I’ve now tested out 4 recipes from The Usborne First Cookbook: Cheese Souffle, Baked Egg Tomato Cups, Tasty Rice and Welsh Rarebit. Overall I had a good experience with the cookbook – everything turned out pretty well. I didn’t try out any of the dessert recipes (of which there are quite a few) but I think I still got a pretty good feel for the book. This cookbook is aimed at kids old enough to use knives and heat. One of the things I really like is even though it’s aimed at kids, these are real recipes. There is nothing condescending or cutesy about them. These are recipes that anyone could be proud to make at any point in their lives.
They’re recipes inside are chosen more for their appeal to kids than their health benefits, but getting kids excited about cooking is definitely a start in the right direction regardless.
The recipes each have drawings that illustrate different st
eps. The drawings include tiny chefs that may be off putting to older chefs but otherwise do a good job of guiding you through the recipe. I found the recipes to be pretty straight forward and easy to follow. My one complaint in this regard was with the cheese soufflé recipe when you make the white sauce it is a component of another recipe which could lead to potential problems. I don’t like it when cookbooks aimed at grown-ups do this so I was surprised to see it in a kids cookbook.
Bottom Line? I think it’s worth picking up for 8-12 year old to help them get interested in cooking and develop some cooking skills. This cookbook will teach them recipes that they could use for years, but do expect to be on hand to supervise your novice chef.
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