#autistic recipes

[autisticrecipes]

A very useful answered ask about how to learn about the science of food and spices, building a pantry, and how to make cooking accessible to yourself if you're disabled (reblogs are turned off but @rosen-dovecote has given me permission to link it ☺️)

[garlicbutterclutter]

So it seems like having a blog sharing simplified/clearer recipes for autistics/other NDs is something people might want. I've made a separate blog for it @autisticrecipes, feel free to follow and I'll put together an introduction post over the next few days.

I'm going to try and have a go at writing a few recipes including the suggestions I've been given (thank you everyone!) and I'll share them, it probably won't be perfect at first (both because there's a lot of accessibility issues that might be conflicting and because as someone who already has a fairly detailed knowledge of cooking there may be things I miss out). Feedback will be welcome and encouraged.

These are the general ideas I have so far:

- step by step instructions (where each step is actually one step, including things that might seem obvious to NTs/people who are comfortable cooking, e.g. Turn off the oven)

- steps/ingredients that can be altered and/or omitted (ie aren't necessary) and that must be included

- recipes will all serve one where possible so easier to multiply if needed for more (rather than trying to figure out how to make a 'serves 4' recipe serve 3)

- timing for when to start different components of dishes so can all be served at the same time

- which herbs/spices go well with a meal

- submission of dishes and recipes people want simplified/altered (specifications inc particular accessibility or sensory needs encouraged, otherwise will follow a standard format)

- submission of recipes simplified by followers also welcomed/encouraged

- I think it would be useful to have some other mods (at the least, someone who knows more about/different things about cooking who's preferably ND and another autistic or ND who finds recipes difficult to follow/knows less about cooking, so they can tell me if recipes are easy to follow or not)

- feedback on ALL recipes WELCOMED and ENCOURAGED - will edit and update recipes to make them more accessible

- possibility of multiple versions of one recipe? (so people who want to know what must be included/exact and can be excluded or altered are provided for, but so are people who just want simplified steps and may be overwhelmed by too much information)

Please let me know if you have any questions, I know this is a fairly rough outline at the minute but I'll make a more coherent post on autisticrecipes when I've written some recipes.

(I can't tag the new blog properly atm, presumably because I've just made it but I will link it in a reblog along with tagging everyone who's contributed so far)

[autisticrecipes]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ruby tandoh (@ruby.tandoh)

[ID: link to Ruby Tandoh's Instagram post about her cookbook 'Cook As You Are', with an illustration from the book showing a brown-skinned person with a walking stick cooking on the hob, with various foodstuffs on the countertop around them)

Ruby Tandoh (of Great British Bake Off fame) has written a cookbook which has several features for accessibility, including:

- breaking things down into manageable steps

- lots of substitutions (for making a recipe low-prep, vegan/vegetarian, or in case you haven't got particular ingredients in the house) and how these will affect the dish

- a dedicated low-prep section for if you're low on time or energy, especially if you're disabled or chronically ill

- a reference chart to guide you to recipes that suit your needs

- an easy-read version if you struggle with reading, attention or complex instructions

- an ebook version optimised for screen readers, with alt text image descriptions so you can still benefit from the beautiful illustrations (they're probably a lot better than my ID above!)

- speaking of illustrations, the book is also beautifully illustrated, rather than being accompanied by professional-look photos, so that users aren't intimidated/disappointed about their home-cooked food not matching up to the glossy professional food photography of most cookbooks (personally I can actually find photos quite useful in knowing what the recipe is supposed to look like, but I still think it's a good feature)

This isn't an ad lol but I think it could be really useful for people following this blog because it does a lot of the stuff I set out to do with this blog (and some more besides). Ruby's post goes into more detail about these accessibility features and more, if you follow the Instagram link.

Also, here's the link for various purchase options (it comes out on 7th October in the UK and Autumn 2022 in the US, there's also an option for worldwide shipping) if you like the sound of it and don't want to go searching on Instagram or Google to find it:

@rubytandoh | Linktree

Cook As You Are (out Oct 7th in the UK; US date TBA!)

