If we sound as if we're dredging up old stereotypes here, we are. That's because the three cookbooks we're featuring--all aimed at men--have driven us to it. Paul Abrams' The Sport of Cooking avoids the stereotype of the kitchenophobic male a bit more than the others--that's obvious from its subtitle, "A Gourmet Guide for Rookies." Say gourmet and you automatically rise above the level of kielbasa and kraut. Despite the gourmet designation, Abrams said the book is designed for young cooks with little experience--he originally intended it specifically for men, but his agent, a woman, thought that was too sexist.
Ed Bartko and Steve Long's 2 Regular Guys Cookbook gets more macho. It includes football trivia and player profiles--perhaps in order to get men to open a cookbook in the first place. It's heavy on beef, sausage, mayo-based dips and chocolate desserts that are the stuff of Super Bowl parties (and make your guests look like linebackers).
So far, we at least haven't assumed that men can't even boil an egg--until we get to Wolf in Chef's Clothing, a reprint of a 50-year-old cookbook. The subtitle says it all: "The Picture Cook and Drink Book for Men." It must assume that men can neither cook nor read. As the introduction puts it, "The purpose of this book is to enfranchise the male, to unshackle him from the role of refrigerator vulture, icebox scavenger, from being a parasitic gourmet forced to feed on the leftovers of female cookery."
Ooh, that's harsh. Don your chefs' hats and wield your spatulas, guys. It's time to prove you can put dinner on the table. Why not start with a Super Bowl party?
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