I like to offer chopping services, i can do that someplace else without being in the way and still do something helpful
This right here you are an amazing person keep it up.
We love cooking together but it usually means she cuts an onion very very slowly and tells me a story, while I cut the rest and cook the food. But we still love it both spending time together this way.
This is how it’s done!
Honestly that’s basically all I ever wanted when I’d ask my ex to come cook with me…
I then started saying “can you just come hang out with me at least? You don’t have to do anything, just hang out. I don’t even like cooking and doing it by myself while you watch TV isn’t really fun to me…”
Ex for a reason, but that’s all I ever wanted as well. Cooking used to be a social activity. It still should be.
I like cooking with a partner, but we tend to choose before starting who is the chef and who is the sous for that meal. The sous just preps and keeps the space tidy and fetches shit while the chef orchestrates and cooks. This is a heck of a lot more fun, and then the chef can be like “go set the table” or “start washing up” once there’s nothing else needed. Keeps it moving
I mean it’s great cooking with people that have a teamwork mindset just like in a good restaurant. But with backseat chefs that barge in halfway through the cooking process wanting you to change up the whole meal it just doesn’t work. It’s like…OK but why didn’t you tell me an hour ago? And this is gonna double the dishes to clean.
This also allows one of you to respond to every command with “Yes, Chef!” which is fun.
If we cook together what really happens is one of us does the actual cooking and the other person preps ingredients/cleans cookware.
imagine separating “actual cooking” and “prepping”. Maybe “work the skillet/pot/oven” and “prep” or the typical “pre-prod” “prod” and “post”.
Prepping and cleaning can be shared. That is how you split the labor. That is cooking together. If one person is less skilled maybe try to learn a little so you can enjoy it together (or not, maybe thats just their thing just a suggestion) and maybe if you are the more skilled one offer helpful tips.
Im being too serioili for a meme sub my bad but still cooking together can be fun
imagine separating “actual cooking” and “prepping”
You mean like a professional kitchen?
Ah so when you say you’re gonna cook dinner, people ask you “well who’s going to prep and clean after?” Nope, people know that “cooking dinner” means the whole shebang because it’s, in fact, not a professional kitchen believe it or not
That level of pedantry is maybe why you should focus on building relationships with people in positive ways instead of saying shit like that lol
just cook together dammit, which means doing the prep and cleaning together—you know, the stuff people would enjoy help and company with to lighten the burden? Maybe because you’re in a relationship with each other and actually enjoy making your partners lives a little nicer lol
I tease my husband about this - there was a Barney (the dinosaur) episode where he was showing the kids how to make fruit salad, by mixing together fruit that had been chopped and put into individual bowls, they combined them into one big bowl. I was SO MAD because what the fuck? He showed literally NONE of the work at all. So when husband is grilling, I prep everything and he puts it on the grill and he will joke he made it and I will say sure, like Barney.
But he cleans, man does he clean. I suck at that. I do not feel overwhelmed or overworked. 'Cleaning up after" is a separate job. Sure I do some as I go, not explode the kitchen, but not what I’d call cleaning.
I make my girlfriend call me chef when we cook together.
Not really, but now I’m going to.
Yeah this is how we do. Though usually I do more washing veggies than cutting them. Plus I’ll do the meat usually. But recipe execution and seasonings are all her. I’ll take the brunt of the dishwashing, she usually does counters and stove etc.
It’s always a mix of who does what but usually we get along well in the kitchen.
I used to be married to a chef, cooking together was one of our primary bonding points. They taught me how to cook at a professional quality but I’ve never gotten to a professional speed. Usually that meant I’d do prep work while they did a million things around me but as long as I was in my station it worked really well. Even now we’re not together I love cooking with people in general doesn’t matter if they get in my way or not. It’s just such a fun way to interact with people and I’m more invested in that than whatever the food result is
My wife cannot cook with me because she cannot fathom that I worked in kitchens, I watch youtube chefs for fun and when I want to I can COOK. She hasnt, doesnt and cant but thinks this is an equal partnership where there isnt someone in charge and someone helping. Ive tried but she just has no concept of time management or order of operations but perhaps the worst was when I was chopping vegetables and she reached under the blade to pinch a fresh slice to eat and popped it in her mouth with a smile… she stuck her fingers under a razor sharp chefs knife mid stroke to be cute…
Nope. 3 digit hand jobs are not sexy, I’ll cook for you sweetheart go relax.
