[blindcooks] Re: Helping a totally blind friend learn to cook
- From: Penny Golden <goldpen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 15:47:26 -0600
Jon, Could he use another glove on the other hand? There are some
gloves that are intended for not cutting yourself when you are handling
a knife. I have a few of these; they are thin, and while they wouldn't
prevent a burn if used wrongly, they would indeed prevent one's from
getting his hand in too close contact with what's happening.
Boy, I need to perfect your steak recipe for myself; for I usually cook
one of anything.
And i have a sister who likes to buy steaks for her sister out in nebraska.
On 11/24/2013 11:15 AM, Jon Rawlings wrote:
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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