Men: As the holidays approach...

Not here. I have total control of the kitchen on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Sometimes my wife beseeches me to let her make cranberry sauce or some such, but the main courses are my domain. Could have something to do with the fact she’s Thai, and they have no such traditions as turkey, spiral ham or turduckhen there.

No. We don’t live in the 1950s in my house.

No, but the women have to plead awful hard to be allowed in the kitchen. Oops. That’s wrong, too. Actually, everyone is in the kitchen at some point or another. Some of us are there all the time.

But I do count myself lucky if I can get out of the shopping. Hah! Fat chance!

My husband is the main cook in our house. I help out by making my mom’s famous green beans with bacon, and baking a couple of pies. He does everything else.

My husband really doesn’t cook. He grills, and he makes a mean pizza, but beyond that… not so much. However, when I’m frantically trying to finish everything before my holiday guests arrive, I am hysterically begging him to help me with things, not chasing him out. My mom and dad cook together for holidays, but I don’t think it was always that way. I’m not sure why, my dad is a great cook, but it wasn’t until the last 10 years or so that they started doing it together.

I couldn’t get the hubs into the kitchen if I had a spiked baseball bat.

My family relies on my brother and me for a lot of cooking. I was coordinating with my mother yesterday for Thanksgiving. She want’s us both there about 11/2 to 2 hours before the meal to finish putting it together. Plus we help with cleanup. We have 16 people for the meal. Telling the women they have to do all the work is ridiculous.

I am always willing to help, but I am not given independent projects. I am told to do specific things, like mash the potatoes, or stir the gravy.
My wife controls the meal on Thanksgiving. I usually handle the Easter Ham.

Besides dessert, rolls, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, my husband does everything else and I try to stay out of his way.

Nope. I have no trouble going into the kitchen at all. I am responsible for the turkey and cover support and logistics for the other items: wash the dishes, set table, get drinks, do emergency runs to the store, perform clean up on aisle 7, etc.
I talk with family members. I do not sit like a lump and watch TV like my BIL.

I think my husband is happy to do nothing in the kitchen on a holiday, but sometimes he does help out, more like I might boss him around a little where I need another pair of hands. Sometimes he offers, sometimes I ask. Thanksgiving my parents usually visit, so my mom and I can usually do it all.

Once in a while he owns a whole project in the kitchen, but not on thanksgiving. None of the foods on thanksgiving are foods he is familiar with making. His mom didn’t really make any of them growing up, he wasn’t raised in America, he tends to be in charge of foods that either he was familiar with as a child, or foods we have discovered together and purposely learned how to make.

There aren’t many woman in my family anyway, and the chief cook is my partner. He trained as a chef so I let him deal with the major things. I’m happy to peel and steam veggies, make the gravy and wash up.

I wouldn’t mind helping.. but my wife knows I’m a culinary disaster-freak. Luckily my wife doesn’t feel like she’s “living in the 1950’s” or anything. She just knows she’s better at it than I am.

Thank God I married before stay at home mom’s became labeled as 1950’s-ish in a negative tone. Sheesh.

@downtide Wow! And this is the first time that I’m hearing that your sweetie is a trained chef? That’s so cool. What’s his specialty?

@Kardamom I’m not sure what his speciality was when he was cooking professionally, but his speciality now is most definitely roast meat. The best duck I’ve ever had was his, and he does it perfect every single time.

But he can’t bake cakes to save his life. ;)

I love women to be sure. But no woman I know can cook better than me. They know better than to exclude me during the holidays. I am the difference between good and great on the holiday table.

@josie What are your specialties, and what all are you fixing for Thanksgiving?

@Kardamom I will be frying a brined turkey, baking cornbread (I make my own cornbread) dressing with apples and sausage, and roasted root vegetables, brussels sprouts and fennel with bacon chips with balsamic glaze and parmesan cheese, plus a no to low fat mincemeat pie. My girlfriend, who is a dynamite cook, is making the mashed potatoes and making some Middle Eastern (she was born there) deserts and appetizers. Should be good.

@josie Wow. You rule!!!!!!!!

@josie Makes me want to join the feast at your place.

@josie They should put your recipes on the menu at the Fluther Mansion Cafe, so we can all try them LOL.