Personally, I don’t* but I was curious what others think.

*some sandwiches excluded like a Cubano or chicken parm; those do require cooking.

  • CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work
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    2 months ago

    I don’t think it’s cooking unless you are applying heat to cause a chemical reaction. So, making a grilled cheese sandwich counts as cooking, but a BP&J does not.

  • psilotop@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It’s only cooking if it’s done in the Cooke region governed by the Earle of Sandwich. Anything else is sparkling food preparation.

  • Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Cooking (in the English I was taught) involves the application of heat - frying, baking, roasting, boiling etc are the names for specific ways to do this. A sandwich would be made or prepared.

      • morbidcactus@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        Just for the heck of it, if you heat protein enough to denature it but have no Maillard reaction (let’s say you’ve just made a hard boiled egg), would that not be considered cooking by that definition?

        My understanding is that denaturing is a physical structure change, not a chemical one (and according to Wikipedia can be reversible in some cases), not a biochemist or food scientist though so totally accepting that my understanding is incorrect/incomplete.

    • Pilferjinx@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Depends on your start point. You can bake your own bread, cook/combine your own condiments, and roast/cure your own meats.

      • Evil_incarnate@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        You can grow your wheat, and raise pigs, but to really make it from scratch, first you need to create the universe.

  • rapadura@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Cooking is a process of transformation, both physical and symbolic. Combining ingredients intentionally to create something flavorful and nutritious, making a sandwich certainly falls under the act of cooking.

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      True, but, turn that into ‘I’m cooking up a sandwich’, and now the phrase potentially expands its domain to basically mean any kind of food preparation.

      The addition if ‘up’ makes it less literal, more jovial and less bounded.

  • pseudo@jlai.lu
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    2 months ago

    It you cook the sandwich, the bread, or any part of the filling, yes. If you toast your bread and warm up your ingredients in a pan, why not ? But if you are just cuting and filling. You’re assembling a sandwich, not cooking it.

  • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    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.

    • rbn@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      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.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netOP
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      2 months ago

      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.

      • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
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        2 months ago

        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”.

  • KingJalopy @lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    The word cooking, to me, means using heat with a stove. Baking is for the oven. Grilling, is outside on a grill. But a sandwich is only ever “made” in my house. “Will you make me a sandwich?”, “I’m making a sandwich”

    Good question though. Never thought about it.

    • AmidFuror@fedia.io
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      2 months ago

      Grills can be inside. You just need the parallel bars with heat underneath to call it grilling.

    • nous@programming.dev
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      2 months ago

      I see cooking as a more general term. Both baking and grilling are forms of cooking. You can also roast and grill things in the oven. Cooking on a stove also has different specific terms, boiling, simmering, frying etc.

        • unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz
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          2 months ago

          i think combining watery things and oily things counts as emulsion, which is a cooking sort of word. i thought “cooking” was a word for “changing the chemical properties of” or just “heating up because it’s better hot”

        • nous@programming.dev
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          2 months ago

          I mean more general than heat with a stove. Not as is every form of meal preparation.

          But yes. I would cook a salad - stir frys are basically just cooked salads with some rice or noodles. I would not consider every salad to be cooked though.

  • andrewta@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I guess it would depend on the type of sandwich

    . Peanut butter and jelly? No

    A simple cheese sandwich? No

    Grilled cheese sandwich? Yes

  • Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    The question is inadequatly phrased. You must describe what kind of sandwich we are speaking of. Unless op is speaking about cold sandwiches exclusively, many sandwiches require cooking.

    Croque Monsieur

    Grilled Cheese

    Cubano

    Monte Cristo

    Panini

    These are just a few that I came up with off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many more.

  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Nope. In English, if it doesn’t involve the application of heat, you ain’t cooking, you’re preparing, making, or other terminology.