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Cookery, preparation of food for consumption. The oldest and most essential of the arts and crafts, cookery involves a variety of primary techniques that include the application of dry heat, immersion in or contact with heated liquids or fats, curing, smoking, and pickling. Secondary cookery techniques range from the simplest kitchen chores to the elaborate decoration of ceremonial pastries.
Cookery must be divided into two classes, perhaps best defined by the French, who distinguish between cuisine bourgeois (“home cooking”) and haute cuisine—cookery conceived as an aesthetic pursuit. In theory, the distinction is based on the differences between practical cooking skills and refined artistry. In practice, however, the distinction has always been somewhat vague and has become increasingly so in recent years, as home cooks—better informed, equipped, and supplied than in the past—emulate the work of professional chefs.
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