The Day Time Emmy Award-winning show Semi Homemade starring Sandra Lee, has enticed many home cooks to take shortcuts in the kitchen. Combining fresh ingredients with selected store-bought items to produce meals tasting like they were made from scratch, is the focus of the show. While many busy women are known to take shortcuts in their cooking, the growing numbers of men who cook would not think of entertaining this thought.

There are many factors that contribute to the notable increase of men in the kitchen, but studies have found that there exists a higher percentage of men in the kitchen today, than in the past thirty years. Some of these factors may include the airing of the Food Network shows on television, the perceived challenges of being the top chef, and the male competitors who lend a sense of masculinity to the reality cooking contests. The fact that men see cooking as more of an art, rather than a daily job, and the praise derived from their creations, are also draws

In doing my own research on this topic, I had the opportunity to speak with several men who are excellent cooks and derive great satisfaction from feeding others. In asking them about their backgrounds in cooking, and what drives them in their passion, I received very similar responses.

Eric Armentor, local jeweler, told how he absorbed an appreciation of cooking from his mother, who was a baker, and his aunt, who had a background in Home Economics. In his retirement he began experimenting with recipes and new kitchen devices such as the air fryer. Though he uses tried and true recipes from an old, frayed cookbook given to him and his wife, Debbie, as a wedding present, Eric also enjoys researching articles on the internet while adapting the recipes to his own taste and spices. One of his most requested recipes to cook is crawfish corn bread.

Paul Allain, another long-time New Iberia resident, has developed a keen interest in farm-to-table cooking, and accomplishes this by growing his own lush garden in his back yard in the heart of the city. In addition to a large organic compost pile which he maintains, Paul grows rows of greens, including lettuces, kale, and other leafy greens. One year when he had a bumper crop of tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers, and jalapeno peppers, he made his own spaghetti sauce. He dehydrated the array of peppers and made a powder which he used to season the spaghetti sauce. He cooks in bulk when he has large crops, and has been known to barter his fresh produce for seafood from his fishing buddies.

In my February food article I wrote a story about what is called 40 weight gravy. This gravy, made by cooking down various cuts of pork until it makes a rich, thick gravy to serve over rice, was one I observed being prepared during the Grand Maris Mardi Gras celebrations. Shannon Anderson was the chef par excellence for this delicious dish, and in speaking with him I learned that his love of cooking is derived from a proud family heritage handed down from his mother and grandmother. His interest in cooking was piqued by an older brother who was also skilled in the kitchen. He started cooking at the age of 16 or 17 years old, and has been doing it ever since, to the delight of his family at Sunday gatherings, yearly family hunting expeditions of 50 to 60 people, and for other requested events. He doesn’t use cookbooks, but his years of experience has given him an innate sense of ingredients, proportions, and spices. His sense of timing is perfected, also, and his dishes are never rushed, which contributes to the popularity of whatever he cooks.

Eldridge Little was another contributing cook during the Grand Marais Mardi Gras celebrations and has won numerous awards with his fellow Cleco employees at the World Championship Gumbo Cookoff contests in New Iberia. His skills were honed while watching his mother and grandmother cook and he learned from them that cooking was a process that could not be rushed. He described an iron pot of his grandmother’s, well-worn through the years, that could make the best, and still unduplicated, smothered chicken. Though the pot has been lost, he told of how a gravy could be made by just adding water to it. He now cooks for his close-knit family every Sunday and on holidays such as Christmas when his three sisters and extended family members dress to a theme as he prepares the meals. With the belief that the most delicious dishes are those made with the simplest of ingredients, Eldridge seldom uses recipes and judges the food by its look, taste, and coloring. He shares his enthusiasm for the culinary art with his coworkers in soul food contests and has instructed his son in Texas on boiling crawfish by sending screen shots via his phone of the process.

With the growing popularity of male cooking, one does not have to look far to find a man in the kitchen. I only had to cross the street where our neighbor, Bert Bienvenue, prepares meals for he and his wife, Myra, two to three times a week. Having grown up observing his mom, herself a talented cook, today he assumes the role of cooking the meals, while Myra excels in baking. For entertainment, as well as inspiration, they enjoy the television cooking shows on PBS, especially the “The Nick Stellino’s Family Kitchen,” staring Nick Stellino, a Sicilian-American television chef.

There may be many factors that have contributed to the appreciation of the manly art of cooking, but one resounding sentiment heard from all the men interviewed is the reward they receive from seeing the delight on the faces of those fortunate enough to savor their culinary creations.

The following recipe is one that Bert Bienvenue shared which is a favorite go-to recipe at his house.

Bert’s Combination Shrimp and Pasta

2 lbs. shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 pack linguine, cooked according to package directions

4 Tbsp. butter

4 Tbsp. olive oil

½ diced onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. chopped basil

1 Tbsp. oregano

½ tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. chopped parsley (cont. on next page)

½ tsp. red pepper, or to taste

1 cup white wine

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Melt butter and olive oil, add onions and sauté about 5 minutes until translucent.

Add garlic, parsley, basil, oregano, salt, lemon juice, and pepper. Cook a few minutes on medium to medium low.

Add shrimp and cook a few minutes on medium high heat.

Add wine and cook on medium heat about 5 minutes to reduce wine.

Add pasta to sauce and stir to combine. Serve hot and garnish with more chopped parsley if desired.

CATHERINE WATTIGNY embraces the “joie de vivre” as a wife, mother and grandmother, inspired by her prior nursing experience with a new focus on good mental health for all.