Synopsis: THE KITCHEN COUNTER COOKING SCHOOL is essentially “What Not to Wear” meets Michael Pollan. Inspired by a supermarket encounter with a woman loading up on processed foods, Le Cordon Blue graduate, and author of The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry, Kathleen Flinn decided to use her recent culinary training to help a group of nine culinary novitiates find their inner cook. These students invited Flinn into their kitchens where she took inventory of each person’s refrigerator, cabinets and eating habits. After kitchen “makeovers” and a series of basic lessons where they learned to wield knives, trust their taste and improve their food choices, the women found a common missing ingredient—confidence. In this new book, Flinn follows these women’s journeys and includes practical, healthy tips to boost readers’ culinary confidence, strategies to get the most from their grocery dollar and simple recipes to get readers cooking.
This book shows how boosting your self-confidence in the kitchen can make your entire life easier, cheaper, healthier and more fun. It has the potential to really change America’s relationship with food and positively affect the obesity rates in the US. THE KITCHEN COUNTER COOKING SCHOOL offers practical lessons and easy recipes that can be enjoyed by cooks of a variety of skill levels.
About the Author: Kathleen Flinn is the author of the best-selling memoir, The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, about her experiences leaving the corporate world to study at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris – where she fell in love with her husband. This is her second book, and it has already been selected as an Indie Next Pick and earned a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. A writer for more than 20 years in print and online, her work has appeared in more than three dozen publications worldwide. Her last day job was head of editorial for MSN.co.uk in the United Kingdom. She serves on the board of directors for the International Association of Culinary Professionals. She lives in Seattle/
Review: This was an interesting book to see how kathleen approached teaching people with NO cooking skills, intermediate skills, and lack of interest skills, all at the same time. If was great to see how as the ladies grew more in their cooking skills, they were more outgoing and involved in the classes. I think that happens with any knowledge really, but in this case, it also bled over to their everyday lives, making them stronger individuals, which is always a VERY good thing!
I kept nodding my head during certain pronouncements by the author, like the fact that recipe writers now have to say exactly what they mean, instead of using a cooking term. For those of us whose mothers taught us to cook, and to whom the Red Betty Crocker, or White Better Homes & Garden cookbooks, are cooking 'bibles', this may seem really odd. But with a jolt, I pulled open a cookbook I was reviewing (not this book) and she was right, terms like braise and pinch of salt, are no longer in recipes! In a way it saddens me, because Julia Child was such a part of my childhood and she taught generations how to take apart a complicated recipe and MAKE it, and now those lessons are useless, as even they have been 'dumb downed'. I could make a huge correlation to other things in society, but I think we all know that things like writing in cursive, writing letters and thank you notes, and reading an instruction manual are now relics. So it begs the question, WHY are WE the parents, not teaching our children these things, like how to read a 'real' recipe? This is why we have set it as a goal in our household TO make sure that Kiddo learns not only HOW to do these things, but to do them well!
But as Flinn says, this book and project was really about making changes in your life, overcoming fear, conquering it and moving on with confidence. The stories and recipes will encourage YOU as well! It will make you want to reasses your pantry, how you cook, why you use prepackaged meals, and how it dominoes from and to the rest of your life. Oh, and the recipes included are all very simple and VERY yummy! So it's a cookbook/self-help/teaching book all rolled into one! I highly recommend putting this on your Christmas list- it would be great packaged with a great chef knife and some staples, to encourage someone YOU know to conquer their fear of cooking! What a gift that would keep on giving!
And now for your sample recipe!
Baked Chicken Nuggets
(Makes about 2 dozen HEALTHY nuggets)
Ingredients:
1½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts or tenders
1 cup bread crumbs
⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme or mixed herbs
Pinch of cayenne (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
¼ cup skim milk, yogurt or buttermilk
Cooking spray
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place a cooling rack in the center of a cookie sheet. Set aside.
