Beta bucks, alpha... cooks

GargantuaBlarg29 · 2016-11-13T14:27:54+00:00

I've always cooked. Sad to say the reason was because back before RP I got hangry. Uncontrollably and unreasonably hangry, and people knew it. Even to the point where if food was being cooked, I was still simmering because I thought it was taking too long.

I still get hangry, but a learned to recognize what was going on and control those emotions (it's my fault, eat a small snack and calm down dude), learned that actually cooking the meal curbs that feeling because I'm in control, and as a result learned that I really enjoy putting together flavors properly to make a meal. I get a kick now from walking into the grocery store with no list and nothing on my mind and just picking up stuff as I go to throw together into a great meal.

Live as though you were single.

Is also my manta when debating whether to do something or not. "If I was single right now, what would I do?"

drty_pr · 2016-11-14T16:09:36+00:00

If you have ever read any of James Clavell's 'Asain Saga', top tear shit man! The central character of every book is always one of the most alpha mother fuckers around. Dirk Struan from Tia Pan is the most bad ass charcter possibly ever created! Same as John Blackthorne from Shogun.

I've really takin a liking for cooking. So much so that my wife said "you could really cook any of the meals I make" recently. She is an amazing cook though. So I said "maybe". Don't want her to think her culinary skills don't add value to our lives. Good post man.

R3D_Dread_Rover · 2016-11-14T18:48:38+00:00

Awesome post. Planning and executing a delicious meal is an investment that pays off in so many ways. A well made meal is always an invitation for her to enter your frame.

Cooking Light magazine and their website has been an incredible resource for me, as has Skinnytaste. The OP is correct that you should print out the recipe and have it propped up somewhere close so that you don't have to touch it. I use printer paper with existing hole punches and put all my recipes in a binder. The binder is propped up on the counter in a place that's easy to see and out of the way from your work area.

Also, learn and internalize the concept of Mise en place

2gunsgetsome · 2016-11-14T18:51:27+00:00

I've gotta jump in on this. I always liked cooking but never really considered it a hobby until recently. In particular, I really enjoy preparing restaurant-style meals while camping. Since converting to bachelor life, I've really stepped up my cooking game. The kitchen in my apartment is pretty small and I purposefully don't have much equipment, so inventing meals that work in my apartment also happens to work for camping.

Here's what I use to cook almost all of my meals:

12" cast iron skillet
10" cast iron skillet
12" cast iron dutch oven (goes camping or in my oven)
2 gallon stock pot (the lid also happens to fit the large skillet)
pasta strainer
large bamboo cutting board
10" chef's knife (and I have wet stones so it's always razor sharp)
Pairing knife
peeler
garlic press
box grader (can also do zesting)
measuring cups and spoons
food scale
Thermapen instant-read thermometer
electric rice cooker
basic dishes, glasses, prep bowls, silverware, and tuperware

Important and related RED PILL tie-in, others have mentioned what a DHV it is for a man to execute an incredible meal (that he likes and others get to experience), but it's also an excellent opportunity to work a leader/follower role with your woman. I'm fairly certain this activity was a major factor in figuratively melting the panties off my two current plates. I invite them over to cook a meal and hang out. I don't tell them what we're eating and they get curious. They ask what they can bring. I tell them "bring a bottle of (wine style appropriate for the meal)." This makes them invest something. They show up and the first thing they do is seek approval for what they brought ("Is this one OK?"). Then, I give her a task to do (Coarse chop this thing, or 1/4" dice this other thing.) while I start working on the stove. Again, they seek approval ("Is this good?"). Then they get to stand there drinking wine and talk to me while I am task-focused. I do a couple drive-bys between steps to build some tension. Finally, I plate the meal and we sit down to eat, they have a foodgasm from the flavor. By the end, they're visibly worked up and usually kinoing me pretty hard, but to prolong the tension, I go clean up the prep mess before I hit the couch to finish the wine and "relax". We have yet to finish the wine before fucking.

