To ask what you'd class as cooking?

[Mouldyfoodhelp]

Having a discussion with someone and their stance is: just getting a chicken breast out the pack and into the oven with a few potatoes is good enough cooking, doing the same with a ready meal, or buying a pie.

My stance is that whilst that's cooking in its absolutely most basic sense ( bar the ready meal), it's not what most people mean when they cook. Now I'm not being snobby we have more than our fair share of crap food but I say actual cooking has more processes like let's say a roast even though you're putting a chicken in the oven you're seasoning it, portioning it afterwards and you've got the veg to sort out, Yorkshire, stuffing etc. Other food ideals are for example a carbonara, shepherds pie, lasagne type stuff meals.

And even if some people do just put stuff in the oven I argue it's not literally just a plain chicken breast normally and they generally do some work for the meal.

It's more about expectations of results when each is cooking because I know they wouldn't be happy If that's all I did all the time as well.

You disagree?

To me, someone "cooking" is someone preparing the evening meal.

Some people enjoy cooking, others consider it a necessary thing they have to do to exist. I am always grateful if there is an edible meal on the table that I haven't had to think about.
My dc all used to have to take a turn to put a meal on the table for us all (along with dh and me doing our turn), and yes, we started out with the youngest getting the 'Getting something out of the fridge or freezer and putting it on an oven tray' meal. Gradually, they all started to choose meals they particularly liked. They are now (as young adults) all much more enthusiastic about cooking than I am, or ever was, but they all had to start somewhere.

I would be terribly disappointed to be served a lasagne made with jars of sauce. Thankfully none of my friends have ever served that. They tend to be really good cooks. Obviously like minded people etc etc.

People who use conveniences aren't bad cooks they tend to just be busy or tired 🙄 and the chances are you wouldn't know anyway

Jars generally have a lot of salt and sugar in them, as well as various preservatives. You can usually tell if you're not used to eating them.

And yes, I agree, my choice of words was poor. I should have said my friends are enthusiastic cooks.

I'd say putting together any raw ingredients is cooking. At its simplest meals such as chicken breast, new potatoes and veg or pasta, cream cheese, mushrooms, peppers and onion(just). If I've chopped veg its cooking!
I've not made my own pastry for about 5 years, that's up a level. Basting a joint, up a level. Real gravy, proper cooking.
Ready made pizza and salad, not cooking.
Bought pie not cooking. Fried egg, bacon, tons toes, mushrooms, just about cooking
Sausages, homemade mash , cabbage n carrots- cooking

I guess my rule is if I need to watch it (stir etc) it's cooking
If I need to chop/prepare something its cooking
If I just need to time it in the oven....not cooking

Just come back to say I think a PP was right in that I think I asked the wrong question. I stated in my OP I agreed it was cooking in its most basic form, so the literal definition of cooking wasn't what I was talking about. I think if I decide to post again about the issue I will take a while to flesh out the actual issues clearer.

Unfortunately these kind of Qs often lead to some kind of moralising and putting down of what other people do…aka the person who said they’d be terribly disappointed to be served a lasagne that contained a jar of sauce.

The trouble is that some people seem to lack any empathy for others, or want to be judgemental or are totally rigid in their thinking and can’t seem to see any scenarios where different approaches to preparing food might be relevant.

Fortunately most people know that even within their own lives, circumstances vary and some days they might prepare meals that take some time and others rely on pre-prepared food that needs to be ready in 5 minutes - and that both can result in a hot meal that feeds themselves and their family.

It’s odd when people can’t seem to imagine any situation where you wouldn’t want to or be able to chop, do stuff to raw ingredients and then stand over a stove for a period of time…..and so why only doing those things counts as cooking. Some people rely on ‘simple cooking’ far more than others. It might reflect their skill, budget, inclination to cook, time constraints etc.

I wonder if it’s only women who feel that they need to justify how they feed themselves and their families and that something that involves more work is seen as the only ‘right’ cooking? When men are doing the feeding of the family, do they discuss and judge each other for using a jar or putting something on an oven tray?

It depends on who is doing it.

Unfortunately these kind of Qs often lead to some kind of moralising and putting down of what other people do…aka the person who said they’d be terribly disappointed to be served a lasagne that contained a jar of sauce.

Being disappointed to be served something you don't like is not the same as being judgemental of someone doing things differently to the way you do them. I think most people would feel a bit disappointed to be served something they don't like, regardless of whether the cook ground their own flour and slaughtered their own beef or they put a ready meal in the microwave.

Being disappointed to be served something you don't like is not the same as being judgemental of someone doing things differently to the way you do them. I think most people would feel a bit disappointed to be served something they don't like, regardless of whether the cook ground their own flour and slaughtered their own beef or they put a ready meal in the microwave
Agreed. It's about whether they're showing they have thought about the others eating.

If you’ve got guests, of course you try to serve them something they will like. Quite what ‘cooking’ that means, will vary for different people. A frozen pizza might be something that would really please some guests and also be what the host can manage in the time available and with the resources available.

