Cooking
Scott Mclean
Today’s dissertation is on country guys cooking.
In general the old belief was that the man would be out working and the wife would have lunch and dinner done for him.
Reality was the wife usually worked all day herself then came home and made dinner. That’s the way it was in our house.
Both of our sons and I are pretty decent cooks.
Dad’s culinary skills topped out at being able to put spam and mayonnaise between two slices of bread. If he really concentrated he could maybe roast a hotdog on a stick.
Mom was a fantastic cook but if we had to depend on Dad we probably would have starved.
When I was 11, Mom had a surgery that was going to keep her in the hospital over a week. Dad was going to make hamburgers. The resulting (More like revolting!) creations were roughly the size and shape of a baseball. They were burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. I took one look and said “No!”. I sliced some ham and potatoes to fry and made milk gravy like I had seen Mom do. Dad took a bite and told me I was now the cook.
With both parents working, we had a list of chores to be finished after we got off the bus. My brother Steve later became a good cook but that wasn’t always so. He was always hungry after school but could not wait until things were fully cooked.
This was before microwaves were everywhere and the average TV dinner took 30 to 45 minutes to finish. I had watched him eating what amounted to a mashed potato popsicle and icy chicken because he couldn’t wait.
Does everyone remember tuna helper? He would eat that with the noodles still crunchy and the cheese sauce powder still in little orange clumps. Quite a transformation to the guy who made prime rib!
My Grandpa Sorenson was a passable cook and had been one in the army.
My older son has been collecting Mom’s recipes and putting them in a website. Not that Mom used any recipes other than her senses most of the time.
Hopefully most of you guys out there do at least part of the cooking!
See ya!
Editors Note:
Scott was known for his fresh baked bread and chili. He would also occasionally frustrate mom when she would spend hours on a proper meal and would have to listen to our praise for the wonder that was adding a can of Nally’s chili to a pot of mac and cheese from a box.