Back to the subject matter. Here's some of my go-to meals.

Meal 1:

Ingredients: Steak, whatever cut and however much you want. I usually get 8-12 oz of tenderloin or filet mingion. One package of instant mashed potatos (makes 2 cups), one shallot, 6-8 cloves of garlic, Shiitake mushrooms (about half of the package they come in), one sprig of rosemary, 1/2 stick of salted butter, some red wine (I like Cab Sauv), and some heavy (whipping) cream.
Thinly slice and separate the shallot (onion ring style), mince or press the garlic, coarsely chop the mushrooms. Trim the fat if your steak has too much. Rub the steak with salt and pepper.
Heat your skillet (I use cast iron) over med heat and melt the butter. The butter will foam, slowly stir it until it just starts to brown. Put in the whole sprig of rosemary and let the butter coat it.
Add the sliced shallot and garlic. Saute them in the butter until they get soft and the garlic just starts to brown. Add the mushrooms and stir frequently, until they soak up the butter and start to brown.
Transfer that whole mixture into a bowl but leave the rosemary and any small bits in the skillet. Salt and pepper the steak and put it on top of the rosemary sprig. Preheat your broiler.
Heat the water for the potatoes and mix them up when it's ready.
Sear the steak for a few minutes per side, then put the whole skillet under the broiler. Cook until it's done to your liking, I go to 130F for med rare.
Put the skillet back on the burner, medium heat. Put the steak on your plate to rest. Remove and discard the rosemary.
Pour the wine in the skillet, about 4 oz. It will sizzle and steam, swirl it around to deglase the fond from the other ingredients. Let the wine reduce for a couple minutes, then stir in an equal volume of cream. Stir to combine and let it reduce until it's thickened to your liking. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
Put the shallot/garlic/mushroom mixture on top of the steak on your plate, potatoes next to it. Drizzle the sauce over the steak and get it all in your belly.

Meal 2:

Ingredients: Chicken thighs (about 1lb), same other stuff as meal 1, sauvingon blanc instead of red wine. Skip the potatoes and get some brussles sprouts and a red onion.
same procedure, but cook the chicken to 160F.
Thinly slice the red onion across the rings and shave the brussles sprouts as thin as you can perpendicular to the stem.
While you're cooking the other stuff, use your other skillet to soften the onions in butter or olive oil, then add the sprouts and cook them until they're just barely past crunchy (they'll turn bright green). Season well with salt and pepper.

Meal 3:

Ingredients: 1 lb of chicken thighs, one Bartlett pear, 4oz Brie cheese, 2oz chopped walnuts, 1 sprig of rosemary, green beans, 1 red onion, 1/2 stick of salted butter. *Small dice the pear (1/4" cubes), trim the fat off the chicken, and cut the brie into 4-6 pieces (leave the rind on). Thinly slice the red onion across the rings and trim the ends off the beans.
Make the rosemary infused browned butter like Meal 1.
Saute the pear in the butter, season with pepper, add the walnuts for a few minutes, then transfer that to a bowl (leaving the liquid butter in the skillet). Put the brie chunks in the bowl and cover while it's still hot.
Pepper and cook the chicken to 160F.
While you're cooking the other stuff, use your other skillet to soften the onions in butter or olive oil, then add the beans and cook them until they're just barely past crunchy (they'll turn bright green). Season well with salt and pepper.
Plate the chicken and pour the pear/nut/brie mixture over the top. The brie should have melted enough for you to pick out the rinds.
Serve with some Sauvingon Blanc and put that in your belly.

