Now that CairoSon is off, I thought I’d wrap up with a summary of how it went. I opted to teach bits of technique/lore as they came up (for example, no metal utensils on teflon; don’t store potatoes and onions together; let oil come to a shimmery state before adding food) and that seemed like a good approach. For a while we cooked various meals together and then I excused myself and let him fix whatever he wanted. Based on observing that, I think he’s mostly going to live on four meals:
- “Campfire stew” (pretty much the glop mentioned right at the start with a nicer name borrowed from my Girl Scout days)
- Bean, vegetable, and cheese quesadillas
- Chicken divan
- Greens and a baked potato heated with a can of lentil soup on top
Not too bad for starters, as all of the above include a reasonable portion of vegetables. He was quite taken with the idea of throwing soup/stew/leftovers/cheese/whatever on top of greens and a potato - super easy to make, easily varied, and not bad nutrition-wise. Next time he’s home we’ll see whether he wants to learn more.