How to Help Your Teenager Learn to Cook

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Gauge their interest.

   Some teens are interested in cooking.
   
   If so, it's not likely you'll have to encourage them to learn how to cook.
   
   If they're eager to learn already, give them the supplies and freedom to do some cooking for you and the rest of the family, and they'll learn by trial and error.
   
   If they're not interested, you may have to motivate them a bit more.
   
   Try explaining to them that knowing how to cook will make them even more independent, since independence is appealing to most teens. , When learning to cook, it's often most enjoyable to start with the recipes that you enjoy the most.
   
   This is especially important if your teen is leaving for college soon; remind them that they soon won't be able to eat their favorite mac and cheese or meatloaf at home, so if they learn to cook it themselves, they won't have to go without it., Cooking is a tricky skill, especially for someone who isn't naturally drawn to it.
   
   Some consider it an art, others a science, but for those who aren't gifted in the kitchen arts, starting with simple recipes is best.
   
   Breakfast is a good meal to start with.
   
   You can also help your teen start with semi-prepared meals, like boxed mac and cheese or ready-made pizza crusts that they can customize with their chosen ingredients.
   
   Some simple recipes are included below to get you started., Every teen is different, so let them learn in a way that suits them:
   They might benefit from real-life formal or semi-formal lessons with you, where you give them a play-by-play as you cook.
   
   If so, take the time to teach! They might prefer a trial-and-error method where they get their hands dirty and start trying out their skills.
   
   If so, provide a recipe and buy the supplies needed, and let them loose.
   
   Be available for help when they need it, but generally let them do their thing.
   
   They might like to read and compare recipes and watch videos online.
   
   Some people like to "study up" before hitting the kitchen.
   
   If this suits them, use the full range of resources: recipe books, websites, and YouTube videos can all help them learn. , Learning to cook takes practice.
   
   Set an expectation that your teen will cook something once a week, perhaps preparing a meal for the whole family.
   
   By ensuring they get regular practice, you'll help speed up their learning curve., Watch cooking shows or read cookbooks together to get motivated., Ask them which meals they would like; go to grocery store together and buy the ingredients., Let them do the work.
   
   Don't take over the work., This gives teens the responsibility of making food decisions for themselves and their friends., Be a role model.,  A simple French Omelette is easy.
   
   One egg per person is enough to start with; if your omelettes are a hit, you get a lot of practice making them individually. , Turn the stove on; when the time is right, set the temperature to be on medium-high.,  Using the dull side of a knife and hitting the egg firmly enough to go almost halfway through the egg works well.  Hitting it too lightly gets you into all sorts of trouble, so be careful.,, Also add just a tiny pinch of salt, and a tiny pinch of white pepper, or any finely-ground pepper., If you added the water as suggested, this should not take even half a minute.,  Pour a tablespoonful of oil on the frying pan, and put it on a small burner of your kitchen range on medium high heat.  If the temperature is too hot, the oil will start to smoke. If it does, turn down the burner, or move the frying pan to an unoccupied burner, and wait until your pan cools to medium high.,,  After a minute or so, the egg should get fried all around the edges.  At this point, use your spatula to push the cooked egg to a side, allowing the runny part to flow into the oil.  This is usually not a successful maneuver the first time you try it, because you might have waited a little too long, or not waited long enough.  It doesn't matter; you can still eat the egg as long as it isn't burnt, and it isn't under cooked!  You do not need so much oil that the egg is sloshing in it.  Remember: just a tablespoonful is enough, and a good cook can manage with less than that. , It is done!  If your family is nervous about uncooked egg, leave it to cook a little more in the pan; if not, slide the egg onto a plate. , Do not add water, as you did for an omelette, except as described below.
   
   You can use a tiny bit of butter for eggs, instead of olive oil, provided you've practiced enough not to burn the butter.  ,, You should know exactly when to do it. ,  Once the egg is in the oil, slip a teeny bit of water into the pan, and quickly cover before the water has a chance to sputter.  Watch the egg get firm through the glass, and promptly take the pan off the burner just as soon as the egg is truly ready.  You can't really tell with the cover on, so after about a minute, take the cover off, and check on the egg. ,  You can use as much of the salt, pepper, cinnamon or nutmeg as you like, but it is strongly advised to use very little." A pinch is all you need; that is, less than a quarter teaspoonful.  The exception is cinnamon, which you can use more of.
   
