Cooking with a 7-year old

[sanrensho]

Does anyone have suggestions for menu items that I can teach my 7-year old daughter? Ideally, I’m looking for dishes that she can handle entirely from start-to-finish, with myself doing the appropriate prep work (measuring, chopping, etc.). The start-to-finish aspect is important, as it gives our little sous chef “pride of ownership” so to speak.

So far, my daughter can handle a basic risotto from start-to-finish. The risotto has turned out to be the ideal “starter” dish, teaching her fundamentals such as paying attention throughout the cooking process, as well as flexibility in ingredient measures and tasting for doneness. She already knows how to do a basic dressing, so we will work more in that area.

Please keep in mind that we are still talking about a 7-year old perched on a chair. Anything that involves a lot of lifting or high degree of dexterity is out. Stovetop cooking is a must but high heat cooking and flambes are out, for obvious reasons. Anything that takes more than 30 minutes will be difficult (attention span issues).

Type of cuisine does not matter; suggestions for Japanese dishes are also welcome. I’m thinking certain soups (minnestrone) and vegetable sides would be ideal. Beef stroganoff is another idea.

What did you learn to cook when you were seven?

TIA

-Kenji

[jsolomon]

When I was 7, I learned how to bake bread--immensely powerful attractor for the opposite sex.

My suggestions are in two parts.

1: teach easy, but fundamental dishes

2: teach related fundamental dishes together, and as related.

For instance: potatoes au gratin, macaroni and cheese, shepherd's pie (with white sauce to hold together)

Refrigerator pie, bread pudding, french toast, creme brulee

Dumplings are always something that I love, so I would suggest dumplings, too.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

What did you learn to cook when you were seven?

TIA

-Kenji

←

Lasagna. It's still killer.

"Sauce" used in said lasagna and all Sunday meals (in my family, making sauce took all day, though.)

Risotto, eh? Whatta kid!

[Chris Amirault]

Kenji, check this thread out, for starters. Also, tell me why you want to do whole dishes? If your kid is healthy and normal, that 30-minute attention span business is going to hold true for a while!

I have an eight year old who helps on specific things in the kitchen, and she gets more and more responsibility as she matures. Meat ball rolling, stirring, measuring, even some knife work are all part of her repertoire now. However, she doesn't often oversee a whole dish for the reason listed above.

[sanrensho]

Risotto, eh?  Whatta kid! 

The risotto has worked out surprisingly well. As long as everything is prep'ed, she can handle it up to the final stirring. Then her 7-year old arms get tired, although it partly has to do with the volume we make (family of four and heavy rice eaters). I would highly recommend this as a starter dish to other parents with young kids.

The gratin idea is great but I would like to avoid oven foods. Only because it starts to become "my dish" when I start to get involved in pulling stuff in and out of the oven. Also, some of the continuity (and interest) is lost.

Working on basic white and red sauces is a good idea. I think I'll try a fresh tomato pasta sauce so she can see it through to completion.

jsolomon: Do you have an good dumpling recipes? I wasn't raised on these and my few attempts haven't been successful.

[sanrensho]

Kenji, check this thread out, for starters. Also, tell me why you want to do whole dishes? If your kid is healthy and normal, that 30-minute attention span business is going to hold true for a while!

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I know that there have been other threads on cooking with kids, but nothing specifically on whole dishes. My daughter is actually OK for 30 minutes or more, as long as she is kept busy. (About how long it takes for a risotto.) She already helps out with making potstickers, rolling meatballs and the like.

The "whole dish" emphasis is for pride of ownership, independence (although I am always by her side) and for motivational reasons. I also want her to see a dish through to its finish, including adjusting seasonings, checking for doneness, etc. The risotto test has already convinced me of the value of giving my daughter her "own dish" to prepare.

Edited January 5, 2006 by sanrensho (log)

[OnigiriFB]

Hrm... okonomiyaki? I learned to make it when I was older but I think it would be fun for her to get all the things together, rough chop what needs to be, stir with flour and stuff and then watch it cook on the griddle.

[Sugarella]

My first thought would be a simple stir-fry that, as she learns, will turn into more complex dishes. To start, she can plan ahead with prepping, will learn to time adding ingredients, will learn how to mix & thicken a sauce for it, etc. Then once that's mastered you could make something more complex like cantonese chow mein, where she'll learn about handling meats, etc. It's the type of thing she could modify each time and really make it her own.

