Friday, January 08, 2010

Men cook in Mars

A friend of ours got nervous because his 18 month old son was playing with our daughter's pink kitchen set. His only consolation was that most of the great cooks in the world were men so it wasn't a complete lost cause. And in truth, I know more guys my age who cook than girls do. And the girls who do cook, seem to be really be into baking and are remarkably meticulous and good at it.

It rings true for myself as well. Packrat cooks more than I do. He enjoys it. When I cook, it's mostly local stuff, out of necessity and I bake with the twins. Packrat cooks, for the lack of a better phrase, like a man. Lots of meat, hearty and without frills.

Last night, with our guests, he decided ribs and chicken was the way to go. Because he also had other errands to run, I ended up helping him with the slow-cooking ribs. He told me that I had to baste it and he'd bought this basting brush where you fill the marinade into the handle and you squeeze it as you brushed it. The result was a loud squelching sound as the sauce was forced onto the brush. I texted him and told him it was gross and it was a man's job. Ribs in itself, in my opinion, is man food. Messy and you eat it with your hands.

Then there was the chicken. I like chicken. Chicken is my white meat. But once again, his choice of preparation involved a can of beer stuffed up the butt of the chicken. And when our guests arrived, all the husbands took delight in seeing the chicken grilling away, being forced to stand and having a beer can shoved up its ass.

I didn't eat very much of the meats because I don't fancy ribs and the chicken smelt of beer which was weird to me. But I did concede that the beer made the chicken flesh extremely juicy and tender. I stuck to the pumpkin and pasta which I had to insist upon or I wouldn't have had anything to eat. Actually, come to think of it, even when he bakes, it is to make something that complements his meats. I once baked at the same time as he did. I baked muffins. He, on the other hand, baked cornbread to complement his ribs, as he did last night.

Our guests enjoyed Packrat's selection and we all agreed, Packrat's cooking was hearty, yummy but not pretty. And I think essentially, that is the difference between his cooking and theoretically mine.

Is it sexist to make such comparisons? Probably but I am more amused than anything and since I stand to gain from it, it's great.

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Ondine tossed this thought in at 06:16

1 thoughts...

1 thoughts...

At 12:24 am Blogger YY said...

The Inner Caveman, that's what it is..

It's the same with my adult stepson and my hubby. Meat. It's so easy to feed my hubby now that my adult stepdaughter has flown the coop. Just dish out meat and potatoes.

Over here in summer, the men are the ones going all gaga over the bbq's. You only ever see MEN thronging the 'outdoor', 'camping' and 'BBQ' aisles of store. Bill Clinton himself is supposed to be also quite handy with some kind of Arkansa down-south BBQ's repast.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnKqsQWc-Ow (1:30min)

YY. (slurp)

 

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