How oh how can I tell Mr Inferior in a kind tactful and above all EFFECTIVE way that his culinary repetoire is deeply limited? Tell me that, eh?

[motherinferior]

I fully concede that I tend to cook the same things a lot. But DP - who only learned to cook about six years ago after taking up with me, in any case - currently cooks about two things in the week. Nigel Slater's chicken supper thing (somewhat neutered by DP's preference for skinned chicken breasts) and spaghetti bolognese which he learned from his mate Tory Ben. I have sort of tried sort of tactfully (by my standards) to ask could we not have the chicken thing every time he cooks. Hence the revisitation of Tory Ben's spag bol. Oh, and sometimes, to be fair, he does do some sort of pasta sauce variant. But it's deeply limited. Especially as DP has Prejudices against various foodstuffs including risotto. And cous-cous. And given my limitations in the areas of Tact and indeed of Relationships, please can you give me some suggestions for nudging him into a wide variety of gastronomic experimentations? Because quite seriously, it is beginning to get me down.

Oh and while you're about it how can I get him to cook more of our fresh veg delivery?

I once had to eat a braised banana wrapped in ham and covered in mustard sauce.

WHY?????

lol@ pig of the sea

why donyt you cooka dn he do somehign else as a penance
ironign or somewthing

SS what was the surprise? (no Kiwi?)....
Actually MI you are lucky - at least dp cooks, as I said before, mine only does so if I go into major meltdown (not nec about cooking,m but just generally) then the sod delivers a wonderful three course meal ...

I go with Delia too, but agree, not really 'manly'..

ROFL at pig of the sea Wilbur - manatee fricassee on restaurant menus no doubt.
Fab thread, MI, you poor thing.
Shall I come round and reprise my one off cooking nightmare of a French onion soup adulterated with Marmite to make the sod turn brown Dh nearly passed out.
We have to put up with hour long veg shredding marathons at the end of which a teeny weeny stir-fry finally appears. By which time the children have eaten the sofa cushions they are so starving.

Shoppingsecret is not ironing enabled

that's not very Greek-God like SS

Hope you can encourage him a bit, MI, but equally hope that he doesn't turn into my DH who loves cooking and thinks he's a TV chef. Every ingredient has to be available at the start, neatly chopped in a little bowl. As as it is the non-cook who does the washing up, I end up with loads of little glass bowls to wash up (OK, OK, to put in the dishwasher.) Everything he cooks has to have one or more of the following ingredients: Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil and/or Sundried tomato paste; and has to be stir-fried dramatically in a wok or big pan. I can't just grab a quick slice of toast for my working lunch on the days he's here (my working day is only 5 hours so i can't afoord a lunch hour), he has to go round the garden collecting various salad leaves which he then drowns with aforementioned balsamic vingear and olive oil. I can't just have cheese on toast, it has to be a bruschetta rubbed a little too heartily with half a raw garlic clove, smothered in chopped tomatoes and topped with mozzarella with huge basil leaves roughly torn. he has taken Jamie to heart. He loves Rick, Gordon and the lot of them and when I turn on the TV in the morning after he's been up late at night it isn't the porn channel that comes on, but UK TV Living Food or whatever it's called. It's lovely to have a foodie hubbie but so tiring!

No, I'm sorry - but you have a partner who can cook things which are edible? No sympathy from me then. I have had to endure such culinary delights over the years as sardine curry (several tins of sardines, much curry powder), cheese sauce (lump of cheese chucked in saucepan of milk - "well, that's how you make it, isn't it?") and - since the advent of the blessed Saint Jamie a complete inability to cook anything without chucking in a splash of this, or a splosh of that so that even something like baked beans on toast is rendered inedible ("bet you can't guess what the secret ingredient is?" "Well, judging by the way the kids are gagging...polyfilla? grass clippings?")

I've given up. It's easier if I cook. And he's a scientist - surely following a recipe is akin to science?

My poor mum's had spag bol every saturday for the past 11 weeks cos I gave dad a really easy recipe for pasta sauce

slightly off topic, had a friend whose father asked wanted he likd in his sandwiches - he said sandwich spread (he was about 12 at the time). He got sandwich spread everyday for 3 months!!

Wordsmith LOL.....!

No I'm being really hard on my DH, he is very good in the kitchen but a bit fundamentalist when I just fancy a tomato ketchup sandwich. Luckily he's starting a new job next week so won't be here for lunchtimes any more.

By the way I enjoy cooking too, and I occasionally do use balsamic.

Wordsmith I think you might be married to me

I can't be! DH is up the garden, breaking our neighbour's hedge trimmers! (He may be good in the kitchen but he's a bit of a nightmare with drills and shears)

.... or do you have a laptop secreted up there, DH/MI?

as someone who unfortunately married Tory Paul, I would say you need to focus on the things he likes to eat. If he is a big meat fan, could you try and get him to do a steak? It's dead easy to grill (or fry, whatever you prefer) - all he has to do is either a jacket pot/chips and a salad and perhaps a sauce (could be tomato based or mushrooms/leeks with a bit of creme fraiche e.g.) and steak is very manly (v important!).

wrt the veg delivery, could you get him to stir fry some of the veg (there often seem to be loads that can be done this way)? I have found even Tory Paul shows some interest when a giant wok style frying pan (again v masculine!) comes out.

you know I've been thinking about this as I've been making my way through my morning

dh has just started cooking again after a gap of about 10 years, which was brought on by me sucking all the fun out of it, saying things like 'this is lovely but the mushrooms were for tomorrow, I'll have to get some more now - sigh - another job to do', peering over his shoulder suspiciously, making helpful 'suggestions' and generally leaving him feeling he couldn't put a foot right

unless he regularly moans about your signature dishes I'd be a bit more grateful, tbh. cos I've learned my lesson the hard way and now I'm glad to have any old cock that he produces

cappucino

I'm meaning any old rubbish of course

if that was what the was about

I had to eat the braised banana in ham and mustard because my aunty helen had cooked it for me and i didnt wnt to hurt her feelings. She thought it was the height of elegance! The pudding that followed was a glass of tia maria and I was very glad to drink it

I had to eat the braised banana in ham and mustard because my aunty helen had cooked it for me and i didnt wnt to hurt her feelings. She thought it was the height of elegance! The pudding that followed was a glass of tia maria and I was very glad to drink it

if this was a man postign " My wifies cookign is crap" we all say
wlel get off yer arse and do ti yerself then

whoops

oh but we expect a lot from our menfolk here poisson

only yesterday there were some silly women expecting their dhs to change nappies