On Cook & Cooking

Cook can be many  a  thing. Cook can be a name, such as in Captain James Cook (1728 -79), British navigator and explorer.
He went on expeditions to S. Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. There are many places in that part of the world named after him.
Cook Strait, a strait between N. and S. islands in New Zealand, is one such place, another being Mount Cook, mountain in New Zealand,
 on South Island ( 12,349 feet = approx 4,200 m).

Now cooking as most of us know it, has to do with preparing food by the action of heat,
or to subject anything to the action of heat.
This should be a definition which is true in most instances.
Cooking is also found in the word  cooking-range,
meaning stove on which you cook.

Cook can be the one who prepares the meals,
whose occupation it is to cook and prepare food for the table.

However, the French word "chef" (=male head cook)
is used quite frequently,
 especially so in the U.S.

Note that the Swedish word "chef" has absolutely nothing to do with the English "chef"
and don't confuse it with the mechanical and nautical term "chief".
The Swedish word "chef" is more closely related to "chief"
as in the North American Indian Chief.

Cook can also be found in the word cook-house
which is a nautical term referring to the ship's galley.
A cook-shop, originally cook's shop, is an older expression meaning an eating-house.
This almost sounds like Swenglish, which it is not.

It's truly British. The verb cook means to act as cook, to prepare food,
to make fit for eating by application of heat,
as by boiling, baking, roasting, broiling etc.

When a new restaurant is built, one can sometimes see ads,
saying things like  "We've cooked up a new location"
meaning they've built and designed a new place,
including e.g. an "All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Court"
where you help yourself.

Doesn't  this make you hungry ?

"Some falsified printed accounts, artfully cooked up." (by Smollett)

"We cooked up a bill for that purpose."  (by Chesterfield)


You hear both 'cook' and 'cooking' quite frequently in old blues and love songs,
and not necessarily having to do with food at all.

The fact is of course, as food and food-related words are all something positive, favorable, and nice to us,
so are love, food and language basically.
Just like a common language building bridges, so is sharing a meal,
like having lunch together.

A cooker is a stove.
 Cooker is primarily used in Great Britain,
including of course some of the old colonies.
A cooker can also mean a vessel in which food is cooked.
Sometimes there's also been a fruit etc. that cooks well  referred to as a cooker.

Cookery is the art of cooking So is the practice of cooking, cookery.
Cookery can also be the product of the cook's art, and it could also be a place for cooking, a kitchen.

You are so cookish meaning you are so much like a cook. This is a rather rare expression.

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A cookie in Scotland means a baker's plain bun,
and in the U.S.A. it is a small flat cake, with or without sweetening.
Please, take your time and look into biscuits and cookies.  
-Yes, cookie could also be spelled cooky, and still be correct.

A bun could be what you put your hotdog into, apart from what can be found in saucy remarks
and various other references not mentioned here.
This is what one of our regular visitors just had to say about bun & buns:
-"Yeah, but why not tell students what "buns" also can mean?
The anatomical word buttocks is completely decent to use in this situation,
and there would be nothing wrong in explaining what part of the body is called "buns".

 

Together with a cup of coffee, or a cup of tea, it will make wonderful conversation during breaks,
just like discussing the difference in the way "cucumber" is dealt with in English compared to in Scandinavian languages.
Once you've cut a cucumber it isn't a cucumber any longer, in English that is.
Try to find a simple item such as "saltgurka", outside Sweden, and you will realize what I mean.
Good luck to you, and enjoy your meal!










One major problem to Swedes is the similarity between Sw 'koka' ('kokning') and Engl 'cook' ('cooking').
The Swedish word 'koka' means 'to boil', such as causing water to pass above 100 degrees centigrades (Celsius),
where in English 'cook' means preparing food, or heat up food, to subject to the action of heat.
This language confusion between cultures never stops causing difficulties,
and not focusing enough upon major issues like this one in schools make things even worse.

... and what about cook and cock? Are they related somehow?







...och vad säger du om den gula löken utanför Sverige?
Whoever heard of a yellow onion?

Fortunately, some of us remember Booker T & the MGs (Green Onions).

Ever  heard  of  Sam  Cooke?

If not, it's about time...

 

 

The Travels of Captain James Cook

   Cook's Voyages Summary:  a brief biography of James Cook
along with a summary of his voyages

 

Jen Reviews...

A delicious rustic pinto bean chili recipe
complete with step-by-step pictures and detailed instructions. 

More about BBQ & Grilling

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