10 Tips for Grilling with Your Kids
Whoever said don’t play with your food completely missed the mark!
Learning through play is a fantastic way for both kids and adults to have fun while being present in the moment and engaging with the ever-changing world around us.
By getting kids outside to the grill, we bring them into a world layered with creativity, self-expression, math, science, self-confidence, problem-solving, increased focus, and attention. It’s also the perfect time to instill a lifelong foundation of healthy eating habits.
When kids are involved in cooking their foods, they are 50% more likely to try new meats and vegetables. If someone told me two years ago that my youngest would love salmon belly sliders at age six, I would have been in complete disbelief.
My first adventure on the grill with my daughters was a secret ritual practiced by famous chefs and Pitmasters alike—the infamous grilled bread test. We lit the grill together, stabilized it at a low heat (250F), and then laid sliced bread across the entire grill surface. We closed the lid, waited 5 minutes for the bread to toast, flipped each piece over and then kept it in the exact same place on the grill surface.
To the girl’s astonishment, the bread was not evenly toasted—we discovered that the right side of the grill was much hotter than the left. Learning the hot spots of our grill was the beginning of a beautiful culinary adventure, and we would use the results of that first experiment to our benefit for delicious years to come.
I’d love to share with you a few tips as a chef cooking with kids that I picked up along the way:
Clear your schedule, put the phone away, and do a small amount of organizing before you begin. Have the bowls and utensils already out on the table. Do some of the simple knife work beforehand, which helps take a lot of the stress off your shoulders and makes the entire experience more enjoyable for everyone.
Keep it simple.
Let the kids do any pouring or mixing that is involved.
Every time you shop with the kids, have them pick out one meat, fruit, or vegetable that they have never seen before. The unknown is a powerful thing.
Get them their own apron. Funny enough they take these very seriously and when the apron is on, it’s go time!
Create a safe environment and do safety talks often. Have a stable step or stool at the appropriate height so they are not on their toes or leaning in toward the grill. Also, have them wear closed toe shoes use long, but light tongs.
Have them take a picture of the final dish before it’s eaten.
Once they find a rhythm with a recipe or dish, have the kids cook it for others outside of the immediate household. This boosts their confidence (not just cooking confidence) 100-fold.
Talk about where food comes from and drive them to be lifelong curious learners. As they get older (six or seven in my experience), spark talks about sustainability and socio-economic issues regarding ingredients.
If you have time, plant a small garden to further instill connection to the earth, seasonality, and give them a sense of purpose and responsibility.
Grilling together may not be the solution to world peace, but it’s definitely a healthy start!
