Guy Food

[Fresser]

Jason, if it weren't for that amazing parade of meat that followed, the inclusion of a salad bar would have almost certainly disqualified this place for "man food."

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Nein, nein, nein!!!

Vegetables are manly! I've been known to shovel down a pound of sauteed green beans or shredded cabbage in a sitting.

Now excuse me while I go thump my chest and belch.

[jsolomon]

Oh, veggies are most certainly man food. Especially the kind that have a retort or two the next day.

Guys; men; manly men; big, hairy, beastly, ghastly men love the things that food do to their metabolisms. Food gives conversations the best punctuation. Especially the next day.

[Fresser]

I'm not sure that eating your date is vegan.

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Depends on the preparation.

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Hannibal Lecter ate fava beans. So legumes are manly.

[Davydd]

Guy food. If it is green you don't eat it. So, yes, certain vegetables are OK to eat such as beans.

[Pontormo]

Oh, veggies are most certainly man food.

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Disclaimer: I've read the entire Commedia, I swear, but I do love terrible TV shows as long as they're not disgusting. This is something one summer fill-in taught me:

Guys become aroused by the scent of oranges.

So, fruit is manly.

Heterosexual guys need to know this about women:

Women go for the smell of cucumber.

Where's Megan?

[Fresser]

Guy food. If it is green you don't eat it.

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Boo-ha!!

Broccoli is green and it's always served with a manly cut of steak.

What could be more virile than eating something that looks like a miniature tree?

[The Old Foodie]

For advice on this topic, I found a lovely little book from 1894 at <a href="http://www.canadiana.org/eco/index.html">Early Canadiana Online</a>

The title says it all: ‘The little helpmate, or, How to keep husbands at home: a dictionary of useful information not generally known; what dishes are good as well as cheap; the cost, and how it is done by professional cooks; together with several valuable household recipes, including the wonderful carpet shampoo which is alone worth many times the price.’

The book focusses on the serious distraction of men's clubs, where the chefs know how to broil chops and steak - compared to wives, who do not. The author is big on Bearnaise Sauce too:

Bearnaise Sauce.

“… as it is a favorite of club-men, I think their wives ought to know how to make it. Do not be discouraged if you don't succeed the first or second time, but try again. Put four tablespoonsfuls of chopped shallots into a small saucepan and let them stew for fifteen minutes. Then add two teaspoonsfuls of beef extract and six egg yolks, one a time, stirring all the while over a slow fire until it begins to thicken. Remove the saucepan to still cooler part of the range, and add, a little at a time, half a pound of butter, with occasional drops of water. When all the butter is stirred in , strain through a wire strainer, and add a little cayenne pepper, salt, and finely chopped green parsley.

Now, I have several questions for you guys:

How do you all feel about the manliness of Bearnaise? (non-Canadians feel free to respond)

Should you point out this invaluable reference to the Ladies (Wives) in your lives, especially the ones who are discouraged by Bearnaise?

And the most important question: What has a formula for carpet shampoo got to do with it all?

[Fresser]

How do you all feel about the manliness of Bearnaise? (non-Canadians feel free to respond)

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Bearnaise is typically served with filet mignon--a cut which has very little marbling and thus is definitely NOT manly. You might as well tart up a chicken breast with lemon glaze and a flowered radish to feed the caveman in your life.

[Pontormo]

The title says it all: ‘The little helpmate, or, How to keep husbands at home: a dictionary of useful information not generally known; what dishes are good as well as cheap; the cost, and how it is done by professional cooks; together with several valuable household recipes, including the wonderful carpet shampoo which is alone worth many times the price.’

The book focusses on the serious distraction of men's clubs, where the chefs know how to broil chops and steak - compared to wives, who do not...

And the most important question: What has a formula for carpet shampoo got to do with it all?

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Since the woman married to a member of a man's club would be in charge of running a smooth household rather than seducing her life partner with her culinary skills and then throwing him down on the carpet, it makes sense that she would be invited to think of economy, cleanliness and how to prepare chops in such a way that theirs would be a model home and a place a gentleman would be proud to retire at the end of the day.

It's her job, though, yes, it is funny to think of recipes as nothing more than a formula for making such a domestic sanctuary and that these very unsexualized things would be presented as lures as well as a means to secure her own position in life.

It's rather ambiguous as to who's doing the actually cooking at home since I would think such a woman would have a staff--but you seem to imply that the wife is urged to develop a chef's knowledge. Just to instruct?

