What if your dad is a chef and the restaurant is closed for the day so he whipped up some dishes in the kitchen he works at for a family dinner? Is that considered a home-cooked meal?
Clearly, the meaning of home-cooked is unclear. It is a poor adjective to vaguely describe something edible which was informally prepared by the use of heat in a place that is habituated by human beings.
I have studied and realized that certain methods of cooking are not really associated to home-cooked in the opinions are other people. Let's us assume "out-of-home cooking" to be known commercial cooking.
For example, baking, which utilizes dry heat from convection to cook, is one type that is from the first generation of commercial cooking. Most people would buy a cake at a bakery instead of baking one on their own whatever the occasion is.
Think about it, if somebody were to bake a cake or bread at home and place it in front of you on the dining table, would you think that it was in a home?
Allow me to quote another example, let's say if someone were to deep-fry thirty chicken wings in their house's kitchen and place them on a large plate, would you really perceive the food as 'home-cooked"?
Most people would think that something which is done (cooked) repetitively should not be listed as home-cooked. Home-cooked, in most people's minds, is exclusive, comfortable and prepared whole-heartedly.
In commercial cooking, food is usually prepared in quantities, hence it is inevitable that quality will decrease in such a scenario. This might explain why some human beings prefer having a meal that is home-cooked instead of dining out.
On the surface, it looks as if home-cooking has an edge over commercial cooking in terms of taste and the "warmth" it gives when eating it as it was prepared by a human using his heart.
However, we can easily counter the above statement. Commercially produced food like canned luncheon meat, sardines or a carton of barley water can be considered as "home-cooked" so long as they are eaten in a place dwelled by people.
To add on to the irony, some of these commercially produced food are being marketed and labelled as "home-cooked". Unless the person's house is also the factory, I really don't understand why would we classify such food as home-cooked.
In a nutshell, the term "home-cooked" has been blurred after numerous ways of cookings and dinings by people. Just like an overcooked pot of stew.
No comments:
Post a Comment