Just a thought.....

[Milagai]

If she liked risotto, then a simple rice pulao

1. measure and rinse rice (preferably basmati and keep ready.

2. measure sufficient water (2 water to 1 rice if basmati, different for others)

and keep ready.

3. heat ghee in a pot, saute spices (e.g. cuminseeds, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaf, peppercorn, - these will float to the top after cooking

and can be picked out and discarded. they are not meant to be eaten.

despite the long list, the finished dish is very mild and fragrant).

4. add the rice, fry for a few minutes.

5. add ~ 1 cup of frozed mixed veggies.

6. add the water, salt, bring to a boil, then lower and cover and cook till done.

pick out and discard the spices (use a small spoon).

serve hot with sides.

This dish can be gussied up as needed (tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms,

whatever else) or down (leave out the veggies).

You can garnish with crisp caramelized onion shreds.

very easy, spectacular, and widely enjoyed.

milagai

[sanrensho]

If she liked risotto, then a simple rice pulao

The rice pulao idea is great. For now, though, I want something that keeps her involved and at my side until the dish is done. (Otherwise, she'll disappear into her books and I'll never see her again!) I'm thinking that an Indian curry might be ideal, especially a kheema curry.

Please keep the great ideas coming!

[Arghavan]

I learned how to make bechamel when i was seven and I loved it... I still do. The smell is fantastic, it doesn't take too longs and it can be extended to cheese sauce and it was part of my favorite dish lasagna.

some kind of daal might be a good idea if you do the frying of the spices...

How about some baking? is she interested?

[jsolomon]

Grilling...

[mizducky]

Omelettes--they cook fast, you can have fun with and practice knife skills on all different sorts of fillings, and learning the behavior of eggs over heat is a useful skill that will serve her in good stead as she gets further into cooking.

I think the very first dish I learned to cook on my own was bologna and eggs, a kid-friendly omelette variant that's been comfort food in many Jewish-American households for a couple of generations. (I could have sworn I wrote this up elsewhere on eGullet, but I can't seem to locate it with Search, so sorry for the repeat for anyone who saw it the last time...)

--Beat a couple of eggs in a bowl as you would for scrambled eggs.

--Melt a smallish pat of butter in a small frying pan over medium heat, ideally just a little bit bigger than your slice of bologna.

--Put in the bologna slice, and fry it until it's a little brown on the bottom and starts to curl up around the edges.

--Pour in the eggs around and over the bologna, so that the bologna is nicely embedded in egg.

--Cook until the eggs are just set, and serve.

A simple little lunch she can make for herself anytime.

If she really gets into the egg cookery, you might even try her out on a simple souffle--look, it's food magic, it goes pouf!!!

[tejon]

I learned how to make bechamel when i was seven and I loved it... I still do. The smell is fantastic, it doesn't take too longs and it can be extended to cheese sauce and it was part of my favorite dish lasagna.

some kind of daal might be a good idea if you do the frying of the spices...

How about some baking? is she interested?

←

Bechamel was what I learned at seven, too, right after learning to scramble eggs properly.

[sanrensho]

How about some baking? is she interested?

She is definitely interested in baking, but I'm not sure my wife can handle more flour prints in the kitchen. That is, in addition to the ones I create.

On the breakfast front, I intend to teach her to do pancakes and then waffles. She can definitely handle those from start to finish. Eggs (scrambled and omelette) are on the list, too.

I think it might be interesting to teach her to make a bechamel sauce as part of a gratin-making exercise. We could make mini-gratins using the oven toaster, so she could put the gratins in herself and watch them cook.

Edited January 6, 2006 by sanrensho (log)

[Chufi]

I liked what you said about a 'whole' dish and pride of ownership.

Some ideas:

Stamppot (mashed potatoes and vegetables ) is an easy family dish to make and most (dutch..) children I know love it.

like this one:curly endive stamppot

or this one: Hutspot with carrots and onions.

if you use thin-skinned new potatoes, you could get away with not peeling them (although they would have to be well washed , obviously). You can make a gravy/sauce with bacon, onion etc. in the time it takes the vegetables to cook, and every kid loves to mash things together!