I love cooking together, especially if it’s something complicated that requires a lot of prep and multiple steps. If you have good communication with your partner it can be fun, it really feels like team effort, and it can speed up the cooking quite a bit. Overall it’s probably easier to cook alone, but cooking together is faster and more fun in my experience.
If you haven’t cooked professionally before, or are “just trying to help”, you’re darling for wanting to contribute but likely unaware of the added complications you’re bringing to the effort. 😅 🤷🏼♂️
They’re not useless, they’re front of house staff. Set the table, run dishes, get people drinks, and don’t send guests to me unless they’re
selling drugsfeeling peckish. 😌Yeah. Pour me a drink and hang out. But stay out the way.
Selling? If I’m hosting people for dinner and doing the cooking, I expect any drugs you bring to be freely shared! Lol
Joking aside, though, I love to cook, and get routinely asked if I’ll make this or that. And most of the time I’ve gone over to a friend’s place to cook, or they’ve come to mine and I’ve cooked, they normally bring either booze or decent weed and share it. I hadn’t actually made that connection until now. Lol.
herbs are important in cooking, all varieties.
i would say cooking together works when one is the main cook and other is prepping or both work on different components of the meal
Cooking together is like dancing - both have to pay attention to, and complement, their partner’s movements.
I have friends who’s kitchen work as a couple is as amazing to watch as great ballroom dancers, but with hot things and sharp knives.
A game called Overcooked matches what I experience when there’s more than one person in the kitchen.
Such a good party game.
As someone who has worked in fast food, I fucking hate that game.
Man I’m glad I am not the only one. I already have a fucking job thank you very much.
eh, it can work. when my wife was well enough to cook we’d divide it like she washes, I chop and prep, and she cooks, then we split cleaning. Now I’m doing all of that and I really appreciate the occasions where we have a friend visiting who is willing to do some prep and cleaning. I usually do the cooking even when I have help, mostly because it’s rare to find someone who knows how to cook what we eat. But I’m always eager to have help.
Before my mom got to the point of not being able to cook anymore, we routinely cooked together for most of my life (as in, from the age of about 8 until I was 31. I’m 34 now). It was wonderful. We’d get excited, try new things, make little rest batches to try out new spice ideas. Cooking with someone else, someone that you love, get along with, is a fantastic experience. It adds so much to life. Cooking, food, meals, eating, it’s our most basic and lasting form of art, a showcase of love and expression. Doing that collaboratively can be a really splendid thing.
if you don’t mind me asking, is your wife still with you?
She is. She has cancer and spends a lot of time resting. She has more energy in the morning. She makes her breakfast. But I do all the cooking at night and usually lunch too.
I can’t imagine what that must be like, but I’m glad to hear you still have each other. <3
I’m with you. You can absolutely have two people in the kitchen… But only one can be in charge. My wife and I love cooking together, but if it is her meal or baking then she’s in charge. I do things her way, and I stay out of the way if I need to. It can’t be a competition or battle of wills. Someone leads, and someone willingly swallows their pride and washes the excessive number of measuring spoons or chops celery finer than they personally prefer it, or stands-by patiently while their partner curses at the recipe being half in metric and half imperial measurements.
I’m glad you and your wife were able to share that. Or whatever version of that was yours.
Yeah. It was a lot like that. She’d find a recipe to try, or want one of her favorites, and I’d just ask her how she wanted things chopped and prepped.
You guys are getting told things?
Depends how big your kitchen is, what you’re making and how organized you are. If you’re working in an appartment kitchenette you can hardly turn around in, probably not. If you’re making a family dinner for a dozen people or more in a big room sized kitchen in a family home, then yeah maybe you want some help.
There seems to be a sharp divide here.
I have a friend who is like this, used to be a physical chemist, knows exactly what she is trying to make and it’s a calibrated procedure that she needs to be focused for.
I like hanging out in the kitchen and I certainly like having someone willing to help out with stuff.
My partner says she “wants to cook together” what she actually means is she puts the stuff in the pot and spices it and I chop the veggies and clean up. But if I don’t she’s not quick enough to get dinner done before the children eat my skin.
My ex cooked well and liked to, but was SHIT at prep. Veggies sliced as thick as your wrist. Meanwhile I’m eh at cooking and also don’t like to, but I can prep like nobody’s business.
We had a system where she’d do the cooking but I’d do the sous chef prep, made her learn the few cuts I know like juilenne, cube, dice, mince, etc just well enough to tell me which to do.
Worked really well, probably the most well functioning part of that relationship, rimshot.
