Does your man cook?

[Jake]

He cooks.  Not often, and with a recipe, but he does do it, and does it quite well.  (I'm trying to teach him -- more on that another time  ) More often, we'll cook together as he says thats the easiest way for him to learn, and he never has to measure ingredients! (I do it by eye most of the time.)  Of course, 80% of the time, I do the cooking unless the grill is involved.  He is a master and I haven't ordered a steak in a restaurant in a couple years! 

That must be nice.

Ummm, yeah, sometimes I really enjoy cooking together when he tells me how I should do something, even though it is something HE has never done before! And I especially enjoy it when he decides I'm cooking something at the wrong temperature and turns it up without telling me resulting in lovely burnt food.

It's not all bad, but when he's being opinionated....well, let's just say I cook with a lot of wine!

[Monica Bhide]

Yep sounds like a sexist thread to me

The answer is I do all the cooking that "we" or guest eat. I have trained the kitchen to attack my wife on site.

The only wife friendly appliance is the microwave. The dogs and I don't eat her cooking for fear of food poisoning.

We were stupid enough to eat her idea of meat tomato sauce. The dogs and both of us were sick for two days.

[petite tête de chou]

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

Susan, I can barely contain myself! That is the funniest thing I have heard in a while..aside from your signature! Ohmigod..

[Katherine]

Man? What's a man?

[Monica Bhide]

Man? What's a man?

Two people have already PMed me to ask what exactly "cook" means

[Jake]

Man? What's a man?

You know, one of those things that's around the house every so often that you get to pick up after and do laundry for!!

[Pan]

My father cooks almost everything for himself, my mother, and guests, when there are some. It wasn't always so, but it's been like that since 1992. Back in the 70s and 80s, my mother did something like 70-80% of the cooking, I figure.

[winesonoma]

Man? What's a man?

You know, one of those things that's around the house every so often that you get to pick up after and do laundry for!!

Excuse me I resemble that remark.

[fifi]

No man around now (Thank the Gods) but the men in my family in later years always cooked. When I was young in the 50s, mother did it almost exclusively. Then, dad started cooking recreationally. He would see a recipe that intrigued him and start in on it. He was what I call a "project" cook and I enjoyed joining in with him. Later, they shared cooking duties. My son lived with me for a while when finishing school and we enjoyed cooking together. He is a very good cook. He learned at the side of his grandmas' from the time he was very young. My daughter, on the other hand, is a late bloomer.

I think it is really interesting how men have migrated to the kitchen and are more into cooking today than I remember from the 50s. I saw my dad grow out of the stereotype. Now, a man doing dinner isn't such a big deal. I have a lot of men friends that are really into cooking. I think it is great.

[herbacidal]

Lessee. There's 3 of us in the house. The 2 sons rarely, rarely cook from scratch.

The father cooks every other day or so. The 2 sons will often re-heat, whether with stovetop or microwave.

[Monica Bhide]

Fifi - I have noticed that too with many friends - not many are armchair readers of cookbooks anymore and know their way around the kitchen. Its really endearing.

My son - get this - who is going to be five - loves to cook with me in the kitchen. He can recognize Rachel Ray's voice a mile away.

[Katherine]

Man? What's a man?

You know, one of those things that's around the house every so often that you get to pick up after and do laundry for!!

Sounds like my ex-husband. Are you his new young wife?

[snowangel]

As parents of a child with disabilities, it is not reasonably feasible for both of us to work outside the home (unless one of us works nights; not in the cards for us). So, currently, I am the one home. I do the cooking. When he was the one at home, he did the cooking. He is an OK cook, better in the winter (braise) and summer (grill and steam or boil) or fry (bacon for BLT's) and I am better in all seasons, especially in the the spring and fall when the nuances are different. But, I am best of all when daughter Diana (age 13, "typical" as opposed to disabled) is assisting.