Grillin' (or in the oven)

Santa Maria style Tri Tip. Here's my method:

Get the biggest one you can (usually about 4lbs) and if the butcher will sell it untrimmed, get it that way. When you get home, trim the fat and save it.
Mix up a rub of 1 part black pepper, 1 part garlic powder, 1/2 part kosher salt, 1/2 part smoked salt (I like applewood). If you're cooking on charcoal or putting chips in your grill, skip the smoked salt and just do 1 part kosher. Coat the meat with that rub anywhere from 1 hour to 1 day before cooking.
When it's time to cook, gird up the small end of the meat to make it more rectangular using some cooking twine. Just like smoking, it helps for the meat to be fridge temp until right before the grill.
Put the meat on the grill, indirect heat, (~200 is about as low as my grill will get). Put the fat you saved on top of the meat (this is the trick). Cook for as long as possible, turning once. When you turn the meat, take the fat off then put it back on top once turned. Cook until it's 120-125 in the thick part. A 4 pounder usually takes just under 2 hours.
Once you hit that temp range, chuck the fat and put the roast over the hottest direct heat you can muster for a few minutes per side, until the thick part hits 130. Wrap it up in foil and rest for 10 minutes. After that it should be ~135.
Slice the meat across the grain as thin as you can and pile it on a serving platter. Pour all the juice from the cutting board over the pile.
Eat with ranch beans and texas toast. It's damn good by itself, but you can also serve with bbq sauce (SLO style) or salsa (Santa Maria style). Chimichuri is dang good with it too.

Happy eatin' gents!

WhiteTrashKiller · 2016-11-12T00:43:54+00:00

Get a grill. Unless I am steaming veggies I rarely use a cook top for anything else. I cook off the top rack on high heat. Steak 1" thick 7 minutes each side then 4 mnutes then sit for 5 minutes. Usually perfect unless meat was not room temperature before grilling. Pork obviously more time but you get the gist. I have had cooking duties my entire marriage, I set the meals(when I am home). STFU and ignore her insults and shit tests about your food. Even if you iver cook it, it is still protein

Grimsterr · 2016-11-12T06:04:59+00:00

I cook all the time, I like cooking. Find something you like to eat, and google up a recipe and just go for it. Been teaching the boy to cook and grill and smoke and bake and the proper sushi making techniques.

Coupled with this, he helps feed and care for our animals, and when the time comes he's there with me cleaning them and vacuum packing the meat for freezing.

As for a cutting board, I made this one: http://i.imgur.com/w7WnJdB.jpg

Learn to do stuff.

SampsonBrass · 2016-11-12T01:00:26+00:00

Blast from the past. Spenser. What a great character, those were some great books his girlfriend was a shrink or something I recall. I liked the setting of course. I think anyone that can read can cook. Always laughed at my FIL who never once cooked a meal so ended up making lots of toast as an old man. I thought I'd hate cooking for myself but have ended up not minding it at all. I made Julia's short rib recipie today. Very very tasty.

If I end up having to evacuate I won't be leaving the leftovers behind.

betabopper · 2016-11-12T11:36:37+00:00

One thing I've noticed is a woman's frame control goes into warp drive when you start learning about what was traditionally women's domain. She might be worthless in the kitchen...and that's why you can't be good or better than her in her mind.

My wife, who does minimal shit testing, kicks it up a few notches when I try something new, especially when it's a dish from her country that she probably feels she should be cooking already for me and the kids. She'll really go nuts if I source the recipe from her mom whose food is to die for and who is disappointed in her daughter for not cooking the old country dishes enough for the family.

Before MRP, she'd always be able to establish her frame as I failed shit tests like calculus tests. Now, I see the manipulative code scrolling down the screen, respond out of humor, and give myself room to fail in case it turns out wrong. There's always next time.

The flip of this situation would be if she were to go into the garage and pick up my wrenches to take care of that ticking sound she hears. What matters is her motivation for doing so - does she want to learn like I do in the kitchen or does she want to manipulate me into fixing her car by pointing out shit unowned? The difference matters, imo.

It's good if you want to cook to own your own shit. If she should feel like you are pointing out that she's not providing value in this regard, that feeling and its antecedents are on her. This is all about you becoming a man who can live like he's single.

Nice post.

