Cooking from scratch

"Brian Christiansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

HD 3: Does the same thing as HD 3 with the meat and the gravy, but gets
some instant mashed potatoes instead of a potato.

Quoted message said:

Is "cooking from scratch" all or nothing, that is either "from scratch" or
"not from scratch?" If so which of the above meals are "from scratch" and
which are "not from scractch," and what exactly is the definition that
makes it so.

IMO, part of the meal is, but the gravy is not. While not 100% from scratch
you'd have to make a disclaimer. While we generally cook from scratch, we
do sometimes supplement a meal with a bought item, maybe a fancy sauce that
looked good, or even canned soup for a quick lunch.

We buy jar apple sauce. That does not negate the pork roast and pasta, but
I would not make the claim that the meal was "from scratch" entirely. But
if we have cake for dessert, it certainly won't be from a box. Nor will
mashed potatoes..

OTOH, let's not get radical in that coffee must be roasted at home to be
"from scratch".
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Edwin Pawlowski wrote on 28 May 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

"Brian Christiansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

HD 3: Does the same thing as HD 3 with the meat and the gravy, but
gets some instant mashed potatoes instead of a potato.

Quoted message said:

Is "cooking from scratch" all or nothing, that is either "from
scratch" or "not from scratch?" If so which of the above meals are
"from scratch" and which are "not from scractch," and what exactly
is the definition that makes it so.

IMO, part of the meal is, but the gravy is not. While not 100% from
scratch you'd have to make a disclaimer. While we generally cook from
scratch, we do sometimes supplement a meal with a bought item, maybe a
fancy sauce that looked good, or even canned soup for a quick lunch.

We buy jar apple sauce. That does not negate the pork roast and
pasta, but I would not make the claim that the meal was "from scratch"
entirely. But if we have cake for dessert, it certainly won't be from
a box. Nor will mashed potatoes..

OTOH, let's not get radical in that coffee must be roasted at home to
be "from scratch".

Cooking from scratch is a relative term...When making say french toast it
isn't truly necessary that you make the bread and raise the chickens from
where the eggs come from or even own a cow. Even if you make soup these
days chicken stock can be purchased instead of making your own. But
getting the prefrozen meal outa the freezer and nuking it is a true no-
no. When I make lasagna only if the mood strikes me do I make the pasta
sheets. When I make soup I'll buy chicken stock more often than make my
own. Not that I can't do these things just I don't see a need to. But I
won't do microwave prefrozen meals or even do microwave popcorn or pre-
boxed meals like hamburger helper or potatoes aux gratin. It all boils
down to taste and time. I'm willing to spend some time at cooking...but
not go too nuts. Anyways my home-made hamburger helper tastes better
also my scalloped potatoes do too.

--
-Alan

Brian Christiansen said:

My little comment about making the mashed sweet potaotoes got me to thinking
about what does "cooking from scratch" mean exactly. Incidently, I did mean
making the mashed potatoes "from scratch" as opposed to making them from a
mix or getting them at the drive through, not whether they are steamed as
oppoosed to baked or microwaved.

Well anyway, suppose the are 4 hungry dudes (HD's), and they all decide that
they want roast beef and mashed potatoes (regular taters, not sweet) with
gravy on them for dinner. The HD's then do the following:

HD 1: He goes to the store and buys a roast and a nice Idaho russet. Then
he goes home and cooks up the roast medium rare, makes gravy from the
dripping and gets medeivel on the potato with his potato stomper.

HD 2: Does the same thing to make the mashed potato, but decides that it is
patently stupid to cook an entire roast for one person. What he does
instead is go to the deli section and has them sice off a big piece of roast
beef (8 oz, 1lb, whatever) that he can heat up on his George Foreman grill.
Also since this method will not produce any drippings, he will have to buy
either bottled gravy or a mix.

HD 3: Does the same thing as HD 3 with the meat and the gravy, but gets some
instant mashed potatoes instead of a potato.

HD 4: Gets a Hungry Man frozen dinner that has that particular combination.

By the way I understand the definition of the term "cooking from scratch,"
the 1st has cooked from scratch, I think the 2nd has, the 4th has not, and I
am not certain about the 3rd.

