A new gallop survey finds the gender gap in home cooking has widened. Globally, women cook an average of 9 meals per week, compared to 4 meals for men. And some countries have bigger gaps than others.
Our experience is (was) similar to the writer's:
when we got married, we agreed that my wife would cook, and I would clean up. A good decision, since I didn't know how to cook.
But age has taken it's toll, and she can't cook anymore due to back pain. I'm responsible for everything from recipe to washing dishes. The upside is that I get to pick whatever I want to cook, which makes up for the rest.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I do all of it: cooking indoors, cooking outdoors, and ALL the kitchen cleaning (and most of the rest of the cleaning, seeing as how I’m retired and Mrs is still working).
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
My wife USED to cook a lot more, but she doesn't ENJOY cooking. I enjoy it as a creative process, and with my obsession with outdoor cooking, and now bread making, wok cooking, and so on, I cook much more than she does. Probably twice as much, if not four times as often as she does.
Sadly, with an empty nest, we are eating out more often than we should, or eating the same thing that I grilled/smoked on the weekend for days on end. I.e. leftovers. I still need to learn to cook smaller amounts for two, versus when I always was cooking for 8+ (3 kids plus their boyfriends/girlfriends/friends).
I'm also the primary cook of an empty nest tribe. I base my cooking under the assumption that the meal will provide left overs for 3-4 meals (as ingredients in various forms) Eating out is so expensive and usually disappointing
Wok cooking -- that reminds me I bought a copy of 'The Wok' by J. Kenji López-Alt last Christmas (still unopened). I need to find the wok my wife used so I can learn something new.
SmokingPat I got the Wok book in August for my birthday. Made only one recipe so far, Kung pao shrimp, but it was very very good.
I like to use the wok in winter mostly when I don’t feel like cooking outside. Stir fries are a good way to use up fresh veggies that might otherwise go bad sitting in our fridge.
Gear includes: Char-Griller's Grand Champ off set stick burner/smoker, SnS Kamado Deluxe, Weber 22, PBC, Victory gasser, Victory 36 griddle, Smoke Hollow electric smoker. ThermoWorks Thermapen Mk4, Smoke, Signals, and RFX4, Meater+, SNS-500, roti fits 22 n gasser, Emeril countertop TO, InkBird Sous Vide, Potane Vac/Sealer. Fire&Ice griddle/cooler ensemble.
3-pkg of Collapsible Prep Tubs
Junior, Original, Xtra Lg. SS D. Norcross
Complete set (Tx PJ!) Wusthof Knives n block.
Dalstrong:
Phantom Series Paring knife
Shogun SeriesX 6" Chef knife
Gladiator Series 12"Cleaver knife
Just got into charcoal Dec ‘21 (PBC)
fav is brisky. Love Turkey on PBC. also Turkey in the glass,(any nice bourbon)
Bud has always been my barley pop.
Been smoking a handful of years, just got serious in the last two or three years. Thanks to AR n @glemn picked up an SnS Kamado for appx 1/3 price of new. I dont think he used it twice. Love AR! keep calm n smoke on! Miss you Bonesy.
Nope, now retired. I am chief cook n bottle washer. I would say we both get the groceries evenly. I cook 80-90% of the time. Make the coffee 95% of the time.
Last edited by Alan Brice; November 1, 2023, 03:32 AM.
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan - near Clare (dead center of lower peninsula).
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
Food:
My wife does 99% of the indoor cooking, exceptions are when I do my lasagna or omelettes. I do 99% of outdoor cooking because she hates starting fires and the associated mess, and weather, but she doesn't mind firing up the pellet cooker for brats or something simple. She's coming around, slowly, to the idea of using the griddle, but only if the weather is perfect otherwise she prefers the comfort of her pans and the stove.
Drink:
I am the in-house bartender (and I think I'm dern good at it), and we split morning coffee duty pretty much 50/50.
Cleanup:
I wash up the platters and cookie sheets I use for dry brining ribs and brisket, and clean the counter, etc, but she does 99% of the dishes. She's very picky about how things get washed and not using "too much" dish soap when hand-ashing (what?) and other nonsense, and about how the dishwasher gets loaded. So she unspokenly prefers to do it herself out of irritation when the boys and I do it wrong every time.
I have been married for over two decades. I have always done 100% of the cooking that is meant for both of us and nearly all of the kitchen cleaning.
If I let my wife cook, I would be eating nothing by microwave dinners and the one dish she makes, which is this spaggetti and meat sauce.....thing.....that I absolutely detest.
1st wife- might have cooked a few times for the 20 months we were hitched; too busy getting a master's degree and other extra-curricular activities that didn't involve me
2nd wife- did 99% of the indoor, I did all the outdoor. 2 year stretch of that 8 year run I ate fast food almost every single meal..
Now- I cook all the food since my split personality only knows how to complain
I do all the cooking. All the clean up. All the grocery shopping. Oh the wifey can cook just fine. In fact she makes a terrific pot of chili among other things. But her feeling is if I want to cook, she’ll let me and relax while I do it. And I’m OC regarding the kitchen and the shopping in every way. So it’s all good.
I'm not at all sure who does the most cooking but my wife and I have our strengths and weaknesses in the kitchen - we play to the former. We also have some recipes that one of us always nails so we respect that experience and expertise to leave it alone. I do 90+% of the baking but I love baking so that's all good. I also do 95% of the outdoor cooking. No straight answers from this household!
When she does cook, I clean up. With carry-out (not often) it's a team effort.
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