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Six weeks of summer cooking classes for children at the Young Chefs Academy near East Petersburg are based on the Olympics.
The children, ages 7 to 14, learn to cook what famous athletes like to eat. They discover how to make foods popular in countries where the Olympic torch has traveled.
Of course, they will learn to cook food Olympic visitors can order in China. And for good measure, the children can compete for a gold medal in cooking.
The Olympic-themed summer classes began on June 23 and continue through Aug. 4. Some classes ($159 a week) still have room for children who want hands-on instruction in cooking.
"It's like school, but with fun," Melinda Zaiser, 12, daughter of franchise owner Randi Matson, said.
In late June, the theme of the week was Champions' Table. Each day the children worked together to make three different dishes, most of them having some connection to a famous athlete or competitor.
To make Muhammad Ali's favorite bread pudding, three boys prepared bread, cutting it into cubes with safety knives. The girls prepared the egg-and-milk mixture for the topping.
While working together, the children learn concepts of cooking — some that are simple and others complex.For example, owner and instructor Matson and her assistant, Christian Hazel, explained and demonstrated how to temper eggs. As a student very gradually poured hot milk into the eggs, Matson explained what tempering means, and Hazel whisked the mixture rapidly, so the eggs wouldn't curdle.
Then the students watched as Hazel filled a water bath for the pudding. The pudding wouldn't cook evenly throughout if he didn't do that, he explained.
What the instructors didn't know was the answer to one child's question: "Why is it called pudding when it doesn't look like pudding?" Admittedly, it looked more like soggy bread cubes with butter and raisins when it went into the oven.
Nonetheless, enthusiasm for the Olympic-related cooking wasn't swayed, even when some connections were a bit tenuous.
Mario Andretti, for example, isn't exactly an Olympian, even if he is a champion. Then again, getting 10 children excited about cooking and eating Andretti's favorite dish — made with zucchini, eggplant and tomato — could be a record.
Each class is a hands-on learning experience about cooking, with every student getting a job with each recipe.
Popping garlic, peeling tomatoes, cutting onions (with swim goggles, if desired), grating cheese with safety gloves, chopping sage, cutting in butter, rolling the cookies — the kids do all the recipe preparation (unless it's dangerous).
"I do love cooking," Lily Stoudt, 8, said. "I do want to grow up and work in a restaurant sometime in my life."
(524) (224) (159) (3) (2) (2) (2)One reason she wants to cook, she said, is because she likes being creative in the kitchen.
Matson invited students to unleash their creative juices on the last day of Champions' week as the boys competed against the girls for the best variation to strata and Crunchy Munchy cookies.
Each group was allowed to choose a few secret ingredients and add them to the base of each recipe. The boys loaded their strata with chicken, sausage, ham and Swiss cheese, while the girls added red peppers, sage, bacon and gouda cheese.
For cookies, the girls chose to add marshmallows, chocolate chips and sprinkles to a basic mixture.
Their dilemma: How to use the sprinkles.
Dip the marshmallows in sprinkles then add them to the cookies? The sprinkles didn't stick.
Better idea: Mix the marshmallows and chocolate chips in the cookies and roll the whole cookie in sprinkles, Melinda said.
Yes — all the girls agreed.
Not a good idea, Hazel cautioned. The sprinkles will burn fast to the pan, he said. How about rolling a little piece of dough in sprinkles and place it on top of the cookie?
That's what the girls decided to do.
One of the things Grace Benitez, 12, has learned at the Young Chefs Academy is "that it's OK to experiment. Even if it doesn't turn out, it's OK."
So when the marshmallows in their cookies stuck to the pan and only a few could be removed in their entirety, she wasn't dismayed.
The girls could eat the broken cookies, and the unbroken ones could be plated for judging. The boys were going to judge the girls' food and vice versa.
Hazel, who has had three years of experience in plating food, showed students how he would plate apple crisp (a favorite of Joe Montana) by using strawberry syrup crisscrossed with a white yogurt sauce as a base for a square of apple crisp, garnished with a flowered strawberry.
His example inspired the girls who went to work with the chocolate syrup bottle and mint sprigs, as a base for their cookie display.
After discussing several ways to present the strata, they decided to cut the squares into triangles and place them in a circle around the plate.
The boys tried their hand with the butterscotch syrup bottle to accompany the butterscotch chips in their cookies, but even Cyrus Kofroth, 10, the most outspoken of the boys, bowed to the competition when it came to creativity and presentation.
"I gave you all 5s," he said, the highest score he could give.
The girls judged the boys strata, declaring it rather tasty. The boys liked the girls' strata, eating every last piece and asking for more.
The cookies didn't get high marks from either team for taste — too hard. But when Hazel paired the boys' cookies with a slice of banana, the girls raved.
All in all, the competition wasn't too brutal, and they all received gold stars, girls first.
"I think they are really learning a lot," said Matson, a former math and reading teacher, not just about cooking, but about being creative and working with each other."
Find out more
Young Chefs Academy offers cooking classes to children in a safe environment that encourages discovery and creativity. As children prepare food, they also learn about etiquette, safety, table settings and menu planning.
The Olympic-themed cooking camp is just one of the options offered at the Lancaster franchise this summer. Classes, divided by age groups, are offered all year for children ages 3 to 18. YCA also hosts field trips and birthday parties.
Call 581-7575 for a brochure and schedule.
E-mail: lespenshade@lnpnews.com
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Young Chefs Academy in action
