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    The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How A Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks
    The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How A Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks
    The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How A Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How A Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks

    Written by Kathleen Flinn

    Narrated by Marguerite Gavin

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, writer Kathleen Flinn returned with no idea what to do next, until one day at a supermarket she watched a woman loading her cart with ultraprocessed foods. Flinn's "chefternal" instinct kicked in: she persuaded the stranger to reload with fresh foods, offering her simple recipes for healthy, easy meals.

    The Kitchen Counter Cooking School includes practical, healthy tips that boost listeners' culinary self-confidence, strategies to get the most from their grocery dollars, and simple recipes that get listeners cooking.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 30, 2011
    ISBN9781452674674
    The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How A Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks

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    Reviews for The Kitchen Counter Cooking School

    4.5/5

    36 ratings16 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Summary: Kathleen Flinn had graduated from one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world, but she still wasn't sure what she wanted to do with herself, until the afternoon that she started spying on other people's shopping carts, and found a woman who was filling her cart with boxed or processed frozen meals, while the ingredients needed to make identical meals were readily available, substantially healthier, and cost less per serving. And then Flinn realized that this woman was a representative of a much larger segment of the population: those who would like to cook for themselves and their families, but lack the know-how - and more importantly, the confidence - to do so. Or as one of her participants put it, "I've watched Gordon Ramsay while eating Tuna Helper." So she organized a pilot program, where nine women would let her into their homes, into their kitchen, and learn that cooking doesn't have to be something to be afraid of. She covers knife skills, tasting, pastas, chicken, meat, salads and eggs, leftovers, fish, soups, and cake, including lots of practical kitchen tips and recipes, all while trying to convince her participants - and her readers - that cooking real food, from real ingredients, is something that everyone can do, not just the people on TV.Review: This book was great, right in my wheelhouse. It didn't make as much of an impact on my life as it might have had I read it a few years ago - while recently I've been cooking from scratch with real ingredients much more than I ever have before, and I love it, I spent most of my time in grad school and eating pretty terribly - lots of frozen meals for lunch and frozen pizzas or pasta with jarred sauce for dinner. After grad school, I was still eating a fair amount of frozen meals, but I also started getting more adventurous in the kitchen, taking on things that scared me - eggplants, bread, whole chickens. (Facilitated by the fact that at that time I was living alone - if something went terribly wrong, as they did occasionally, no one but me would have to know. I think that's actually a bigger factor than Flinn recognizes; many of the women in her study were responsible for feeding husbands and/or children, so if they were going to try cooking something, it had to work the first time.) Now fast-forward to last year, when I read Cooked by Michael Pollan. It is very, very similar in its main ideas, although not necessarily in its approach, to The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: namely, that most Americans eat a crazy amount of processed food, that cooking has been deified to something that normal people can't achieve, but that it's healthy, cheaper, and ultimately more satisfying. That book pretty effectively lit a fire under my butt when it came to getting me into my own kitchen, so there were times that The Kitchen Counter Cooking School was treading familiar ground. But Flinn's writing is really lively, and because her book features a variety of real people confronting real problems, it makes it more applicable and more accessible. (One of the biggest problems I had with Cooked is that occasionally Pollan didn't seem to realize that not everyone works from home and has the time to do a five-hour braise on a weeknight.) Flinn's more laid-back, with some straightforward recipes, lots of practical tips, suggestions for flavor combinations, and an attitude that doesn't expect perfection - essentially, if you are thinking more about what you're eating, and cooking more of it for yourself, it's okay if you occasionally reach for a nostalgic Oreo every now and again. So while this book wasn't exactly a transformative experience for me, it did re-motivate me to cook more (and more things), and my bookmark is full of little scrawled reminders to myself like "what type of steel are my knives? Get sharpened!" and "start sourdough culture - who can I get some from?". And on top of that, it was an engaging and quick read, and kept me entertained through a day of air travel - although it also made me hungry, so I am now totally guilty of eating terrible hyper-processed airplane snacks while reading about cooking classes. Ah well. 4 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: More than anything, this book made me want to take cooking classes… but I think that if you're interested in cooking, but find yourself not doing it particularly often (or particularly confidently or well), this book would be a great read.
    • 5/5
