Cooking for dads: why it matters and key techniques

Why cooking for dads matters more than ever for our families, and how grasping the basic techniques can get families around the table more often.

Win £195 cooking class voucher with Cookery School

What’s the one thing from your childhood that you wish there was more of today? For many dads, the answer invariably revolves around quality time – whether playing outside, connecting face to face, or even cooking with dads.

In fact the cooking part is particularly important. Cooking more regularly has a direct connection with our family’s and our own health. But here’s the thing – that isn’t new news. We already know this, but with busier lifestyles our need for convenience is more pressing than ever. For many, parental life already feels like many balls are being juggled in the air.

According to recent research, kids who eat together with their parents around the dinner table are far more likely to do better in school and lead healthier lives themselves in later life.

So, why, despite all this evidence are we cooking less? We sat down with Rosalind , founder of Cookery School at Little Portland Street.

Is Cooking becoming a lost art?

In Rosalind’s eyes it is –  ‘I do think sadly that cooking is becoming a lost art/habit in many homes.  There is very little passing on of cookery skills down the generations as used to be the case.  Cooking for a family meal has also fallen out of favour.  Instead many eat ready meals in front of television – sometimes not even together – but at different times.

Solving the pressure of ‘time’

So if our perception of time, and the increasing pressures on it aren’t going away anytime soon, how can dads start making cooking time work better for them?

According to Rosalind, ‘If dads are taught to cook a minimal number of easy dishes so that they realise how quick and easy cooking is, I think that they may be encouraged to cook more regularly.’

Rosalind says using pre prepared ingredients that simply need to be cooked does take some of the ‘pain’ out of cooking.  But this lack of enthusiasm for cooking is associated with a lack of education.

 

How can we get our cooking ‘Love’ back?

Upskiling dads in the right way is a vital part of this turnaround process. As Rosalind says; “I think that dads ought to know how easy cooking is and once they have a few techniques under their belts, they will be able to extrapolate them into a whole range of different dishes.  Cooking is so easy and good food is the simplest food.”

Here’s some of the important, and easiest skills to master:

Technique 1 – Chopping an onion, by keeping the root on!

 

Technique 2 –  Knife skills

 

Get Back In The Kitchen Dad with a course worth £195

We’ve been on the Cookery School course, and as well as the techniques above we got to cook 7 new dishes in 3 hours. It was brilliant. Sustainable learning is the ethos of the school, and Rosalind describes what that means as “Once people have been taught to cook something new and understand how to replicate it, that learning will last for ever.  I think it is akin to learning typing or driving a motor car ie once the skill has been acquired, it is with the learner forever. It is sustainable learning.”

We want to get more dads and Rosalind’s Cookery School have kindly given us 3 vouchers worth £195 each to attend a course at their London kitchen. The course is usually priced at £195 so the course is essentially free for 3 lucky winners!

Just enter your email to enter, and Good Luck!

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