AvidiusCassius · 2016-11-12T21:10:54+00:00

Generally speaking, I observe that most women cook because they have to (social expectation, and I come from a strongly traditional community background), while most men cook (who cook well) because it's art, craft, creation in miniature.

screechhater · 2016-11-12T01:37:10+00:00

My friend and I used to fire up the smoker or grill at our apt complex during winter and drink glog all fucking day until we were fucking smashed out of our minds. Man those were the days.

We still drink the glog but combo cook thick meaty chili and pork tenderloin and seperate them in containers for lunches. Our wives are great cooks, but as a couple of good grillers and smokers we got to have a reason to make glog or margaritas

I grill pretty much all summer and make stuffed bell peppers during winter as my specialty. The kids call it candy. They eat the hell out them.

Lots of great recipes online

If you get a grill get a Weber the heat retention on the gas ones a great. Chain then down. At 800 it hurts when they disappear

Darkwoodz · 2016-11-12T06:07:32+00:00

Your "better"response to her arguing about the price, wasn't a good response. Either way you fell right into her frame.

FlapjackUniverse · 2016-11-12T13:20:15+00:00

Good post.

Two manly kitchen tools that weren't mentioned that makes cooking a hell of a lot simpler/faster and produces better results:

An immersion blender. (Replaces these tools and is more efficient/effective than: standing blender, hand mixer, wisk)
Electric pressure cooker. (Replaces these tools and is more efficient/effective than: dutch oven/slow cooker, large pot on stove, saucepan)

Aechzen · 2016-11-13T11:33:35+00:00

Great post. Cooking well is alpha male behavior. Learn it now; you're providing for your family (if you have one), DHV if you're dating, and you're literally telling your wife what she's going to eat, without doing it at a restaurant. Saves money, makes the house smell great.

Good tip on chef supplies to check Marshalls, TJ Maxx, those kind of places that get strange quantities of quality items and mark them down. I got some great spatulas and measuring spoons there.

I would add that depending on where you live, thrift stores can have some quality items cheap, and everything is going to be used if you're actually cooking. I got some good Pyrex and Calphalon at a Goodwill.

Learn some name brands of quality kitchen items, and buy them when they're cheap. You don't need everything day one. Some stuff you'll only use rarely. I used my garlic press probably three times a week, but my orange zester maybe three times a year, and my melon baller almost never; only when I'm making fruit salads with melon and I want the balls rather than fruit polygons.

Having a well-stocked kitchen is fun. I've been cooking with an electronic pressure cooker for about a year, and that's fun. My mexican barbacoa is amazing, and barbacoa steam is one of the greatest smells. I host dinner parties. Had one family over last (Saturday) night to eat the last of my barbacoa. Had a much bigger party on Friday. Cooking for a group is AMOG behavior. Do it.

Sepean · 2016-11-12T10:36:28+00:00

Just to be clear, this is providing beta. It's good beta so nothing wrong with it, but it is not alpha. You might be able to display some alpha characteristics while cooking, just like you can with most activities, but that doesn't make cooking alpha.

Pinelero · 2016-11-12T12:02:22+00:00

I like this. Doing your own cooking is a great way to get control of your diet. Depending on your nutrition approach you can select menus with ingredients to maximize your macro nutrient goals. I do a paleo like diet, so high protein and veggies are big for me.

If you are into science, then really understanding baking, beyond just dumbly following a recipe, is actually very fascinating. Knowing the chemical nature of ingredients and how the order of their mixing and degree of mixing impact the quality of the synthesis is really interesting.

[deleted] · 2016-11-12T14:21:11+00:00

[permanently deleted]

Title	Beta bucks, alpha... cooks
Author	sh0ckley
Upvotes	31
Comments	54
Date	November 12, 2016 12:21 AM UTC (9 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MarriedRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/5chvqy/beta_bucks_alpha_cooks/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MarriedRedPill/beta-bucks-alpha-cooks.199371 https://theredarchive.com/post/199371

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