      SummaryTen ladies allow Kathleen Flinn to come into their homes, look into their pantries and refrigerators and share a everyday meal with them in order to help them learn about the basics of real cooking and the benefits of eating fresh rather than relying on packaged, processed food. Those same ten ladies then take part in a free experimental cooking school with Kathleen and friends over the course of several weeks. The ladies learned not just the basics of cooking but how to trust themselves, be more independent and fearless in the kitchen, and how to feed their families nutritious, palate pleasing food.What I LikedRealistic: Even though Kathleen is a professionally trained chef, she is able to look into the real world of real people, take their individual issues into consideration and make some recommendations that make sense for each particular person. She also cuts the ladies some slack when they decide which recommendations to choose and which ones to let go of.Even Kathleen herself didn't call herself a baker...until she found No Knead Artisan Bread. After she and husband Mike taught the ladies the basics, most of them, in the end, continued with this practice and some even said they seldom bought store bought bread anymore. I'm scared to death of bread dough...now, I might just have hope.There are a variety of issues embedded in the cooking lessons: social consciousness, finances, self sustainability, sustainability of the Earth, self-esteem, marriage, travel, friendship, the fast food industry, marketing, frugality, and health, just to name a few.Within each chapter, as each lesson was taught, I also felt like I was experiencing the lesson. Then, at the end of each chapter the "recipes" for the lessons are shared in standard recipe format. I highlighted steps or comments throughout the lesson itself that I might want to revisit as I experiment with the recipes. The chapters on waste and food planning...here's where Kathleen's cruise that interrupted the lessons came in handy...Kathleen visited the ship's kitchens and talked with the chef about how he managed large amounts of food served in the middle of the ocean...planning menus, buying smart and using foods in rotation without waste are key when you're feeding hundreds of people daily and can't run to the grocery store for more butter.The Chapter called "What's in the box?" brought home to me what I know about processed food...the amount of "stuff" we blindly put into our bodies everyday. We've been convinced that the processed version is better, cuts down on time, and is cheaper. But if we plan, buy smart and use time wisely, processed foods really aren't that much of a bargain...and they are very likely doing more harm than good in the long run.Vegetarianism - one of the women participating in the experiment was a vegetarian, so the lesson on beef was understandably hard for her and she left early that night. Kathleen respected her wishes and did not try to "change her mind" about the food she was comfortable eating. Kathleen stressed and encouraged all the students to know where their food comes from, and if you choose to eat meat, try to find better options than the over-processed meat factories that seem to be producing most of the meat Americans eat these days. What I Didn't LikeThere were a couple of times where I felt like Flinn almost got off track...At one point during the cooking school she was offered a job on a cruise ship and for various reasons (which I completely understood) she took the job and had to reschedule 2 weeks worth of lessons...That's certainly realistic, but then Flinn shifted the book from the cooking classes to the cruise and then brought us back to the school when she came back. Another chapter described her Red Velvet Dinners...a money making cooking school that she organized - again, I understood why she needed to host these dinners for paying customers; the chapter just seemed to change the sequence of the lessons.It wasn't that I didn't "like" these two distractions; I actually felt like these were other stories to develop and tell...in another book maybe?Overall RecommendationsIf you are a home cook who wants to go back to the basics of cooking or wants to cut back on the amount of fast-food/processed food your family eats, this book is so for you. You might as well buy it though because you'll want to write in it, bookmark it and keep it handy for everyday use. **Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy of The Kitchen Counter Cooking School from the publisher via Net Galley by my request. All opinions are my own.
    • 5/5
      I’m a closet foodie and I love to cook and bake, but after working all day I don’t have the energy. After reading this book I realized I’m far from alone.For The Kitchen Counter Cooking School project, author Kathleen Flinn recruited nine volunteers who needed help. Each had something that needed improvement - they were cooking unhealthy food, buying take-out and resorting to what they thought would be the fastest and most convenient method of food preparation. All the volunteers were women and I could relate to all of them to some degree.At the start of the book, the author introduces each volunteer by describing a visit to their homes and in particular their kitchens. There were issues with outdated food, too much food as well as content. Food labels were looked at, cooking methods discussed and even storage issues confronted. Each woman was surprised when a spotlight was pointed at their fridge and cupboards. Sometimes it takes an outsider to say, yep, storing 15 boxes of pre-made pasta dinners at this cost doesn’t make sense when you can make something yourself for a fraction of the price, is much healthier and doesn’t take nearly as much time as you’d think if you know what you’re doing. The author rented a kitchen and once a week the volunteers learned how to do exactly that.The book is divided into parts and each describes a food product or group and how best to prepare it. The volunteers were given the tools and instructions and were encouraged to experiment. Their delight in discovering that they could produce healthy and attractive dishes was evident. I like how the self-esteem of a person can be raised just by learning a method of cooking they previously thought had been impossible to master. At the end of the book, I enjoyed seeing how each volunteer benefited from what they’d learned during the lessons.Each chapter ends with the recipes that are taught in the class. I found the chapter on meat to be especially instructive and after reading about how many hormones and antibiotics are fed to livestock, I want to learn how to cook more vegetarian dishes!People may dislike cooking or simply don’t cook for various reasons. Perhaps they were never taught properly, or as children they were shooed out of the kitchen. Maybe their spouses like doing it more than themselves. Whatever the reason, I recommend this book. It shows how anyone can learn to prepare nutritious and cost-effective meals even if they’ve always thought the task a daunting one. The recipes are simple and fast and there’s something for everyone in The Kitchen Counter Cooking School.