And, Paul makes the coffee every morning. Always has. He knows I don't shag my sorry arse out of bed until the pot has been started. I married a good man (he also sorts and does laundry on Sunday so I can have a nap )

Edited August 5, 2004 by snowangel (log)

[Dana]

Mine cooks at work(refinery - 12 hour shifts - the company provides a kitchen - bring your own utensils)where the guys think he's wonderful, but he seldom cooks for me. He is the fry master though. Sets up the deep fryer in the garage and goes to town on shrimp and fish. He also does some mean smoking on his humongous smoker, though he's had to pull extra shifts for the last several months, and the smoking has sort of fallen by the wayside because of the time factor. He's a great taster, though, and will try anything I give him. We have come a long way from "that doesn't look like my mom's". She cooks EVERYTHING to DEATH.

[tanabutler]

Great thread, Ms. Bhide!

Bob is great on the grill, but how often are we going to build a fire with mesquite coals, even in the summertime? Maybe twice or three or four times a month? At the optimistic most. And then everything else, I have to do. And assemble and serve, as he thinks he's done enough by cooking the meat.

He also makes the best burritos on earth. All that skill in rolling joints in the Seventies has not been lost.

Left to his own devices, though, he's just as happy with a paper bag full of customized hot-air popcorn (Spike, cayenne, nutritional yeast and butter). Seriously.

Edit: he scrambles eggs but he does it wrong, and I don't have the heart to tell him that "broken in the pan and scrambled without milk" is not up to my standards so I eat them.

We both make tea for each other in the morning, which is a sacred ritual in our house--but I don't consider that cooking. One of us, on any given morning, is always sleepier than the other. The other makes, and brings, the tea. This is considered an act of great kindness, and even if we've been grumpy with each other for any reason, the tea is the eraser and forgiver. It brings us back to center, almost always.

Edited August 5, 2004 by tanabutler (log)

[Monica Bhide]

All that skill in rolling joints in the Seventies has not been lost.

this thread keeps getting better and better!

[Monica Bhide]

She cooks EVERYTHING to DEATH.

I can see a mother in law thread popping up very soon

[fifi]

My son - get this - who is going to be five - loves to cook with me in the kitchen. He can recognize Rachel Ray's voice a mile away.

Oh, please do encourage him. My son still has memories of sitting on a high stool next to his grandma helping with the preparations. I recall my horror of going into mother's kitchen with my 3 year old son weilding a paring knife dicing celery. Mother was giving him instruction on safety with knives and he completed the celery task without any blood leakage. He was very proud. I was very proud. Paniced, but proud.

[Monica Bhide]

Great thread, Ms. Bhide!

amazing isnt it - what procastinating writers on deadlines will do to avoid working -- I think I started a million threads tonite

[tanabutler]

He can recognize Rachel Ray's voice a mile away. 

God, I know she's ubiquitious, but is she also that LOUD?!

[tanabutler]

i have no man in my life--i feel so ashamed.

Mongo, there's something so tragic about an elderly chimpanzee with no man. Couldn't you hire a trainer?

[BettyK]

I wish

[Pickles]

What do you call the useless piece of skin around a penis?

A man!

Unless he cooks for you, that is!

(Just kiddin' guys....now...go make me steak, dammit and I want you barefoot!)

[JerzyMade]

Alright lets hear it -- does the man in your life cook?  My husband makes a mean cup of coffee, tea if he really wants to be nice and an occasional boiled egg.. 

share please   

How about this -- does the woman in your life do the laundry? My wife runs the washer and the dryer, but she won't fold the laundry and put it in my closet. Should I stop serving the food I cook?

Greetings from Mars.

[challah-baker]

Well, I do all the cooking around our house. As well as all the dishwashing. My office is the house so that's part of the reason, but also I like to cook and my wife doesn't and if she did the dishes she'd never have time mid-week to just hang out and play with our son. I must say though I was a little surprised to find this thread on a site that has so many professional chefs and other folks in the food industry. My first reaction was "Oh, how 60's..." but even nowadays I am surprised by how much hasn't changed.

It's funny though how much kids are a product of their environment. Our son who has been in the kitchen with me almost since the day he was born is defintely a future E-gulleteer. I recently switched to leaner meats after having a cholestrol test number that would make the Dow Jones average jealous. We used to eat mostly Rib Eye and cuts like that. Yesterday I grilled up some NY Strips. No K-Mart specials, nice free range ones. He complained! He said "These aren't my usual steaks. They are yucky. They are more chewy, don't have as much taste and are harder." He is 4 1/2!!! Pretty scary to be that young and correctly identifying the difference...