Beyond Boiling Water — ‘06
Friday’s Washington Post featured an interesting article about the need for corporate test kitchen home economists to dumb down recipes because today’s younger Americans don’t know how to cook. The article points out that Kraft Foods no longer uses “dredge.” And Betty Crocker avoids “braise.” Land O’Lakes works around “fold” and “cream,” while Pillsbury has eliminated “simmer” or “sear.”
As a recipe editor for my own business and the Ketchum Food Center, I also eliminate words that have the potential to confuse. Our goal is to create recipes that motivate consumers to use our clients’ products. When our precise culinary terminology obfuscates, it’s better to simplify to ensure that consumers doesn’t walk away from the recipe because they are too confused to follow it.
I have been tracking the diminishing cooking skills of Americans for some time. Back in the late 80s at Ketchum, I was a leader on a team that launched a pioneering “cooking illiterates” program called Beyond Boiling Water, developed for the California Raisin Advisory Board. We recognized back then that with more and more moms in offices and factories, there was no one in the kitchen to teach the next generation how to cook, and unless we made a concentrated effort, cooking would become a lost art.
Our goal was to teach the basics to the first generation of young people who had grown up with moms in the workforce. And we hoped that by incorporating California Raisins in this program, we would win a new generation of cooking converts who would continue to use the simple recipes we developed featuring our client’s products.
In the nearly two decades since, we as a society haven’t moved the needle in educating more young people in the culinary arts (aside from those with aspirations to become star chefs). However, we have seen an interest in food grow. Thanks to the Food Network, cooking has become a hot form of entertainment. Rachel Ray and David Lieberman reflect the new generation of cooks – they want it fast, they want it easy, and they want it sophisticated.
But passively watching others cook on TV is a far cry from actually buying food, prepping it, cooking it, eating it, and cleaning up afterwards. The reality is, putting theory into action requires concentrated effort.
With two twenty-something sons of my own, I’ve learned a thing or two about what it would take:
- An attitude that cooking isn’t a foreign world – it’s simply a matter of measuring, mixing and heating – no different from a simple high school chemistry experiment.
- Recipes that are simple and foolproof with detailed instructions. “Baking until done” is not very helpful. But “baking until the top springs back when you press it gently with your finger…until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, with no dough sticking to it”…explains what to look for to achieve the desired result.
- Recipes that avoid time-saving appliances like blenders or food processors. While young marrieds would have received such tools as wedding gifts, young singles may not be so fortunate.
- Recipes that don’t require too many exotic spices. While the flavor may appeal to young people, the five-dollar-a-bottle cost may blow the budget.
- Basic recipes with variations. Once my son mastered a basic roast chicken, he could try other flavor variations. And he could use leftovers in main dish salads, sandwiches and for other uses.
Recipes that don’t require highly perishable ingredients, since plans change on a whim, and food waiting to be cooked may sit neglected for days in favor of a spur-of-the-moment bite to eat with friends or takeout consumed while working late on the job. Hardier vegetables like carrots, easy-to-defrost meats like thin-cut pork chops, or ground beef that can be thawed in a microwave are some good choices.
For those who really want to learn to cook, there are more ways to learn than ever. Watching cooking shows on TV, investing in basic cookbooks, buying how-to cooking magazines or enrolling in cooking classes are good ways to get started. Free cooking demonstrations are often available in department stores, supermarkets and farmers’ markets for those on a tight budget.
With effort and focus, we can enable a new generation of cooks.
INSIGHT: Cooking is more than fulfilling the need for nourishment. The ability to control the quality and flavor of what we eat and to appreciate food ingredient products gives each individual control of what is essential to life. Everyone can do it – and besides, it’s fun!