    • 4/5
      A chef takes nine women, afraid of cooking, under her wing. She teaches them everything from knife skills to using soups to clean out your fridge. I learned so much from her accessible style and professional tips. I need to empty out all of my spices and buy new ones. I'd also like to try a few cooking styles, like braising, that have intimidated me. She puts a huge emphasis on staying away from packaged foods and learning where your meat comes from. Wonderful advice for any aspiring cook! 
    • 5/5
      In my family there are some fundamentals: food and cooking are pleasure, politics are sport, books are a necessity. With food, as with most everything else, these fundamentals cross over into each other. I read cookbooks for pleasure, window shop at the grocery store, and think about how to make at home the things I eat out. I grew up in a household where everyone in my father's family cooked at a very high level and were devoted to it. In our house my father cooked and my mother baked. We ate lots of great (and to my friends "weird" stuff) my whole life and cooking was never a mystery - it was something you just do.From a political perspective, food also has a firm place in my life. I am a committed pedestrian and have always valued proximity to work and to a grocery store over size of dwelling. I ride public transportation and take cabs when necessary. We have a car, but mostly use it every other weekend when we need to do a larger grocery store run to stock up on staples. Cars cost money that I'd rather spend on rent in proximity to work and groceries so I don't have to have a car, etc. You can see how the cycle works.I am a huge fan of Michael Pollan's work and strongly believe that most people eat garbage most of the time. It's very sad. Processed "convenience" food rarely satiates our hunger so we eat and overeat and eat some more and are never truly satisfied, growing more and more obese as time goes on. Many Americans who live at or under the poverty line are trapped in massive food deserts with very few choices of what to eat and little to no ability to acquire fresh food in a way that makes sense. These living conditions contribute to poor health and the burden of chronic disease that they will carry with them their whole lives. Poor health and lack of nutrition are among the factors that keep people in poverty.Add to this that we live in a country founded by Puritans. Eating has often been seen as something you do because you have to, not because it's enjoyable. The American cooking revolution has occurred within my lifetime, but has in most ways been confined to the upper and middle classes and even then convenience is revered. School lunches (often the only meal a child may have in a day) have been given over to fast food choices, schools are full of Coke machines and junk food dispensers and nobody teaches nutrition or home economics anymore. All of these factors combine to make people afraid of their kitchens and that is a real tragedy.In The Kitchen Counter Cooking School, Kathleen Flinn works with ten different people of different ages and income levels to help them learn the basics of home cooking. Her approach is simple and basic without being boring. She avoids dogmatism and instead empowers her students in making real choices for themselves. She instructs in how to use leftovers and combine the food in your house to make new and yummy things and to help prevent food waste. She is practical, caring, and inspiring, sharing practical techniques and recipes suitable for any home cook - whether just starting out or already accomplished in the kitchen.Particularly relevant in today's economy, Flinn's book is a great addition to a necessary discussion about how we can live well with less. For many people like myself who have chosen lifestyles with small footprints in smaller living spaces with better food, this book is affirmation. For those who are just now sorting out what to do within our new economic realities, this is true practicality delivered in an appealing package with a great deal of wit and wisdom. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      This was not a cookbook but a book about learning to cook. I am a decent cook, a better baker, and have ZERO knife skills whatsoever! I wanted to read about other people who had varying cooking skills and yet in a year learned to cook more often at home. At the beginning while Kathleen was pitching this idea to her husband, he said the following back to her: "If you approach this as a way to encourage people and give them a few skills, maybe it could motivate them. But remember that everyone’s life is different and complicated, and people are smart enough to know if they are willing to change.”I thought this was profound and very much something to keep in mind while reading!I think I identified most with Trish in this book because she knew how to cook. The problem was with experimenting and trying new stuff. Also she had a problem with chopping, knife skills, and cooking taking to much time. These are pretty much problems to a tee! I can cook the things I always cook but when I try to branch out I have issues.I kept thinking during reading this book that I could identify with almost every single participant either through myself or my friends. One of the reoccurring themes was under-cooked chicken and I think most people are scared to death about that. It is one of those foods that you can't tell by sight if it is cooked through and through. Also the what to do with vegetables thing---how do you make them good without stripping the nutrients. It was all rather fascinating to see these issues play out over the book.LOVED that the first thing she tackled was knives! Seriously, I am a klutz and not good with a Knife --- that is a not very good combination. She had some great tips in this section and gave you an overview of what you really needed for standard cooking. What I thought was interesting is that cloth diapers make the best side towels: The middle is padded, so it is like an oven mitt. Who knew!?! And they are dirt cheap! I am going to make you pick up the book for the "knife" advice but she had everything from using to buying. The point is to practice, hold it right, and get a good Chefs knife.Recipe Shout-Out: Zucchini Sauce with Penne sounds delish and I will be trying it tonight!The next section was Taste which was interesting because everyone has different "taste" favorites. Basically the key is to taste the seasoning before starting, during cooking, and before serving. Don't be afraid to taste test!I am going to tell you that the rest of the book flowed in much the same way. This is only about 30% and there were tons of informative things that I had never thought about. I don't think it is fair to the author for me to break the rest down but I could have. There was just tons of great information. Overall this was a fantastic book that I would encourage people to buy. It is perfect for non-cooks and home cooks. It has some good recipes and great tips!
