What defines "real cooking"

Discussion in 'Discussion' started by Iskandar, Jan 19, 2015.

  1. Iskandar King of Conquerors

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    I was just wondering about this while making dinner tonight, but what do you guys consider cooking to box cooking? I mean, if we're talking about cooking without any sort of items from a box at all, the most I can do is Tacos, but even if we count boxes, what would be considered cooking from a box and not? I mean, I made Hamburger Helper for dinner, and a main part of that food is beef, and you actually have to brown it, but then you have other meals like Kraft Mac N' Cheese, which is entirely out of a box.

    There are after all some people who can't cook without using boxes that have some of the stuff, and then there's other people who don't use boxes at all. What do you guys consider actual cooking? Is it without using a box, or if using a box, is there an actual line that's drawn?
     
  2. 61 No. B

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    Cooking is preparing food with heat. "Real" cooking is not a thing. Some cooking is more complicated. That's all.
     
  3. Arch Mana Knight

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    I like thinking of cooking as any time you're using a stove. Baking is with the oven. Microwaving or "nuking" is with a microwave. Using a grill is grilling obviously. Using a fire? ...I guess that's roasting? If you're using none of those then you're just preparing food. Though I suppose you could use "cooking" for anytime you're heating food. It's technically correct.
     
  4. Ienzo ((̲̅ ̲̅(̲̅C̲̅r̲̅a̲̅y̲̅o̲̅l̲̲̅̅a̲̅( ̲̅̅((>

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    I have to agree, but I know what you mean. The line is hard to define so I basically go with if you aren't making the majority of it out of a box then it's your definition of real cooking. So if I used a pasta sauce but cooked the pasta, vegetables, meats, garlic and chilli's then it would be more cooking than having a ready made one and microwaving it. Of course, it would be even better to make your own pasta sauce using chopped tomatoes and a bunch of other ingredients so I see it more as graded. The more raw ingredients you use, the more "real".
     
  5. What? 『 music is freedom 』

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    Cooking is a very general term and can encompass a multitude of meanings. Indeed, one could attribute the nuances of its meanings to different situations, many of them a bit cultural, others fluid in their comparisons to what constitutes cooking or not. As somebody who loves to cook, I tend to think of "cooking" as a combination of initial preparation of ingredients mixed together and heated in a certain, distinct way, to create food. Pre-digestion, if you will; making it easier and more palatable for us to swallow, by cutting it up, mixing it up, and heating it up. One must take care to identify the distinctions between cooking and simply reheating something, the latter of which typically requires no initial preparation of manipulation while in the process of being heated. Because of very little to no initial ingredient preparation, I consider cup ramen to fall more into the reheating category rather than cooking (despite the use of boiling water and dried flaky bits), but again, it may very well be to the nuances of association surrounding ramen as a convenience food, and how we frame the act of cooking in a cultural light.
     
  6. Iskandar King of Conquerors

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    Someone sign this guy up for Food Philosophy already.

    But yeah, that's why it's such a strange thing, because I know people that both think it's not really considered cooking if you don't use everything fresh, and others that find it perfectly normal to call it cooking if you were to make something like a pre-made pizza. It's a funky subject if you were to ask me.
     
  7. What? 『 music is freedom 』

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    The pizza example brings to light a fairly major point about the subjectivity of cooking. To be honest, it would be for the best if we would leave out cultural associations of cooking with extreme complication and esoteric knowledge as it occasionally seems to be. It is actually quite easy, and I mean actual ingredient and heating-based preparation! Basic cooking simply necessitates the need to follow a recipe for individuals who are understandably not as comfortable. While processed convenience food exists due to time constraints and income factors, I could very much call its prevalence compared to cooking more of a reflection on our society rather than on personal time management skills or habits. It is unfortunate, but I hope for change. We all need a little time to simmer over the day.
     
  8. Shiki my waifu is better than yours, thanks

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    if you have to prepare ingredients/mix/whatever things together: real cooking

    if you use a mold and some kind of plastic/whatever substance and add shiny parts and paint it: fake cooking
     
  9. Railos Hollow Bastion Committee

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    I had no idea there was any difference in cooking. I guess for me cooking would be anything that involves heat, and putting ingredients together. So microwave pizza doesn't count, unless you add something to it.