[autisticrecipes]

Easy and yummy spaghetti

Ingredients add however much you want it will still taste good

Ground turkey or beef or chicken

Canned tomatoes any type

Italian seasoning

Salt

Noodles

Instructions

Boil noodles until done

Cook meat on a pan until fully cooked then add Italian seasoning, salt, and canned tomatoes. Cook until it’s hot

Put noodles on a plate or bowl and scoop the meat sauce on and enjoy. It’s easy to make and dosnt take much time or spoons to make.

Note: this is the first time writing down a recipe since I keep them in my memory and amounts are all by heart

Thank you so much for submitting this, this seems like a really straightforward tasty recipe to follow! I'll just add a few tips of my own if that's OK!

- noodle/pasta amounts - if you want to weigh them (plenty of people do it by eye but you can end up having way more or less than you need), I'd say anywhere between 75g and 100g per person

- make sure to salt the water you boil the pasta in! A good sprinkling of salt, it should taste salty if you have a taste of it

- you can (should?) add a little bit of oil to the pan to cook the ground/minced meat but only a little as it tends to be quite fatty (at least beef mince does)

- probably obvious, but you'll know the meat is cooked when it's coloured all over (beef will go brown, chicken/turkey will be more white-ish). It's really important to cook ground/minced meat through!

[autisticrecipes]

Homemade Bakery French Bread - Makes 3 Baguettes

@maybe0rdinary sent me this ask and I said I was going to do a bread recipe so I made these today! Link to the original recipe 

Recipe blogs almost always have irrelevant rambling because they’re trying to be lifestyle blogs as well as offer recipes. If you scroll right to the bottom, there’s usually a straightforward recipe without this, but it’s a bit of a pain to get to, especially with all the popup ads on these sites.

Here’s the recipe without all that and with hopefully clear and simple-to-follow instructions and tips. Please see the end of the recipe for more general tips (and a picture of mine!). As always, let me know any feedback you have/how this could be improved, and please let me know if you try making this!

Ingredients

You MUST have:

2 Tablespoons Fresh Yeast OR 1 Tablespoon Dry Yeast

1/2 cup or 115ml Warm Water

2 cups or 450ml Hot Water

3 Tablespoons Sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons Salt

1/3 cup or 750ml Oil (any oil - sunflower, vegetable and olive oil are all good)

6 1/2 cups or 910g Plain Flour

 You should/could use:

1 Egg for brushing on bread

Equipment:

You MUST have:

Large mixing bowl

Small bowl/jug

Cups OR scales

Teaspoon

Tablespoon

Sharp knife/dough scraper

Baking tray/s (if you only have one you may have to cook the third baguette separately)

You should/could have:

Rolling pin (or other makeshift rolling implement e.g. empty glass bottle)

Greaseproof paper/ovenproof baking mat/SilPat 

Brush for egg

Wire rack for cooling

Method:

Put ½ cup/115ml warm water in a small bowl. (The best way to get warm – not hot – water is from the tap/faucet).

Add the yeast to the small bowl of warm water to dissolve for approximately 10 minutes (or until finished with step 5).

Meanwhile boil 2 cups/450ml of water (or boil the kettle and see next step)

In the large mixing bowl, add 2 cups of hot water, sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups (420g) of the flour.

Mix together until mostly combined.

Add the yeast mixture to the bowl.

One cup or 140g at a time, add the remaining 3 1/2 (490g) cups of flour, mixing after each addition. (If you are using the metric system and have already weighed the flour out, just add about a third of the flour to the mixture each time).

It should start coming away from the bowl and forming a rough ball of dough. Mix any remaining flour into the bread by folding and kneading it in with your hands. (Note: This bread does not require ‘proper’ kneading, getting your hands in just helps incorporate all the flour).

Let dough sit in the bowl for 10 minutes.

Prepare your baking trays (you’ll probably need two, or to cook the last baguette separately) by putting the greaseproof paper or ovenproof baking mat on the baking tray. The original recipe suggests greasing the baking tray if you have no mat but honestly bread doesn’t tend to stick in my experience, so even a baking tray with no greaseproof paper is probably fine ungreased).

Cut your bread dough into three roughly equal pieces with a knife (You can also use a dough scraper for this but I don’t have one, any knife you use for cutting will be fine).

