Yummy men

Mary Sullivan

There's something incredibly sexy about men who cook. A man making dinner for me would be a fabulous date. I would even agree to do the dishes if only HE would cook. Don't get me wrong. I love to cook. But a man cooking for me? Heaven.

These days chefs are rock stars. For three or four months in the fall, I watched a free preview of the Food Network. Wow, was it fun. I have a serious crush on some of the male chefs--most notably, Alton Brown and Bobby Flay. In my opinion, Geoffrey Zakarian, Mario Batale and Masaharu Morimoto are culinary geniuses. Just once, I'd like to taste what looks so incredible onscreen.

The women are amazing, too, i.e. Cat Cora and Anne Burrell, but today we're talking about men.

My favourite shows were The Iron Chef and Chopped. Both shows could get pretty tense. A new show, Sweet Genius, looks strange but compelling. Unfortunately, my free preview ended and I won't pay for it. I know I would watch it FAR too much!

I've never followed Jamie Oliver before, but his Christmas shows yielded fabulous recipes and his Mulled Wine knocked my socks off.

When I first met him, my (now ex-) husband wasn't a very good cook, but he made me dinner when we first started to date. I remember it well. He made wieners and beans and toast. It wasn't gourmet, but it was fun. Another time, he made Beef Stroganoff for me and some of our friends. Unfortunately, when the recipe said that it served six, he believed it. I often find recipe portions skimpy. There was barely enough for each of us, but he made up for it with dessert: ice cream covered with crushed Crispy Crunch chocolate bars and corn syrup drizzled on top. Again, not gourmet, but fun.

By the time our marriage ended years later, he was baking pies for all of his fellow firefighters. He used to like my apple pie and wanted to bake it for the other (at that time, early on, all male) co-workers. He had to make four at a time, though, because they were big eaters. His pies became so good that he became known for them in all the fireballs and was nicknamed The Pie Man. He would also, on occasion, want to make them dinner, so I taught him his faves of mine and we would double or triple the recipes and he would make them at work. He turned out to be a really great cook.

Years ago, as a joke, a friend gave me a book called The Hunk Cookbook. It was full of beefcake photos of good-looking men. Those photos obscured, though, that the men were real cooks who had donated recipes to the book. In fact, all of the recipes were donated by men--and they were really good! The author conducted a survey of 4,000 men and her results blasted a lot of preconceptions. Men were very, very interested in cooking in the kitchen, not just on the barbecue, and salads and vegetables were high on the list of things they liked to cook. As well, they avoided a lot of foods that weren't healthy. This book was published in 1989, so already they were leaning toward healthier options.

Has a man ever cooked a meal for you that you really loved? Who is your favourite celebrity chef and why? Does a night at home with a man cooking for you rate as an ideal date?

May is creeping closer and my release, No Ordinary Sheriff, will soon be on bookstore shelves. I would like to give away a copy to one of today's commenters.