Does your dad cook?
 

Does/did your dad cook? I notice this among my friends, that very few of their fathers actually do an awful lot of cooking. My dad loves it and is very good at it, what about your's?

My dad didn't cook before my mom and he split up. My brother and I stayed with him, so he had to learn. There was only one meal that was so bad we couldn't eat it. Now he's master of the crock-pot...

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of my dad making me lunch when my mom was working. He would put on the Flinstones and make Kraft dinner for me. We would sit and watch tv and chat about my morning.
Mom didn't allow any tv during the day, so it was our little secret.
Thanks for starting this thread, it was a nice memory to drag up.

Because of my father.. I will never... EVER... eat chicken w/ rice soup again...

There was another time when we were kids and my mom was in the hospital having her appendix out.. dad decided to play clean out the fridge with dinner.. and he made some sort of revolting ghoulash thing... to this day.. I will not eat anything with a sauce that I didn't personally make.. and even then...

Dad's great over a barbecue... aslong as it's not chicken... but in the kitchen he's much b etter at reservations

My dad is the parent who knows how to cook. He would make huge gourmet dinners on Sundays (and sometimes Saturday).

My mom doesn't know how to cook at ALL. The most she made us was PB&J, sometimes over-smothered-in-mayo chicken sandwiches, tomato and mayo sandwiches, and macaroni and cheese with HOTDOGS in it. Bllleeeggghhhh...

My dad knows how to cook some things, but I don't think he ever cooked. He does make really good buckwheat pancakes... another good memory to think about :) He can make burgers and chicken on a George Foreman, but to me that's not really "cooking" so much as making sure the meat doesn't burn. He used to make smoked turkeys for the neighborhood in the smoker- an art that I have not learned yet.

I think my father-in-law would be morbidly offended if someone asked him to cook!

I don't recall my dad ever cooking anything ever. I don't even recall ever being home with him without my mom being there. I am pretty sure he was the one who barbecued, but just hamburgers and hotdogs.

My dad made it a point to teach me that being able to cook is a skill that's real important to have. He's a very good cook, and can make a variety of dishes and probably sterotypically for North American, he specializes on the BBQ. We use the Grill a lot in our home in the summer-fall months until it gets to cold to use it.

When I was a boy my Mom didn't work, and so she took up the housewife role and by all means loved it. Once all the kids (myself the youngest) were pretty much on our own two feet not needing them for every little thing (high school for example) she went back to work. She's an RN and works 12 hr shifts so a lot of times Dad was home from work before her, he would cook. They split it 50/50 for most of my young adulthood. THey were also into ethnic foods and so we had a wide variety of what we could do.

I'm glad that they taught me how to cook and not just cook KD (heh, i read the box and figured that out myself) it comes in handy when you are by yourself and need to save money because no matter how cheap the value menu at Mc D's has become.... a bag of rice is 1 dollar as well, and that'll last you for a month heh

My dad has a few dishes he can whip out that he's excellent at--tacos, grilling anything, and anything breakfast being the major ones. He also makes some kick-ass nachos and grilled cheese--his ultimate fallback meal. Dad will always offer to make a grilled cheese if you're hungry. And his potato salad is the stuff of legends.

My mom did most of the cooking when I was younger, and she taught me how to cook at a young age. On nights when Mom was playing soccer, though, Dad had to cook, and that usually meant tacos or breakfast for dinner. As I got older, and we were able to cook more on our own, Mom cooked less and less, and Dad cooked more and more. Sometimes, though, they would cook together--Mom would make the main dish and Dad would take care of all the sides, especially if it involved boiling potatoes.

All in all, yes, my dad knows how to cook, and he's a damn good cook too.

My father cooks all the time. He shared about half the cooking with my mother while I was young. He, too, specialized at the BBQ.

my dad does cook, even my mom learned some from him :)

My father cooked and taught me much of what I know about food. He taught me inspirational cooking, and imaginative cooking.

He taught me how to fly without a safety net.

My mother taught me how to safely use a knife, how to follow a recipe, how to weigh and time things.

