With both parents working full-time outside the home and the discontinuation of mandatory Home Ec in schools, many families no longer have the time or the skills to cook. This trend is confirmed by research which shows the majority of Canadians rely on prepared foods and take-out for their dinners, especially on weeknights.
Unfortunately, prepared meals and restaurant fare tend to be higher in salt, sugar and fat, and cost more than cooking from scratch.
On the bright side, young people, inspired by television programs such as MasterChef, are showing up for cooking classes, says Professional Home Economist, Donna-Marie Pye who owns the Relish Cooking Studio in Kitchener, Ontario.
While the students who have had exposure to cooking in the home have already picked up some cooking knowledge by osmosis, Pye is confident anyone can learn to cook. “If you like to eat, you can learn to cook.”
Pye teaches a six-week Fundamentals of Cooking course which covers the key skills and terminology that people need to become confident home cooks. The classes begin with a session on knife skills, then move on to cover cooking terms like braising and roasting. The various types of salt, vinegars and cooking oils are covered as well as the differences between cuts of pork and beef and the best way to cook them. The course also discusses the five basic sauces with a lesson on creating two of them: tomato and Bechamel (white) sauce.
Eggs take the spotlight in one of the six lessons. “I always say if you can cook an egg, you can make a meal,” says Pye.
In Pye’s experience, one of the most common mistakes people make when cooking for themselves is not adding enough salt. While processed food tends to be too high in salt, at home people tend to under-salt their food or use the wrong salt, she says.
Most people are only familiar with table salt, says Pye, but table salt is not a pure salt. “Table salt has sugar and anti-clumping agents in it. Table salt is the best salt for baking, but sea salt or kosher salt are the best salts for general all-purpose cooking. There are also many types of finishing salts such as Maldon, Pink Himalayan or Fleur de Sel, that are best used at the end of cooking.
Like Pye, Chef and Professional Home Economist Andrea Villneff who has been teaching Cooking 101 sessions to students in Greater Toronto Area schools usually sees two or three students in a class who cook at home frequently but the majority of students have had little exposure.
Sponsored by a number of agricultural groups such as the Egg Farmers of Ontario and Canola Eat Well, Villneff teaches the teenagers basic food literacy, knife skills and food safety. The students prepare dishes right in the classroom using recipes that Villneff has created using Canada’s Food Guide and an emphasis on local foods.
The response to the cooking sessions has been very positive, says Villneff. The students are often very proud of what they have created and are excited to take the recipe booklets home. “Teaching kids how to cook helps them build self-confidence along with other life skills.”
Evelyn Raab, author of the very popular Clueless in the Kitchen offers several suggestions for ensuring success in the kitchen for those new to cooking. For starters, she recommends reading
the recipe twice before beginning. The first time — to decide if the dish actually sounds like something you want to cook. Or eat. Check to see if the recipe includes any ingredients you hate, requires a piece of equipment you don’t have or takes too long to make, she advises.
The second time through, she recommends reading the recipe more carefully and checking to make sure you have all of the ingredients on-hand.
The first time you try the recipe, Raab recommends following the recipe closely. The next time you make it, she says you can go ahead and be reckless. “There are no rules . . . and there is no right or wrong way for something to taste. If you like it, then it’s good . . . That’s all there is to it.”
I take an approach similar to Raab’s when trying new recipes. As a young adult, my cooking skills were limited as the dinners at our house were strictly plain “meat and potatoes.” However, I had a foundation in the basics and since I like to cook and try new foods at many different kinds of restaurants, I’ve managed to expand my repertoire of simple but tasty dishes that I can make with relative ease.
With the plethora of cookbooks, TV shows and YouTube videos available today, it’s never been easier to enhance and expand your cooking skills.
Photo: © 2017 by Mike McColl
A good recipe to start with — Corn Bread!
Is there anything that goes better with a bowl of chilli than fresh corn bread? We think not.
This recipe is from the book, Clueless in the Kitchen: Cooking for Beginners by Evelyn Raab, published by Firefly Books.
Ingredients
1½ cups (375 ml) all-purpose flour
1 cup (250 ml) yellow cornmeal
¼ cup (60 ml) granulated sugar
2 tbsp. (30 ml) baking powder
½ tsp. (2 ml) salt
¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
1 egg
1⅓ cups (325 ml) milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease an 8 or 9-inch (20 or 23 cm) square baking pan.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the oil, egg and milk. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined. A few lumps are okay, so don’t overbeat the batter.
Pour batter into the prepared baking pan, spreading so that the top is even. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and a toothpick poked into the middle comes out clean.
Let cool for just a couple of minutes before cutting into squares.
Makes 9 to 12 squares of corn bread.
Feeling wild and crazy?
Corn bread variations
Switch up your corn bread with a little something extra. Add any of the following ingredients when you combine the wet and dry mixtures:
½ cup (125 ml) dried cranberries
1 cup (250 ml) corn kernels (frozen, canned or cut from a cooked cob)
1 cup (250 ml) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 or 2 chopped fresh jalapeño peppers
¼ cup (60 ml) crumbled, crisply cooked bacon
— Helen Lammers-Helps