cooking(n = noun.act) cookery, preparation - the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat; "cooking can be a great art"; "people are needed who have experience in cookery"; "he left the preparation of meals to his wife"
is a kind of change of state
has parts: tenderisation, tenderization, seasoning
has particulars: baking, browning, toasting, broil, broiling, grilling, frying, sauteing, fusion cooking, braising, poaching, roasting, boiling, simmering, stewing, percolation, cuisine, culinary art
Derived forms verb cook₃, verb cook₂, verb cook₁

1.  the practice or manner of preparing food or the food so prepared; cookery. [WordNet 1.5]

2.  the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat. [WordNet 1.5]

cooking, n.
1 the art or process by which food is cooked.
2 (attrib.) suitable for or used in cooking (cooking apple; cooking utensils).

N  preparation, providing, provision, providence, anticipation, precaution, preconcertation, predisposition, forecast, rehearsal, note of preparation, arrangement, clearance, adjustment, tuning, equipment, outfit, accouterment, armament, array, ripening, maturation, evolution, elaboration, concoction, digestion, gestation, batching, incubation, sitting, groundwork, first stone, cradle, stepping-stone, foundation, scaffold, scaffolding, echafaudage, training, inurement, novitiate, cooking, cookery, brewing, culinary art, tilling, plowing sowing, semination, cultivation, preparedness, readiness, ripeness, mellowness, maturity, un impromptu fait a loisir, preparer, trainer, pioneer, trailblazer, avant-courrier, avant-coureur, voortrekker, sappers and miners, pavior, navvy, packer, stevedore, warming pan, preparing, in preparation, in course of preparation, in agitation, in embryo, in hand, in train, afoot, afloat, on foot, on the stocks, on the anvil, under consideration, brewing, batching, forthcoming, brooding, in store for, in reserve, precautionary, provident, preparative, preparatory, provisional, inchoate, under revision, preliminary, prepared, in readiness, ready, ready to one's band, ready made, ready cut and dried: made to one's hand, handy, on the table, in gear, in working order, in working gear, snug, in practice, ripe, mature, mellow, pukka, practiced, labored, elaborate, highly-wrought, smelling of the lamp, worked up, in full feather, in best bib and tucker, in harness, at harness, in the saddle, in arms, in battle array, in war paint, up in arms, armed at all points, armed to the teeth, armed cap a pie, sword in hand, booted and spurred, in utrumque paratus, semper paratus, on the alert, at one's post, in preparation, in anticipation of, against, for, abroach, a bove majori discit arare minor, looking before and after, si vis pacem para bellum.

cooking apple, cooking chocolate, cooking oil, cooking pan, cooking stove, cooking utensil, fusion cooking