The Anonymous Widower

Cooking Like An Engineer

My culinary skills aren’t that good and as the stroke has left me with a slightly gammy left hand, I have changed the way I do things.

I’m also lucky in that, I’m not hard-up, although I do try to eat fairly economically. So if I see a gadget that might help, I buy it.

Here are a few gadgets and products that have really helped.

1. My saucepans have a lid with a built-in strainer, so I don’t burn my hands when I pour the hot water away after the vegetables have cooked.  I could use a collander, but that would mean extra washing up.
2. I have a large box-grater, which has a big handle on the top.  I use this to make my fish pies, just as Jamie said in the original recipe.
3. I also have one of Delia’s little Kenwood choppers, as my knife skills may be good enough for peeling potatoes, but chopping anything very small is difficult.
4. Some food packaging is difficult, so I always have a good pair of scissors handy! Even with this some foods like pasta and frozen peas are a nightmare, as an out-of-place cut means a kitchen floor covered in food. I now only use one type of pasta, Doves Farm gluten-free pasta and keep it in a storage jar.
5. I also buy things like ready-peeled onions.  My mother would have been horrified.

It may not be easy for everyone to install, but I have a wooden chopping board built in to the work-surface, where I prepare vegetables.  It has a hole in it, with a wooden stopper.  Underneath is the bin, so all the rubbish you get when you prepare vegetables, is just chased through the hole and into the bin. The system is also good for disposing of things such as used tea bags.

I also time foods rather than taste them.  I have a big clock on the wall and would give something the correct time, rather than taste it. C always felt potatoes, when she baked them in the oven. I don’t, as I just give them an hour on the floor of the oven. Sometimes, they are nhot quite right, but at least, it is a lot easier.

The other thing I do is use the dishwasher a lot more.  I know that is not very eco-friendly, but it means I don’t have to wash-up as I cook.  Try and do just one thing at a time and you don’t get in the sort of mess,k which means that you drop something and have more work to do.

So analyse how you cook and do things as efficiently as you can. Ignore, what your mother or your friends, who can really cook, might say!

July 26, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Food | Cooking