Personally, I don’t* but I was curious what others think.
*some sandwiches excluded like a Cubano or chicken parm; those do require cooking.
Cooking is simply the preparing of food.
It doesn’t necessarily require the application of heat.
If some one is being proud of a sandwich- let them be proud. We all start somewhere.
edit: to all the people downvoting me: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cooking
- the act of a person or thing that cooks.
- the art or practice of preparing food; cookery.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cooking
1A) the act of preparing food for eating, especially by heating 1B) a manner of preparing food
To say that “cooking” requires heat is inaccurate. It’s the usual qualification, but is not necessary in a general sense.
and more to the point: If some one is proud of their sandwich, why would you take that from them? dick move. Even Gordon Fucking Ramsey had to start somewhere.
Cooking, also known as cookery or professionally as the culinary arts, is the art, science and craft of using heat to make food more palatable, digestible, nutritious, or safe.
Wikipedia says so. Can someone make a really good sandwich without cooking? Sure. I wouldn’t even pull an “um ackshuly” on them. But you’re putting words in OP’s mouth now.
Eh… why are we trying to gatekeep cooking?
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Preparing food and cooking food are two different things.
I wouldn’t even say making a grilled cheese would be cooking. I don’t think heat has anything to do with it. I mean, am I cooking if I’m microwaving a frozen dinner? Are the “cooks” at an Applebee’s cooking if all they do is warm up bags of premade food and microwave steaks?
I would say cooking requires you to prepare ingredients, combine them, and cook them.
I had thought of editing the title to include microwaving food, too. I would say “I cooked it in the microwave” but it at the same time absolutely does not have the same weight as “I cooked this” implying I did all the work and not just re-heating someone else’s.
I mean, you could cook something in the microwave. Like microwaving a potato in order to make mashed potatoes, or heating other things to create a dish. Like I used to microwave spaghetti squash and then shred up the strands to make spaghetti.
But like, if I reheated some leftovers, or put a frozen dinner in the microwave, Id probably say “I microwaved this” or “I heated this”.
I like this definition the best. If someone is making a super complex sandwich with many ingredients and passion, then I’m fine to call that cooking. Same with a cold soup, a cous-cous salad or a fancy appetizer. Many dishes in top notch cuisine are served cold. In molecular kitchen, there’s even stuff served below freezing. Still all cooking to me.
If someone just warms up a can of Ravioli, microwaves convinience food, etc. I’d consider that rather food prep. If using the microwave is just one step of multiple in a recipe, than that’s fine again.
For me cooking requires a minimum level of effort rather than a minimum level of heat.
By that logic, salads and sushi aren’t cooking.