I cook all the time I can with my daughter, and I cook more than half the meals we have at home.

Tonight (for example) I made burgers from raw mince and onions.

the question for me is... am I able to keep it down?

My dad has always cooked and has always been pretty good at it. He has always cooked more then my mom even though shes a pretty good cook as well. Pretty much all my friends growing up had fathers that cooked.

My dad went to school initially to be a chef. He would make the greatest breakfast, and of course BBQ. Otherwise, my mom would generally cook other meals.

There are specific things my dad cooked and specific things my mom cooked. It probably worked out 50/50.

My daughters would tell you that I cook more often than my wife.

My mom mostly cooked while I was growing up because she didn't go to work until my brother and I were in high school so she was usually home. Now my dad gets home before her so I think he does most of their cooking. He was a Mess Specialist in the Navy so he knows his way around a kitchen.

My dad's one of those guys who only know how to cook a couple of dishes, but cooks them well. He loves making seafood, tripe curry, oxtail etc... slow food with lots of herbs and things. He does tend to be a bit heavy on the herbs and spices though. I remember some very dodgy mashed potatoes - other than that, he's pretty good.

My dad rarely cooked, but I do remember liking the things he did cook. My step-mom did most of the cooking ... however, she was raised in a VERY poor family by parents who "came up" through the depression. She was really, really good at making due with what we had.

I am a father ... I do most of the cooking in the house. My wife hates to cook. However, she can bake like a fiend.

My Dad was a single father (he raised my brother) and then single for many years after. He was a relatively good cook. He would do a Christmas dinner on boxing day and a big ham dinner on Easter. It wasn't as good as mine but what can I say? I am a Dad that loves to cook. I do the majority of it around the house because I love doing it, not because I have to.

This weekend past, while I was away, I actually had the opportunity to make a couple of meals... damn fun! I haven't cooked since I got to Singapore.

My pop did all the grilling, as well as cooking the expensive foods (prime rib, rack o' lamb, and an occasional lobster)... mom did everything else.

When I first got married the wife and I took turns cooking... then I got hooked on the Food Network. Nowadays, with three kids, I do 95% of the cooking. My kids always tell me I'm "the best chef in the world" (what the hell do they know... the oldest is only 11 :D ). Besides, if my wife did all the cooking I'd never get to eat the food I like the way I like it. :thumbsup:

My dad is 85 years old, senile as all get out and gets lost in his own backyard.

Luckily he never cooked for us kids ever as I recall and he is not allowed to go near a stove these days. I've never ever seen him make anything as much as a mere sandwich. :confused:

Off topic - Thankfully I live in a climate where this is never an issue. I may be rugged up in all kinds of clothing, but the grill is never off limits :)

My dad and a mate actually took cooking classes when I was 12 or 13. We didn't really see much output from it until my mum went away for a week to a conference and dad pulls the fancy french cooking classes out of his butt. Mum was almost sacked as full time cook at that point - I don't think my brothers and I had eaten that well before. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have lasted - a little to much time taken for a full time worker to whip up gourmet everyday :)

My mum is not a bad cook but when you have a limited budget and it is necessary to put something nutritious on the table every day, you do tend to fall back to the basics (meat and three veg).

Fast forward to now - my wife is a good cook, but tends to be very recipe focussed while I'm more a case of "what is in the cupboard and what can I create with that". I've really only had one disaster - added some vinegar to a stir fry to try and compensate for the over sweet sauce - eewww! We share the cooking and already have the two year old helping to stir things and hopefully we can get him interested in proper cooking early.

For those who don't cook now - I recommend doing a couple of evening courses - our local community college has some really good classes and they just help you to get the basics down and are usually quite social as well (20 people cooking up a storm then sit down with a few bottles of wine and eat!

