[blindcooks] Re: Helping a totally blind friend learn to cook
- From: "Valerie" <rosetta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 06:29:22 +1030
Hi Jon, all I could add is to perhaps begin with something really easy as
far as pan cooking goes, say a pancake, an egg, just one item in the pan at
a time. Searing hot pans might be far too dangerous and frightening to a
beginner cook, even I find searing hot pans a bit nerve wracking sometimes
and I've cooked all my life. Other suggestions are to get him to familiarize
himself totally with the lay out of the oven. When the oven is totally cold,
he should practice pulling out trays, feeling the depth, width of oven, also
make sure he has the best long oven mitts possible for safety. Sometimes
it's possible to familiarize yourself to oven dials, say two clicks turns
the oven on, or the half way mark, six O'clock, may be a general cooking
temp, but other than that, temps can be marked with tactile bumps or
buttons. Finding items in a pan on the stove can be made a little easier by
thinking of the pan as a clock, two pancakes in there, one pancake is at 12
o'clock, the other at three. For frying eggs, some vision impaired people
prefer egg cooking being done with the egg in a metal ring, others don't, I
think as confidence improves, we all find what makes it easier for us.
Sometimes in the beginning, it just may be that a person feels more
confident using an appliance rather than the stovetop or oven, I think you
mentioned the slow cooker? Getting really confident with one appliance can
make it easier to then move on to another way of cooking. Hope there is
something there that helps and best of luck with the cooking lessons, I'd
have loved to have a real food inspired person teaching me to cook.
Cheers. Valerie P.S Would maybe a tray of vegetables and chickien pieces
roasting together at a moderate temp be something worth him trying as an
oven bake? There's recipes for such dishes cooking away in the oven in a
nice savoury sauce. .
_____
From: blindcooks-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blindcooks-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jacob Kruger
Sent: Monday, 25 November 2013 4:11 AM
To: blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blindcooks] Re: Helping a totally blind friend learn to cook
All I would say is maybe start him off on techniques/cooking activities that
he might find/think of as less risky..?
I find that explaining/showing some of the basic procedures to them seem to
be the best way to get people to develop more interest in then taking it
further.
Really not too sure what would actually be the safest/simplest things to ge
them started on, since fears really vary quite a lot person to person, but,
maybe something like just baking things, to get him used to the concept that
with things like decent oven mitts, you don't have to worry about burning
yourself too much, and, from my side, I specifically enjoy/like/appreciate
certain of the basic ingredient preparation procedures, like dicing
vegetables properly, etc. quite a bit as well, but, I know that, for
example, my occupational therapist sister seemed to think that using a
relatively sharp knife was a risk for a blind/visually impaired person - I
don't think of it as much of a risk at all, since, yes, it's a sharp knife,
but, doesn't mean I'm going to be doing anything dashing/daring with it, as
opposed to just using the right tool for the job, in a relatively careful
manner...<smile>
Stay well
Stay well
Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
'...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'
----- Original Message -----
From: Jon <mailto:twosocks76@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Rawlings
To: Blind <mailto:blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cooks List
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2013 07:15 PM
Subject: [blindcooks] Helping a totally blind friend learn to cook
I need some serious input here from as many of you as possible. I have a
friend that has been a big part of my life since we were very little kids.
He never had much interest in cooking, getting most of his meals from
microwave dinners or leftovers from dinners with family or restaurant food.
Recently, however, a friend of this guy has been teaching him some very
basic things like how to set his oven to cook frozen foods and also some
simple slow cooker recipes. He's slowly gaining an interest in cooking as
he sees there are ways to make fresh dishes for dinner that he feels are
within his reach. I should mention this friend is totally blind and has
been from birth. Anyhow, I hung out with him for the better part of Friday
afternoon and evening, and I decided I'd show him how to make a good
pan-seared steak and baked potatoes. The method with the steak is to season
it lightly, get a cast iron skillet roaring, fiercely hot, then sear the
steaks in the pan for about 30 seconds a side before tossing into a
500-degree oven for two minutes a side. The steaks then rest on a cutting
board or plate under a sheet of foil for a few minutes before being served.
I prefer to leave the pan in the oven while the potatoes bake to give it
plenty of time to get hot. Well, I walked him through the whole procedure
from oiling and salting the potatoes for baking to how the meat should feel
when it has the right amount of seasoning and so on. He did pretty well,
but the biggest challenge was getting the steaks in the hot skillet. He
ended up putting the second steak almost directly on top of the first one,
and because of his fear of getting badly burned, was unable to figure out
where the second steak should go. Part of the problem was that he was
handling the tongs with the same hand that was wearing the oven mitt he had
on to protect his hand, but even after I showed him that the hand with the
mitt on it was to handle the skillet while the mitt-free hand was for
feeling with the tongs, he still couldn't quite get it. So, from those of
you with no vision at all, do you have anything to offer me that I can pass
on to my buddy the next time he at tempts this little adventure? I'm
certain this meal is well within his abilities, even at this early stage of
his learning, and is something every bachelor should know how to make for
himself. Jon
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