A fellow can dramatically ramp up his social life when he learns to cook

A fellow can dramatically ramp up his social life when he learns to cook
                        
I’m unsure how many young males are reading this, a cooking column. If there is a young man in your household, you might want to start sticking these up on the fridge. I have an important bit of wisdom to share. Girls dig boys who can cook well. Of course, there’s a raft of old-school skills a fellow can deploy to dramatically ramp up his social life, none of them involving baseball stats. However, we’re about eating well and cheaply here; we’ll save the benefits of learning poetry for another brave columnist. Anybody can drive a girl to a restaurant. Any guy can eat something made by his lady friend, put on the appreciative Little Boy Face and make happy grunts. She’ll like that. So will her mother. But… A man who can turn out a dinner that passes for impressive in his kitchen, and carry on a conversation while he’s at it, all the while tossing a pan of vegetables, is going places in a hurry. Not only will your petite chérie be appreciative, she will also be proud of her man’s skill and craftsmanship at the stovetop. A cooking man is in good company, too. I just looked, and of the couple dozen cookbooks on my shelf, two are by female authors (Julia Child and Lidia Bastianich). The rest are by men. Here’s an extra secret: the language of cooking is French. As it happens, French is also the language of romance. My French is nonexistent, but one can’t help but pick up a term or two while learning to cook. Extra-extra secret: As the cooking half of a couple with friends over, you can be among all the interesting guests in the kitchen, with plenty to do. This keeps you from being stuck in the living room listening to Bob, who you barely know, prattle on about his 401(k). The social benefits for a man who cooks are endless. Being men here, we need tools (not gadgets). Just as you are careful to invest in a good set of wrenches that will last in the garage, you should invest in a few good tools for the kitchen. The most important items in your kitchen toolbox are knives. You need just three, of the best quality you can afford. Good knives have weight, a stiff blade, are well balanced in your hand, and have a tang, the metal part that runs all the way through the handle. We have an excellent maker of good knives right here in our area. Otherwise, most of the best cutlery seems to hail from Germany or France. A paring knife. This is a small knife about the length of your hand. It is used for peeling, coring, poking holes, and other small tasks. A butcher’s knife. I got mine on the cheap from my favorite butcher shop twenty years ago. It is used for boning and slicing meats, cutting up fish and poultry, and a hundred other jobs. A chef’s knife. Mine has an eight-inch blade. Used for chopping, slicing, preparing vegetables, in fact, just about anything, the chef’s knife is the first one to buy. As your budget allows, you can add others. A boning knife has a narrow blade just right for the job. You can get larger and smaller chef’s knives. As soon as you can swing it, get yourself a good Chinese meat cleaver. They’re a treat for whacking up carcasses and a myriad of other tasks. I’ve seen skilled chefs peel a radish with one. You don’t have to spend a lot. Keep your eye out at thrift stores and for good sales. Just as any other blade, your kitchen knives must be kept scary sharp. A dull blade is dangerous, because it forces you to use enough force to cause you to slip and cut yourself. Next time, I will explain my simple method for sharpening knives on a tight budget.


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