Does your man cook?

[winesonoma]

Hmmm, while I was growing up living with my parents my mom cooked most mundane weekday meals (which often was just hamburger helper or other frozen stuff made unfrozen) and my dad would do the cooking when it came to big things and his specialities: chili, baked beans, collard greens, thanksgiving dinner, pot roasts, sunday breakfast, etc.

Each had their own specialties which sometimes came up, but my dad is a master at things that take forever to cook, and can be completed in one pot. So, naturally I became interested in what he made, and can mock up versions of most of those dishes. Incidentally both of my parents actively taught my sisters to cook, while I sort of was just allowed to watch and figure things out, so they learned the more mundane things like how to measure and how important mise is and all that good stuff ;) I just watched and improvised.

Now, I cook virtually all of my own meals and thanks to egullet am figuring out some of the instruction I missed out on. Perhaps it is just because I am only 23 but no girl I have ever dated has had any vague idea about how to cook much of anything past making frozen things unfrozen. I would gladly cook for someone I was dating, in fact, I enjoy it, and I like to get the feedback on how things are as I typically am the only one who eats what I make...

Ah Youth!!!

[TheFuzzy]

Folks,

Of course, this thread immediately made me think, "So if I'm a man, and have a boyfriend, who cooks?"

(if my friends are anything to go by, nobody ... )

Anyway, me and my sweetie have achieved a division of labor. I do 80% of the cooking; she does mainly desserts and brunches. Whomever didn't cook does dishes, unless the other one helped substantially or unless I do Indian food, in which case we split them.

Also, she does laundry but I do trash/recycling/home repair/biohazards. So it works out.

A friend of mine who's one of the top catering chefs in San Francisco used to tell me about his agony of eating at home. You see, since he cooked for 11 hours every work day, he didn't want to cook if he was home for a meal. But his wife was -- well not a terrible cook, but a rank beginner and improving very slowly. One notable meal she used WAY too much salt, and he just sat there and choked it down, knowing what would come if he complained.

[mighty quinn]

my last SO never cooked for me- i can understand this because he had spent most of his adult life on a submarine. this actually had advantages-he was very neat, did his own laundry, picked up the tab for entertaining and he took me out for dinner quite frequently. it's been awhile since i've dated anyone sharing my interest in cooking. i have a tough time letting someone into my kitchen space. is this a culinary metaphor for intimacy issues?? did dr freud do the cooking at home?

[jsolomon]

Oh, and Jsolomon...you're dating the wrong women. The single ladies I know would faint over your described alfredo dinner.

I am trained (and a trainer) in handling prehospital emergency resuscitations, so if you know some ladies in need of a good faint...

Although, my main problem is meeting ladies/girls/women. When I spend my time at home cooking, I'm obviously not trolling the meat markets in town.

If I'm ever in your area, Bergerka, I might drop you a line for an introduction or two

[laurenmilan]

In my family, I'd say the good cooks are 50/50 male/female, more or less. Among my parents, my dad can cook some things well, my mom can cook some things well.

My fiancee can't cook most things very well, even though he comes from a family of excellent (well, ok, mostly female) home cooks.

But at least he LOVES to cook with me, doesn't have a tin palate, and at least he knows himself that he needs to learn better cooking skills. And he loves fine dining, wine & cocktails the way I do... I guess he's just more reliant upon them than I am.

We're the dorky couple holding hands in Williams-Sonoma.

[Toasted]

Until I started reading Egullet I didn't know men could cook! Seriously, all of my women friends and myself do all of the cooking except for the grilling- that's when the men come out! My man can do some microwave heating up, maybe a box of kraft mac&cheese but that's it. He's just not interested. He used to be resentful of the time I spent on Egullet until I made some of the fabulous onion confit and added it to pastas and on the homemade pizza I make. Now he understands that it's "a good thing" and leaves me alone. My two older kids (7 & 9) are my prep cooks and help me a lot. We have made many meals together already. I'm sure my man could cook if he really wanted to but it's just not his thing.

[pastramionrye]

Ahem.

My woman cooks, a little. But I do almost all of the cooking. Which is okay, because this way I get out of doing the laundry. Score!

yeah, my woman knows how to boil pasta....thats it. i cook exclusively.

i also do my laundry, but she folds it andirons it...i hate folding my clothes.

[fierydrunk]

My man can cook his ass off! We just moved in together and so it has been a wonderful treat to see how into it he is...and he is really good too. I don't even compare...except with breakfast and in that arena, I am great. He barely knows this however cos he doesn't like biscuits, pancakes et al, only eggs and potatoes.

[pogophiles]

I do all the "from scratch" cooking in our house except for one cookie recipe that my wife has perfected over the years. Otherwise, her "cooking" consists primarily of ramen noodles, canned soups, frozen entrees, grilled cheese sandwiches and tuna salad...

[sassybat]

my SO takes over the grilling, while i normally do most of the cooking. on the nights i'm working late, though, he cooks me dinner. usually. but it tends to be something grilled, and steamed veggies. <shrug> he likes my cooking better and he normally does the dishes (except when he cooks), so it works out for us.

[Monica Bhide]

Until I started reading Egullet I didn't know men could cook!

[SobaAddict70]

I don't have a man in my life (yet), but when I do, one of my criteria will be "can he cook reasonably well?" -- because there are going to be times when I'm not going to want to. "Reasonably well" covers an overbroad range of taste -- what can I say? I'm easy.

Soba

[jschyun]

And women doing a man's laundry? Weird.

Amen. Not doing the man's laundry is concrete evidence that feminism has practical applications. When I become rich, I plan on taking my man as my wife.

My SO can cook Pasta-Roni and makes a decent cereal with milk. He also pours a good sized juice. He's also very good at washing dishes and letting me choose what we'll have for dinner. I know good male cooks, but he happily admits he isn't one of them.

[madziast]

my husband didn't cook when we moved in together but he was always willing to help and curious. being inherently lazy, i took advantage--made cooking together fun, taught him the basics and now he does most of the cooking, lol. he's been experimenting, too. when we have time, we do cook together and i bake for him. as he describes our relation in the kitchen--i'm the exec chef and he's the sous, the prep guy and dishwasher all in one... he does laundry, too. most grocery shopping. keeps plants alive. i thank my mother-in-law every day for raising a guy who doesn't mind doing domestic chores. he finds them relaxing. i find them soulless. well, i have my uses in other areas

i figure as long as i keep him in chocolate cake... and maybe get one of those floor cleaning robots grimes wrote about

[rvanrens]

Not only does he not cook, he prefers not to microwave.

sounds like a keeper to me

What is "microwave"? How midgets say goodbye?

Me man. Me cook big tasty. Me woman, she burn water. She no cook. She DISHWASHER.

No, seriously, I'm a better than average cook, but my wife would starve to death in a pantry full of ingredients.