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Default What exactly is 'home made'?

On 2014-02-28 20:51:00 +0000, Dave Smith said:

> On 2014-02-28 3:19 PM, Ophelia wrote:
>>

>
>>> Actually I think finely mincing such terms is kind of a semantic game,
>>> rather than a cooking thing. Doesn't everybody?

>>
>> Probably. I prefer to cook all our food from scratch but that doesn't
>> make it better, just different preferences really.
>>

>
> It probably is much better.... for most decent cooks. Some people
> consider being able to stick something in the oven and heating it up to
> be home cooking. Some people consider throwing a bunch or processed
> components together and cooking it to be home cooking.


Good point: Better to let them call it what they like and encourage
their growth.

> Take lasagne as an example. A lot of people buy them pre made and
> frozen at the grocery store, while others might before the to be from a
> higher quality supplier. Others will assemble them at home, opening
> up cans of pasta sauce and packs of grated cardboard cheese, maybe
> actually frying the meat that goes into the sauce.


A better example might be a pasta dish. If you dump a jar of marinara
over a pasta you cooked your self, is it "home made"? It's certainly
not "made from scratch" the phrase Ophelia used--which is a pretty
exacting phrase.

Because the time, cost and labor for making home-made tomato sauce is
vastly greater than buying a decent jar of such sauce we've been buying
lots of different kinds in the hopes of find one we like to doctor. We
saute our own onions, maybe some garlic, italian sausage (which we
didn't make), and recently threw in grilled eggplant. We say "I cooked
dinner" or "I made the spaghetti" I don't know that we'd call it
home-made, though it generaly is. Again, I don't call it anything,
because the issue is irrelevant to me. It's made the way I like,
seasoned the way I like, and satisfying the way I like it.

> Others will make the sauce from scratch.....note that jarred or canned
> tomatoes are preserved foods which IMO count as home cooking. I also
> consider dried pasta as a valid component to home cooking.
>
> At any rate.... there is a line in there somewhere.


It's a different line for everyone, and probably meaningless to everybody else.