Cooking in the Dark

I’ve mentioned several times already on this blog that cooking is not my strong suit. As a matter of fact, I’ve had virtually no exposure to it. Learning to cook was the main draw for me in signing up for a program like that of the Colorado Center for the Blind.

Happily, a lot of cooking is fairly tactile. Cutting and chopping are functionally just as easy under sleep shades as not. Measuring out cups or spoons of spices or other additives is the same.

Other things, however, require practice and blind-specific adjustments. One thing I’ve always been nervous about as a potential cook is how to deal with cooking meat – specifically, how to tell when it’s done. This past Tuesday, I crossed that bridge while making a chicken and vegetables stir-fry. I learned that you can take a piece of chicken and rip it partly to expose the inside of the meat: if the inside shreds, then you know the chicken is cooked and safe and ready to eat.

Another challenge in cooking is measuring liquids. The stir-fry recipe I was using called for several small measurements of chili oil, poured into two separate bowls. I tried to keep my fingers on the bottle and the measuring cup, to try to tell how much liquid was coming out of the bottle and how full the cup was; but somehow or another, I accidentally poured almost the full bottle of chili oil into one of my bowls. (Thankfully, the added heat was just about right and I managed to improve on the original recipe by accident.)

There is no particularly foolproof way to pour and measure without sight, particularly when you’re pouring small measurements. The best technique is to pour over a separate bowl to catch any overflow. It’s not especially efficient, but it does ensure that you get the amount you need in your measuring cup or spoon.

While learning individual cooking skills and executing specific recipes is essential for me in my development, I think there’s also a general confidence component. Having basically never cooked before, any sort of hands-on experience is beneficial to me in terms of building experience and convincing me that this is indeed something I can master. So far, my results have been mostly sub-par – I’ve managed to screw up one thing or another in just about everything I’ve attempted. But the experience of it all is definitely encouraging, and I am starting to feel as though I’ll be capable of navigating simple recipes on my own without supervision. I’m really excited to be able to cook for myself, both here in Colorado and in life wherever I end up next. I’ll keep you posted.