I’m 13 and my parents are telling me I should learn how to cook by now. The only way they teach me how to cook is by watching my mom. When I do watch her she doesn’t let me experience anything. Just lets me stand there to watch her and I don’t find that a good way for me to learn. I tried watching her a few times and she never tells me what to do exactly. I think it’s a waste of time for me to watch and learn like that.
Is there something I can do instead of watching my mom cook? (Btw I’m chinese ^^)
I’m too afraid to try cooking it myself since it would be my first time and my mom would yell at me for wasting the food she bought.
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I was about your age when I started cooking. I started out by washing dishes and prepping vegetables in a restaurant. I would also cook as much as I could at home. My mom was gone a lot so I would make my dad dinner when he got home. You will not learn to cook by just watching; you need to get your hands dirty. When your mom cooks see if you can help prepare the side dish. Or prep her food for her before she cooks it.
tv
it’s good to learn that at any age
lets cook together, you can cook with me
Try to do something very simple with your mom. I don’t know an example cause simple can be different for everyone.
read cook books watch cooking shows and ask people who love to cook
When you’re watching your mom cook, ask her questions. Or give her cooking a compliment. Tell her about a certain dish she makes that you love, and ask her to show you exactly how to make it. Write down the instructions and then try to make it next time. Otherwise, you can look up recipes that you want to try and talk to your mom about learning how to prepare them. Cooking isn’t hard really, if you’re following a recipe. Eventually you will learn how to make all kinds of stuff without one. Good luck!
Flip through cookbooks and follow the instructions exactly the way it states, even a little pinch of something can change the whole dish
Age shouldn’t really matter, if there’s something to be learned why wait? I say get ahead of other people. BTW I’m only 17, my dad is a chef and kinda learned how to cook by watching him xD (Mexican here) ^^
You should watch food network, there are several tv shows that shows how to prepare meals. Maybe you record the shows so you can start, pause and stop when necessary.
tell her you do not want to watch but not only to help but to do. she could give you simple tasks first like boiling water, preparing veggies, etc. or better yet tell her to watch you and give you advice and or correct you when you are about to make a mistake.
What you can do is watch tv , the cooking shows also you can read cook books!
Also you can make easy things like macaroni and cheese , or ramond noodles or someting easy!
yeh
The next time they bring it up say, "Okay, I’ll cook dinner tonight/tomorrow night (whatever meal time is best). But I want mom to be around to watch me to make sure I don’t burn anything."
Moms can get a little territorial in the kitchen, especially when they’re "helping" you learn to cook something for the first time, so be aware that it’s likely she’ll try to take over. To avoid fights, do not yell at her even though it’s likely you’re going to start losing your temper from it. Say, "Okay, I can do it. Could you watch X/chop up Y/wash Z/get the plates/et cetera for me?" Keeping her busy will help you stay sane.
If you want to do it ALL yourself but you’re afraid of wasting her food then why not buy your own? The easiest and cheapest family meal to make is spaghetti, and it’ll help you get experience in a lot of different areas. You’ll be boiling water, cooking noodles, cooking meat, draining meat, and cooking sauce, plus adding seasonings. And if you serve a salad with it you’ll also get to wash greens and create your own salad if you don’t buy a pre-made one.
If you want to really impress them (and save money) you can make your own sauce instead of buying the pre-made ones. To do that here’s what I do:
Buy a small can of tomato PASTE. They’re usually about 69 cents.
Combine the whole can of paste with 1 CUP of water in a saucepan. Heat on LOW, stirring occasionally. The paste will become smoother.
Add SEASONINGS. A little dash of salt and pepper, then "Italian Seasonings." If you don’t have that, add oregano, garlic, basil, and sage. Add little bits at a time and taste as you do it (don’t worry, it’s safe to try straight from the can.) Be careful with the oregano, it can be quite overpowering!
Add the sauce to the DRAINED ground beef. Make sure you drain the beef, because if you don’t you’ll have a bunch of fat in your pasta sauce!
When the sauce begins to pop bubbles it’s ready to serve. Be careful, pasta sauce likes to spit and make messes so have paper towels handy to wipe up immediately after everything is finished cooking.
For the noodles, you need them soft. But don’t think they’re ready as soon as they go limp. Let them boil for as long as you like. Periodically draw out a noodle and bite into it. If it’s chewy, it’s not ready to eat. (Don’t worry, it’s safe to eat noodles even when they’re not fully cooked. They just don’t taste as good.)
Ask her to explain what to do step by step and have HER watch you while you do it. That way, you learn by doing.
Many recipes are very simple, for example pasta, or scrambled eggs or rice. Find a good, easy looking recipe, and CAREFULLY follow the instructions. If you do exactly what it says, it would be hard to go wrong! If you show your parents you can cook simple things they might trust you more and be more open to teaching you. Alternativly make something like bread or biscuits, which it doesn’t really matter if you mess up, as they are not the main meal.
You’re not going to learn anything by watching. Plus, your mom may be cooking some complex dishes and varying it day to day. You have to actually do some portion of the prep work or cooking. Do you only cook Chinese food? Ask your mom what she thinks is a simple dish and ask her to show you how to make it. It might be a breakfast item or a side dish- whatever she says is easy. Ask her when she will make it again and ask if you can make it with her. You have to eventually get to the point where you make the dish on your own with her supervision, then all on your own. I’m in the States and my son is 8. We’ve been cooking together since he was 3. There’s always something he can do- look at the measuring cup and see if the amount is right, grab ingredients from the frig & pantry, help wash fruit & veggies, stir. We have a lot of simple to prepare stuff at the stores like cake mix or pancake batter. You just add a few ingredients like milk, water, eggs, or oil and it’s ready to go in the oven or on the skillet. The directions are on the box. There’s also tons of simple things like boiling prepared or dry pasta, cooking an egg, steaming veggies. Just talk to your mom. Good luck.
"read cook books watch cooking shows and ask people who love to cook"
^ ^ Good advice.
Also, just start out with simple things. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. Do you make your own lunches for school? That’s a good place to start. It may not necessarily involve "cooking" per se, but it’ll get you used to preparing things.
Maybe then you could move on to something that’s pretty much pre-made, but involves using the stove. Just get some tinned ravioli or spaghetti-os or something. Practice warming them up on the stove.
From there you can try something slightly more involved. Try a box of Kraft Dinner or something. It’s pretty simple, but it gives you a chance to use the stove and practice measuring out ingredients. Just follow the package directions.
Then maybe you could try some simple pasta or rice dishes from scratch. Boil the pasta/rice and either use a pre-made sauce, or try to make something simple. (I like to fry up a bunch of garlic in a bit of canola oil and then just toss my pasta in that and grate a little Parmesan cheese over it. It’s delicious and very simple!)
Once you get some of the basics down, try asking your mom to walk you through some of the stuff she does. (Personally, I think that if they want you to learn how to cook, they should be willing to help you learn.)
I’ve got lots of great, simple pasta and rice dishes. If you want some more ideas/suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at: symbol271@yahoo.ca.
Good luck!