Learning through Cooking

We spent many years learning through cooking. Beyond the maths skills (measuring, dividing, fractions, temperatures, timing) English skills (reading, engaging with a procedural text type, writing shopping lists and recipes) and life skills (hygiene, cooking, cleaning, shopping, planning) we used this as a launch pad to learn about other people and places.

We called it World Studies - and we cooked recipes from around the world, read children's stories from those cultures, looked them up in an atlas, made charts and graphs of populations and land size. We coloured in flags and maps, and collected pictures from the internet and old travel magazines to decorate our pages. As a bonus - dinner was cooked, and the kids all learned how to cook (and clean!)

For many years, World Studies Wednesday was our favourite day of the week. Have you use cooking to support learning in your home education journey?

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Dutch Meatballs & Gravy

Original recipe credit: Kayotic Kitchen

Made by Zac, age 10

Ingredients:

450g mince beef

2 Tbsp sweet soy sauce

1 onion, finely minced

2 Tbsp grainy mustard

1/2 tsp white pepper

6 Tbsp breadcrumbs (called "Paneer")

1 Tbsp milk

1 tsp salt

pinch cayenne pepper

1/2 tbspn nutmeg

1 egg

85 g butter (or lots of it!)

1 cup beef stock

flour

Directions

1. Place mince in a bowl

2. Add egg, salt to taste, white pepper, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, onion, sweet soy, milk, mustard & breadcrumbs.

3. Dig in your hands and mix it all up. Make your hands slightly wet, and form 4-5 meatballs. Make them firm. Really press them on all sides to remove as much of the air trapped inside as you possibly can. It's the air trapped inside that makes them crack during browning.

4. Sprinkle a little flour over each meatball.

5. You shouldn't be afraid of the butter in order to make Dutch Meatballs, that's for sure. Heat lots of butter and brown the meatballs on all sides.

6. Add the beef stock and put the lid on, with a slight crack to allow the moisture to escape

7. Reduce heat and simmer 25-30 mins.

8. Serve the meatballs on curly endive mash, and drizzle the gravy over the top. (pan juices becomes the gravy - you can add some extra mustard or sweet soy if you like)

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Curly Endive Mash

Original recipe credit: Original recipe credit: Kayotic Kitchen

Made by Zac, age 10

Ingredients

140g cheese cubes

900g potatoes

1 onion

1 red capsicum

1 Tbsp mustard

1/3 head curly endive

1/2 cup milk

butter

nutmeg

pepper & salt

Directions:

1. Peel, dice and wash the potatoes. boil in salted water about 20 mins, until well cooked

2. Roast the capsicum, then place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Once cooled, remove the skin and mash the capsicum.

3. Chop the onion and cook in 1Tbsp butter until soft and slightly caramelized. Add the capsicum and remove from heat.

4. Wash and cop the curly endive.

5. Drain and mash the potatoes, adding the milk, mustard, pepper and nutmeg. Mash 'til smooth.

6. Stir in the onions, capsicum and endive.

7. Add the cheese right before serving and mix through so that it melts a bit.