2. Cut the chicken breasts into 1½-inch pieces.
3. In a shallow bowl or a large plastic bag, mix together the bread crumbs,cheese, salt, dried herbs, cayenne (if using), and a few grinds of black pepper.
4. Combine the egg and milk in a small bowl.
5. Dip the chicken into the milk mixture and then coat it well with the bread crumb mixture, either in a bowl or by tossing it inside the bag.
6. Place the coated chicken pieces on the cooling rack and put the cookie sheet into the
oven. Depending on your oven and the size and thickness of the chicken, the pieces will take 15 to 20 minutes until firm and cooked through.
7. Spritz the chicken lightly with cooking spray and then place the cookie sheet under the
broiler for 1 to 2 minutes, until a bit browned, if desired, but keep a vigilant gaze on them lest they burn.
Review: This was an interesting book to see how kathleen approached teaching people with NO cooking skills, intermediate skills, and lack of interest skills, all at the same time. If was great to see how as the ladies grew more in their cooking skills, they were more outgoing and involved in the classes. I think that happens with any knowledge really, but in this case, it also bled over to their everyday lives, making them stronger individuals, which is always a VERY good thing!
I kept nodding my head during certain pronouncements by the author, like the fact that recipe writers now have to say exactly what they mean, instead of using a cooking term. For those of us whose mothers taught us to cook, and to whom the Red Betty Crocker, or White Better Homes & Garden cookbooks, are cooking 'bibles', this may seem really odd. But with a jolt, I pulled open a cookbook I was reviewing (not this book) and she was right, terms like braise and pinch of salt, are no longer in recipes! In a way it saddens me, because Julia Child was such a part of my childhood and she taught generations how to take apart a complicated recipe and MAKE it, and now those lessons are useless, as even they have been 'dumb downed'. I could make a huge correlation to other things in society, but I think we all know that things like writing in cursive, writing letters and thank you notes, and reading an instruction manual are now relics. So it begs the question, WHY are WE the parents, not teaching our children these things, like how to read a 'real' recipe? This is why we have set it as a goal in our household TO make sure that Kiddo learns not only HOW to do these things, but to do them well!
But as Flinn says, this book and project was really about making changes in your life, overcoming fear, conquering it and moving on with confidence. The stories and recipes will encourage YOU as well! It will make you want to reasses your pantry, how you cook, why you use prepackaged meals, and how it dominoes from and to the rest of your life. Oh, and the recipes included are all very simple and VERY yummy! So it's a cookbook/self-help/teaching book all rolled into one! I highly recommend putting this on your Christmas list- it would be great packaged with a great chef knife and some staples, to encourage someone YOU know to conquer their fear of cooking! What a gift that would keep on giving!
And now for your sample recipe!
Baked Chicken Nuggets
(Makes about 2 dozen HEALTHY nuggets)
Ingredients:
1½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts or tenders
1 cup bread crumbs
⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme or mixed herbs
Pinch of cayenne (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
¼ cup skim milk, yogurt or buttermilk
Cooking spray
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place a cooling rack in the center of a cookie sheet. Set aside.
2. Cut the chicken breasts into 1½-inch pieces.
3. In a shallow bowl or a large plastic bag, mix together the bread crumbs,cheese, salt, dried herbs, cayenne (if using), and a few grinds of black pepper.
4. Combine the egg and milk in a small bowl.
5. Dip the chicken into the milk mixture and then coat it well with the bread crumb mixture, either in a bowl or by tossing it inside the bag.
6. Place the coated chicken pieces on the cooling rack and put the cookie sheet into the
oven. Depending on your oven and the size and thickness of the chicken, the pieces will take 15 to 20 minutes until firm and cooked through.
7. Spritz the chicken lightly with cooking spray and then place the cookie sheet under the
broiler for 1 to 2 minutes, until a bit browned, if desired, but keep a vigilant gaze on them lest they burn.
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Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, from Penguin Group USA, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
I might have to make these nuggets!
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