Heating up a jar of ready-made sauce: Cooking/Not Cooking?

[mrsfran]

My boss today said to me proudly "I cooked last night!" and went on to explain that she heated up a jar of Lloyd Grossman curry sauce with some chicken and microwave rice. Of course, because she's my boss, I made appropriate appreciative noises. But I was thinking in my head "That's not cooking, that's heating."

Then it occured to me perhaps I was just being snobbish. Why is heating up a jar of sauce not just as good as making your own? Why shouldn't she be proud of herself?

And then it occured to me that I was being far too lenient and if she wants to claim that she cooked, there should at least have been some food preparation and individual thought involved.

Obviously, I am unable to decide. Urban, decide for me via the medium of a poll...

 

[milesy]

snob.

 

[laptop]

Not cooking.






Very very sad to claim it is.






* stuffs beansprouts *

 

[mrsfran]

snob.

bons

 

[jayeola]

- buy some stuff
- wash, chop, seperate...
- put them all together some how
/* cooking mode */

Walla?

 

[mrsfran]

But what if you miss out the wash, chop, separate part? Is that still cooking?

 

[*Miss Daisy*]

Nnnnhhhhhh - I bloody pressed the wrong option ,,

 

[mrsfran]

You think the woman's a culinary genius, don't you?

 

[jayeola]

She's your boss. If she ever "cooks" and invites you to dinner, lick the plate

 

[milesy]

But what if you miss out the wash, chop, separate part? Is that still cooking?

yeah, it's still cooking dinner, innit? heating food up is still cooking. it may not be up there with being a gourmet chef, but it's still cooking.

i am in the middle of a frozen cooking pie and oven chips

 

[milesy]

anyway - my vote option would be "yes it's cooking of a sort, and nothing to be ashamed of"

 

[vipper]

I suppose there's still a risk you could burn it.

My laziest meal is fresh tortelinni and sauce from sainsburys. Involves boiling pasta and heating sauce in microwave then stirring together and adding parmesan. So maybe I can't be judgemental.

 

[moose]

There's too much arsery about cooking. It's just about making yourself some food, and if it's the right food at the right time, and you get pleasure from it, it doesn't matter how much effort you had to make to do it.

 

[spanglechick]

presumably she prepared the chicken somehow?

 

[FiFi]

Oh cobblers!

If it's NOT cooking, then I've never cooked anything in my entire life.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

That's sort of barely on the edge of "cooking" I'd say, but really, it's not something to be ashamed of or anything.

I mean, it's just a continuum isn't it? There's not much difference between the steps of

- microwaving a ready meal pasta
- cooking some dried pasta and adding a jar of Ragu
- cooking some dried pasta, cooking some mince in another pot then mixing it all in with a jar of Ragu
- cooking some dried pasta, cooking some mince, adding a tin of chopped tomatoes, a few dried herbs and some garlic
- cooking some dried pasta, frying up some mince and onions and peppers, adding chopped tomatoes etc
- dried pasta, mince, onions, peppers, herbs and spices, real tomatoes, simmer
- fresh pasta and all the rest
- fresh homemade pasta and the rest

blah blah blah.

 

[Poot]

It's not cooking. I am the uber-snob of this kind of thing and wouldn't let a jar of dolmio etc. anywhere near my kitchen because it just tastes like plastic to me. But then I do lead a very sad and boring life and am not your boss In fact I'm no one's boss

*goes off to polish carrots*

 

[mrsfran]

presumably she prepared the chicken somehow?

No, it was ready-cooked chicken.

 

[crustychick]

No, it was ready-cooked chicken.

you can buy ready cooked chicken

bleurgh

oh, definitely Not Cooking.

 

[FiFi]

Cheers FridgeMagnet. You've cheered me up.
I'm at about point 4 of your list.

Except my "mince" would be quorn or somesuch.

 

[mrs quoad]

*

 

[crustychick]

nah, if that had already been done, it is only re-heating already cooked things.

 

[tarannau]

Ach, it's alright once in a while isn't it? Everyone cheats from time to time. If that's the only use of her kitchen it's a little less impressive.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

nah, if that had already been done, it is only re-heating already cooked things.

Yeah. I'd say that if you "cook" something, it at least has to change its qualities in ways other than what temperature it is at. Onions soften, mince isn't raw, and so on. Dried pasta + Ragu still counts as cooking there though.

 

[laptop]

Ach, it's alright once in a while isn't it?

Sure. I use tinned spinach sometimes

But:

My boss today said to me proudly "I cooked last night!"

That's the sound of someone who fondly and foolishly believes they've ventured into a new field of human creativity, that is.

 

[crustychick]

but it wasn't dried pasta

it was microwave rice - already cooked
jar sauce - already cooked
pre-cooked chicken (who woulda thunk-it)

mind you I had pizza tonight. it was lush. still pretty sure it was uncooked when I bought it. true, I only had to stick it in the oven...

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Cheers FridgeMagnet. You've cheered me up.
I'm at about point 4 of your list.

Except my "mince" would be quorn or somesuch.

I had a reputation as some sort of genius chef as a student doing pretty much only that... oh, and stir-fries... does the job innit?

All you need to be a chef is an appropriately pretentious attitude to what you're cooking anyway. "Oh, I couldn't possibly use Tesco Value tomatoes, I only use the finest tinned tomatoes from Waitrose. Hmm, just a pinch more oregano I feel."

 

[equationgirl]

I think Fridgemagnet's Culinary Continuuuuuuuum (TM) is along the right lines.

Cooking is not finite or polarised, more of a spectrum.

 

[laptop]

Cooking is not finite or polarised, more of a spectrum.

Unfortunately, it also takes negative values




But zero cookingicity is zero and this was that...

 

[bluestreak]

i'm someone who considers a can of lager and toast a culinary delight but that ain't cooking ffs.