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Your wife is a terrible cook, what do you do? (1 Viewer)

Weird how women can bake but can't cook.  While it's nearly impossible to mess up meat and potatoes there are dozens of ways to mess up a loaf of bread.  Just weird.

 
My wife was a mediocre cook, but I found she was spending $30-40 on a meal that really wasn't that good. I took over for a little while and her pride motivated her to get better (she stays home). We made some changes and she's gotten better. 

 
proninja said:
Yeah, and with the electric ones they're just as easy to use as a crock pot. I tried to throw our crock pot away a couple weeks ago, my wife likes it for one soup she (rarely) makes. So it still takes up space in my house, sadly. 
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I assumed, in this day and age, by crock pot people meant the electric 7 in 1 pressure cookers. I stand corrected, sir

 
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James Daulton said:
If you'd have taken @Dentist constant advise not to get married....oh that's right, that Dentist is now long gone.  Replaced by some new chest-dumping obsessed caricature of the no marriage, cheapskate, bad beat crying mother ####er we all came to love.   Ok he may have always loved the chest dumping, but the rest is true. 
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It's true, I've admitted to being a fraud.   I still believe many people shouldn't get married, as evidenced by the high divorce rates.

I'm still a pretty die hard cheapskate and financial shamer....   and I do hate bad beats... I really miss online poker,  #####ing about those was the best part.

2016 Me misses 2006 me also,  although 2006 me had a paltry net worth

 
proninja said:
A crock pot is a surefire way to make sure she never makes any great food. Whatever you can make in a crockpot, you can make better in something else, assuming some modicum of talent. 
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But she doesn't have any talent.  Hence the suggestion. 

And crockpots aren't bad at all. They're good.  Not great.  Sounds like that's a huge improvement to our OP. 

 
tonydead said:
Weird how women can bake but can't cook.  While it's nearly impossible to mess up meat and potatoes there are dozens of ways to mess up a loaf of bread.  Just weird.
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True.  My wife is a killer baker but her cooking is just okay (although she's working on it and is getting better). 

 
Cooking gets better with experience and constructive criticism.  If he's afraid to give her the constructive criticism---he should then go out of his way to cook together with her on the weekends.  He should take lead role--but let her feel involved so that she can see and absorb the process. I think over time--this will end up in her evolving into a good cook.  Lastly--if they are going out or cooking together from Friday nights-Sunday nights--he only needs to worry about meals from Mondays-Thursdays.  There is nothing wrong with making enough food for essentially four days and refrigerating it.  This would make it so that all she would need to do is warm up portions of pre-prepared meals.  

 
proninja said:
Yeah, and with the electric ones they're just as easy to use as a crock pot. I tried to throw our crock pot away a couple weeks ago, my wife likes it for one soup she (rarely) makes. So it still takes up space in my house, sadly. 
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A crock pot is good for making beans, otherwise worthless

 
Dentist said:
It's true, I've admitted to being a fraud.   I still believe many people shouldn't get married, as evidenced by the high divorce rates.

I'm still a pretty die hard cheapskate and financial shamer....   and I do hate bad beats... I really miss online poker,  #####ing about those was the best part.

2016 Me misses 2006 me also,  although 2006 me had a paltry net worth
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When I die, I will remember dentist taking about chest dumps and saving money. You've created a legacy, you're no fraud

 
Can't believe AZ Ron's comment about banging his estranged wives friends flew under the radar, but I digress.

1) I'd do as much of the cooking myself as possible.  Life is too short to eat bad food.

2) Divide and conquer.  Have her master salads and veggies.  Not half assed salads.  Great ingredients for the salad and then learn multiple vinaigrette varieties.  So easy and much better than bottled crap.  Veggies - I could probably train my lab how to roast veggies.  A little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Did tri-colored organic carrots last night.  Brilliant.  You do the protein if she can't at first.  Pick up a rotisserie chicken at Costco, roast some fresh salmon, grill a steak.  I'm sure you could teach her the Alton Brown method in one night.  The hard part is some people really have a feel for when protein is done and others don't.  A thermapen helps.  But realize that she may never master it like us carnivores.  Shopping excluded, can have a good dinner in 20-30 minutes from start to finish that tastes great and is good for you.