   Beat well ,  (Multi-grain or Oatmeal bread, or bread with nuts works really well.)  Meanwhile, heat a large skillet on the stove, and spray it with Pam (or any cooking spray, or even butter)., You don't need to make the bread totally soggy.,  Do not put so much oil that it flows about; just a tablespoonful is all you need.
   
   Or use a small pat of butter instead.,  Both sides should be a nice golden brown, but not a dark, burned brown.  It doesn't matter if just the edges of the slice of bread get a tiny bit blackened.  Cook the slice long.
   
   The genius of French Toast is the fragrance.  The cinnamon and nutmeg combination just smells really festive. It might be an acquired taste, and French Toast and pancake syrup/jam is not exactly low in calories.
   
   However, it probably beats bacon or sausage for being low in grease, cholesterol, and sundry carcinogens. , (Cut it into centimeter cubes.),,, When it is hot, put in the beef, and keep moving the cubes about with a wooden skillet, until the beef is thoroughly browned on all sides., The pepper and the vinegar softens the beef.
   
   When you are finished, get the beef off the skillet into a bowl. ,, The onion is almost a must, and one or two of the others.
   
   Before cooking, soak them in a light vinegar and salt mix for about five minutes.
   
   In the case of snow peas and Bok Choy, also add a little soy sauce to the marinade., It will sizzle, so cover the floor near the stove top with newspaper, and wear an apron.
   
   Note that it will be messy., Throw in a dash of Jane's Crazy Mixed-Up Salt, and or Pepper instead of your ordinary salt and pepper.
   
   The mushrooms take a little longer than you would expect; cook them until they turn shiny.
   
   This is called "sweating".
   
   Use pork tenderloin.
   
   This comes in a sausage-shaped cut, which you slice into disks crosswise.
   
   Soak them in a soy sauce, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper mix briefly, then stir-fry the disks until they're cooked.
   
   Mix them all together in a large skillet, but don't add any more oil or spray.
   
   Serve a stir-fry with rice. , Mix together a cup of rice, and one-and-three-quarter cups of boiling water.
   
   It doesn't need to be boiling, but if you start with boiling water, your rice will come out nice and crisp and firm.
   
   If you bring the rice and cold water to a boil, the rice grains might be a little too soft.
   
   Once the rice-water mixture is at a thorough rolling boil reduce heat to just simmering (the mixture continues to just barely boil), , This steams the rice gently, so that it is cooked, but not overcooked.
   
   Only check the rice after at least ten minutes.
   
   If you wait for 15 minutes, that's even better.
   
   Consider buying a rice cooker that cook the rice automatically for you.
   
   There is also a gadget you can buy, which is a container in which you cook rice in the microwave.
   
   It has a special lid that keeps the water in, without allowing it to boil over. , Get a wooden spoon with a handle that's like a rod, and gently stir the rice, to break if up and fluff it to look like perfectly cooked rice.
   
   If you leave the rice packed tightly in the pot, it will continue to cook, and actually get overcooked. , Cut some Roma tomatoes into eight, slice up some pitted olives (black, green, or both), chop up a little onion, add a few artichoke hearts, and mixed greens., Mix up some olive oil, garlic powder, a tiny touch of salt, black pepper, some Parmesan cheese, and finely chopped Basil (a leafy herb, sold as a plant in a pot, or as dried flakes), and pour over the salad, and toss well.
   
   Tinker with the proportions of the dressing until you like the taste and the fragrance of the dressing., The aftermath of the meal will be depressing to the cooks, so wash up the pots and pans and cooking utensils right after you use them.
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   Step 2: Encourage them with their favorite recipes.

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   Step 3: Start out simple.

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   Step 4: Teach in a way appealing to your teen.

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   Step 5: Make it a regular event.

