# cooking

Pronunciation: say "KUUK-ing" /ˈkʊk.ɪŋ/

## Noun

1. The preparation of food with the use of heat, as by boiling, baking, or frying.
   - Simple: The work of making food ready to eat by heating it.
   - _Cooking over an open flame gives the vegetables a smoky flavor._
   - _Years of cooking in busy restaurant kitchens taught him to work fast._
3. The food that is produced when ingredients are prepared using heat.
   - Simple: Food that someone has made ready to eat by heating it.
   - _After a month of airport food, he was desperate for some home cooking._
   - _Neighbors lined the potluck tables with their cooking, from baked beans to peach cobbler._
4. The particular style or tradition of food preparation associated with a place or group.
   - Simple: A way of preparing food that belongs to a country, region, or group.
   - _French cooking is known for its rich sauces and careful technique._
   - _The restaurant specializes in regional Mexican cooking._
5. A person's skill at preparing food.
   - Simple: How good a person is at making meals.
   - _Her cooking earned compliments from even the pickiest guests._
   - _Once you taste his cooking, you'll never order takeout again._

## Verb

2. Present participle of cook. — present participle and gerund of cook
   - Simple: Present participle of cook. Use this form for something happening right now.
   - _He is cooking a stew that has simmered all afternoon._
   - _We were cooking when the power suddenly went out._

## Adjective

6. Made or intended for use in preparing food.
   - Simple: Made for use in preparing food, not for other uses.
   - _Brush the pan with cooking oil before adding the eggs._
   - _A sturdy cooking pot is essential for making good stock._
7. Currently in progress or quietly being planned. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Happening or being prepared right now, often in an exciting way.
   - _By the look on his face, a new scheme was cooking._
   - _There's a deal cooking that could change everything._
8. Of low quality: cheap enough for use in recipes but not good enough to drink on its own.
   - Simple: Cheap enough to use in food but not nice enough to drink.
   - _She splashed some cooking brandy into the simmering sauce._
   - _The bottle was cheap cooking wine, fine for stews but nothing to serve guests._

## Noun

9. A single act or occasion of preparing food with heat. *(rare)*
   - Simple: A single time when food is made by heating it.
   - _Each cooking produced enough stew to last the family a week._
   - _That single cooking fed the entire wedding party._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The cheapest beer available for sale in a bar, especially the most basic bitter or lager.

## Origin

Formed from "cook" plus the suffix "-ing", with the noun and adjective following from the verb. The sense of "cooking" describing cheap bitter was popularized by the title character of the BBC sitcom Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt (1974–1978).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/cooking (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).