To ask what "cooking from scratch" means?

[CruCru]

I keep seeing posters who say that they cook from scratch. What does this mean?

I can cook lots of things, including bread, but there is plenty that I buy (pasta).

At what point does it become cooking from scratch?

I think we all have different definitions. I'd say I cook from scratch when I start with separate ingredients - but I count dried pasta as a separate ingredient. Someone who makes their own pasta wouldn't. Conversely, my mum would never consider using packet stuffing means her roast dinners are not cooked from scratch, but to me making stuffing from scratch means breadcrumbs, onion, egg... and to someone else mine might not count because I didn't make the bread.

What on earth do you do with pureed carots?

ClapHandsIfYouBelieveInFatties - When DH makes curry, he's grinding things up with a pestle and mortar...and toasting seeds and stuff. I use curry powder!

Heh, ditto. A curry from DP means the marinade and sauce made from individual ingredients and homemade naan bread.

With me you're lucky if I've put meat in a jar of sauce and not just got a microwave meal

It is nicer though. My eyes have been opened to homemade naan and pitta breads. Very easy to make. Apparently. I don't know, I just eat them...

What on earth do you do with pureed carots?

really ? I stir them into mashed potato. I make them into a variety of soups. I heat them up and add a knob of butter and a spoon of cumin as a vegetable accompaniment to lamb. I use them in pasta sauce or curry.

As soon as one goes a bit soft I peel, cook and puree it, and If I buy a net full I prepare half of them straight away so none go off before we finish them all.

For me, it's cooking with things which are ingredients, not things which have ingredients.

thirlow that's because for DH cooking is a once in a while thing....a treat..like me making a cake! He enjoys it! I'd love to see him come up with that daily!

I actually made Naan bread yesterday...it IS easy but prep takes an annoying amount of time because of proving. VERY satisfying to see them bubble as they cook though!

But, furrydogmother, where do you draw the line?

Suppose you make a sponge cake with a jam filling.

Is that "made from scratch" provided you didn't use a "just add egg" or similar packet mix, or do you also have to have made the jam yourself? Jam has ingredients.

It is making food with a reasonable amount of input from you.

Everyone has a different definition.

Technically making something from scratch means from the very beginning, which is easy in lots of meals but harder, more seasonal and time consuming in many others. It is reasonable in those cases to use subsitutes or pre made ingredients and still consider the meal homemade, even if it isn't technically 'from scratch'

Suppose you make a sponge cake with a jam filling

I'd use my mums home made jam :-)

I'd use my mums home made jam :-)

But then you wouldn't have made it from scratch... It would be a joint effort with your mum! Tsk

My mum's Thai and she has never made her own curry paste. Too much of an arse ache.

Ah, Clap, I'm spoiled, I can't cook and he does do that every day

The thing is, one person's 'scratch' is another persons 'processed food'. Like pre-made pasta, tinned and soaked beans, tinned tomatoes.

I agree It means different things to different people.

It's a bit like when I say I don't cook on Fridays, but still cook things like (home made) pizza, Burger or soup. But because they are not 'proper' meals I don't see it as cooking.

I saw James Martin using ready-made mashed potato for croquettes. Treacherous bastard. He still faffed with everything else though.

I pretty much make everything except pasta and pastry.

I don't actually eat cake (gasp!) but if I did, then I'd only consider it really made from scratch if it had home made jam in it. Scones, on the other hand, I'd still think of as cooked from scratch if I made them and served them with bought jam - illogical maybe!

I'm making naan bread from scratch today. I didn't grind the flour from wheat myself though. So maybe it's not really from scratch...

Cooking from scratch to me means not using a packet or a jar.

So making your own pasta sauce or making your own sauces for lasagne etc.

Actually my biggest bug bear are things like batter mix for pancakes. Who the hell can't make batter? It takes minutes!

In our house means no tin opener / microwave involved

Wow, I think I'm doing quite well if I manage to make anything with stuff that isn't out of a packet! Some serious culinary talent here.

I think things like tinned tomatoes/passata, dried pasta and curry paste in a jar are nice modern day conveniences and perfectly acceptable to use in a cooked-from-scratch meal.

I don't want to spend hours on every meal every day, making my own pasta or spending 4 hours on a bolognese sauce or buy 50 different spices to make a paste for a curry.

I say I cook from scratch but it's probably not really. I rarely use a jar of sauce except for curry but I happily use cartons of chopped tomatoes or passata.
I did make my own passata once when I grew loads of tomatoes even though only DS1 ate them. It was nice but a faff to do all the time when I can buy it so cheaply.
I've made fresh pasta but I don't really like it.
When I bake I use homemade jams and curds if I have them, I don't make my own chocolate though but still say my cake is homemade.

Thanks Lomb - that was a genuine question not a sarky one! I've never pureed a carrot. Wouldnt really like it on its own as a dish and make carrot soup often enough but boil/roast them first, then whizz at the end! Just wondering if it was something I'd missed.

I would use tinned tomatoes no problem and a microwave can be useful to melt butter or chocolate!