Say what you will about the Food Network (and I can say plenty), the cable channel has gotten many children interested in cooking. With any luck, some youngsters are able to look beyond the glitz and hype to discover the pleasures of cooking and eating real food. Food and cooking can provide a way for children to explore seasonal rhythms and local ingredients; they can also provide children windows on cultures and customs around the world. Cooking is an ideal parent-child activity, even if Mom and Dad aren’t experts themselves. It gives kids a deep sense of satisfaction and accomplishment to create something their family and friends can enjoy. It’s also lots of fun.
For those of you with a child on the holiday gift list who wants to cook, here are three books that have been especial favorites of my kids and mine. The amount of adult involvement depends on the individual recipe, as well as the child’s age and skill level, although none is intended for very young children. The recipes in all of them are excellent, so much so that I frequently use several myself.
Fanny at Chez Panisse: A Child’s Restaurant Adventures (Alice L. Waters, Morrow Cookbooks, 144 pages, 1997, $18.95). Fanny has 46 recipes, as well as wonderful illustrations and a charming narrative about a girl’s experiences growing up in her mother’s restaurant. Author Waters, one of the most influential figures on the American food scene, almost single-handedly started a revolution that led to the resurgence of interest in cooking seasonally with the use of local ingredients. A former Montessori teacher, Waters started the restaurant in Berkeley, Calif., in the ’60s as a gathering place for friends, but it quickly became much more. Chez Panisse, which serves a different set menu every evening, is a place of pilgrimage for serious foodies, and its list of alumni is a virtual who’s-who of American chefs. For all that, the restaurant, with its beautifully rustic décor and open kitchen, is far from stuffy. Fanny at Chez Panisse reflects that warmth, as well as Waters’ commitment to teaching children. She has established a foundation, the Edible Schoolyard, that lets children plant and maintain organic produce gardens and then learn to cook what they’ve grown as part of the regular school curriculum.
The recipes are simple and delicious, from roast chicken to spaghetti with garlic, parsley, and olive oil (“ . . . . what we make for dinner when we come home late and hungry and need something quick!”). Shortly after I brought Fanny at Chez Panisse home from one of my pilgrimages, my daughter, Ashley, then in grade school, wanted to try its biscuit recipe. I sought to discourage her: I’d had a perfectly good biscuit recipe for years and thought that she should use it instead. She insisted on Fanny’s recipe, and I gave in. I was glad I did. Fanny’s recipe was not only amazingly easy (much easier than mine), it was also better. It’s become our standard biscuit/scone recipe.
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes (Roald Dahl and Felicity Dahl, Puffin, 64 pages, 1997, $8.99) is fun for both kids and adults. If your child cook is a fan of Dahl’s books or the films made from them (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda), this is a great choice. The recipes are illustrated by the author in his characteristic style. Roald Dahl’s wife, Felicity, oversaw the recipes, which are all derived from the books. From Lickable Wallpaper and Candy-Coated Pencils Good for Sucking in Class (my kids made these one year as Christmas presents for friends) to Mr. Twit’s Beard Food and Scrambled Dregs (a riff on egg-drop soup), just reading the recipe titles can make you chuckle. There’s even a recipe for a submarine sandwich that looks like a crocodile. It’s not all silliness, though. Everything we’ve tried has been delicious. Bruce Bogtrotter’s Chocolate Cake, a decadent creation, is my first choice for a dark, dense chocolate cake and a frequent household choice for birthdays. The Dahls have published a second volume, Roald Dahl’s Even More Revolting Recipes.
Rick and Lanie’s Excellent Kitchen Adventures (Rick Bayless and Lanie Bayless, Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 232 pages, 2004, $29.95) is the result of another chef/daughter collaboration. Rick Bayless’ restaurants, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, set a new standard for authentic regional Mexican cooking in the United States. (He won the 1995 James Beard award for Best Chef in the United States — the only one ever given for Mexican cuisine). He has had multiple cooking show series on PBS, as well as several successful cookbooks and a line of condiments that’s available in local groceries. Like Fanny, Lanie grew up in her parents’ restaurant (I can remember Rick carrying baby Lanie in his arms as he visited tables at Frontera), and she frequently appears on his TV shows.
Lanie is now a teenager, and this cookbook is an excellent way for young people to explore ethnic foods. Through recipes and stories, each chapter explores a different cuisine and culture that the Baylesses have visited, ranging from Mexico, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Morocco to classics from Rick’s family’s barbecue restaurant in Oklahoma.
Send questions and comments to Julianne Glatz at realcuisine@insightbb.com.
FANNY’S BISCUITS
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whipping cream
(not ultrapasteurized)
Melted butter
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Stir in cream. After a dough forms, knead it 30 seconds. Either pat into a disk about 3/4 inch thick on a floured surface and cut it into the desired shape, or use a “drop” biscuit method (Scoop into six roughly equal portions with a large spoon.) Either way, dip the formed dough into melted butter and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Makes six biscuits.
This article appears in Nov 23-29, 2006.
