Without commenting on the "battle of the sexes," I just wanted to observe that my
зять (brother-in-law; husband of one's sister) has decided that
приготовление индейки (cooking the turkey) for Thanksgiving is a suitable
мужское дело ("manly job"), even though my sister does 99% of the cooking in their household -- including the "side dishes" for Thanksgiving, like mashed potatoes, etc. (But my B-I-L did every step of cooking the turkey -- brining, stuffing, roasting, and carving).
Presumably, the Thanksgiving turkey is "manly enough" because cutting such a large bird requires
big knives -- so, as comedienne Rita Rudner sarcastically observed, "Men feel they must do the cooking when there is DANGER involved!!!"
Other styles of cooking that are full of
Thrills!! Danger!! Adventure!!, and therefore "acceptably masculine":
- All kinds of barbecuing (because, of course, there are FLAMES!)
- Making pancakes and bacon for breakfast (there is a DANGER that if the woman fried the bacon, she might throw away the delicious bacon-grease because it's fattening...)
- Cooking a fish that the man has personally caught by himself (no matter how tiny the fish is)