What is interesting is that there seems to be an implicit distinction being made between home cooking and cuisine prepared by professionals working in the public sphere, the latter being presented as the benchmark, the more desirable. It's suggestive of the fortune of home cooking in the past century when it's compared to dining out, the way a chef like Ramsay chastises British women for not knowing how to cook and even the reason why Haute Cuisine has more cache than Italian food which is basically home cooking. At the risk of moving off into too many different directions, let's just say there's complexity & contradiction: simple home cooking, none of that fancy stuff, is supposed to be a way for today's Girl to get the Guy.

As for the Bearnaise BACK THEN, wouldn't knowledge of French sauces be considered the foundation of a truly elegant, sophisticated cuisine, and therefore a sign of a man's distinction? His success in finding such a cultivated bride?

[The Old Foodie]

How do you all feel about the manliness of Bearnaise? (non-Canadians feel free to respond)

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Bearnaise is typically served with filet mignon--a cut which has very little marbling and thus is definitely NOT manly. You might as well tart up a chicken breast with lemon glaze and a flowered radish to feed the caveman in your life.

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so were late nineteenth century Canadian gentlemen really girly?

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... seducing her life partner with her culinary skills and then throwing him down on the carpet,

It's rather ambiguous as to who's doing the actually cooking at home since I would think such a woman would have a staff--but you seem to imply that the wife is urged to develop a chef's knowledge. Just to instruct?

What is interesting is that there seems to be an implicit distinction being made between home cooking and cuisine prepared by professionals working in the public sphere, the latter being presented as the benchmark, the more desirable. It's suggestive of the fortune of home cooking in the past century when it's compared to dining out, the way a chef like Ramsay chastises British women for not knowing how to cook and even the reason why Haute Cuisine has more cache than Italian food which is basically home cooking. At the risk of moving off into too many different directions, let's just say there's complexity & contradiction: simple home cooking, none of that fancy stuff, is supposed to be a way for today's Girl to get the Guy.

As for the Bearnaise BACK THEN, wouldn't knowledge of French sauces be considered the foundation of a truly elegant, sophisticated cuisine, and therefore a sign of a man's distinction? His success in finding such a cultivated bride?

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... throwing him down on the carpet when he got home? so THAT'S why the carpet shampoo was so essential. Haven't seen a household hint like that in any English books of the era - must be something about those rough, lusty Colonial women.

Most women of the middle classes would have had some sort of household help back then, but it was considered important to know how things were done in the kitchen in order to properly supervise the cook, and avoid being cheated by staff etc. Isabella Beeton never cooked anything herself.

I think that professional cooking outside the home was probably the gold standard then - although the Little Woman would have been expected to be able to make her Man proud when he brought the Boss home to dinner.

Another interesting thought, at risk of wandering off topic ... Our late nineteenth century gentleman would no more have thought of putting on an apron and cooking half a cow over a fire in the back-yard than he would have worn his wife's underwear to work (?) - so when did this modern "manly" tradition start?

[rooftop1000]

"" Another interesting thought, at risk of wandering off topic ... Our late nineteenth century gentleman would no more have thought of putting on an apron and cooking half a cow over a fire in the back-yard than he would have worn his wife's underwear to work (?) - so when did this modern "manly" tradition start? ""

Usually the post World War 2, car driving, suburban family with a backyard, is credited with the grilling craze...and some guy named Weber too.

Multi generational household.....I think the only reason my grandfather grilled was that my Aunt and I kept setting the hemlock tree on fire. Either the needles on the ground or the tree itself from using too much lighter fluid.

tracey

[Kim Shook]

achieve that oh-so-sexy Nichole Richie Bag-O-Anters look.

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Grub, I have a special Word document called 'quotations' - just funny/interesting stuff that I come across during my day. You figure prominently in that file!

Edited July 28, 2006 by Kim Shook (log)

[takadi]

I don't know if there is such thing as "man food" but I know my food can't be good without being slathered in 3 lbs of animal fat.

[phatj]

What could be more virile than eating something that looks like a miniature tree?

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It's only manly if you chop it down yourself.

[Fresser]

My wacky Moroccan rabbi eats raw garlic. He chops up garlic cloves, mixes them with some olive oil and shmears it on a slice of raw bread.

He and his wife have (at last count) nine children, so virility is not a problem here.