I'm a mess specialist as well. I create some fantastic mess ;)

Heh! My dad is 87...in the alzheimers unit at the nursing home. When I ask him what he had for dinner (lunch, breakfast) he thinks for a second, and says "FOOD!" :thumbsup: :D Pretty cute. He never cooked.....too bad, my mom was pretty awful.....:eek: My husband will cook occasionally, but only if expensive ingredients are involved. Still, I like a man who cooks! How about that Curtis guy in "Take Home Chef"? :suave:

My dad is a great cook. He is retired Navy and did quite a bit of cooking there. When I was growing up he did most of the cooking and it was excellant.

Dad cooked breakfast. Mom cooked everything else. I have no idea why, other than my dad must have been more of a morning person.

My wife cooks everything in our household... unless open flame and charcoal are involved. Not overly proud of that, but she is amazing at it and likes to do it.

My father followed what the cookbooks said to do (except w/cinnamon - he loved that); my mother followed what she was taught to do do. Because of this, and adapting, I and my brother have become pretty good at whipping up a meal.

offtopic -

Chasing the Aussie chefs are you? Though his accent has obviously suffered from being in the UK too long.

He does another cooking show with another Aussie called "Surfing the Menu", which is a pretty cool Oz travel/cooking show. I saw the two of them and a couple of hangers on when I was on holidays a couple of years ago and my wife commented that they had "enough hair product to open a hairdressers" - I guess celebrities need to make sure every strand is in place...

My mother is the chef of the family, she's the type that has to catch her daily cooking shows. My Dad usually ends up being the assistant. The one area my Dad rules is the BBQ. Anything grilled he does.

In my household, my wife does most of the day to day cooking, at least 75% of the time. I enjoy cooking, but typically do specialty dishes (Pizza, Burgandy Beef Stroganof, chilli, baked beans, etc...) genereally things requiring more prep time, made from scratch, or big things we for occasions.

My dad is an excellent cook.
He does it far less than my mom.
My mother is a well-intentioned, loving person that makes possibly the worst food that someone who has been cooking for so many decades could make. She offers no variety, she has no interest in cooking...

My dad cooks on special occasions.
I wish he cooked more.

My dad cant cook, heck he even burned microwave popcorn once. However the man can definitely grill, my mom doesnt even know how to start the grill.

My dad didn't really cook before my mother and he split up. Now he cooks, unless my grandma is visiting, then she cooks. He pretty much cooks only when no one else will do it for him.

I am the cook in my immediate family, my g/f can cook a few things if she has a cook book and her mom on speaker phone, but I'm the one who really busts out the meals :)

My dad is all thumbs in the kitchen, he is of the generation where the wife cooks the meals, he does grill but my mother tells him how long and when to flip. He even struggles with sandwiches, sometimes I think he does this so someone will do it for him.

My dad only cooked when camping. He's pretty awesome at it. Even if my mom would go out of town, she'd always leave frozen casseroles. And then I'd have to warm them.

:lol: :thumbsup:
Heh! My husband even asks me to "fix him a plate" when food is buffet style...:p my son is in training....:rolleyes: I usually don't mind it, it only takes a second, and seems to make them feel good. But I have no qualms with "helplessness" ;) when it comes to lawn mowing duties, car issues, and computer hassles.....works for us.

My dad <i>can</i> cook, but he rarely does. My mom is way better. Well, I should rephrase that. My dad is normally the one who cooks breakfast and BBQ's, and pretty good at both.

my dad does not cook. when he was in the army, he would rather switch with someone who was on patrol to get out of cooking.
(ps. my dad was in the army during the vietnam war)

As far as I can remember, my dad never cooked. Ever. Not even a sandwich or toast, or barbecuing. My mom made everything. He was also very picky with the foods he would eat. I think he did know how to make a few things though - he was a clever guy.

My father cooked. Good thing too, since he was a professional chef. He had a way with potatoes in particular that even in memories amazes me. He had more ways of cooking potatoes than I ever would have thought possible. Raw or cooked he taught me that potatoes were the perfect go-with for any dining situation. They could be sliced, diced, mashed, riced, cooked with or without cheese or butter, with or without oils or cream. They could be added to soups and stews and cooked alongside any meat and fish and poultry as well.

My dad is the grill master of the house. Only man I've ever seen fire up the grill to make pancakes.

