My First Cookery Video

My First Cookery Video, also titled Let’s Get Cooking, is an educational activity video released on 20th July 1992 by Dorling Kindersley Vision. It is intended to show children how to safely and simply cook a variety of fun foods. It is based upon a book title called ‘My First Cook Book’, which covers many of the same recipes as shown in the video.

## Sections

The opening of the video shows the twelve tiles, and describes how ten of these will be recipes that can be followed along with at home.

The first tile fills the screen, which introduces the video and how each section is presented – at the beginning of each recipe, a clip will show everything required to make the recipe. This also includes the safety warnings, and introduces the oven mitt symbol that shows the younger viewers when an adult’s help will be needed.

The second tile then shows what utensils will be needed for each of the recipes – they are a pastry brush, a small bowl, a strainer, a mixing bowl, a wooden spoon, a rolling pin, a cutting board, both a sharp and regular dinner knife, a plastic fork, a tablespoon and teaspoon, a measuring cup, a cheese grater, an oven mitt, a wire cooling rack, 8-inch layer cake pans, a small saucepan, a muffin pan, a baking tray, cookie cutters, a skewer, a whisk, a spatula, scissors and kitchen scales.

The third tile is the first recipe, for making bread rolls into shapes. This recipe requires all-purpose flour, warm water, vegetable oil, salt, yeast, a beaten egg, poppy, sesame and caraway seeds, raisins and grated cheese. This recipe uses a time-lapse to show the dough rising and the rolls cooking.

The fourth tile is the second recipe, for making baked potato boats. This recipe requires large scrubbed potatoes, grated cheese, butter, lettuce, cheese slices, mushrooms, carrots, cucumber, black olives and peppers.

The fifth tile is the third recipe, for making pizzas with pictures on them suitable for parties. This recipe requires self-rising flour, salt, butter, grated cheese, milk, canned tomatoes, an onion, tomato paste and salt and pepper, with this suitable for making two pizzas. The decorations require grated cheese, cheese shapes, cooked sausage slices, sliced mushrooms, sliced peppers, strips of sliced ham, black olives and canned sweetcorn. Time-lapse is used to show the cooking pizzas.

The sixth tile is the fourth recipe, for making tiny fruit tarts and savoury quiches. The pastry shells require all-purpose flour, salt, butter, sugar and water, with enough for about thirty small tarts. The quiches require milk, two eggs, grated cheese, canned tuna, strips of sliced ham, sliced tomatoes, sliced mushroom, chopped scallions and sliced leeks for fillings, while the tarts require fruit jam, canned mandarin segments, seedless grapes, pineapple chunks and raspberries.

The seventh tile is the fifth recipe, for making fruit fools – these recipes show strawberry and banana, but it can use any fruit soft enough to mash with a fork. These recipes require strawberries, bananas, yogurt, sugar, a lemon slice, wafer cookies, chocolate chips, candied cherries, seedless grapes and sliced kiwi fruit.

The eighth tile is for the sixth recipe, for making ice cream sundaes. The ingredients required are vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream, raspberries, dark chocolate, sugar, water, sliced kiwi fruit and mandarin oranges, wafer cookies, grapes, sliced peaches, mixed nuts, chocolate chips, liquorice, chocolate sprinkles and multicoloured sprinkles.

The ninth tile is for the seventh recipe, for making decorative cookies. The recipes require plain flour, butter, an egg, corn syrup, brown sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Ingredients for topping the cookies are raisins, almonds, walnuts, cherries and sesame seeds. If the cookies are to be iced, they are cooked plain and the icing recipe requires confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, hot water, chocolate sprinkles, multicoloured sprinkles, chocolate chips and chocolate-coated sweets.

The tenth tile is for the eighth recipe, for making and decorating a chocolate sponge cake. The cake requires three eggs, butter, sugar, all-purpose flour and baking powder, while the icing requires butter, confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, milk, candy-coated chocolates, almonds, multicoloured sprinkles and chocolate chips.

The eleventh tile is for the ninth recipe, for making chocolate truffles. The recipe requires confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, cream cheese, chopped nuts and chocolate sprinkles.

The twelfth and final tile is for the tenth recipe, for making chocolate-dipped fruits and nuts. The recipe requires cherries, strawberries, mandarin orange segments, grapes, walnuts, Brazil nuts, almonds and dark chocolate.

## Credits

* Demonstrator – Eva Marie Bryer
* Script – Simon Jollands
* Set Construction – Vic Moore
* Design – Tom Gordon
* Camera – Eddie McCaffrey
* With thanks to:
	+ Jane Dunston
	+ Middlesex Polytechnic Studios
* Lighting – Roddy Gibson
* On Line Editor – Bill Ogden
* Associate Producer – David Furnham Productions
* Directed by – David Furnham
* Executive Producers – Tom Gordon and Simon Jollands

## Home media releases

The VHS for My First Cookery Video has two different covers – the main one has a white background and a border of sweets, with the picture collage below the title showing a duck-shaped cookie, a rolling pin, several chocolate-dipped fruits and nuts, a fruit tart, a wooden spoon of multicoloured sprinkles and a paper cake holder. The cover for ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ has a brown background, with hand-drawn images of four duck-shaped cookies and a butterfly-shaped cookie.