Can we get an overhaul to cooking already?

"Sigzy05;d-967396" wrote:

Regarding quick meals, I think they should be adjusted so that they do not increase sim’s hunger bars the same as a normal full meal but remain the exact same when it comes to moodlets and such.

do they even work that way now? I had always recalled that they were less efficient at filling the hunger need. Maybe I'm wrong tho

"Cupid;c-17272386" wrote:

"Sigzy05;d-967396" wrote:

Regarding quick meals, I think they should be adjusted so that they do not increase sim’s hunger bars the same as a normal full meal but remain the exact same when it comes to moodlets and such.

do they even work that way now? I had always recalled that they were less efficient at filling the hunger need. Maybe I'm wrong tho

I think you’re right. I don’t think all cooking is the same either, though. From what I’ve seen foods like chips and salsa or ceviche aren’t as filing as spaghetti or something.

Hmm...

Well, there is one level over Excellent, which I think is only possible if you've completed the Chef Aspiration.

I agree that the quality of ingredients should impact the quality of the dish, and that without fresh ingredients, excellent should be difficult (and there is one above that, if you've mastered the Chef aspiration) and rare depending on skill. A skilled chef can make an enjoyable meal from leftovers and canned food (they'll probably complain about it the whole time if they're a professional, but it can be done.) I mean, that's the whole point of some episodes of Chopped or Cutthroat Kitchen (or even the occasional episode of Top Chef.)

I don't agree that gourmet food should have a different quality scale. I mean, the label "gourmet" doesn't actually mean the food inherently tastes better, after all (despite what some may claim). It may be made with uncommon ingredients, or better cuts of meat (something that is a non-issue for Sims) and usually it involves advanced cooking techniques, but Gourmet Chili (to pull out a random example) is still Chili. Those spices are going to cover up any gourmet qualities of organic beans or finer cuts of meat (that really have no business being in anything as spicy as chili.) As one episode of Chopped demonstrated ... adding lobster to Chocolate mac and cheese doesn't actually improve it just because it's lobster.

Plenty of people also prefer a simple home-style cooking meal over any of the more complicated flavors of most high end offerings. One of the early (season 3, I believe) episodes of Top Chef pointed out that only about 30% of the US population that does eat out, eats at high end restaurants, even if they can afford it.

That said, I do think a cooking overhaul would be a good thing. I'm just not sure what, beyond having ingredient quality actually have an impact on the food, that should be. A new, broader scale over all would be good, as would a fail that didn't involve setting the kitchen on fire. But I'd have that scale apply equally to Gourmet and Home-style cooking.

Maybe an ability to substitute ingredients, with a corresponding increase in difficulty to get an excellent?

"DaWaterRat;c-17272420" wrote:
Hmm...

Well, there is one level over Excellent, which I think is only possible if you've completed the Chef Aspiration.

I agree that the quality of ingredients should impact the quality of the dish, and that without fresh ingredients, excellent should be difficult (and there is one above that, if you've mastered the Chef aspiration) and rare depending on skill. A skilled chef can make an enjoyable meal from leftovers and canned food (they'll probably complain about it the whole time if they're a professional, but it can be done.) I mean, that's the whole point of some episodes of Chopped or Cutthroat Kitchen (or even the occasional episode of Top Chef.)

I don't agree that gourmet food should have a different quality scale. I mean, the label "gourmet" doesn't actually mean the food inherently tastes better, after all (despite what some may claim). It may be made with uncommon ingredients, or better cuts of meat (something that is a non-issue for Sims) and usually it involves advanced cooking techniques, but Gourmet Chili (to pull out a random example) is still Chili. Those spices are going to cover up any gourmet qualities of organic beans or finer cuts of meat (that really have no business being in anything as spicy as chili.) As one episode of Chopped demonstrated ... adding lobster to Chocolate mac and cheese doesn't actually improve it just because it's lobster.

Plenty of people also prefer a simple home-style cooking meal over any of the more complicated flavors of most high end offerings. One of the early (season 3, I believe) episodes of Top Chef pointed out that only about 30% of the US population that does eat out, eats at high end restaurants, even if they can afford it.

That said, I do think a cooking overhaul would be a good thing. I'm just not sure what, beyond having ingredient quality actually have an impact on the food, that should be. A new, broader scale over all would be good, as would a fail that didn't involve setting the kitchen on fire. But I'd have that scale apply equally to Gourmet and Home-style cooking.

Maybe an ability to substitute ingredients, with a corresponding increase in difficulty to get an excellent?

The US population isn't the whole world, I'm sorry to break it to you. Still, this skill already exists in the sims 4, so why is it that it should be another copy past version of the cooking skill?

That said, gourmet does mean that it's a higher quality food! Go to the dictionary if you need to. Of course it can still be as bad, which is why it would still include all of the low qualities, not just the higher ones. However it would have unique higher qualities, for both realistic purposes and for making it a more interesting and a unique skill compared to normal cooking.

