Meatloaf Gambit

IT is true enough that virtually all of the world's great chefs are men--but it is also true that most men are the world's worst cooks. Teaching a husband to cook, laudable though that feminist goal may be, can create frightening strains in a marriage--not to mention the gastrointestinal system. However, Suzanne Prescott, 29, a Chicago rock musician, has suggested a painless and sinisterly Skinnerian strategy for transforming husbands into expert meatloaf makers.

"The first week," she says, "you call home and say you ve got to work late but the meat-loaf is ready to go so why doesn't he just put it in the oven? Next week you call home and tell him you've left all the ingredients out on the counter and suggest he stir them together and put the loaf in the oven. The third week you call and say that everything is in the refrigerator and he knows how to put it together from last week. The fourth week you ask him to go to the store and buy the ingredients, and you've arrived.

"Trouble is that you end up eating meatloaf all the time."

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