Lessons on good cooking are just a mouse-click away

More cooks are turning to the Internet for kitchen tips

In this story: Work at your own pace Cooking skills aren't being passed down A learning buffet 'Wiping out cooking illiteracy' Opportunity to learn from chefs RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Michele Dula Baum
CNN.com Health and Food Writer

(CNN) -- You've been staring at those boneless chicken breasts for three days now, desperate for a clue. You need inspiration.

Consider logging on to your computer to discover the joy of online cooking.

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RESOURCES There are many Web sites that offer online cooking instruction. Here's some we sampled: • Cook's Illustrated • foodvision.com • Tavolo • The New York Times • Corningware eSchool • LOADtv • Kurry King's Home Page • Fabulous Foods • joyofbaking.com

Okay, what's cooking is in your kitchen, but at Cook's Illustrated magazine's Cook's University, the instruction takes place online.

"Cooking's been a lifelong passion for me, but I don't have a lot of opportunity for classes," said Cindy Bartz, a department manager at a Wichita, Kansas, hospital. "I know Cook's Illustrated is wonderful, and I figured if the online classes were as good as the magazine, it'd be great."

Bartz tackled a class in "Everyday Saute," paying $40 to learn the intricate balance of flame, butter, oil and pan. "It wasn't a generic, one-size-fits-all class at all," she said. "There were different recipes, and the detail of information, I thought, was just excellent."

Classes at Cook's University last from two to four weeks, and the registration fee includes recipe books and the opportunity to question instructors such as John Willoughby, co-author of the cookbook "License to Grill" (Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby, 1997, William Morrow and Company).

Because classes are accessible for 30 days, students can pace themselves, working according to their own schedules. E-mailed questions generally are answered within 24 hours, and students are encouraged to electronically discuss the material among themselves, explained Brookline, Massachusetts-based Cook's Illustrated president and baker extraordinaire Christopher Kimball.

At Cook's University, culinary experts answer questions posted on the cooking school's Web site

About 2,500 people had taken the online classes (http://www.cooksillustrated.com) as of late July, Kimball said. "It doesn't replace a cooking school, but I think adult learning online is going to be a gigantic business."

The classes have already been profitable, even though they just began in May. This success is because they are highly suited to today's hectic pace, Kimball said.

Who needs to take a class? Well, most of us, according to Kimball. The magazine offers an introductory course on tomato sauces for free.

"People don't know how to cook anymore, versus 50 years ago," he said. "Mothers and fathers don't know how to cook. It hasn't been passed down."

The 1950s and 60s heralded a growth industry in alternatives to food cooked at home. Inexpensive restaurants began to multiply, and as more women entered the work force, demand for prepared foods and takeout meals increased.

"Research shows that the number of from-scratch meals made now are 14 out of 21 days," said Kimball. "The skills just haven't been passed down."

Still, people "can't afford to go out all the time, or they've got kids, and you can't always go out with kids," added the publisher and cookbook author, who has four children and knows whereof he speaks. "There are still millions of people who love to cook, who really enjoy it. That's our audience."

For Scott Barentsen, getting cooking tips online just seemed a sensible idea.

As a San Francisco Bay area dot-com employee (he sells DSL connections), Barentsen was already Internet friendly. A neighbor's Cook's Illustrated magazine introduced him to the concept of cooking with online help. When he signed up for "Secrets of Grilling," he was hooked.

"The class was being taught by Jack Bishop, who is a really strong instructor," said Barentsen. "The whole revival of interest in grilling and barbecues -- Jack Bishop and his cronies have invented it."

Labeling himself "an intermediate- to advanced-griller," Barentsen said he still learned a lot online.

"It gets you out there, engaged and following something new," he explained. "I knew it would add new things to the repertoire." Such as salmon, for instance.

"I didn't cook a lot of fish, previously," Barentsen said. "I had done plenty of steaks, but not many hamburgers from scratch. This class had a blow-your-mind burger."

He also corresponded with Bishop by e-mail.

