Sally Sampson - ChopChop : the kids guide to cooking real food with your family

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eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com For Ben and Lauren, who taught me everything there is to know about family S.S. You are going to love cooking. Maybe you already do, and thats why someone got you this cookbookor maybe youve been thinking it would be great to start, and youve never picked up a spatula in your life (in that case: a spatula is a thing you use to flip food as its cookingmore on that later). Either way, this cookbook is a great place to start.

The recipes weve collected here are designed to teach you basic cooking skills and to develop a set of good meals youll know how to makeand that youll be able to improvise from as you learn more. We know you dont need chicken fingers and buttered spaghetti at every meal, even though restaurant menus act like you do. But then again, youre probably not really going to get too excited about cooking a kale-and-grain casserole. So this book is in the middlehealthy basics that are delicious and good for you, and that teach you the skills you need to keep on cooking. Like algebra, history, and the other things youre learning, cooking skills build on themselves: once you get a solid foundation, the rest becomes easier. So, if you can roast a chicken, you can make a chicken-salad sandwich and chicken soupand well show you how.

But try thinking of the kitchen as a lab: cooking is really just one big, tasty experiment. Sometimes its going to go great, and youll end up with an awesome meal. Sometimes its going to go less great, and maybe youll burn an egg or youll make a pot of soup that everyone has to smile politely about because really it didnt turn out well. But mostly youre going to need to do a lot of tinkering, and youll be like a mad scientist with the salt and the lemon, the cumin and the mint. And thats the key, reallyto have the courage to try, on the one hand, and the patience to learn what makes food taste good, on the other.

Do it. Do it.

Dont wait for someone to suggest that you cook. Get an adults permission, and then get started: make a single snack recipe; pick a night that youll make dinner with a parent every week; start packing your own lunch; volunteer to make breakfast on the weekend; invite a friend over to cook for or cook with. Your family and friends will be grateful, and youll feel great. Get inspired. Look through this book and use sticky notes to mark recipes that make your mouth water. Or do it in reverse: go to the supermarket or farmers market, find the freshest, most appealing ingredients, and then pick a recipe that uses them.

Open your mind. There might be ingredients or flavors in here that you think you dont like, but we always encourage you to open your mind and try again. People change. You might have outgrown your old taste buds, and even though green olives used to seem too strong you might love them now. Or maybe you just had an idea about the way something would taste, but you never actually tried it. Either way, its a really good habit to expand your horizons.

Use all your senses. Cooking requires you to look, listen, touch, smell, and tasteall the time. Lets say youre sauting onions in a pan: youll know theyre getting done when they start to get clear and golden; youll want to hear them sizzling gently but not crackling furiously; youll feel them growing softer under the spatula as they cook; youll smell them cooking and, if you cook them too long, youll smell them burning; and youll taste them to see when theyve gotten sweet and perfect. Taste. And taste again. Even though weve tested and retested all these really good recipes, following a recipe isnt enoughyoull need to taste dishes as theyre cooking to see if they need more of anything to really make the flavor pop.

More herbs? Another squeeze of lemon or a teensy bit of pepper? What matters is what you like.

Read through the whole recipe before you start. You want to make sure you have all the ingredients, and you also dont want to get to a step that surprises you or requires help thats not available. Plan ahead. Figure out when you want it to be done, then look at the total time required for the recipe and work backward. It might take less time, if you have help, or longer, if youre brand-new to cooking and are working on your own.

Dont worry. If a recipe calls for milk or mustard, it doesnt matter what kind you use. Use whatever your family likes. When we think it matters, well let you know. Take your time. This is another good reason to plan ahead: you never want to rush.

Its not safe, and its not even fun. Its better for dinner to be a half an hour later than you planned than for you to hurry. Pay attention. Dont look out the window while youre chopping onions; keep your eyes on a sizzling pan; reread the recipe as you go so that you dont forget any steps or ingredients. (Although you inevitably will forget something at some point, and thats part of the process, too!) Clean up. Thats pretty basic advice, but its importantyour family is going to offer you way more encouragement (and thanks) if theres not a kitchen full of dirty pots and pans after every cooking experiment you try.

Its often customary for the people who didnt cook to do the dishes, and thats fine, too! (And something to remember when someone else cooks.) Write in this book. Make notes about what youve liked (or not liked), what changes youve made or would want to make next time, and what substitutions you think could work for ingredients that are preferable or in season. If you dont want to write right on the recipes, use sticky notes.

Give them a good scrub before you do any cooking or after you touch raw meat or egg. If you are wearing jewelry, take it off. 1.

Wet your hands with warm water. 2. Add soap and rub your hands together. 3. Scrub the back of your hands, palms, fingers, between your fingers, under your nails. 4.

Keep going while you sing all the way through Happy Birthday. 5. Rinse well. 6. Dry your hands with a clean towel or paper towel.

What makes a healthy family? Its not an easy question, but the cookbook youre holding in your hands right now is going to help answer it.

Learning to cook is a wonderfuland wonderfully healthything for your kids to do. Whether its about nurturing their bodies with healthy food, nurturing relationships at the dinner table, or nurturing happiness through new skills and accomplishments, cooking has so much to offer children. Kids who cook cultivate both pride in themselves and a lifetime of healthy habits in their families. You wont need to bug these children about what they should be eatingonce they learn how to make good, wholesome food, then thats what theyll like to eat. And its effortless, in a wayyou focus on the fun, and the rest follows naturally. Also, not to state the obvious, but kids who learn to cook will make you dinner.