Well, if you want to push the boat out, this is the ideal guy menu :
Starter/pre meal nibbles
Breaded mozzarella sticks, breaded chicken strips, salsa, guacamole and nachos. You note this is considered the ideal bar food, as well as superbowl fuel to mop up the beer.
Main course
A slab of meat - steak, porkchops, ribs, meatloaf, really good burgers. Something he can get his teeth into and cooked just the way he likes it. Potatos are the other main food group for the main course - fries or mash preferred, but a home made potato salad knocks both of them out of the park every time.
Vegetables - oddly enough a nice side salad with a good dressing is the best bet for the also rans of the main course world. Dressings are not something I'll get into, as it is the biggest cause of food related fights between guys with passionate fans of all types. Find out what he likes, but you can rarely go wrong with a good ranch dressing.
Desert
Hot apple pie wins hands down, with or without icecream.
All of them, except for the nachos, are easy to cook or prepare and almost impossible to cook badly with any practice at all. The hardest thing to learn on this list is probably how to judge a steak - there is a useful trick for that. The easiest is the salsas, potato salad, courtesy of the Contessa, and dressings.
Of course, if you landed a vegetarian, I can't help you much. Those guys are just weird.
Remember, we are liveblogging the Oscars, and would love to see you all! Details of shifts and how to join are here. There were about 14 awesome questions today, making selection very difficult indeed, so if I don't get to them before the 27th, you know when I am on duty.
Thanks for the tips!!! Is chocolate cake an acceptable substitute though? My financially-challenged friend asked me to his prom and it's likely one of us will be cooking. If I have to cook at his house bringing a cake will be easier than baking a pie in a prom dress.
Well, cake works if you have to, and in a prom dress, no, you don't want to be making pies or doing any complex cooking.
Chocolate - well, some guys like it, some guys hate it, so it is a tough call. You could always replace the apple pie with a lemon meringue that you can make in advance, since they are best chilled. Or take the apple pie precooked and cold to reheat - NOT IN THE MICROWAVE - use the oven on a low setting, with a brush of milk on the crust to stop it burning.
Cookies from scratch. My guy friends are always asking me when I plan on baking my next batch :)
Mine always asks for pavlova. It's a nice desert you could try?
Once I suprised him by asking his mother the recipe of a traditional dish in his country that he loves. Because he lives so far away from his family - he was thrilled when he came home and seen what I had cooking :)
I don't like pie. And I'm a guy. You should tag "THIS IS MY OPINION" on this. :'( My giftmeals will consist of pie forever. Not that I'm getting any.
I kid you.
Good answer for the most part. Nwo I want mozerella.