"Really, what I wanted to learn was technique," said Barentsen. "You've got to pick the right fire. It separates the men from the boys."

Wondering how long to whip your cream? Find your answer on the Internet

While there are other opportunities on the Internet for cooking instruction, most do not provide for interactive communication.

The New York Times' Web site (http://www.nyt.com), for instance, offers streaming of video images and instruction on cooking specific dishes in cooperation with the French Culinary Institute. For example, you can learn how to cook a whole fish by watching it being done, and by listening to a chef describe the technique. There also are recipes and text instructions available by clicking on handy links.

More and more restaurants are going online as well, with Web sites featuring menus, photos and maps on how to find them. Some offer online ordering of takeout foods or signature products.

Oodles of Web sites offer tasty recipes, kitchen hints and meal planners. Tavolo, formerly known as digitalchef.com, offers recipes for complete meals from appetizer to dessert. The site also lets you search its database for recipes containing the ingredients you have at hand. Got tomatoes, garlic and fish, nuts and fruit? Click on the boxes next to these ingredient choices and see what comes up.

Cookware maker Corningware invites consumers to "find your inner chef" at its Corningware eSchool (http://www.corningware-eschool.com).

Corningware's parent company World Kitchen Inc. developed the venture with the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University of Providence, Rhode Island. The eSchool offers step-by-step instruction with photographs, and covers a variety of techniques, including baking, grilling, broiling, braising, roasting, stewing, poaching and steaming.

Corningware's site has detailed recipes and instruction, but there are no interactive elements similar to Cook's University. Still, the service is free.

"We started it in November as part of a whole program we were doing on the Corningware brand" to target younger consumers, explained Lynne Recktenwald, World Kitchen's vice president of oven and bake ware. "We wanted to teach the fundamentals - the things you take for granted that everybody knows, but they don't, really."

Corningware officials boast they're "wiping out cooking illiteracy," Recktenwald said.

Thousands of online visitors come to Corningware's site, according to company publicist Judy Musa. "I've gotten personal e-mails from people around the country saying that it's a great thing you're doing, and we can't believe it's for free. That is very different."

Corningware surveys reveal that people believe that kitchen confidence will result in more from-scratch cooking at home, said Recktenwald.

"Also, scratch cooking is more healthy, they feel," she said. "We're just really excited about the program; if we can be on the leading edge of something like this, it's just the right thing to do."

Musa said it is on the company's "wish list" to add more interactive elements to its online cooking school. Currently, however, participants who register with the site can get an electronic certificate when they finish any of the courses.

At http://www.loadtv.com, online cooks can watch video of food being prepared, with accompanying instruction. Special software must be downloaded first, however.

And at http://www.foodvision.com, visitors can click on a link and watch any of 18 cooking shows. The 20-minute slide shows feature such recipes as pork medallions pocketed with apple-cherry stuffing and served with mashed pecan sweet potatoes.

"I would like to do smaller segments now," said Foodvision's Corporate Executive Chef Geir Kilen. "Knife use, sharpening, dicing an onion -- maybe two- or three-minute segments."

Such bite-sized videos are just a future plan for now, but Foodvision's longer shows remain "viewable at any time," Kilen said.

Most if not all of the sites have a marketing component, offering cookware, cookbooks and other opportunities to buy merchandise. And Cook's University hopes to angle more subscribers for Cook's Illustrated.

And with interactive online instruction, there's the opportunity to learn from those who know best -- the chefs.

"I decided to try some of the classes, just to see if I could," said 83-year-old Lenore Deem of Harrisville, West Virginia, who tried "Everyday Saute" at Cook's University. "It was all fun for me, and nothing too difficult. I think they would be especially great for someone learning to cook."

The sites are generally easy to navigate, with handy tips and mouth-watering recipes. The only trouble is finding the time to get cooking. Good thing the Internet never closes.

Cook's Illustrated
foodvision.com
Tavolo
The New York Times
Corningware eSchool
LOADtv
Kurry King's Home Page
Fabulous Foods
joyofbaking.com

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