3) I recommend getting a cooking class for whatever it is she'd like to be better at.  I wouldn't do a specific type of food, but more on cooking basics.  How to make sauces, dressings, knife skills, pan searing/roasting seafood, etc.  Or do some with her.

4) Teach variations.  Just different seasonings.  You can do salt and pepper, Lawry's Poultry seasoning, blackened seasoning, jerk, and the chicken etc is completely different.  And that's just dry seasoning options.  

5) Crock pots are OK if busy.  But heavier meals for sure (usually making mashed potatoes to go along with that roast, right?) and it's not the best way to have veggies.  Soggy, soaked in the same gravy, not ideal.  Same with pressure cookers.  So 1980's.  We've evolved from TV dinners, tuna casseroles, crock pots and pressure cookers.

6) Recipes.  They aren't hard.  One of our favorite meals is getting flank steak from Costco and following Rachel Ray's recipe.  Amazing flavor and so freakin' easy.  All you need is the internet.  Don't even need to buy cookbooks anymore.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/marinated-grilled-flank-steak-with-blt-smashed-potatoes-recipe.html

7) Get a Vitamix from Costco.  Can make great soups quickly in the winter.  Couldn't be easier.  Recipes included.

8) Watch food shows together.  Seeing is believing.  Recipe.TV is a channel now (I think that's what it's called).  Food Network, DDD, etc. 

 
My wife was such a bad cook, I asked her to boil some water on the stove for potatoes when we first started dating.  I get out of the shower and ask where the water is?  She looks at me like I was asking a dumb question, and tells me it's in the oven but it is going to be a while before it boils.   :lmao: . I still laugh at her to this day over it.  I tried to make her a better cook and she can make a couple of ok meals, but I mainly do the cooking.

 
bucksoh said:
My wife was such a bad cook, I asked her to boil some water on the stove for potatoes when we first started dating.  I get out of the shower and ask where the water is?  She looks at me like I was asking a dumb question, and tells me it's in the oven but it is going to be a while before it boils.   :lmao: . I still laugh at her to this day over it.  I tried to make her a better cook and she can make a couple of ok meals, but I mainly do the cooking.
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NFW

 
bucksoh said:
My wife was such a bad cook, I asked her to boil some water on the stove for potatoes when we first started dating.  I get out of the shower and ask where the water is?  She looks at me like I was asking a dumb question, and tells me it's in the oven but it is going to be a while before it boils.   :lmao: . I still laugh at her to this day over it.  I tried to make her a better cook and she can make a couple of ok meals, but I mainly do the cooking.
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I ask my wife for meatloaf and she gets pissy because it takes so long. She starts with a red wine and mushroom reduction. Her meatloaf is as good as steak.

 
bucksoh said:
My wife was such a bad cook, I asked her to boil some water on the stove for potatoes when we first started dating.  I get out of the shower and ask where the water is?  She looks at me like I was asking a dumb question, and tells me it's in the oven but it is going to be a while before it boils.   :lmao: . I still laugh at her to this day over it.  I tried to make her a better cook and she can make a couple of ok meals, but I mainly do the cooking.
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My ex wife once set fire to a pot while boiling a Brazilian vegetable called pinhao.
I hadn't tried it and she wanted me to. I was napping when she put the pinhao over, just the veg, salt and water.
In a masterful stroke of inspiration she decided to have a nap as well.

I woke up to the smell of smoke in the apartment, woke her up, rushed out to see if there was something I could do, which there was, i.e. putting the pot in the sink and dousing it with water to put out the fire.

ETA: Pinhao (when they are not charred beyond recognition) tastes like really bland potatoes, but are much harder to peel

 
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As someone else posted, cooking is one of those things where you really need to have passion for in order to excel.  Sure, a lot of people can throw some chicken in the oven and open up some cans, but to really cook a nice meal takes planning time, good ingredients, and the desire to produce something outstanding.  It can't be a chore like cutting the lawn or raking leaves.    