You mentioned scrambled eggs.. that was the first dish my (now 17-year-old) stepdaughter learned to cook for herself. It's great because you can add all sorts of things to it to make it more interesting.

Creamy, pureed soups.. vegetables can be cut up pretty irregularly, it cooks quickly, and then stick in the hand-held blender! Always a lot of fun.. just make sure you teach her right from the start that she has to hold the stick down in the pot and not pull it up while pureeing, or you'll end up with soup on the ceiling...

Edited January 6, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Chris Amirault]

What about groundnut stew? It's a West African peanut and chicken stew that's hard to do wrong, and it's a great example of the whole being larger than the sum of the parts. It also has the "Cool!" (yeah, I know, or "Yuck!") factor of putting a typically sweet item into a savory dish. And it's easy as pie:

• 1. onion, garlic, ginger saute;
  2. tomato paste and peanut butter (crunchy is fine)
  3. chicken stock and spices (chile, pinch of curry, black pepper, salt, cinnamon...)
  4. cut up vegetables, tubers, and greens
  5. chicken
  

[lcdm]

Pizza

My kids love to make pizza, even my 4 year old will put on her own toppings.

I just made pretzels with my kids, they enjoyed the whole process, making the dough, rolling it, making different shapes, adding their own seasonings, watching them bake and finally eating them.

Few other things to think about: Quiche or tarts, meatloaf, cookies, bread, cake w/frosting, brownies, roast chicken (or cornish hens would be nice and small to handle), quesadillas, fajitas, shrimp cocktail, ice cream, baked chicken wings (marinated in a homemade sauce).

What kinds of food does your daughter enjoy eating?

[sanrensho]

What kinds of food does your daughter enjoy eating?

The pizza idea is a classic! My four-year old daughter also gets into this in a big way.

My daughter is pretty flexible when it comes to food and not squeamish in any way. She has her favorites, of course, but a lot of it has to do with what we make. The breakdown is probably 40% Japanese, 10% Chinese, 25% Italian and a mishmash of everything else.

The other reason for emphasizing foods that can go straight from stovetop to table is to give my daughter exposure to other parts of the meal. While she's stirring away and doing her dish, she can see how other dishes are being prepared and finished.

Recipes or dishes that we can prepare regularly are a big bonus. For our Japanese meals, I'm thinking that she can take command of making miso soup. She can vary this using different vegetables.

Edited January 6, 2006 by sanrensho (log)

[jsolomon]

How about some baking? is she interested?

She is definitely interested in baking, but I'm not sure my wife can handle more flour prints in the kitchen. That is, in addition to the ones I create.

On the breakfast front, I intend to teach her to do pancakes and then waffles. She can definitely handle those from start to finish. Eggs (scrambled and omelette) are on the list, too.

←

Don't forget frittatas. Those are in the middle ground between omelettes and scrambles, and can give her some good oven experience with minimal mess.

[goldie]

I have three boys, 10, 7, and 3. We spend a lot of time together in the kitchen. I think you are right about the pride factor. One of the things we do is go to the library- there are a number of good (and even more terrible!) cookbooks geared toward kids. They like looking at the recipes and getting ideas (it's also good for their literacy skills ). Here are a few of the things they like to make:

Chili (not the most authentic, but it's pretty good) with corn bread

Jambalaya

Fajitas (peppers are easy to cut and good practice, btw)

Tacos (Cooks Magazine has a good recipe)

Spaghetti carbonara

Chef's salad

Salade Nicoise

Latkes (which requires a ton of supervision!)

My oldest and I are in a book group together and when we come across food in books we try to make it. I do the same for my other two. Sometimes when we see food in movies we do the same thing (for example, Turkish Delight in Narnia).

Have fun!

[sanrensho]

Goldie: Great suggestions. Fish tacos are something that we could tackle with minimum fuss and we all love them.

To be honest, I'm a little leery of kid's cookbooks. I've always suspected that the recipes are dumbed down, which is something I've avoided from day one. The only thing I will adjust is the heat, never spice levels or ingredients.

jsolomon: Frittata is excellent and would be a nice intro to omelettes. Something nice and hearty with potatos and olives would go over really well.