Cooking with Children

The more I've thought about this, the more I am I convinced.  The world would be a better place if children were taught to cook from an early age.

I was a late-comer to cooking.  In some ways, that was a good thing -- I had the chance to learn to be fearless.  In some ways, not so good -- I felt pretty nervous and lacking in the kitchen until most of the way through college.

In my family, I was not the cook.  This comes as a great surprise to my friends now, I'm sure, but until this past year, my family barely let me into the kitchen.  My mother liked control in the kitchen and she and my father split the cooking duties.  In a small space, this meant children were more of a nuisance than helpers (too many cooks and all that).  Since you are not my therapist, dear reader, I won't go any further into the past...but just recently I had a phenomenal experience with kids I do want to share.  Join me after the break for that and the best pancake recipe EVER.


This past winter there was a bit of an "event," a snowpocalypse if you will.  Three days into that, I was called upon to watch two tween/teen girls while their parents dealt with a family emergency.  One of the things we did was make breakfast together.

We made Truck-Stop Buttermilk Pancakes but scaled down the recipe (scaled recipe at the bottom of this entry).  It was a simple recipe but one that an eleven-year-old could easily measure out.  We didn't have any buttermilk so it was a great chance to learn how to make buttermilk from milk and vinegar.

These girls were worried, and stuck in a blizzard, and needed something to take their mind off of events at hand.  What could be better than a flapjack breakfast?  On first suggestion, they were dubious.  They had never made pancakes from scratch and didn't really know anything about cooking.  As they measured out the ingredients, mixed them carefully, and then cooked them in a real cast iron skillet the worries fell aside.  They learned that they could follow a recipe, and adjust as needed.  They learned that they could make something from scratch without needed a mix out of a box.  They practiced Chemistry and Mathematics without even realizing it.  They liked the pancakes so much they did it all over again to have just a few more.

When we were done, the youngest looked up "how to clean cast iron" because she wasn't sure how.  She had confidence in herself to take the initiative and trust that she could follow through.  She saved the pancake recipe on her iPad (would that we could all be so lucky!) to share with her parents when they came home.  And she had a blast doing it.

I think Lenore Skenazy of FreeRangeKids would approve.

It can take more time, it can be a test of your patience, it can been just an all-around pain-in-the-neck, but if you have kids please cook with them.  Just watching the two girls light up as they realized they could make tasty food all by themselves was worth any hassle in trying to make the buttermilk or find a match-set of measuring spoons.

Food tastes better when you are invested.  If you have a picky eater, take them shopping, let them choose the vegetables, then let them help prepare the meal.  Teaching kids something as valuable as cooking shouldn't be "saved" until they are about to fly the nest.

But y'all already knew that, right? ;)


Truck-Stop Buttermilk Pancakes for 3 rather than 12:
Ingredients:
1 Eggs
⅓ cup Milk
1 Tbsp Butter, melted
1 cup Buttermilk
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
Pinch Salt (Optional)
1 Tbsp Sugar

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, butter and buttermilk. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and sugar; stir into the wet ingredients just until blended. Adjust the thickness of the batter to your liking by adding more flour or buttermilk if necessary.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour ¼ cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side. Continue with remaining batter.


Credits
Image: Cutting the (cream) cheese a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from TheodoreWLee's photostream
Recipe: Truck-Stop Buttermilk Pancakes from allrecipes.com