Sprinkle a small handful of flour over a clean surface and your rolling pin (if using).

Take one of the three dough pieces and place it on the floured surface.

Roll out to a 9x12 inch (23x30cm) rectangle. This doesn’t have to be exactly measured, unless you want to – I just made the longer side about the width of my countertop space, and the shorter side a little shorter than that. (If you don’t have a rolling pin, you could use a – preferably empty – round bottle or similar. You could also flatten it with your hands if you’re in a pinch, however this could potentially overwork the dough and change the texture slightly).

Roll up the dough (not using the rolling pin!) along the longer side to make a long baguette shape.

Form the ends into a slightly rounder shape, if necessary.

Place the dough seam-side down on the baking tray/s you prepared in step 10.

Using the same knife which you used to cut the bread, make 3 or 4 diagonal slits in the bread, holding the knife at an angle (rather than going straight down) and making a slashing movement. The purpose of these is to make sure the bread doesn’t burst open in the middle, making the shape and crust texture uneven and less pretty.

Repeat steps 13-18 for the other two pieces of dough.

Let the baguettes rise uncovered for 30-40 minutes in a warm place (this could be on a windowsill, in a warm room, or even inside the oven, if it’s either not switched on or on the lowest ‘defrost’ setting). If you forget about it and leave it for longer it’s not a problem, as long as it’s had at least 30-40 minutes.

After the 30-40 minutes proving time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 degrees Celsius/Gas Mark 5 (make sure to take the baguettes out of the oven first if they’re proving in there!)

Crack the egg into a small bowl or mug. (See scrambled eggs recipe for advice on cracking an egg).

Beat egg until all incorporated together.

Brush the tops of the baguettes with the beaten egg. (You can omit the egg if you don’t have one, but it does give the loaves a lovely shine. The original recipe says to brush the baguettes with egg before the rise but I forgot and I don’t think it matters – and this way your oven has time to preheat).

Put into the oven and bake for 18-22 minutes, or until golden brown. (This will depend on your oven – mine took closer to 24 minutes. Also, if you’re baking two trays at once, it’s advisable to swap them around halfway through as the baguette/s on the bottom won’t brown as much as those on the top. If the tops of the baguettes start to burn, remove from the oven, cover in foil and return to the oven for the remaining cooking time).

 Tips:

-          These will go stale after about a day or so (homemade bread never keeps as long as sliced bread from the supermarket), so freeze the extra baguettes if you’re not going to be using them right away. You can also half the recipe and make two slightly smaller baguettes.

-          These are really tasty and have a nice crust, but they’re a lot softer (and wider) than what I think of as a traditional French baguette – closer to Subway bread in my opinion.

-          The original recipe was in cups but I’ve done some metric conversions. However, I think with the adding of the flour/water, making this recipe will be easier with cups. They’re pretty cheap and widely available (just did a quick Amazon search and they’re around £7-8, and some come with measuring spoons as well) and they make following American recipes (which is a lot of food blogs) much easier.

My attempt:

-          If your dough is too sticky, just add more flour. If it’s too dry, you can add a bit more water. I had a bit of a disaster a while ago where I was reading the wrong measurements on the measuring jug and added way too much water to my pizza dough. I just kept adding flour and eventually it came together! Just go slow, because sometimes you need less than you think to bring it all together.

- Leave the baguettes to cool before cutting into them, otherwise the bread will clump together inside.

(Not quite as beautiful as the original recipe but they still look good and taste even better, and that's what matters!)

[autisticrecipes]

Please feel free to:

- submit/tag me in/dm me clear/simplified recipes/recipe blogs/websites/books, cooking tips or skills (either that you have made yourself or you have found/found useful)

- submit or send asks for any of the following:

recipes you want made simpler/clearer (if you have any specifics let me know)

dishes/bakes/etc you'd like to have a clearer recipe for

any cooking/food tips or skills you'd like to see laid out clearly/explained fully etc

anything else you can think of that would be helpful!

If I get loads I can't promise to answer all of them straightaway but I have none so far (despite getting hella notes on most posts I've made for this blog) so some would be nice so I can help with what people actually want/need