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.

No to banana loaf, just stick to an all in one sponge, really no need to cream and fold separately.

I was talking to someone whose wife died and overnight he had to start looking after himself including cooking.
He was saying that even simple instructions such as dissolve stock cube or peel carrots terrified him.

I thing FoodTech at secondary school level (KS3) would give you good starting point what techniques can be covered and how detailed descriptions of tasks should be.

Who are your target audience?

Maybe split it depending and have a course for students about to go to uni and a different one for new parents etc.

My dad has been taking cooking lessons from, of all places, the local hospice. My mum has terminal cancer and the course is for men of a certain age who have not done much cooking because their wives do/did and their wives are not able to cook/not going to be around much longer.

He now cooks for them both.

the hospice he went to is at www.pendleside.org.uk they might be able to give you some ideas.

I wish my mum had taught me that stuff.

One thing I would really want to know about is how to preserve food, what to freeze and put in the fridge, how to defrost, etc - I never heat leftovers as I'm scared of getting it wrong.

Just thinking back to what we did at home Economics in school

1. how to prepare vegetables using knife
2. how to tell that meat is cooked through
3. what different heats do - sauté, fry, sear, simmer, boil
4. portion control

So I reckon vegetable soup or spaghetti bolognese and stir frying chicken with veg & noodles.
Stew is good for the browning /hot heat then simmer.

But as someone else said, Jamie's Ministry of Food is a great one for this too.

Hope you have fun!

Thank you all so much for suggestions/advice. Will definitely look at all the resources suggested. Going to order the books now.

The hospice thing sounds brilliant. What a clever idea.

Drcarolinetodd. Totally agree re defrosting, leftovers etc. I had to learn myself and it is scary, that's part of why I am doing the two food safety and hygiene certificates, so that I am absolutely sure I am giving correct information.

I am thinking of different courses for different types of people. Initial ideas are; Cooking for a family and for students, though I think the hospice thing is really good and will contact age concern to see if anyone is offering anything like that in my area.

Current ideas for "cooking for a family" are;
Give each attendee a copy of Cook book (provisionally one of the two suggested here) and mainly work from that, so that they then have confidence in that book and feel better about trying new things from it.

Roasted chicken, with home made roast potatoes, roast carrots and home made gravy. Covers some veg, potatoes, gravy.

Chicken and mushroom pie with left over chicken, covers freezing, defrosting, reheating, using leftovers and how easy things are with shop bought pastry

Basic mince and veg, to turn into shepherds pie. Covers how to turn basic mix into lots of things, mash potatoe, individual potions, freezing for later.

White sauce, tomatoe sauce, with pasta, also how easy to add things, I.e. Brocollie cheese and pasta with bacon and mushrooms. So all easy and quick.

Basic all in one sponge, plus how to change it easily (I.e. Add coco powder to make chocolate cake)

For students;

Roast chicken? (Not sure they would want that?)

All the pasta stuff

More about buying in bulk, freezing and defrosting.

All the basic mince stuff.

What do you think?

Oh and for the students a pasta bake thing, quick and easy.

I had to teach myself to cook a couple of years ago. I could barely boil an egg. I was on a really tight budget having been made redundant and dug out old student cookbooks. I am veggie but my main things would be:

• A ratatouille (can be purposed into a tomato sauce with a hand blender)
• A basic tomato sauce for pasta
• A few pulse based dishes (easy stuff like a cheesy lentil loaf/bake, a bean chilli if nesc just as simple as adding beans, chilli sauce and mince to some of the ratatouille or tomato sauce).
• How to cook rice so it's not a sticky mess
• Couple of soups (I'd do a minestronei as it's tasty and filling and something easy and orange based like carrot/lentil/bns)
• A basic curry....using a jar as a cheat/ short cut if nesc.
• How to make a flan (either with shortcrust from scratch or using jus'rol) as so easy to fill with anything e.g fry onion, any leafy greens, add a couple of eggs and some feta and bake for a tasty flan.
• A basic risotto (Jamie Oliver excellent on this)
• A basic cheese sauce using the continually stirring method that can be used for a fish pie, a lasagne sauce or for cauli cheese or just over some veggies.
• Dead easy fish (ie. Salmon fillets with pesto spread on top and baked in oven).
• A basic chinese style marinade (soy, seasame oil, lime juice) for fish/quorn/chicken for a tasty stir fry with noodles and veggies.

I'd recommend the Good Housekeeping meals for £5 book and the Jack Monroe book and a Jamie Oliver as an essential library for any new cook.

Oh and remind them about seasoning and introduce them to the wonders of a decent cheat stock like Vegetable Bouillon powder and a few basic herbs and spices like Oregano, Cumin, Turmeric.

The 5 mother sauces, temperature control, how eggs work, seasoning.

Angua - I'd provide printed notes/recipes and pictures of what you're cooking. That way, people don't have to make their own notes and worry they haven't got all the info. Also looks more professional?

If you did the notes A5 sized, you could suggest people buy an A5 notebook and stick them in, going on to fill their notebook with their own future choice of recipes/useful info.

Depending on costs, you could also provide the notebook?

Yes to red (tomato) sauce and white sauce as they are very versatile and can be used a basis for heaps of things.

Omelettes and quiche are both great as, again, there are so many variations on them.

Roast veggies of all sorts can be used in a million ways.

Clear and thick soups is a great idea.

I think you should have one option called 'Cooking for absolute beginners' or similar.

Cooking for the family sounds advanced and I wouldn't look twice at it.

Like a pp, I'd include how to cook rice (because a lot of people have no idea at all. Rinse, soak, bring to boil in correct amount of water, turn off and leave 10 mins - that method is almost foolproof) and how to make a basic curry.

It might also be worth including pavlova. It sounds a bit extreme, but it is such an easy thing to make (if you have an electric whisk) and looks amazingly impressive - as if you can really cook!

I wouldn't necessarily bother with the roast chicken for students.... My DD lives on mince, bacon and fried rice.

I haven't read the whole thread I hate people like me! but this is a fantastic idea!
I agree with pp who said that having it run over a few weeks for a few hours at a time is a brill idea, with the 'homework' aspect to replicate and advance on, it would really build confidence I think!

Also, how to adapt a recipe to suit you, recipes often call for things that I don't have so I subsitite them for things I do, dp is crap at it and doesn't understand at all, I don't really know how to explain how I know what to sub it for but I'm sure you've got more brain power than I have!

Also, what herbs go with what, so as a general rule in my house is oregano and mince, rosemary and thyme and chicken etc.. The 'failsafe' options! (And the difference in quantities needed between dry and fresh!)

Just a thought what about showing different ways to cook the same thing.

Eg beans on toast - which is one of the most useful things to know how to make because it is vegi, can be had for breakfast, lunch or dinner and you can add cheese, bacon or other bits and pieces.

Anyway I digress.

Show how to do it with a grill or a toaster, with a microwave and a pan for the beans even with heating beans in an oven.

I'm thinking this could be useful for students who may not have a propper kitchen or a clean pan.