    • 5/5
      I grew up in the sixties when there was a strong movement toward moving back to natural foods. I had a mom who was a stay-at-home mother and prepared a big dinner ever night for us. When I had a family of my own, I prepared dinner every night, as my mother had modeled for me. Gradually, however, after I went back to work fulltime, I found it increasingly difficult to cook a meal every evening. My husband and I fell into lazy habits, popping in a frozen pizza one night and stopping by Subway for a couple of sandwiches another night.This book was, then, not only a wonderful story to read, but an inspiration for me to get back to what I knew was best, preparing simple meals to share with my husband. I was reminded that prepared meals are much less expensive. I was reminded that there is something delightful about cooking that doesn’t occur with carryout. I was reminded that preparing one’s own meals allows one to choose nutritious ingredients. I was reminded of the fun that can occur when one cooks with others.So, this book has changed my behavior. I’ve tried for the first time to roast a whole chicken. (It was great.) I made an omelet with leftovers. (Yum!) And I’ve set out in search of good knives. (The most important thing about cooking, I’ve learned from this book.) Please cross your fingers that I can maintain this change and keep cooking.
    • 1/5
      Ch 7....bag lunch ghetto...really? I know you can write what want but that’s where I stopped.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book!! Kathleen Flinn is a wonderful story teller... you feel like your involved in her amazing cooking classes ... which I would've killed to be a part of!! :) I love to cook and this book was just inspiration to learn better techniques and try new things...and of course one day go to Italy and learn even more about my favorite style!! The recipes included are amazing and delicious! On her website she has a link to some online lessons the follow along with the book! Very cool!!!
    • 5/5
      I loved this book! I wish I could have been one of the volunteers. I really like the before and after snapshots of the kitchens, and the cooking and eating habits of the students. I am not a huge fan of recipes (but I love cookbooks) so the basics then ways to tweak the flavors is perfect for me.
    • 5/5
      Excellent reading; insightful and full of great tips and recipes.
    • 5/5
      this is the book that got me started in the direction of my kitchen.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the lessons and learned a lot from listening to this book. I wish I had the print version instead of the audio book since it would be great to have the recipes. This is less a story than Flinn's first book about culinary school in France.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. At first I was afraid it was going to be condescending since the author is a Cordon Bleu trained chef. I couldn't have been more wrong. This was actually one of the most inspiring books I've read in a very long time.The idea for this book started when Flinn was grocery shopping and noticed the truly horrible, processed, non-food food in a stranger's cart. She started up a conversation with the woman and ended up taking her around the store to get the "real" version of all the boxed stuff she had in her basket. The biggest problem is that the woman didn't know how to cook from scratch. When she thought about it, she realized that many folks are a generation or two away from that sort of cooking, and are unhealthy as a result.So Flinn decides to do a research experiment, collecting 9 volunteers to attend a once weekly cooking class. But she first visits everyone's home, taking inventory of their cupboards and having them make a "typical lunch", as well as interviews these women to find out that their frustrations are about cooking. She then shapes classes around the several common problems they have, and teaches with a patience and grace, bringing these women along on a journey that literally changes each of their lives. The basics of the lessons as well as the recipes are in the book, and I could not resist heading for the kitchen to try many of them out. I learned so much from this book, and I am happily carrying it's inspiration forward. Do yourself a favor--read this book.
    • 4/5
      Down-to-earth and, dare I say it, even inspiring at times. As with her previous book, "The Sharper Your Knife ...", Flinn is an engaging storyteller, and she paints sympathetic and affectionate portraits of the women in her basic cooking classes. It's especially encouraging to see these volunteers gain mean knife skills, a broader knowledge of food beyond the box, and (above all) confidence in the kitchen. The few chapters on Flinn's other endeavors, while fun, are out of the place in the narrative; maybe she thought people would be bored only hearing about the classes, but not me (even if she hadn't had the occasional celebrity chef as guest instructor). My wife and I have already promised ourselves to be more adventurous about cooking this year, and reading this book will only strengthen that resolve.
    • 5/5
      I loved reading about Kathleen Flinn‘s teaching adventures in The Kitchen Counter Cooking School. I can’t recommend it highly enough for those who want, very simply, to master their kitchen domain. Flinn had the idea to start the “school” after she sneakily followed a mother and daughter around the supermarket pondering their choices, which all seemed to be heavily processed and straight out of the box. These days food and related choices are sensitive issues – that Flinn had the nerve to approach a total stranger to inquire about her purchasing decisions is amazing, that the woman confessed her concerns regarding preparing meals from fresh food is even more so. Flinn, wondering if others felt similarly, and if she could help, decided to find participants with cooking fears, looked into their habits - seeing how they are eating and what they are making- and then created a class to address common fears and issues.

