Who does the cooking at your house?

[willkat98]

How'd you swing that Jim?

I do both!!

Kids hate when I go out of town (not often). They start yelling "What are we going to do!!!??? We'll starve to death!!!"

They end up with takeout or something.

Every "New Years Resolution" a new diet comes along for the wife (usually in cookbook form like South Beach, or South Beach 2 or something.

So she cooks for a while to "get on target"

Well after 2 weeks of "chicken and cheese" served 15 different ways, the book gets tossed on the pile and the kids beg her to hang up the pan. Its amazing how many recipes for what amounts to poached chicken and cheese there are, and all taste exactly alike!

I changed my office hours to get home at 5pm every night to cook. I enjoy it. But it means taking a train into Chicago that leaves at 5:35am

 

[chisoxjim]

not sure, but I am not complaining.

 

[flagriller]

Wife during the week (she's a stay at home mom and I work) me on weekends.

 

[meowey]

Interesting thread!!!

I do most of it, although Mrs. Meowey is a whiz at crock pot meals, a lot of which are made up with leftovers from my efforts.

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey

 

[the dude abides]

First off...Hoorah

And I do most all of the cooking at our house. But my wife does the dishes. She's pretty hot so I guess that was the trade off. LOL.

 

[jirodriguez]

I do most of the cooking around our house. Thats how I relax at the end of the day after work

. Similar story... parents divorced, mom was pregnant with my first sister and food made her nausious, and my step-dad used every pot and pan in the house to burn mac-n-cheese. Since I had to do the cleanup it was shear self defense... lol.

Have worked in kithens doing prep cook and catering cooking, and learned a lot of solid basics. So I do most all the cooking - but when it comes to baking I let the wife take over. I rarely follow a recipe with set amounts, which does not work well with baking... lol.

 

[bman62526]

Interesing responses here. To those that cook and the spouse does the dishes, way to be! I cook 100% of the meals, and do 95% of the dishes, and cleaning of the kitchen.

Basically, my wife does nothing in the kitchen except she bakes and also makes a MEAN Chex mix!

However, besides about 10% of the laundry - I do nothing else in the house. I take care of 100% of the outside/yard work and she rules every room in the house except the kitchen.

The Mrs. keeps a clean house with two youngins, which is always a challenge & and she keeps me pretty happy in other senses of the word too

LOL - sorry, couldn't resist...

I've never touched a toilet brush or a dusting mop - my wife has never touched a grill or a lawnmower...fair trade all around, really.

 

[deltadude]

Wow, fun reading all the differences about how or why we cook and who is doing the cooking in your houses now.

My Mom was a great cook, but she worked so Dad would cook, and he liked to experiment some good a lot of bad came of it. After I left home, and marriage came, my wonderfl wife was the primary cook, although initially she really was awful, either out of of love or necessity she really developed to be a good cook with basic meals, however major occasions like Thanksgiving scared her, especially if we had company. So I became the Thanksgiving and Christmas cook, (the first dinner or two I was on the phone to Mom getting directions). I really was into fishing and for years we always had a freezer full of fresh and salt water fish. The Mrs. had a tendency of over cooking fish, (that happens when you got 3 kids to pay attention to), so I became the fins cooker. I would do the occasional BBQ on the Weber, but it wasn't consistent except in summer with fish, man we loved to grill (tuna, yellowtail, saltwater bass, halibut, etc).

In the first period of being phased out (corp. take over), I was out of work for 3 years, I played online poker for a living, and during that period became our immediate family cook. I started making my own stocks, learning to make a sauce from anything, etc. During that period I really got into grillin on both the weber gas and weber kettle. I did smoke some on the kettle and also on the gas, but grilling was a daily thing. As family's evolve and get older, my Mom was too old to do the family get togethers so my sis became the patriarch and we always gather at her house for the 4 or 5 yearly get togethers. My sis and brother-in-law are great entertainers but lousy cooks, so I took over all the cooking duties for big family gatherings (except Thanksgiving, Mom helps Sis turn out a decent turkey meal). Since I live 70 miles from my Sis & Mom it is a little bit of challenge, you would think I was a catering company with the 3 or 4 large storage crates of food and gear I always take. Buying the MES smoker, has made life a little easier since smoked Q still tastes awesome 3 or 4 hours after its done. I'm now in the 2nd period of being out of work now for 6 months, and I think my cooking repertoire is expanding.

The food network shows have motivated me to experiment more, last week I was doing some Spanish tapas, and I really want to get a Paella pan and cook Paella on the weber kettle. I've learned to do pizza from scratch, making the dough, sauce, etc on the kettle with a pizza stone. I want to continue to improve learning better presentation, and organization for larger parties. It is all fun especially if the feedback is positive.

