I grew up with an electric stove and cooked on it even though blind at least once a week while I was in high school. I was lucky because my dad was a baker and was comfortable with lots of heat -- much more heat than on a home stove. He taught me how to not be afraid.
But then when I moved out I got a gas stove and at first I was terrified. Then I learned how easy it was to precisely judge the heat by holding your hand over the pot. I've used gas for fifty years and would now find an electric stove terrifying! For me, the biggest thing is making sure I know exactly where my pot is on the burner before I turn on the heat and being able to poke about with a metal fork if I need to "feel" something hot like where the pot is or whether the beef is broken up. I love Dale Campbell's thin cooking mits too -- use them every night. I also think a wok is much easier to use than a frying pan as you can just keep pushing food around -- sighted people don't have to turn food in a wok with a spatula. If you are new to using a stove don't use olive oil. It has a low ignition temperature. My sighted room-mate was once frying with olive oil and suddenly had a pan full of flames. She started screaming, a sighted person mind you and I had to rush in there and slam a lid on it! Very scary especially because she was supposed to be the one who would react in an emergency. I always use a high temperature oil like peanut, corn or safflower... never had a fire. 0--Debee _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list Cookinginthedark@acbradio.org http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark