Male cooks

Fido

Fido

Messages
6,286
Location
New Forest, England.
I'm in awe of the culinary expertise of many of the members here.

My wife is often out with friends to eat. I have two standard solutions for my meal - the pub half a mile up the road. Or like today, the micro wave for a baked potato. Tuna or cheese plus mushy peas and/or a tomato.

I loathe cooking. Love eating.

Must rush. The spud needs turning.
 
Peter, I'm sure if you really desired to create a tasty meal you'd have the nouse to follow a recipe. It just sounds like it's not your bag and it is lucky you have Mrs Fido to help you out with that side of things. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, isn't wisdom all about knowing what ours are?
 
My wife is a fantastic cook. I'm also blessed to live (when I'm here) in a part of the country that has some amazing local produce, especially from the sea, and some amazing restaurants.

It has given me an appreciation of the art of cooking, but, no matter how many times I watch Nigella's womenly curves, I am just unable to do it.
 
I truly am in awe of what people achieve with food. Many of my male friends are fine cooks. It's just one of those activities that has never interested me. If it ever became necessary I'd make the effort but I hope the need never arises. Meanwhile I enjoy fine meals in or out of the house. As I did my baked potato earlier!
 
I'm with you Fido...I can cook if I absolutely have to....and even though I love the taste of good food...food and cooking just isn't that important to me...anything that will assuage hunger will do.......Just as well my wife is a fantastic cook then.
 
I had to learn to cook, didn't have much choice, or at least not if I fancied eating anything decent. I was about 19 and living in a flat with a vegetarian flatmate who would not cook for me, and I got really bored of eating burgers and oven chips all the time. I fancied cooking Chinese but I had no idea how, so I bought a basic Ken Hom cookbook and a wok and learned from there, picking up a new cookbook of a different type about every 3 months.

I met my future wife about a year later and she was very impressed so it worked well for showing off to the ladies. The trouble is, she never learned to cook (she never had to!) so nearly 20 years later it is still 100% my job. It would be nice if I had a meal cooked for me once in a while, but it's not going to happen.

She does bake decent cakes so I leave her to it.
 
Two things that I cook that really irritate SWMBO:

1. Cheese scones - I never weigh the stuff out - I've made them for the last 25 years, I know what it looks like :D
2. Stews & Casseroles - again I never weigh the stuff out - she has to religiously follow a recipe, so it takes her hours to prepare one...

Oh and another - Bengali - takes me a while to do it but lots of it is about marinading & standing so that's ok.
 
I was taught how to cook by my mother, she taught me the basic techniques and how to blend flavours, i.e. sweet, sour, salt, bitter, sharp. I don't follow recipes but my wife does and when she does often I get asked to make it taste "decent" usually its either under seasoned or bland. I'm currently exploring the use of herbs and spices, and have had some interesting results with chilli and honey, Mrs J however doesn't like overly hot food so I don't get to experiment with that much.

Her habit of following a recipe like its a chemistry experiment pays dividends with baking though as her cakes, bread and scones are great.
 
I think I'm too stuck in my ways to start cooking now. And I try to contribute to our household in other ways. My wife never worked after we married. We were fortunate that I could support us both - it was a different world in the 60s. If we had both been working I would have learnt to cook and shared the duties. I'm very conscious of what a chore it can sometimes be. And it's why we eat out quite often.

Come to think of it, I do the breakfasts and get my own lunch. But then I'm an artist at cooking toast.
 
There's little joy in cooking anything interesting for oneself alone (once the novelty wears off), though I do have bursts of enthusiasm. At the moment my interest in cooking is mostly theoretical, and I eat out, order in, or knock up a quick small roast, sos egg and chips (real ones), toasted cheese or a fishfinger sandwich. And the morning egg and rasher, naturally; I am, after all, an Englishman.
 
i can cook, perfer baking cakes though

the only regular thing i cook is "bacon and eggs" or different recipes for pancakes/dropcakes

usually make things like Victoria sponge or more often than not chocolate cake with chocolate filling

but thats more backing than cooking.

fruit/christmas cake is my favorite type of baking, chuck all ingredients together, put in oven have a nap or whatever for about 2-3 hours then come back and take out of the oven
 
I can't bake to save my life. I have been known to make soda bread once in a blue moon, and it must be fairly fool proof, as it has been edible. That's totally my baking limit.
On the real cooking front, I vary from lovely to inedible. The grandkids still joke about the nut roast I made once, which had one of them throwing up in the bin, and no-one else very happy. I guess when people start throwing up, it's time to throw that particular book in the bin on top. I swear to God, there are a lot of recipe books out there that have just been made up with the recipes never tried. Well, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

I've just chucked £100 worth of Sandalwood into 18 - or if I'm lucky 19 bars of shaving soap. And soap, like all things cooking related, can go very, very wrong.
So next time you burn the toast (and I've a feeling you do from time to time, Fido), console yourself with the knowledge that it could have been much much worse.
Brethern; pray for me.
 
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