I think all of us here can say that we love to cook. Perhaps some of us like to eat more than we like to cook, but we all take some sort of pleasure out of chopping, slicing, dicing, sauteing, frying, baking, braising, or grilling. I was thinking today though, about what really makes cooking cooking?
What I mean is, in this day and age when so many “ready made” things are available in the supermarket, what exactly constitutes cooking? Like many single folks with full time jobs, I come from a long day at work and want something quick and satisfying for dinner. Some nights that means whipping up a quick pasta dinner or a stir fry. Other nights, though, that means buying a jar of gourmet curry sauce and pouring it over some chicken and veggies, just like I did this week.
So… does that count as cooking? I mean, I turned on the stove, I made rice, I cut up the chicken. Somehow, though, it still feels like cheating. It certainly isn’t as impressive as whipping up something from scratch, but if anyone asks, I don’t feel bad telling them that I cooked.
It’s obvious to me that getting take out is not cooking. Turning on the oven and cooking a frozen pizza? That’s not cooking either, folks. However, for some reason, pulling out a frozen pizza crust, and adding sauce and toppings feels like cooking. Am I nuts here? Is this all just semantics?
So what do you think? Is turning on a burner enough to consider it cooking? Because when I pull out some frozen potstickers and fry them up, it doesn’t really feel like cooking. It feels like reheating. For me, I think cooking requires some sort of fresh ingredient. The jar of sauce is fine, but it’s the fresh chicken and vegetables that make it cooking. Heck, even some fresh pasta added to a jar of sauce counts as cooking in my book.
Where do you draw the line?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jul 09, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
I totally agree with your assessments of the cooking vs. reheating. The question is, when does it become over the top? The answer is almost every night in my house!