The latest "ooooh" word ....

nickinoo

I agree entirely about teaching your kids to cook (can't believe I missed it out), I remember cooking with my mum, dad & gran when I was little. I was making cakes, biscuits etc well under the age of 10.

I am a good cook now & my hubby is well impressed as I don't tend to "do" recipes but just lots of experimenting-even if I use a packet mix I end up adding to it. I do eat ready meals & pre-prepared but nothing gives me more satisfaction than my hubby going back for seconds. My little girl loves my cooking & will happily eat curry, chilli etc & she's not 18 months old yet!

I can't wait to get a pinny on her & get messy with the flour

elona

Tiff
You do not know the half of it when it comes to school cookery lessons:)
My daughter (16) actually likes to cook but this is in spite of her school cookery lessons not because of them.

Oh for the days when ingredients were simple everyday things - I have gone to three supermarkets trying to get special stuff just for food tech! And not stuff I would have ever wanted either. :):)

tiff

Tell me more about what they do in cookery lessons or food tech if thats what they call it. I left school in 1986, our lessons were called Home Economics , not sure if every school called it that as mine was a private school. We had to do time plans, we used a basket to take everything to school and transport it home. I hated cookery at school, I dont think they taught me anything, they just expected you to do it. Time plans were checked and notes added by the teacher, but little help in class as far as I can remember. No-opne taught me how to make a sauce for example, my Mum used packet sauces so its only recently that I've taught myself to do it and practised.

nickinoo

Ticklemouse wrote:

Have you not seen what counts as 'cookery' in schools now-a-days? They call it something completely different, but basically it consists, in some schools, of teaching them how to order/pre-heat ready meals/pizzas etc, how to design pizza boxes, and for those who get to cook, how to vary the toppings on your pizza!

We started with the basics - how to cook, nutrition, balanced diet etc before we got on to cooking anything 'proper'. That was in the 70's tho. (God, am I that old?)

That is shocking, I remember making pizza at school but it was very "new" food back in the late 80s-not an everyday food. We did stuff like xmas cakes, pineapple upside down cake etc.

vanoonoo

I left school in at 16 in 1986 too and we did home economics until the fourth year where it was split into food and nutrition for o level and home economics for cse

I learnt all the basics in my time at school- different type of food groups - different types of cooker (gas v electric) - pressure cookers (not slo cookers tho!) and there were two microwaves that we could use too!

we learnt basic knife skills and how to use a food processor, we made jam, pastry, a christmas cake, we then iced the christmas cake with our own icing, we had people in from the fish board to show us how to gut, fillet and skin a fish and we cooked it with cheese and onion crisps - I remember it really well!

seriously I learnt loads of stuff from school but mum also taught me stuff too. and this wasnt at the detriment of other core skills, I also did woodwork, metalwork, needlework, pottery, music, art, graphic design (also known as craft, design and technology, grahical communications and something else that I cant remember).

I dont think my school was particularly different to any other local school - I remember seeing other kids going home clutching jam tarts in ice cream tubs or pasta concoctions in pyrex dishes.

my neighbours daughter did food tech (she left school last summer) (? is food tech what its called?) and although they started off cooking pizza they then had to develop the recipe into other dishes - she made a pasta dish using the pizza sauce topping and then made a lasagne then tortilla wraps then smothered burritos - so they learnt how to adapt basic recipes into other dishes utilising basic ingredients.

I think the basic food groups tend to get missed out a bit now though cos she isnt too good on identifying what is protein or carb and doesnt really know what vitamins are in what but I suppose most people have to look the kind of thing up anyway (maybe?)

she just went to the local comprehensive which has a varied intake although predominantly from the local authority housing estate on the boundary of the school

are we sure we're jsut not being fobbed off with the view that all kids learnt o cooka t school is pizza?

Jay-Jay_4

Ahhhh fond memories of Home Ec (or Domestic Science)

First the oven
Then the tin
Wash your hands
And then begin

We had to wear a blue pinny and our baskets had to have a frilly blue cover

I left school in 1991 and I could make a crackin crumble, super scones and perfect pasta thanks to a double lesson every week. Ok my Mum was always cooking so I knew a bit from her but there's a lot to be said for actually learning it at school.

Ticklemouse

I know not all schools are as bad as I mentioned above, just that I've heard horror stories from people whose kids have. My niece's school seem to do 'old fashioned' cooking - she used to bring home concoctions in tupperware boxes and always told my sister about 8pm the night before what she needed - hence dash to expensive Spar:)

vanoonoo

Ticklemouse wrote:

I know not all schools are as bad as I mentioned above, just that I've heard horror stories from people whose kids have. My niece's school seem to do 'old fashioned' cooking - she used to bring home concoctions in tupperware boxes and always told my sister about 8pm the night before what she needed - hence dash to expensive Spar:)

haha - yeah thats how I know about my neighbours daughter and her concoctions too - she was often chapping at the door asking for a clove of garlic or 327 mils of milk or whatever - used to crack me up - but I would always get invited over to taste the fruits of her labour too. maybe though there is a point to make about home craft skills - there does seem to be a generation that missed out a little on some of the home skills.

I am gonna shut up now cos I am making myself feel old thinking about it

fazer6

I got an A+ for my jam swiss roll, don't know if I ever got another one but it's the only one that stuck out in my memory.

Marigold123

Queenie wrote:

Greyhound_Man: The *real* secret is ... you have to have Yorkshire blood in your veins

Oh dear, I read this as 'you have to have Yorkshire PUD in your veins' :rolleyes:

I can cook it, though! I just make a basic no-recipe batter like I'd use for pancakes, (some flour in a jug, a couple of eggs, milk and a pinch of salt, add the milk slowly mixing all the time until it looks right, add more milk after leaving it to stand for an hour or so, if necessary), and bung it in the cake tins when the fat is hot and almost smoking, then take them/it out when done. (Oops, perhaps I should work out my actual recipe one of these days!)

Re lasagne: If you can make bolognese sauce and cheese sauce (or a white sauce if you prefer, maybe with a dash of nutmeg) you can make lasagne. I prefer the old fashioned cook-first lasagne as I don't have to second-guess the runniness of the sauce as I do with the one you don't pre-cook.

Just construct layers of bolognese and cooked lasagne until you get to the last layer and top with cheese/white sauce, sprinkle over grated cheddar cheese and possibly a few breadcrumbs if you want the topping a bit crunchy. Bung it in the oven until lightly brown on top and piping hot all the way through.

It might not be a classic lasagne recipe but it works for me - I love the extra cheesiness of the cheese sauce on top instead of a white sauce.

Mmm, must make lasagne again soon!