My dad cooked, though not often because he was usually building our house right under our toes most of the day and was all grimy and dusty when he came in. He taught my mom (who grew up with a maid, and so was not good at cooking!) to cook mostly American food, and she taught herself to cook Thai food. So she mostly cooked. But he was a bachelor long enough to learn how to feed himself... and as many others have said, he was a pro at the grill, breakfast, and camping. Funny.

Ktspktsp's and my future children will be very proud of their father for being an outstanding cook, however. :icare: He knows his way around a kitchen and a cookbook, both qualities that I do not have! :lol: He loves his potatoes, too, so I can see him being something like Wilkerson's dad. :)

My dad never cooked. That was moms job.

For all you dads out there, do you cook?

My dad has been the house hubby for the past five plus years at home...so when my mom gets home he cooks her dinner. I think it's awesome.
He can cook like a true southern man. I've learned my omelet skills...boiled peanuts...peaches...blackberry jams and more all from him.
Plus the fabulous mackaroni casserole...
So good.

My dad only cooks when my mom is out of town, and after having to eat his meals a few times, I realized why.

My mother cooked, because it was the woman's duty (even when she herself worked). Her stuff was rather bland and boring.
When my father could no longer work for health reasons, he learned to do some pretty cool things. He'd keep at some thing until he perfected it. He could make darn near anything on the grill or over a campfire and he cooked outside unless weather kept him inside.
On the whole, me and my siblings were taught cooking skills from the moment we could reach the stove, even on a chair. I could prepare an entire meal for my family (although simple) from when I was about 8. We soon learned if we wanted any choice in what was to be served, we had to take the responsibility of the meal upon ourselves.

My husband does okay with a BBQ, otherwise his best meals are made with a phone call.

While my father was not much into cooking (other then eggs and french toast), I do most of the cooking in our house. Sometimes it is a challange to get our 3.5 year old to eat some of the meals (Thai Curry, Fajitas, etc), we have found that he will eat a lot of types of foods that his friends won't touch (since it seems that thier diet mainly consists of chicken tenders and fries).

Even though my father ran his own construction business and my mother was a housewife, he did all the main-meal cooking in the house. He was a terrific cook, so my Mom always deferred the cooking to him so she could enjoy his cooking too.

I am married now, but my wife does all the cooking, so I don't appear to be following in his footsteps.

My dad cooked a lot before my parents got divorced. My mom never really has cooked much. I LOVE to cook though. My dad must've got my hooked early on.

Seer666, I love grilling, but have never made pancakes on the grill. I may have to give it a try. :)

My dad cooks all the time, it seems to be a big thing in my family though, everyone in my family cooks and loves food.

My dad used to cook us scrambled eggs and salami on Sunday mornings when my mom slept in. Since his eggs were usually quite well done, we were thankful this was only a couple of times per year. :lol:

He was the Grill King, though. :)

I did, for years. My ex's cooking skills began and ended with a can opener and a microwave. She even managed that poorly. At one point I was working full time and taking 16hrs at college. I came home to find she'd heated up some canned noodle soup. After a couple spoon fulls I asked "how much salt did you add to this?" "None, why?" "It's really salty." After eating a little more I asked how much water she added. "I didn't add any water, why?" Because on the side of the soup can it says "add one can of water to soup and heat."

Wish I could say I was making that up.

My dad only cooked occasionally, always ethnic foods. Scotch eggs for breakfast, colcannon, boiled bacon and cabbage. It was always good, though. Still, he only cooked maybe 5 times a year.

I cook 5 of 7 days of the week, probably. My wife takes something out of the freezer or we eat out the other 2 days.

Cooking Fathers
 

My step-mom and dad split up the cooking (until they divorced). The things my dad made were usually pretty good ... same for my step-mom.

My wife doesn't like to cook main-course stuff (she can bake her ass off though). I usually do the cooking. I've worked in kitchens several times during my life and have more than a few recipes from a couple of really good chefs.

