THE

YOUNGCHEF

Recipes and Techniques for Kids Who Love to Cook

The Culinary Institute of America

Mark Ainsworth

Contents
Introduction

LEARNING THE BASICS

Safety First
Equipment Essentials
Techniques
Building Flavor
How Food Fuels Your Body

RECIPES
Breakfast
Soups, Salads, and Sandwiches
Main Meals for Lunch and Dinner
Simple Sides and Sauces
Savory Snacks
Sweet Snacks and Desserts
Index

Knife Safety

Knife Skills
A chefs skill with a knife helps him or her work quickly
and efficiently with accuracy. Precise and uniform knife
cuts are one of the keys to beautiful-looking and greattasting food. Knife skills include how to hold a knife,
how to handle knives safely, and how to cut foods into
different shapes.

Techniques

The techniques in this chapterhow to slice and dice, how to measure ingredients, and traditional
cooking methods such as frying or roastingare the cornerstone of every chefs success. The better
practiced you are at these methods, the better a chef you will becomeand the better your food
will taste.

Why does chopping onions make you cry? When

an onion is cut, it releases acid and enzymes that
combine in the air to create a chemical called
syn-propanethial-S-oxide, which irritates your eyes.

CIA The Young Chef | Learning the Basics

Techniques

Kitchen Science

Chopping an onion

Understanding how to use and maintain knives and

other kitchen tools is an important part of working
in the kitchen, and essential to your own safety.
You may need to talk to your parents before using
kitchen knives. Here are some important rules:
Keep knives sharp. A dull knife can
be dangerous.
Keep knives clean and dry; knives can be the
cause of cross-contamination.
Store knives properly.
Never put knives into a sink full of water.

Peel the onion and cut it

in half, leaving part of the
root attached.

Always cut on a cutting board, never on a plate

or on the countertop.
Use the right knife for the job.
Never pass a knife to someone; always lay it
safely on the table.

Hold the onion half to

stabilize it while you cut
through the onion from top
to bottom. The width of
your slices will determine
the final size of the pieces.
Make widely spaced cuts
to dice, or closely spaced
cuts to mince. Do not cut
through the back (the root
end) of the onion.

Handling a chefs knife

Glossary of knife cuts

Slicing A straight downward motion at regular
intervals, so that the pieces are uniform in thickness.
Julienning Cutting into long, uniform sticks. Done by
first squaring off the sides of the vegetable to make a
rectangle. The vegetable block is cut lengthwise into
slices, and then the slices are stacked neatly and cut
into sticks.
Dicing Cutting into uniform cubes. After cutting
into julienne sticks, gather the sticks and cut them
crosswise into small cubes.
Foods can be diced into large ( inch), medium
(about inch), or small ( inch) pieces, or very tiny (8
inch) pieces, which chefs call brunoise.

Your hand should be

Hold the food with a
placed at the point that the claw like grip. Angle your
blade and the handle meet. fingers down and make
sure your thumb is tucked
in behind your index finger.

Cut the food with even knife strokes from the tip to the heel
of the knife. While cutting, rest the side of the knife edge
against your three middle fingers. Move your hand back along
the food as you cut it.

Next, cut through the

onion several times from
front to back.

Last, cut down crosswise

through both cuts to dice
or mince the onion.

Pancakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cups milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or melted butter,
plus more as needed for greasing the pan

1.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar,

baking powder, and salt.

2.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs,

milk, and oil or melted butter.

3.

Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and

mix until the ingredients are just combined, but
do not overmix (some small clumps of flour are
fine).

4.

Preheat a griddle or frying pan and grease with

butter or oil.

5.

Ladle about cup of batter for each pancake

onto the hot pan or griddle, being careful to leave
enough room for the batter to spread and for
you to flip the pancakes. When bubbles begin
to break on the surface of the pancake, flip the
pancake and cook until golden brown on the
other side, 1 to 2 minutes more. Serve with syrup,
powdered sugar, or fresh fruit.

Add-ins:
Fold cup mini chocolate chips or 1 cup blueberries
into the finished batter before cooking.

What else could you

change their flavors?
le wheat flour +
Hearty Pancakes = who white flour) +
wheat bran (instead of
sunflower seeds
akes = cooked
Sweet-and-Savory Pancated cheddar cheese
bacon + scallions + gr

Variation

Caramel Apple Pancakes

Cook some diced apples in a saucepan with a little
butter until soft. Drizzle your pancakes with storebought caramel sauce and top them with the apples,
a few walnuts, a sprinkling of sea salt, and some
whipped cream (see page 000).

Breakfast

CIA The Young Chef | Recipes

2 teaspoons baking powder

Think Like a Chefadd to pancakes to

Makes about 12 pancakes

Soft Pretzels

Roll each piece of dough into a ball and let rest

for about 15 minutes.

1 cups warm water

1 tablespoon honey

7.

In a large bowl, combine the water and baking

soda.

CIA The Young Chef | Recipes

1 teaspoons dry yeast

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for
oiling the dough

8.

