If your parent is a chef, do you grow up with a yen for foie gras and truffles instead of peanut butter and jelly?
Local chefs said they are expanding their children's palates, but that doesn't mean the kids have forsaken all the usual kid-friendly favorites.
Mikel Trapp, food and beverage director at Snowbird, lets his set of 3-year-old triplets "help" with the cooking.
"I shelled peas!" announced his son, Ryan, after his lunch of pan-seared salmon cakes and curried quinoa last week. "And I make pizza dough."
While Trapp feeds them healthy fare and exposes them to fine cuisine, he's found that each child's palate is different.
"They'll try something one day, and the next day they don't like it," Trapp said.
Ryan says his favorite food is "chicken, with a dip-it." (A dip-it, in Trapp triplet-speak, is the dipping sauce, which can be barbecue sauce, yogurt or whatever complements the food being served.)
His sister, Gwen, used to eat a whole avocado at dinner. "Now she eats them, but they're not at the top of her list," Trapp said. "Olivia likes broccoli because she thinks it's a little tree."
He's introducing them to more green vegetables by making samosas — folding pureed broccoli and potato into wonton skins. He folds them in different shapes to make it more fun. Since the trio love ginger and soy, he includes a soy-ginger "dip-it" sauce.
Breakfast is usually organic oatmeal. "Gwen will wake us up at 6:30 in the morning and say, 'Daddy, let's make oats.' She likes stirring everything. She seems to be the most interested in cooking."
Trapp uses organic foods, and the family goes grocery shopping together at Wild Oats on Mondays. "It's important because you read about all the processed foods and how kids are not growing up to be healthy," he said. But he adds that when they passed a Wendy's restaurant on the way home, Ryan called out, "Daddy, there's that chicken and fries store!"
"We want them to have an appreciation for good cooking, but we're not raising weird kids around here," said Trapp's wife, Janel. "They love pepperoni."
Well, OK, but that pepperoni goes on a homemade whole-wheat pizza crust.
If your kids originally turn their nose up at something, just continue to offer it occasionally, Trapp advised. "My brother-in-law is a psychologist, and he says you have to introduce people to things 10 or 12 times before they will try it."
Letting Dad cook has its benefits, said Janel Trapp. "It's good enjoyment for him and time with his kids. It's also quick, because he can to do it really fast. And when the kids don't finish their lunch, it's like a high-chair buffet for us."
Another benefit, jokes Mikel Trapp, is "I've got three little helpers. Once they turn 5, they can cob the corn and debone the chicken and filet the fish, and Mom and Dad will have iced tea on the porch and wait for dinner."
Fred Boutwell, general manager of the Market Street Grill and Oyster Bar, finds that his 4-year-old triplets all have individual tastes, too.
"We do what every parent does, you try to get your kids to eat a healthy meal and try everything," Boutwell said. "Last night I got them to try pickled hot peppers. It's easier to talk them into it when Mom and Dad are eating it — there's a trust factor."
Boutwell rarely gets to eat dinner with the kids, since he's working nights. But when they come into the restaurant a couple times a month, he can predict that Katie will order noodles with plain olive oil; Tony will want a hamburger, and Nici is the adventuresome one who will try crab cakes or different kinds of fish.
(So is there a connection between the culinary industry and triplets? Is it in the water? The food? Boutwell just chuckles and says that the common thread is that he and Trapp are both married to "incredible women. It takes a strong spouse to deal with the long hours that the restaurant industry demands, much less to raise triplets.")
Greg Neville's 3-year-old daughter, Emerson, was the inspiration for putting a "kid's pizza" on the menu at his restaurant, Lugano. It contains "tomato sauce, cheese, more cheese and no green stuff," said Neville. "That's what she always used to order."
She now loves all the restaurant's pizzas and has been eating sushi for over a year.
"She's eating a lot more than I did when I was young — spinach, salad, broccoli. One of our friends calls her a pasta snob because she doesn't like the stuff that's served out of the can. I just think she sees us eating and there's always good stuff around, so those are the things she's gravitated toward. "
Emerson has her run of the restaurant during the day when it's closed. So when she comes in for dinner at night, she thinks it's still her domain.