      Flinn found women who were less than confident in their cooking skills and spent time with them, going over what was in the cupboards and having them prepare a meal in front of her. This part of the book was interesting but became tedious because of the amount of women she had to visit. It was hard to distinguish between them after awhile, and I appreciated it a lot more when she related their situations later on in the lessons. It became apparent that many have similar collections of food in our refrigerators and cabinets. The real meat of the book is when Flinn and her co-chefs teach the women the basics of cutting up meat and vegetables, using a knife, preparing fresh salad dressings and marinades, and clearing ingredients in the fridge to make meals and stocks. Her tips and tricks gave the women confidence to make fast and healthy meals for themselves (perceptions of lack time and confidence in ability seem to be the reason that most opt for processed over fresh meals).

      I already feel comfortable cooking, but I was happy to be shown a few new and simple dishes, and was grateful for the reminder that it can be really easy and quick to make healthful dishes- without a great expenditure of time, and without breaking the bank. I also like that Flinn takes the time to “debunk” some kitchen terms like braising and deglazing, etc. I saw cooking terms that I realize I perform all the time. I just don’t think of them as anything quite so fancy.

      Since picking up The Kitchen Counter Cooking School, I have ventured back into making stocks and homemade soups, and have reacquainted myself with the omelette, a toasty piece of bread and a nice glass of wine as a delicious and easy meal. This is a great book for those who need to boost their kitchen self-esteem or those who are comfortable in the kitchen, but in need of a reminder of the basics. Flinn writes with an immediacy and warmth that is accessible and inviting to readers. I really enjoyed her voice and reading her stories, as will the fledgling chef in your life. Highly Recommended.