However, there is quite a bit of the meal that the first has not made
himself and was preprocessed by the food manufacturers. He probably did not
raise the cattle or butcher it up to get the roast. He probably did not
grow the potato, nor did he produce the cream and butter to make the mashed
potatoes, nor did he grow or mill the grain to make the flour for thickening
the gravy.

By the same token, HD #4 was involved (albeit minimally) in the production
of his dinner, although the involvement was poking holes in the plastic and
putting the dinner in the microwave, and possibly stirring the mashed
potatoes, and did not involve any "cooking."

Is "cooking from scratch" all or nothing, that is either "from scratch" or
"not from scratch?" If so which of the above meals are "from scratch" and
which are "not from scractch," and what exactly is the definition that makes
it so.

Or is it more a matter of degree, with meal #1 being the highest (or just
about) degree of "from scratch" and meal #4 being the lowest degree?

Brian Christiansen

I would call one and 2 cooking from scratch (although I HATE jarred or
mix gravy and would probably go more for using beef broth to make a gravy)

3 I would call "Home cooking"

and 4 I would call YUCK...

Most of the meals I prepare fall into the 2 or 3 category... time being
the biggest factor for me (with 2 young kids, a husband that can't boil
water etc) I don't like to feed my kids overly processed food on a
regular basis and I feel family dinner time is essential. Some
shortcuts allow me to do make dinner 99% of the time

Roberta (in VA)

"Brian Christiansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My little comment about making the mashed sweet potaotoes got me to
thinking about what does "cooking from scratch" mean exactly.
Incidently, I did mean making the mashed potatoes "from scratch" as
opposed to making them from a mix or getting them at the drive through,
not whether they are steamed as oppoosed to baked or microwaved.

Well anyway, suppose the are 4 hungry dudes (HD's), and they all decide
that they want roast beef and mashed potatoes (regular taters, not
sweet) with gravy on them for dinner. The HD's then do the following:

HD 1: He goes to the store and buys a roast and a nice Idaho russet.
Then he goes home and cooks up the roast medium rare, makes gravy from
the dripping and gets medeivel on the potato with his potato stomper.

HD 2: Does the same thing to make the mashed potato, but decides that it
is patently stupid to cook an entire roast for one person. What he does
instead is go to the deli section and has them sice off a big piece of
roast beef (8 oz, 1lb, whatever) that he can heat up on his George
Foreman grill. Also since this method will not produce any drippings, he
will have to buy either bottled gravy or a mix.

HD 3: Does the same thing as HD 3 with the meat and the gravy, but gets
some instant mashed potatoes instead of a potato.

HD 4: Gets a Hungry Man frozen dinner that has that particular
combination.

By the way I understand the definition of the term "cooking from
scratch," the 1st has cooked from scratch, I think the 2nd has, the 4th
has not, and I am not certain about the 3rd.

However, there is quite a bit of the meal that the first has not made
himself and was preprocessed by the food manufacturers. He probably did
not raise the cattle or butcher it up to get the roast. He probably did
not grow the potato, nor did he produce the cream and butter to make the
mashed potatoes, nor did he grow or mill the grain to make the flour for
thickening the gravy.

By the same token, HD #4 was involved (albeit minimally) in the
production of his dinner, although the involvement was poking holes in
the plastic and putting the dinner in the microwave, and possibly
stirring the mashed potatoes, and did not involve any "cooking."

Is "cooking from scratch" all or nothing, that is either "from scratch"
or "not from scratch?" If so which of the above meals are "from
scratch" and which are "not from scractch," and what exactly is the
definition that makes it so.

Or is it more a matter of degree, with meal #1 being the highest (or
just about) degree of "from scratch" and meal #4 being the lowest
degree?

Brian Christiansen

To me cooking from scratch means the ingredients are mostly in a natural
state.

But sometimes there are additions of things that are prepared.

For instance when i make chili now I don't use dried beans any longer. I
used the cans one becuz I have found that the end product after I've eaten
is much less gassy.

I make biscuits with biscuit mix... but, I made the biscuit mix.

If you buy chicken breasts are they considered prepared because I didn't
remove the breasts from the chicken myself?

MoM