"The night before Valentine's Day, she was at the table with a little sticker book of valentines. I went around to say hello to the customers, and one table had valentine stickers on their menu. The (couple at the) table behind them had valentine stickers on their clothes. She was going around handing them out."
You can lead a child to fine dining, but you can't always make him eat, according to Peter Buttschardt, chef and co-owner of Rooster's in Ogden. His 5-year-old son, Jackson, loves sophisticated fare such as steak, green beans, broccoli, spinach, shrimp, Chilean sea bass, asparagus and crab. Meanwhile, 2-year-old Phillip prefers peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cold cereal.
"Although Philip is not as gourmet, he is developing better eating habits because Pete just keeps trying," says their mother, Kym Buttschardt. "The boys get to try a little bit more 'off the beaten grocery store path items' like different fresh fish, lamb chops and interesting sauces."
He sometimes brings the boys to the restaurant to create their own dishes. Once, Jackson stood on a milk crate at the pizza station and assembled his own pizza. From the array of fresh ingredients, he chose some new toppings, including spinach.
"He watched it cook from beginning to end and ate all of it!" Kym Buttschardt said. "A week later, the baby-sitter was ordering pizza and had to track down a company that serves spinach pizza, because Jackson told her that was his favorite."
Kids are never too old for a change of cuisine. Barbara Hill, chef/owner of the Snake Creek Grill, said her stepson, Anthony, was 18 when he spent his first summer with her and her husband, Michael Hill.
"He ate like a storm just to fill up," she said. "Over the years, cooking for him has become an immense pleasure. What I'm happiest about is that I think I have taught him to eat what is good, what is quality and what is enjoyable. We are both proponents of organic and sustainable products. A recent father, he enjoys passing down our philosophy to his own son."
But sometimes growing up in the culinary world has the opposite effect. Yoshiko Tada, of Kyoto, said her three boys, now ages 28, 27 and 24, worked at the restaurant in their teen years.
"My husband is the owner-chef, and he was more strict with his own children than anyone else. So they're not interested in the restaurant business. But they like good food, the oldest one is always making experimental things."
Finicky eaters often grow out of it — in fact, they might even grow up to be a chef.
"I don't know of anyone in the world pickier than me," said Hill. "I had friends whose mothers would not let me come play because I would never eat what they fixed me for lunch!"
CURRIED QUINOA
1 small diced onion
1 medium diced carrot
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup quinoa
1 cup cooked fresh or frozen peas
In a medium stock pot, saute the onion and carrot in olive oil until translucent. Add the curry powder and mix well. Add the stock and salt, bring to a boil. Add quinoa, stir and cover. Cook on low heat for approximately 15 minutes. Set aside and add the peas. Let the mixture sit for 5-7 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary. Serve with the salmon cakes. — Mikel Trapp
WHOLE WHEAT PIZZA DOUGH
1 package (1 tablespoon) dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cup warm water — 105 degrees
3 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup semolina
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup water. Let it stand until foamy (about 10 minutes). Sift flour, semolina and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the olive oil and stir with a wooden spoon until the oil is absorbed. Stir in yeast mixture and then stir in remaining water until the dough is stiff and a little sticky. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 7 minutes). Dough should be firm and moist. Cover with a damp towel and set aside to rest about 20 minutes. Divide into three equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Cover with a damp towel and set aside to rest for 45 minutes. Roll out for pizza and top with favorite pizza toppings, or wrap in saran wrap and freeze. Makes 3 12-inch pizzas.
PAN-SEARED SALMON CAKES
16 ounces poached salmon
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon mirin (a sweet cooking wine — optional)
1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon green onions — sliced
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for sauteing
Poach salmon in court bouillon (vegetable broth). Saute onions and ginger in olive oil. Deglaze with mirin, lemon juice and soy. Set aside to cool. Place salmon in a bowl and flake. Add the onion, ginger, mirin and lemon soy sauce. Add green onions. Mix well. Add egg and mustard. Add bread crumbs. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Form into 3-ounce cakes. Pan-sear in olive oil. Makes 6 cakes. — Mikel Trapp.
E-MAIL: vphillips@desnews.com