Roll each ball of dough into a 24-inch-long rope.

If the dough is difficult to roll out, make it as long
as possible, let it relax for a few minutes, and
then continue rolling.

9.

Hold both ends of the dough and cross them

over each other, twisting the ends around and
pressing them to the sides of the pretzel to form
the traditional shape.

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed,

plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups water, for boiling the pretzels
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 tablespoon coarse salt

1.

2.

3.

4.

Combine the warm water, honey, yeast, oil, flour,

and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with
the dough hook (or in any large mixing bowl, if
you want to knead it by hand).
Knead on low speed, or by hand, for 8 minutes.
After several minutes, the dough should pull
away from the sides of the bowl; if it doesnt,
add a few more tablespoons of flour to the dough.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and oil the top
of the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap
and let the dough rise until it doubles in size,
1 to 2 hours.
Scoop the dough onto a flour-dusted work
surface and cut it into 8 equal pieces.

10. Briefly dip each pretzel into the water and baking
soda bath and then place them on the prepared
baking sheets. Sprinkle each pretzel with
coarse salt.

11. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Bakers Note:
Instead of salt, you could top the pretzels with
cinnamon-sugar.

Kitchen Science

Yeast is a living organism that needs warmth,

moisture, and food to begin fermenting.
Fermentation is the process of converting sugars
into carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide gas gets
trapped in the flours protein structure, formed
during mixing, and causes bread (and pretzel)
dough to rise. Yeast is sensitive to temperature
and will die at 138F. The ideal temperature for
fermentation is between 80F and 90F.

Savory Snacks

6.

Preheat the oven to 425F. Oil two large baking

sheets or line them with parchment paper.

Makes 8 pretzels

5.

10

2.

Lay the tortillas onto a baking sheet and portion

the filling in the center of the tortillas. Fold the
edge closest to you over the filling, then fold the
left and right sides over and roll into a burrito. (If
the tortillas are firm and difficult to fold, it might
be helpful to warm them slightly in the oven or a
microwave before you add the filling.)

CIA The Young Chef | Recipes

Makes 6 burritos

1 cooked rotisserie chicken

(about 12 to 14 ounces of meat)
2 cups shredded cheddar or Monterey
Jack cheese
cup Tomato Salsa (page 000)
cup sour cream
6 flour tortillas (8 or 10 i nches in diameter)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3.

Heat a large saut pan over medium heat and

add the butter and oil. Add the burritos, with
the seam side down on the pan. Cook, flipping
the burritos as needed, until they are golden
brown on both sides and the cheese is melted,
about 5 minutes.

Think Like a Chef

You can use any of your favorite ingredients to create all kinds of different
burritos. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Thai-Style Chicken Burrito
chicken + brown rice + cabbage + mango
+ peanuts + peanut sauce (page 000)

Mediterranean Veggie Burrito

chickpeas + garlic + tomato +
spinach + feta cheese + lemon juice

Spicy Breakfast Burrito

scrambled eggs + bell pepper +
crispy bacon + cheddar cheese +
pickled jalapenos + hot sauce

Curry Burrito
potatoes + peas + carrots +
curry powder + paneer + yogurt

Main Meals for Lunch and Dinner

Remove all of the meat from the chicken and

shred or chop it. Combine the chicken with the
cheese, salsa, and sour cream.

11

Tex-Mex Chicken
and Cheese
Toasted Burritos

1.

The Must-Have Book for

Junior Chefs in the Making
Aspiring chefs turn to The Culinary Institute of America for top-tier
trainingand now younger cooks can too. Coauthored by chef-instructor
(and parent) Mark Ainsworth, this book is for kids ages 10 to 14 who love
to cook or who want to learn how, from the perspective of the nations best
culinary college. It begins with the fundamentalsfrom cooking methods
to kitchen safety to how food fuels your body. These lessons are applied in
more than 100 wholesome recipes for dishes that kids (and their families and
friends) will love, from Chinese Takeout Chicken and Broccoli to Mexican
Street Corn Salad to Raspberry Shaved Ice. Loaded with insider tips, fun
facts, and other learning tools, each recipe is a springboard for developing
skills, expressing culinary creativity, and having fun in the kitchen!

Fun features include

Step-by-step photographs of essential cooking methods including
stir-frying, sauting, grilling, and roasting
Key kitchen practices such as measuring, mise en place, and knife skills
Understanding flavor, including how we perceive taste, and how to use
seasonings and aromatics
More than 100 amazing chef-tested (and kid-tested) recipes
Recipe variations, serving suggestions, and other ideas to
inspire creativity

Publication Date: April 26, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-470-92866-0
Paperback, 8" x 9"
192 pages, full-color throughout
$23

Publicity Contact

Brittany Edwards
brittany.edwards@hmhco.com
(212) 592-1112

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THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF

AMERICA is the worlds premier
culinary college, offering degrees
in culinary arts, baking and pastry
arts, culinary science, and applied
food studies. MARK AINSWORTH
is a CIA chef-instructor and parent
of two teenage girls.