Many children of this age seem to be kept out of the kitchen. Or can only use the toaster and the microwave.
The messier the better – don’t use utensils to mix ingredients when hands will work just as well.
Don’t slavishly follow a recipe. Most recipes work just as well ‘on the fly’ – not only does this look more impressive (it shows you know what you are doing!), it encourages experimentation and impresses on the group that recipes are only written to give a basic idea of what to do.
Pancakes
Time: 5 – 15 minutes
Equipment: Empty tin of beans (take the label off)
Candle
Matches
Tin opener
Oil
Pancake mix (or make your own)
What to do: Leave the scouts to think how they would use this to cook pancakes
Hints: Turn the tin upside down with the open side down and make some holes in the sides of the tin with the tin opener on the pen knife at the top and bottom. You then stand your candle up on something and light it place the tin over the candle (the holes let oxygen in) And you should have a cooking surface on top of the can (its a bit small I know). And you cook your pancakes on top of that
Popcorn
Time: 5 – 15 minutes
Equipment: Heavy saucepan with lid
Oil
Popping corn
Sugar for topping
What to do: Heat a small amount of oil in the saucepan.
When fairly hot (experiment) add a handfull of popping corn and close the lid. When the popping slows (or the lid gets pushed off the top of the pan if you’ve used too much corn), remove from heat, add sugar to taste and eat. Hints: Don’t use too much corn.
Check your local health food shop for popping corn.
Chinese Takeaway
Time: 15 – 20 minutes
Equipment: Wok or similar
Oil
Stir fry ingredients
Soy Sauce, cornflour
What to do:
Chop all the ingredients finely.
Heat a small amount of oil in the wok. When fairly hot add the ingredients that will take longest – typically onions, meat (if used)
Add the rest of the ingredients according to cooking time.
Stir frequently
When nearly cooked, mix soy sauce, cornflour and a small amount of water together. Stir in to main mixture to thicken it up.
Eat.
Hints: Don’t worry too much about exact ingredients
Give each team member at least one item to prepare
Keep them moving!
With practice, you can get through 3 – 4 stir fries in a 90 minute meeting.
Fairy Cakes
Time: 5 – 10 minutes preparation plus oven cooking time
Equipment: Mixing containers (empty ice cream containers work well)
Flour, margarine, sugar, eggs
Food colouring
Cake cases
What to do: Mix the ingredients together:
Cream the sugar and margarine (100 grams of each). Mix by hand – there’s less washing up and it’s more enjoyable
Mix in the egg
Then add 100 grams of flour
Colour to taste
If there’s any mixture left after the group have eaten bits raw, put into cake containers and bake until cooked Hints: Don’t worry too much about exact ingredients. As long as everything is roughly in proportion, it will work fairly well
Don’t worry if much of the mixture is eaten before it is cooked. (Usual disclaimer about Salmonella goes here)