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Cooking can be an excellent exercise for children of all ages. As a parent, you should start teaching your child fundamental cooking skills at a young age. This will help them develop all the necessary abilities they can utilize throughout their lives. 

When selecting what cooking skills your child should learn, use your best judgment and assign an appropriate cooking assignment for your youngster. You should also verify if your young chef requires special equipment or any other assistance in the kitchen.

While safety is the most crucial issue, aside from that, a little trial and error will enhance the cooking process for your little chef. It has been scientifically proven that children who learn all of the essential cooking skills can distinguish between boiling and baking. 

Various research has also shown that children who have basic cooking skills are more likely to excel in the following areas: 

• The ability to identify and choose healthier foods.

• A variety of foods to choose from.

• The ability to confidently cook simple food items as they grow older.

• Less reliance on convenience foods.

Once your children have mastered basic cooking skills, they can choose healthier food choices, reducing their risk of diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure.

So, look at some of your child's essential cooking abilities by age 15.

1. Basic Knife Skills

Knife skills are among the most important that any child can acquire and perfect. As a result, if you are exposing your child to blades, it is recommended that you start with a dull knife, such as a butter knife or frosting spreader. Before you begin, ensure your youngster understands primary knife care before progressing to sharper knives.

However, your young wonder chefs will benefit significantly from using knives with shorter blades, such as paring knives. When your child is managing an activity requiring a knife, ensure you are constantly in or near the kitchen. 

2. Egg Preparation

When it comes to fundamental cooking skills for kids, one of the essential skills that your kid needs to learn is how to prepare an egg. There are numerous methods for preparing and cooking eggs. And the majority of the preparation methods are simple enough that your child can do them.

Every morning breakfast begins with a simple omelet or scrambled egg. Children aged 11 to 15 can be taught how to prepare eggs safely. Furthermore, scrambled eggs can be a great way to teach youngsters about heat safety, proper cooking heat, and the significance of monitoring your meal at different temperatures.

3. Measure and combine

Mixing and measuring are two basic methods to assist your youngster in the kitchen. With your assistance, a 10-year-old budding chef should be capable of measuring and combining the essential components. When they can do it independently, ensure they handle the bowl by themselves when mixing. 

Furthermore, measuring is an excellent approach for your youngster to practice math fundamentals such as fractions. Inform them that making errors is fine since practice will improve them.

4. Grains for Cooking

Preparing and cooking grains is a crucial step that will take a long way regarding the fundamental cooking skills your child should have. Indeed, it would be best if you taught your child how to clean a pulse and strike a balance between the pulse and water ratio.

Furthermore, students should understand how salt and other condiments should be added. Also, explain how a pressure cooker works and how many whistles are required to create a simple yellow dal. For starters, you can help your child use the pressure cooker, but once they've become used to the process, you may let them make the dal on their own.

5. Preparing a Healthy Salad

Based on the objectives of the chef, salad preparation might be basic or elaborate. Salad dressing and preparation include several steps, including rinsing, drying, and chopping lettuce and other vegetables, as well as balancing the proper ratio of toppings. You can educate your kids on making their bespoke salad dressings based on their preferences and tastes. 

Allowing your children to supervise and manage their salads will make their greens and raw vegetables more exciting. And this is an innovative and beneficial technique to get your kids to eat all the necessary healthy vegetables.

6. Table Setting and Clearing

When discussing the basic cooking skills your child should know, we would like to highlight the most underappreciated chore: setting and clearing the dining table. This is a task for all children between the ages of 3 and 5. They will gladly assist you in laying the table before the meal.

Make the most of their passion and excitement by instructing them where the utensils will go and how to fold the napkins correctly. Once your dinner is over, the same method will be followed. Allow your children to take the dishes from the table and only return them to the kitchen. Your children will feel tremendously delighted and proud if they assist you in setting and cleaning the table.

7. Baking Fundamentals

Baking is a complex and time-consuming skill for a young child to acquire and perfect. As a result, if you have young children at home, we recommend starting with the essentials. Baking has a wide variety of components, ranging from wet to dry. Tell your children about the various components and have them mix them for you. 

For example, you can instruct them to combine dry ingredients such as flour, salt, baking powder, and so on, followed by wet elements such as water and oil. You also teach your children how to correctly mix and whisk together all the components.

Final Thoughts

These are the seven fundamental cooking abilities that your child should possess. If you have a budding chef at home, you should enroll them in online cooking seminars and courses. 

These online cooking programs will teach your children the fundamentals of cooking and turn them into cooking champions. Furthermore, with basic cooking abilities, your child can assist you in any situation and any form.

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