Cooking for Christmas

[Misha]

Then Doll is one little poor Cinderella 

I have to confess that I haven't the foggiest what you are implying here.

[Boethius]

Gator, the baking soda would make your pudding soggy because yorkshire pudding rises because of steam.  You still use the yolks, too.  

You can substitute the beef fat for oil in Oliver's recipe.  I think his is just intended to be healthier.

You also have to watch closely - could be that your puddings rose spectacularly, but you waited too long and they collapsed - also the result of steam as a "leavening agent".

[BC]

Two favorite American dishes that go over really well in RU

Crispy fried chicken wings and spare ribs..

I love these food threads.

[Boethius]

Ribs are a very popular dish in Ukraine (don't know about Russia).  Lots of soups with smoked ribs, ribs with sauerkraut, baked ribs in sauce.

[Doll]

I have to confess that I haven't the foggiest what you are implying here.

Cinderella had to work too much  with nobody to help her 
My husband works long hours, I don't, besides I have the teen at home- so I cook a lot (my hubby doesn't).

[Misha]

Cinderella had to work too much  with nobody to help her 
My husband works long hours, I don't, besides I have the teen at home- so I cook a lot (my hubby doesn't).

I simply enjoy cooking.

[GQBlues]

If anything, I probably cook and bake more, on average, than my wife.

I enjoy cooking very much, mostly learned from scratched, trial and error, or at times pulled recipes from restaurant's website. I'm neither a gourmet or a great cook, if anything somewhat passable with occassional big hits. Definitely a result of embracing being a bachelor for so many years. Cleaning to me is more a habit than anything else. Looked after myself since I can remember and left the house when I was 17 to live on my own. Women always loved walking into a tidy bachelor's pad so I was always too happy to indulged.

In our home, there's no division for the most part, especially cleaning the house and other domestic chores. Taking out the garbage is the lone exception. I like cleaning the kitchen, the one place in the house I'm really anal about making sure is immaculate. I don't like cluttered sink and counters. Dirty dishes, tacky floors. I don't like water spots, dirty range tops, filthy backsplashes. As I will never expect anyone to clean, let alone my wife - I'm always happy to see this state myself. Wifey is fanatical about vaccuming which helps since we have two cats at home.

Now that my wife gets home later than I do most of the time, I do most of the cooking. Thank goodness for creature comforts, crockpots, rotisseries, grills, etc...it helps immensely. Before wifey started working, she'd always surf the web for recipes and would always try to impress me. LOL. She learned to cook so many different variety of dishes. Indian, Cajun, Korean, Peruvian, Hawaiian, Italian, Mexican (menudo - yum), Filipino, and even learned how to make Kim Chi at home. She would always try to duplicate whatever food we like when we eat out.

When my wife would get a little craving for the tastes of home now and then, then I'll let her have her fill and fix something else for me. I'm not too crazy about Russian food, sorry. Especially Pelmini with ketchup - yuck. Borscht, I like and would occasionally make some for us.

Some of the food my wife loves that I fix are the easiest for me to make. Oyster spaghetti - simmered on basil, red wine and lightly sprinkled with chopped fresh parsley. Baked game hen on either Campbell's Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom (she couldn't get enough of this when I first made it for her. Our pantry today probably have a full case of Campbell soup), steamed Chilean Seabass or Trout, any grilled meat accompanied by Kim Chi.

Strange as it may sound, we don't really expect much from one another, and as a consequence, we always seem to get the most out of each other. We just feel good living a simple life with one another, you know...

[facetrock]

Your right GQ about Pelmini.  Total dog food and every RW I have ever known wants to make it for me I now refuse to eat it.

[boaterguy]

Your right GQ about Pelmini.  Total dog food and every RW I have ever known wants to make it for me I now refuse to eat it.

RRRRR RUFF! RUFF! ARF! ARF!

Perhaps you never had good pelmini! Tis the 1 dish my MIL is a master with and my wife can't duplicate. She makes it all from scratch...down to even grinding the many different types of meat she blends together in hers. Twas my favorite dish in Russia!

At our house as a general rule I prepare the meat and my wife the garnishes. Group effort when we make the big ole pot of borsh that lasts almost a week!

[Aloe]

I have noticed that western men cook more than ours. I think, this is because in Russia/Ukraine we have this old stereotype that the women have to cook, clean and that this is our business, not the men's.

It sure as hell is the stereotype here, in Belgium. First thing my husband said about housework was "you do it, i do not want any part of it" lol. I see many women here cleaning and cleaning and cleaning like crazy, they make me feel a little embarrassed cuz i dont clean every single day My hubby does clean occasionally, and even cook an omelette, but thats about it. He absolutely refuses to go to a shop after work to pick up something small, because "you can do it, its a part of housework"    

[RussianWind]

Especially Pelmini with ketchup - yuck.

It's American style to eat everything with ketchup. Then why are you surprised about disgusting taste 

[SANDRO43]

It's American style to eat everything with ketchup. Then why are you surprised about disgusting taste

Totally agree. Adding sauces - the French are long-time masters in this - can either enrich the flavour of something or simply mask its lack of it or its unpleasantness, witness the spicy condiments of most hot countries, where no refrigeration was available until rather recently and food, meat in particular, would rot rather quickly - hence the various blood-letting prescriptions of the Jews and Arabs .

Subtlety of flavours doesn't seem to be much prized in many countries.

[mies]

This might be a silly question but what do the RWs think of cooking a giant turkey or 10 kilo ham for christmas dinner?  I dont think its to common in the FSU or am I wrong?

this is a strange question. It is not very common for Russians to be marrying Americans either.