Sick of measuring out ingredients for a recipe? Never ventured into the kitchen before? Ever gone to the grocery store and brought back the wrong ingredient for your wife’s recipe?

Then Rob Barrett’s new YouTube show, “Cooking for Dads,” (www.youtube.com/cookingfordads)
just might be for you. Barrett, a full-time musician (you might recognize his theme song for the Kare-11 show, “Whatever”) is finding that a lot of people are interested in his new concept.

“The video is the recipe,” Barrett said. The show leads the budding cook through the whole meal, from shopping (with Barrett holding up each ingredient) through the preparation, including suggestions for side dishes. Barrett also introduces viewers to a cool gadget on each show – though he probably won’t use them.

Use a garlic press? Not likely.

Much more likely? Smashing the garlic clove with his fist to crush it, then removing the peeling and throwing the clove into the bowl.
Barrett said he aims his shows at the visual learner.

He doesn’t use any measuring tools, instead directing dads to use a half inch of butter or a handful of flour.
Barrett said, with a teaspoon of salt: “You only have to measure it into your hand once. It’s close enough.”

“I do a fair amount of baking,” Barrett said, often involving children Katie, 13, and Ellie, 10, in the kitchen. He points out that wife, Jan, does most of the cooking. “She’s the good one. [But] if you can learn from someone who’s at the same level, it’s easier.”
“Everything is about a half an hour to make or less,” he said. “There’s nothing in there a normal dad couldn’t do.”

Barrett said he just wants to help people get over that initial fear and realize, “That’s not as hard as it sounds … I can do that.”
Could this be the most simple cooking show ever?

“Any kind of superlative I can get, I’ll take,” Barrett said.

Unlikely inspiration
Inspiration for “Cooking for Dads” came from an unlikely place.
The Eden Prairie Parks and Recreation Commission member said he was inspired by the retirement last year (after almost 30 years with the city) of city parks director Bob Lambert.

Lambert told Barrett that he wanted to help out a little bit more around the house now that he was retiring.

Barrett, no stranger to the kitchen, well, not a complete stranger to the kitchen, offered to send him some instructions for a few simple recipes.

An idea was born.

Now Barrett’s show has been viewed tens of thousands of times and he’s had meetings with a local grocery chain and a cable network.
Indeed, the show even has Lambert’s seal of approval.

“Isn’t he kind of a natural?” said Lambert from his home in St. Peter, Minn.

“We were having a little conversation right before I left. I was telling him what a poor cook I am,” Lambert said. He said that Barrett offered to give him a lesson.

“You could be a genius for your family,” Barrett told Lambert. He told him it would be a relief for his wife.

“I said that would be a great thing,” Lambert said.
His lesson came via YouTube.
“I watched,” Lambert said. “I sure wish him luck on that. I thought it was great.”

Lambert said he’s planning to give one of the recipes a try.
“I’ve got a commitment to myself.”
Maybe he can help with Thanksgiving dinner. For an upcoming show, Barrett plans to feature how to cook a turkey. He calls it “very doable.”

Contact Karla Wennerstrom at editor@edenprairienews.com.