http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018167399Oh my.
Look folks, I'm really desperate to find material for the DUmpster, but the primitives aren't putting out.
Enrique (18,988 posts)
"guys always say they can cook, but it turns out to be nasty"
A woman said this to me at work once, it cracked me up, it still cracks me up.
She asked me if I cook, I told her yes because it's true, I cook every day. But she was skeptical and said "guys always say they can cook, but then they cook for you and it turns out to be nasty." The other women instantly agreed, and it made me laugh at the thought of them eating all the disgusting male-prepared food.
I wonder, have DU women had the same experience?
edit, with a story about my cooking a disgusting meal for Tammy Baldwin, which I haven't shared on DU because people like her so much here. But here goes: I was living at a cooperative house in Madison, WI, and I was scheduled to cook on the day Tammy Baldwin was stopping by for dinner, I believe she was running for the state legislature at the time.
Everything went wrong. My cooking partner had some emergency at work so I was on my own. I had to work late as well, so I was rushed. We had little food, and our account at the store was in bad standing, so I had to improvise, which I did not know how to do.
I ended up making this fettucini alfredo with a number of substitutions that were epic fails, and the end result could only be described as "nasty". But Tammy ate it like a true politician, did not even grimace at it like Mitt did with the cookies.
Wait Wut (4,228 posts)
1. Yes and no.
Some of the men in my life have been fantastic cooks, others couldn't find the oven unless you hid the beer in it. Y'know, 'cause ya gotta cook with the beer...always. For every...damn...thing.
OriginalGeek (2,765 posts)
2. I freely admit being a substandard cook
however my wife and daughter praise my cooking and eat it up heartily.
Because every meal I cook is one they didn't have to.
and because it's MY grill!
Kali (28,893 posts)
21. yep
the husband is pretty fair if not particularly imaginative (and uses far too much cooking oil when little to none is needed) but damn I am glad he is willing and does it because by the end of most days I sure as hell don't feel like doing it.
I would say he does 75 to 80% - all of the breakfasts (because it is his favorite and I rarely eat partake) and most evening meals. Lunch around here is grab a snack most of the time.
Denninmi (2,874 posts)
4. Sorry, but I can out-cook any woman I know.
Especially most of the ones in my family.
I'm a happy dude when I'm cooking.
Whoa.
Wait.
What?
The primitive in Michigan's a guy?
franksolich screwed up again; judging from the primitive in Michigan's vocabulary and interests, I always assumed he was a doddering older woman, not quite as addled as the pie-and-jam grasswire primitive, but getting there.
My apologies to all those I misled.
applegrove (54,256 posts)
9. The men in my family are better cooks than the women. By far.
lunatica (23,748 posts)
11. My son is a wonderful cook!
And he experiments all the time which is great fun!
My ex had one good quality and that was that he could cook very well. Other than that he was a prick.
eShirl (10,724 posts)
13. the few times the men I've known could be bothered to cook it was usually pretty good because they go to pains to procure high quality raw materials, then proceed not to screw up whatever they're making
kimi (2,435 posts)
14. It doesn't always turn out nasty - that was unfair.
Most of the time when a guy has cooked for me, it's been darn good. And most single guys I know like to cook, actually. The one I know who doesn't fills his cupboards with Dinty Moore, Kraft Mac N Cheese, canned pork & beans, canned soup - blech. (He's also very unhealthy & we always go out to eat - which I don't mind cause he's willing to spring for good restaurants.)
But guys do tend to go with good ingredients & are willing to search for them. I know one guy who searched all over Phoenix for some obscure Oriental ingredient - he hit 4 or 5 Oriental markets in the process. He's visiting me later this month & I'm going to leave the cooking to him .
So, no, I haven't had the same experience at all.
surrealAmerican (6,186 posts)
15. This is no more true of men than it is of women.
Most people who say they can cook just aren't that good at it.
^^^a good description of the primitives who hang around the cooking and baking forum on Skins's island.
Aerows (9,847 posts)
18. I'd eat my Dad's cooking over my mother or my sister's any day. My brother-in-law could poison Jesus Christ just by boiling water and my sister could likely cause an evacuation just by making toast. NONE of them turn it down when I cook, though
The Velveteen Ocelot (31,757 posts)
22. My ex was a pretty good cook. However, there was this one time when I came home and found a plate of muffins on the table with a little paper flag stuck in one of them. The little paper flag had a hand-drawn skull and crossbones on it, which made me decide not to eat one until I had a chance to question the baker.
As it happened, he'd made a batch of muffins using baking soda instead of baking powder. They were vile.
Bertha Venation (18,963 posts)
25. My brother-in-law and spaghetti sauce
He was making the sauce with italian sausage, and he thought a good addition would be A-1 sauce. ???
UTUSN (33,265 posts)
29. A related comment, about dudes building things
A woman friend and I were in a small but snooty furniture store, and one of the two slick saleswomen perfunctorily escorted us around, sensing we weren't buying. When my friend admired something, I jokingly (boorishly) said, "With a few two by fours we guys can build that." And the woman said icily, "And we have to PRETEND TO LIKE IT!1" Bwah-hah!1
But about the cooking, luckily I sat my mother down in time and interviewed her about all her recipes, our family loves, "What ingredients. What do you do first. What do you do next." I got them all written down and have done them a fair number of times and have modified, yes IMPROVED a couple, and have had good results several times. My mother was excellent, but cooking was not her favorite activity, and one of her insights was that "You have to be in the (cooking) mood for things to turn out well."
She was ready to give credit to her other sisters or sisters-in-law when their particular dish was better than hers. She admired one in-law's beans and complained that hers were lacking. One day a new neighbor knocked on the door and asked her for a recipe for beans, and Mother said, "Honey, I just boil the (Hades) out of them!1"
mykpart (3,514 posts)
36. Apples and oranges.
Men are good cooks when they can go to the store and buy everything they need to prepare a meal, and they don't have to worry about cost. When this happens, they are very creative and come up with very tasty meals.
Women, on the other hand, can come home from work and find almost nothing in the cupboard and/or refrigerator and yet manage to put a tasty, nutritious meal together using what she has on hand.
Honeycombe8 (11,734 posts)
40. I've never heard a woman say this, or imply they think this. It's also not true.
But what I HAVE noticed about men cooking, and other women have commented on as well, is that when men cook, they make a lot of hoopla about it, they make a big mess, they expect a LOT of recognition for the taste and the act of cooking, and they aren't the ones to clean up the mess.
This does not apply to single men. It's usu. husbands. That's because if they rarely do the cooking, they make a big deal about it, and they want a lot of recognition and flattery about it, because they don't do it often. Whereas the wives, who cook daily...they got over the hoopla and the needing flattery years before. It's a daily chore, like making the beds.
This is not always the case. It was the case with my father, as it was with my ex-husband, and some other women have had similar experiences.
But the food tasted fine, as I recall.
Now, why would the primitive abbreviate "usually"?
I don't believe I've ever seen that phenomenon before in my life, abbreviating "usually."
The primitive probably couldn't remember how to spell the whole word.
Anyway.
franksolich is popularly considered a competent cook, but does it rarely.
Easier, cheaper, cleaner, and quicker just to go to a restaurant.