I think most of this thread isn’t about having guests though, but about cooking day-to-day for your own family. Again, no-one really sets out to make meals people don’t like do they. But there are different ways to make a particular meal and they can involve different levels of effort. You could have a microwave lasagne. You could have a lasagne where you fry onions and brown the mince and add some veg that you’ve shopped and then use jars of tomato and white sauce and pre-made sheets of lasagne. You could do the above but make either/or/both the white sauce and tomato sauce and still use the lasagne sheets. You could go the whole hog and make the pasta too.

Some people will actually prefer the microwaved version over the last version. It’s hard for some to understand that. In all cases, people will have been served a hot meal. Some of these will be healthier than others, but the question wasn’t about producing healthy meals or making judgements on the quality of meals.

To be honest, I wouldn't even consider that to be the case. Yes, you should ask if there is anything your guest can't eat or really hates but it would be a pretty rude guest who says I don't eat anything that comes from a jar, particularly if that is the cook's normal meal.

Any disappointment I feel at being served food I don't particularly like is just that, disappointment that I don't like it. I'm not judging the person's culinary skills or their hosting abilities.

Some people will actually prefer the microwaved version over the last version. It’s hard for some to understand that.

Processed food generally designed so that you'll want more. Salt and sugar are flavour enhancers so if you're used to eating food with high levels of salt/sugar, you will find food without to be bland. So really, not at all surprising some people prefer them.

Who could have predicted that this thread would generate a lot of boasting, judgement and condescension? 😂

In my opinion scrambled eggs on toast is cooking but beans on toast isn't (fits with the theory that cooking is transforming raw ingredients into a meal).

If I cut potatoes into squares, coat with oil and seasoning and bake in the oven and serve with cold leftover meat from a roast and frozen peas, it's cooking but in a minimal way. If I used oven chips it would be reheating (although I did cook the meat initially, hmm).

Proper cooking involves more raw ingredients and processes (roast dinner, pasta and sauce, stir fry, curry).

Based on this one of us cooks 5 or 6 times a week. I do make double and reheat sometimes, which while it is not cooking, is still home-cooked food.

Freezer food, processed food, microwave foods are just rubbish! It amazes me cringe how many people eat this crap on a regular basis. Fresh foods with actual ingredients don’t actually cost much more or take much longer to prepare our cook! It’s just laziness!
Anyone that told me that my Sunday Roast: Basted Roast chicken, stuffing balls, steamed, buttered veg, mashed potatoes, garlic herb roast potatoes, chicken stock gravy, cheesy broccoli & leeks & crispy Yorkshire pudding, was comparable in effort as sticking a frozen pie in the oven, would not be getting fed!

A grown adult putting a plain chicken breast in the oven and calling it a day isn’t cooking, no – any more than putting cereal in a bowl is cooking. It’s a step above serving the chicken breast raw, I suppose, but it’s not really a valid contribution to feeding a household.

And I’m all for shortcuts when people are working and time poor! I bloody love real cooking – grinding spices and making sauces and marinading and chopping and side dishes, etc, but equally I have no time, so the goal is: what will be delicious and nutritious? Baked plain chicken breast doesn’t fit that bill: chopping it and stir frying it with harissa from a jar and serving with couscous (the easiest of all grains!), yoghurt and salad does – this was my parents’ go-to easy dinner for years. No one has to do recipe book level cooking every night (which is why I love Nigel’s 30-minute dinners, which is full of things you actually might want to eat but that don’t require too much effort), but “I put a chicken breast in the oven” is just lazy.

People totally lack understanding and empathy of the situation others find themselves in.

This judgementalism shows people cannot imagine others in totally different circumastances to themselves. Do you realise lots of people have never heard of the ingredients you’re mentioning, never mind if they come out of jars? Do you realise lots of people live in accommodation that only has a microwave or don’t have saucepans and various other items need to measure, prepare and cook? Do you know that lots of adults have never been exposed to what lots on here woukd call cooking and have no knowledge, skills or interest?

But it’s then all just labelled as lazy. It’s such a lack of imagination and empathy to not be able to imagine families and people in different circumstances to your own..and default to the causes being laziness, or stupidity.

@OchonAgusOchonOh and @LolaSmiles

Fortunately, I am friends with the sort of people who come to see me for my company, and not to "rate my plate".
I also am very understanding when I go and visit people that some enjoy cooking, some are confident cooks, and others would be really stressed at the idea of cooking for someone else. However - it isn't a restaurant. I go to visit a friend to spend time with that person. If the food is not to my taste for a couple of meals, I am perfectly able to cope with that, and would still go back to spend time with my friend.

I have a friend who is a wonderful baker. She really enjoys making cakes and will turn up to meetings with the most wonderful cakes. She will also make a cake and deliver it to your house if you are down about something. She mentioned to me in passing a couple of years ago that it makes her sad that no-one ever takes her a cake, but I accept that I never have, as I know my efforts are so much less nice than her masterpieces, as she sets the bar so high.

Some great posts from @WombatChocolate

@UsingChangeofName - you should really give creative writing a try as you are creating quite the scenario there based on my statement that I would be disappointed to be served food I don't like.

I don't "rate" people's cooking or think less of them for serving something I don't like. I don't struggle to cope with a meal I don't like or decline a return invitation.

I like food. If I'm served something I don't like, I'm a bit disappointed, in the same way that if I'm served something I like, I'm pleased.