Cook it up, boys

Despite the stereotypes, many men will be whipping up today’s Thanksgiving meal, rather than plopping down in front of the television drinking beer with a bowl of Doritos.

Roughly the same percentage of men and women now say they "enjoy cooking a great deal," according to a Pew Center Research survey released this week. About 32 percent of men and 35 percent of women like spending time in the kitchen, a smaller difference than 20 years ago, when in 1980, only 25 percent of men liked to prepare meals compared to 39 percent of women.

"Well, I wish my husband would do it," Sylvia Aguilar, 50, said, laughing. "But I am the one doing the cooking this Thanksgiving."

But although Aguilar jokes about her husband being old-fashioned, she said he does like to cook and will do it occasionally.

Charley Paradise, 37, on the other hand, said he does it all the time and will be preparing today’s holiday dishes.

"It’s a creative outlet," said Paradise, who enjoys experimenting with ingredients and looking up new recipes on Google.

"Sometimes, I am successful. Sometimes, I am not," he said. And his wife, Juana Paradise, 31, does not mind at all.

"I don’t like to cook," she said. "I’ll help, and I’ll watch."

At the Galaviz home, the children prefer their father’s culinary skills, Rolando and Rita Galaviz said.

"When I am in the kitchen, I kick everyone out. The kitchen is mine," joked Rolando Galaviz, 35, who learned his best recipes from his grandmother as a young boy and cooked his first turkey when he was 15 years old.

But Ruben Ybarra, 46, who works as a contractor in Brownsville, said he prefers to stick to custom.

Men "have been accustomed to not cooking. We have our wives," he said. "If I get asked to cook dinner, I don’t like it. I like to cook dinner when I want to do it, when I am in the mood or feel like it."

For Juan Portales, 43, cooking is too much of a time constraint, he said.

"I would rather not," Portales said. "It takes too much time."

While her husband enjoys barbecuing, Pati Hutchinson said she still does the majority of the cooking at home.

"My sons do more of the cooking than my husband," said Hutchinson, 48, who is visiting Brownsville from San Antonio for the holidays. "I guess their generation is going to be more into cooking than my husband’s."