Several years ago I took over the cooking duties in my house. It happened by accident one Tisha B'Av. While surfing the internet, I came across a kosher recipe website. I looked at a few recipes and realized: hey! I can do that. Now I look forward to cooking for Shabbat each week. I buy my ingredients on Wednesday night and cook on Thursday night. Two mains and two sides for each meal; soup on Friday night; and gefilte fish loaf for Shabbat lunch.

So I would like to encourage future Chassanim and even those married men to think about cooking for Shabbat. Let's begin with a small step. Make one main or one side each week. If your wife doesn't want you in the kitchen while she is cooking, then plan to cook on the night when she doesn't cook.

Where to begin? First of all--DO NOT BE AFRAID OF FAILURE. That is cardinal rule in cooking. Do not start with expensive cuts of meat. I do not think that I made my first brisket until at least a year after I started but I will tell you how to cook a brisket without ruining it. You will have to promise to pay attention and promise not to fall alseep while something is cooking. Food needs attention. Even if something is going to cook in the oven for over two hours, it still needs attention. Look in on it at least once every half hour; make sure that the liquid has not burnt out; maybe it is cooking unevenly so turn the pan around every half hour.

Cooking is a combination of good ingredients; a good recipe and good technique. If you do not like one of the main ingredients in a recipe, do not make it. You will not like it.

So we are going to start with things like chicken and ground beef because if you mess those up, you did not waste a whole lot of money.

Here is your first project. This week let us make a cornish hen. When I am roasting chicken, I prefer cornish hen to a pullet or broiler. In the store I frequent which is Brach's on Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills, NY, he sells a two pack of small cornish hens for $9.99. Best chicken deal in NYC. That gives you four half chickens. A good eater will eat half a chicken. Some people will be happy with a quarter chicken. But trust me--they are very small. But with my menu of two mains, the cornish hens give the people a nice choice. Dark meat eaters and white meat eaters have eight pieces each to choose from.

Now for the recipe and a few techniques. You will cut the hens in half with poultry sheers (a very important kitchen utensil). You will lay them on a piece of parchment paper on your baking pan. Why parchment paper? Several reasons: first of all it keeps the chicken from sticking to the pan. Second of all, the chicken then cooks in own fat, keeping the chicken moist. Now I am going to give you the simplest coating to put on the hen--in a small bowl combine equal amounts of ketchup and plain yellow mustard. Whisk the combination of ketchup and mustard until fully blended. Take a cooking brush and coat both the underside and top of the hen with the coating. Put the pan in the oven for one hour at 400 degrees. Why 400 and not 350? Because by cooking the hens faster, you keep them moister.

Preparation time 15 minutes; cooking time: 1 hour. Check on it once after a half hour; turn the pan around in case the oven does not heat uniformly. You may add coating to the tops of the hen at the half hour mark if it looks like you did not put enough on when they started to cook. It can be made Wednesday night or Thursday amd reheated before Shabbat or left out on Shabbat morning so that they reach room temperature. My preference is to come home early enough on Friday so that the hens can be made just before Shabbat.

If any man out there makes this recipe this Shabbat, let me know. And do not be ashamed to admit that you felt good when you saw your children lick their fingers.

P.S. If you follow my recommendation, I promise you that you will earn many mother-in-law points. But we are not here to do this for our mothers in law. We are doing this in order to be active participants in preparing for Shabbat.

B"H

Thanks, Abe, for the recipe on preparing cornish hens! I've copied the recipe and pasted it to a file in my computer's hard disc.

David

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P.S. If you follow my recommendation, I promise you that you will earn many mother-in-law points. But we are not here to do this for our mothers in law. We are doing this in order to be active participants in preparing for Shabbat.

Never mind mothers-in-law, it's one's mother one has to be careful with. If she sees her son cooking she's going to wonder what sort of daughter-in-law her son has married who doesn't cook for herself!

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Originally posted by Yisroel Phillips:

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P.S. If you follow my recommendation, I promise you that you will earn many mother-in-law points. But we are not here to do this for our mothers in law. We are doing this in order to be active participants in preparing for Shabbat.

Never mind mothers-in-law, it's one's mother one has to be careful with. If she sees her son cooking she's going to wonder what sort of daughter-in-law her son has married who doesn't cook for herself!

I think the concern for many mothers in-or-out law would be; why isn't he learning?

Gentlemen-I am surprised that you all think it is inappropriate for men to prepare for Shabbat. Let me share with you what I was told by a well respected Rosh Yeshiva who I ran into in my kosher supermarket doing the shopping for Shabbat. I said to him: Rabbi, I am surprised to find you shopping. He responded: "My wife works hard all week. Why should I not do something to help her."

I agree wholeheartedly with this Rosh Yeshiva. Learning Torah is not supposed to cause someone to be less considerate than he is supposed to be nor is it an excuse not to be involved with preparing for Shabbat.

Abe, my comment was merely in jest.

I think it's great if men want to help out in the kitchen.

I think men should learn cook, if they don't already know how to cook. Even if the wife does all the cooking and if she wants to do all the cooking, there are times she may not be able to do so.....sometimes for extended periods of time. You don't want to starve.

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Originally posted by MosheYisraeli:
I think men should learn cook, if they don't already know how to cook. Even if the wife does all the cooking and if she wants to do all the cooking, there are times she may not be able to do so.....sometimes for extended periods of time. You don't want to starve.

Thats why it is always best to live near a kosher pizza restaurant, preferably one that delivers. That way you never need to take more time than i you need to make a phone call. I know of several that keep a credit card number on file so you shouldn't even take time to pay.

MKFink,
I agree with you entirely....if you live in a civilized Jewish community with kosher pizza restaurants etc. In Israel it's a no brainer. In Boro Park it's a no brainer. In Salt Lake City, it might work...there is a significant Jewish presence. In Tucson Arizona or Fargo, North Dakota, it might not work. So if you want to be a man for all seasons and places, learning to cook is still a plus.

M Y

Amnon's pizza in Boro Park will ship you frozen kosher pizzas. It's still better than cooking.
Their frozen pizzas are so good I looked forward to trying their in store pizza when I visted Boro Park for a simcha. Believe it or not the frozen pizzas are better.

A Freilichin Pirim.

MKF

Learning to cook was one of the best things I did. As somebody still out on shiduchim, the fact that I cook and don't expect my future callah to do it all has had a resounding positive effect. Plus, I think cooking is a very calming experience. After separating from the mishegas of the secular work world by cooking, my learning is much better since my mind is off the silliness of the day.

Stephen-You expressed my feelings to a tee. Men learning to cook is a win-win situation. It is very therapeutic. It is healthy for the marriage. It sets a model for children to follow. It is also a religious experience. From the time Shabbat ends, I start planning what I will be cooking for next Shabbat. By Wednesday night, I have to have my menu set so that I can do my shopping and on Thursday night, I cook.

I also happen to think that it is an opportunity to be creative. For this Shabbat, I made a cauliflower soup and a dish that includes sauteed butternut squash. I am probably eating better as well because I am careful as to what ingredients I use.

Abe,
Way to go....we should exchange recipes sometime.

A new skill can't hurt you!

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A new skill can't hurt you!

But why take a chance