 
James Daulton said:
As someone else posted, cooking is one of those things where you really need to have passion for in order to excel.  Sure, a lot of people can throw some chicken in the oven and open up some cans, but to really cook a nice meal takes planning time, good ingredients, and the desire to produce something outstanding.  It can't be a chore like cutting the lawn or raking leaves.    
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My impression was that the OP was just trying to get to this stage.

Throwing a chicken in the over and opening some cans can yield a tasty, nutritious meal. Doesn't have to be lazy slop. Keep in mind that the OP is the head of a family, not managing Le Cirque. Families don't need to eat 7 gourmet meals a week -- but all the same, the functional everyday meals don't have to be "painful to eat".

...

Been very weird to see the humble crock pot get dogged out in this thread. It's a tool -- just depends on what you do with it. Is someone going to come along next and lay into sauté pans or something?

 
Cooking, like anything, requires patience and practice. So one thing you can do, is be patient and understanding. Also understand that a new dish will most likely require a few attempts before it is up to par. When someone is trying to cook a dish that they've never prepared before, it most likely will not be prepared perfectly the first time around. The dish should get better each time it is attempted. What's most important though is to be open and honest about the dish and how it can be improved the next time around. 

 
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Oh, and I hear that Pigeon Pie is a great dish. Tell her to give it a try. And it doesn't matter if it doesn't taste good, it will still be pretty hilarious.  

 
Waingro said:
Cooking, like anything, requires patience and practice. So one thing you can do, is be patient and understanding. Also understand that a new dish will most likely require a few attempts before it is up to par. When someone is trying to cook a dish that they've never prepared before, it most likely will not be prepared perfectly the first time around. The dish should get better each time it is attempted. What's most important though to be open and honest about the dish and how it can be improved the next time around. 
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Parience and practice is indeed key. It took getting divorced and me living in South America for my ex-wife to develop skills that has made her meals edible.

ETA: At least that's what my daughters are telling me

 
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Not sure about the crock pot hate in here by some.  I don't think anyone claims crock pots are fine dining, but a well seasoned beef or pork roast with some veggies cooked in a crock pot can be very delish.  It's certainly a good cooking tool to have in the arsenal.  

 
James Daulton said:
Not sure about the crock pot hate in here by some.  I don't think anyone claims crock pots are fine dining, but a well seasoned beef or pork roast with some veggies cooked in a crock pot can be very delish.  It's certainly a good cooking tool to have in the arsenal.  
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This. We cook whole chickens, make chili, beef roast and pork roast, pulled pork, stews... We use it like 1-2 times a week. 

 
There once was a guy with a watch

Whose wife, every dinner, she'd botch

Some said "Try a Crock Pot"

While others here thought

That ####'s worse than a kick in the crotch

 
James Daulton said:
Not sure about the crock pot hate in here by some.  I don't think anyone claims crock pots are fine dining, but a well seasoned beef or pork roast with some veggies cooked in a crock pot can be very delish.  It's certainly a good cooking tool to have in the arsenal.  
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Looks to be something of a cultural divide. Arizona Ron, proninja from Seattle, etc. Perhaps "crock pots = fatty gravy-laden slop made by Paula Deen types" to folks in PAC-12 country?

 
My wife is very smart, has a Masters degree yet somehow she just can`t grasp the concept of cooking good food.  Everything she makes is just not quite right.  Either overcooked, under seasoned, very bland, bad combinations. 

Finally about 10 years ago my daughters said "Please just let dad cook everything"   My wife gave in and admitted she hates cooking..I love cooking.  The problem is that my wife is probably the non pickiest eater ever so to her everything is fine.  My daughters who grew up watching the Food Network treat every meal like a Chopped Judge.

Right now the only thing she will make is the stuff that is already prepared and you put in the oven for 40 minutes.

 
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I haven't read a single response in this thread, but if no one suggested plugging her in her porthole and then taking her out to dinner, I will be very disappointed.

 
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