 

[smoking gun]

Is this a trick question?

 

[Dutch]

At my house it's pretty even. If I cook, Ma helps me and if she cooks, I help her. Baking for the most part is her niche but the Chocolate Pecan Pie is my pastry claim. For some reason, I can make the pie shell for it and it turns out, but for any other pie-forget about it.

Like Pops, I grew up the son of a meat cutter and became a meat cutter meownself, and like Pops, we (my bothers also became cutters) had to know how to cook every cut of meat. Just for kicks, I like to go into grocery stores and find someone new in the meat department. I'll ring the bell and patiently wait for them to come out and then I'll hand them a roast or something and ask "How do I cook this?" I get a lot of "Deer in the headlights" looks. And when they can't answer the question, I toss in my parting shot, "Oh, so your still an apprentice-" and walk away. In fact some of the older cutters will spot me in the store and say, "Hey Dutch-we have a new victim for you to pick on." BAAAWAAHAAA! Life can be so good!

I learned alot of my cooking skills from my dad. I did take some culenary courses and even worked for awhile as a personal chef., Ma and me do several catering during the year and I do the bulk of the cooking for those. And most Sunday dinners will find 14-16 people at the house for excellent eats and thats just family!

 

[bbq engineer]

Pops,

Your dad sounds like an amazing business man. I read your post to my wife, and she proclaimed "that is what customer service should be about".

Best wishes for the wife's recovery.

 

[allen]

I really enjoy cooking and baking and also canning, and smoking meat, Wife will not eat smoked meat, nore my canning which has not killed no one, and the baking she has to be in the mood, so I take all this to work and it will be gone in2-3 days, she's pickey

 

[got14u]

I do 90% of the cooking and experimenting in my house hold. the kids help out also. my wife doesn't cook much but the couple mexican dishes she does are to die for. And her picodegallo is infamous with my friends and family....I am glad to cook then i don't have to do the dishes...lol

 

[billbo]

I do 95% of all the cooking at my house. I love to do it and my family likes the way I cook. I don't always do the dishes though

 

[fired up]

Me baby! Me!

 

[athabaskar]

Best thread ever.

I do most of the cooking at our hacienda - always have. Our son refers to her cooking as Mom Food, and not really in a flattering way. She will spell me occasionally when I get tired of it, but we both like my cooking better. Don't get me wrong, she is a decent cook. It's just that I prefer to use bolder flavors while she is perfectly happy with an unseasoned piece of meat. She is the baker because it makes her happy to do the nesting mother thing.

I was laid off from my job on July 10th. Sort of a blessing in disguise. Going from tenderloin to tilapia will challenge your skills in a way that we all need to keep in touch with. I can make so much from so little that it would make my departed momma proud. The happy grins I got after last night's chicken and rice were priceless, but the entire meal cost less than $3.00, leftovers included.

Teach your sons to cook. Mine is 23 and is still learning, but aren't we all?

 

[bbq engineer]

Athabaskar,

When I moved out to College, I had an apartment (with roomates). I had been brought up to know how to cook, and do dishes, and laundry. My hapless roomies were just lost without mommy standing there to help them. You should have seen the look on their faces when they used liquid dish soap (instead of the dishwasher soap)and filled the kitchen with soap bubbles! I just laughed at them. Not to mention that they existed on Raman noodle dinners, while I was having pot roast with taters, carrots, and homemade brown gravy! I would cook for them at times, because I felt sorry for them, they were that clueless.

I truly believe that my exposure to real world chores and cooking have been a tremendous asset throughout my entire life. Kids should know how to cook and fend for themselves, and I agree with you that this should be a part of every kid's upbringing...it will make them a better person without them even knowing it.

Now that I am older, there is no better enjoyment for me than sharing a beautifully cooked meal, and seeing the delight and excitement for the food that I cook.

 

[jaxgatorz]

Cowgirl does

 

[gnubee]

Well Duh!!

 

[scarbelly]

Athabaskar,

Kids should know how to cook and fend for themselves, and I agree with you that this should be a part of every kid's upbringing...it will make them a better person without them even knowing it.


My wife and I teach a gourmet cooking class to 4 H kids. I am really amazed how many of their moms dont cook and cant teach them. We spend one whole class on kitchen sanitation and knife safety. You would not beleive how many don't know any of the basics. By the time they leave us in 4 months they have upwards of 20 recipies they have personally cooked from appetizers to desserts. We figure if we teach them some of the hard stuff the easy stuff will be just that. We also make them come one Saturday and cook and serve an entire meal to their parents. Even our 4 and 5 year old grandkids can make a ravioli with won ton skins.
Food is love and sharing

PS We both cook