older students will possibly want to be more adventurous.
I agree about being taught to follow a recipe.
Could you suggest basic store cupboard essentials? Good websites?

I actually did this with DD1, who was subletting a room one summer.

I taught her to make:
An omelette, fried egg, scrambled egg, boiled egg and hard boiled egg;
How to make a simple tomato sauce from scratch using tinned tomatoes, garlic, basil, s&p, maybe a little wine;
To boil pasta as dente and cook rice without burning;
Bechamel sauce;
Simple spag bol including carrots, onions, celery, simple tomato sauce, dash of wine, mince;
-- how to use basic spag bol and make lasagne or shepherds' pie for the next days;
Simple cream, stock and wine sauce with herbs, etc;
Alfredo sauce;
A simple lemon sauce for chicken to go with rice or pasta;
A simple tuna sauce for pasta with parsley and olives that I make in summer that she liked;
A simple stir fry involving any sort of meat and various veggies to go with noodles or rice;
Simple homemade curry;
Pancakes, crepes, soda bread, simple french bread dough (yeast) and pizza dough;
How to chop up a whole chicken, debone, etc;
How to roast a chicken, test for doneness, strip meat or carve;
How to use cold, cooked chicken for a few dishes later in the week;
Chicken caesar salad;
Thai chicken salad (Nigella);
How to make basic chicken stock and freeze in usable portions of about one cup;
Pan gravy using chicken or beef juices;
How to bread chicken and pork;
How to cook veggies and not end up with a soggy unappetising mess;
How to peel and boil potatoes;
How to mash potatoes properly;
Salade nicoise;
Panzanella salad (to use up bread basically);
Green split pea soup;
Minestrone soup;
Pasta e fagioli soup/stew (she loved this at home).

Shortcrust pastry (good for sweet and savoury pies alike);
How to use phylo pastry;
A few pie fillings;
Victoria sponge;
Brownies.

How to read a recipe right through before getting started, and how to figure out order of operations - turn on oven first, butter pans, etc.

I also taught her food hygiene and basic kitchen safety, especially about meat safety, hand washing, using sharp knives always. Also, how to buy bulk sized packages, split them up into portion sized pieces, and wrap, mark and freeze each item. How to thaw meat safely and the need to plan ahead to give enough time for thawing. And how to clean up.

I gave her a present of a small cast iron pan and a pair of cake pans, a few wooden spoons and a nice whisk, and let her at it. She had a little dinner party for her friends with an apple pie for dessert two weeks later.