My daughter prefers my cooking to almost anyone else's (except her uncle who is a chef). She has even thrown a fit when mom was going to cook some scrambled eggs for her rather than me. :)

My dad was the main cook at home, when I was young. He learned early (post war Europe) that if he was cooking, he would never go hungry. He later applied that (and I learned it too) to Boy Scouts & Cubs family camps. Being the first up, preparing breakfast meant that you didn't have to line up, and you got your coffee stratight away.

But he just cooked better meals than my mom (fragrant stews with spetzle versus my mother's fish sticks).

My father-in-law was also a cook - but he did it for a living at the Royal York in Toronto. He would also get up early in the morning, at home, and put on a coffee, and make his own won ton wraps from scratch.

I, myself , like to cook, and have worked as one hear and there (Holiday Inn, cruise ships, tree planting camps) and have discovered that women love it when a guy can throw together a meal. Although, last night's grilled salmon was wayyyyyy over salted.

I am in the midst of teaching my sons their way around the kitchen. My 10 yr old is quite profficient at making a tastey 2 egg omelette.

My step-father does all the time and he's VERY good at it, he does the majority of the cooking, my mom is also a VERY good cook. Needless to say my sister and I eat over there quite a bit.

My dad didn't "cook" a whole lot when I was growing up. He did however grill out probably an average of 1-2x week, more often during the few years my mom worked also. I'm not sure if you count that or not.

I cook on rare occasion, but I grill out probably 1/2 of our dinners at home. :)

Dad was the BBQer in the fam, and I remember him cooking 4 times in the kitchen. Twice he cooked while mom was in DC - both time consuming, gourmet meals for his 4 suspicious-of-new-foods girls. The first dish was shrimp creole; the second was some unusual meatball thing. The other 2 times he cooked was at Christmas for the extended family hen he cooked his spaghetti sauce which took hours. He took pride in it, and really it was excellent. Im going to look and see if I have it.

My ex does not cook. I often thought of giving him cooking lessons as a gift, but I knew he wouldnt like them and who wants gift they dont like right? But we had many conversations about this and tried some different schedule things that failed miserably. I thought it was a good skill to have and I thought perhaps it was fun we could have together, but as he said, why should he bother doing/learning something that doesnt interest him. However, if you want a peanut butter and honey sandwich, hes the one to go to.

Just recently J cooked a couple of meals for me. Both times, especially the first time, I was stunned and moved to just a few discreet tears. He did it effortlessly and seemed to take pleasure in it. I think he liked being able to do that for me, and I appreciated his talent and effort. At the same time he is so J - anxious. I wish he were normal.

Houseboat, the professional chef, coked dinner for me twice and that was a pleasure for me. He seemed focused on what he was doing and could take pride in his work. In addition he was pleasant dinner company - a breeze. Except for that damned gate.

So thats about it in re my experience with men cooking. There you go.

He coked dinner* for you? 80's right?



*Sorry couldn't resist.

My parents both worked so whomever got home first, cooked that night and whomever didn't cook that night got to clean up. It worked out really well. Once I hit driving age, I opted to do the shopping (so I could drive alone) and cooking because it was really fun. I don't think I cleaned a kitchen until I left home. My dad has his stand-bys: tacos, fish and veggies broiled, scalloped potatoes. My sis and I love them but my mom is tired of them so we would eat them when she was away.
Not a question to be asked yet: how may dads out here bake? My dad does all the clean up while we (my mom, sis and I) do the baking. It makes baking so nice!

My dad bakes. It's a recent phenomenon. I haven't actually eaten anything he baked, but I guess he made some really awesome chocolate chip pecan cookies a couple months ago. My mom was working at the time, and he decided he wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, so he asked my mom to tell him how before she left for work. She sarcastically asked him if he could read, opened up the cookbook, and showed him where the recipe was. It turns out he'd never been taught how to read a recipe; he asked my mom when she got home what "tsp" meant, and he used a coffee cup to measure the flour. My mom was really hesitant to eat the cookies, and it took some bravery to do so, but she swears up and down that they were the best she's ever had. He's decided to try baking more often now, because he liked it so much, and they turned out so well.