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   Step 6: Talk about food with your teens.

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   Step 7: Make a plan.

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   Step 8: Guide them.

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   Step 9: Discuss what foods are healthier options to have when friends are over.

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    Step 10: Have fun.

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    Step 11: Start with eggs.

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    Step 12: Gather your ingredients.

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    Step 13: Crack the egg firmly down the middle into the bowl

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    Step 14: and carefully discard the shell.

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    Step 15: Add a bit of tap water

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    Step 16: about a teaspoonful.

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    Step 17: If you want to get fancy

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    Step 18: you can add a teaspoonful of light soy sauce instead

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    Step 19: but your omelette may taste just a little too flavorful for some people.

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    Step 20: Beat the egg (and salt and pepper and water) with the fork just until the yoke and the egg white are mixed.

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    Step 21: Be careful.

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    Step 22: Add the egg mixture

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    Step 23: and slightly tilt and swirl the pan so that the egg spreads out over the entire pan

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    Step 24: then put the frying pan back on the burner. 

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    Step 25: Get a spatula (a flat-bladed wooden or plastic implement that won't scratch your nice non-stick pan)

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    Step 26: and watch the egg.

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    Step 27: When the egg is just barely cooked to the point that it isn't fluid

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    Step 28: take the pan off the burner (onto a vacant burner

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    Step 29: perhaps

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    Step 30: ) and use your spatula to fold the omelette exactly in half.

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    Step 31: Crack the egg right into the hot oil in the pan.

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    Step 32: Let them fry to your liking.

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    Step 33: For "over easy" egg

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    Step 34: you need to turn them over

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    Step 35: which you do very carefully with the spatula.

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    Step 36: For "sunny side up" eggs

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    Step 37: have a heat-proof glass lid that fits your frying pan well.

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    Step 38: In a large bowl

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    Step 39: mix an egg

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    Step 40: a quarter cup of milk

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    Step 41: pepper

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    Step 42: cinnamon

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    Step 43: and nutmeg to taste.

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    Step 44: Slice an old loaf of bread into slices about a third of an inch thick.

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    Step 45: Soak a slice of the bread in the egg-milk-spices mixture.

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    Step 46: Once the skillet and oil or butter is hot (just too hot to touch)

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    Step 47: drain the slice of bread

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    Step 48: and lay it on the skillet.

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    Step 49: Turn the bread over with a spatula.

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    Step 50: Get a small

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    Step 51: nice cut of beef

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    Step 52: and cube it.

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    Step 53: Add salt

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    Step 54: pepper

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    Step 55: any one of soy sauce or Worcester sauce or vinegar or red wine

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    Step 56: just enough to moisten the meat

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    Step 57: and mix thoroughly.

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    Step 58: Shake garlic powder over the beef.

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    Step 59: Heat oil in a skillet

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    Step 60: maybe two tablespoons full.

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    Step 61: Cut the beef into strips (about half the size of a standard french-fry) and stir-fry them.

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    Step 62: Add discs of zucchini

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    Step 63: carrots

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    Step 64: button mushrooms quartered

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    Step 65: bok choy

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    Step 66: sliced onions

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    Step 67: celery sticks

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    Step 68: asparagus

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    Step 69: with the fibrous ends snapped off

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    Step 70: snow peas

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    Step 71: or sweet peppers (seeded and cut into strips).

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    Step 72: Cook each one separately

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    Step 73: and use only as many as you want.

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    Step 74: Fry in hot oil for about two minutes.

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    Step 75: Stir-fry each vegetable separately

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    Step 76: and put in a bowl

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    Step 77: each in its own bowl

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    Step 78: or all in the same bowl.

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    Step 79: Get out a cooking pot.

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    Step 80: Cover the pot

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    Step 81: and cook for about ten minutes.

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    Step 82: Remove the cooked rice from the heat.

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    Step 83: Clean up some romaine lettuce thoroughly

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    Step 84: and shred by hand into bite-sized pieces.

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    Step 85: Get out a small pitcher.

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    Step 86: Wash up before you serve the meal.

Detailed Guide

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