Another interesting option however, that would also be interesting, is if all Gourmet Cooking skill recipes required you to have fresh ingredients similar to baking, for sims to be able to cook them. Instead of buying it straight from the fridge.

"DaWaterRat;c-17272420" wrote:
Hmm...

Well, there is one level over Excellent, which I think is only possible if you've completed the Chef Aspiration.

I agree that the quality of ingredients should impact the quality of the dish, and that without fresh ingredients, excellent should be difficult (and there is one above that, if you've mastered the Chef aspiration) and rare depending on skill. A skilled chef can make an enjoyable meal from leftovers and canned food (they'll probably complain about it the whole time if they're a professional, but it can be done.) I mean, that's the whole point of some episodes of Chopped or Cutthroat Kitchen (or even the occasional episode of Top Chef.)

I don't agree that gourmet food should have a different quality scale. I mean, the label "gourmet" doesn't actually mean the food inherently tastes better, after all (despite what some may claim). It may be made with uncommon ingredients, or better cuts of meat (something that is a non-issue for Sims) and usually it involves advanced cooking techniques, but Gourmet Chili (to pull out a random example) is still Chili. Those spices are going to cover up any gourmet qualities of organic beans or finer cuts of meat (that really have no business being in anything as spicy as chili.) As one episode of Chopped demonstrated ... adding lobster to Chocolate mac and cheese doesn't actually improve it just because it's lobster.

Plenty of people also prefer a simple home-style cooking meal over any of the more complicated flavors of most high end offerings. One of the early (season 3, I believe) episodes of Top Chef pointed out that only about 30% of the US population that does eat out, eats at high end restaurants, even if they can afford it.

That said, I do think a cooking overhaul would be a good thing. I'm just not sure what, beyond having ingredient quality actually have an impact on the food, that should be. A new, broader scale over all would be good, as would a fail that didn't involve setting the kitchen on fire. But I'd have that scale apply equally to Gourmet and Home-style cooking.

Maybe an ability to substitute ingredients, with a corresponding increase in difficulty to get an excellent?

The chef aspiration is just for food that doesn’t spoil. You need the “Stoves and Grills Master” trait from outdoor retreat to get Impeccable food, as far as I know.

I agree there should be more difference between the food skills, and between cooked vs quick meals. regarding ingredients, TS2 had an (overpowered) bonus to hunger fulfillment for using fresh ingredients, but a moodlet would probably be better in TS4?
Something about the cooking skills that bothers me is that, when 'Baking' skill is present due to GTW, basegame/other ep cakes and pies are still part of 'Homestyle Cooking'. I feel like they should get recategorised if GTW is installed! (especially as someone who irl can bake decently and cook not at all)
It also annoys me that all City Living recipes are level 1 recipes? like a samosa is a bit more complex than a BLT! I get that its so sims can learn the recipe regardless of their skill level when they eat it, but maybe eating CL foods could add the recipe to their future level-up-recipe-gains, or have a popup like in Dine Out, 'sim would've learnt this if they had level X cooking/baking/gourmet skill'.

I've burned food before in an oven, the problem is, that if it wasn't in there too long after it started burning, only the top layer needs to be peeled away and everything underneath is usually very edible. So just because it is burned on the outside doesn't mean it is going to be of poor quality and that depends on the food type, like pies, only the casing is affected, once the lid is gone you can eat the rest without issue. However the longer it is left on the cooker the worse the food quality gets the more burned through it goes, which is especially more true with meats that tend to dry out and go rock hard.

I wouldn't limit ordinary food to just great, infact i'd like to put it right up there with gourmet foods. how you prepare the food, what ingredients you use and how you cook it can make all the difference in the end, and then there is the random chance that even an unskilled cook, just an ordinary sim can hit 1/1000 chance of it being almost perfect to eat on that chance. But even a perfectly skilled cook can make poor quality food as well, so there should be a chance for that as well.

I never cooked a grilled cheese sandwich on a frying pan before a week ago, okay it was slightly burned but the first time was excellent with the right bread, of course in europe we have different stuff in our breads compared to American breads. but i tried it.
Also made my first coffee cake a few weeks ago, that turned out really good as well. But you never know if the next one is going to be better or worse.

I wouldn't mind the idea of having supermarkets in the game and greater use of garden features to grow fresh fruits, vegs and tatties, that way you got to make a choice: Do you go for cash crops or fresh produce to survive long enough to make something of yourself first? I'd find the challenge of a new sim in Crick Cabana, Nookstone or Havisham House in having to find the money to pay for their groceries. And due to the unique layout of some places like the center of Windenburg or the Island and other inaccesible locations like in Sulani and remote places like San Myshuno and Granite Falls, you need to go shop as you can't have food delivered to your doorstep.

Finally, limiting cooking foods while in an inspired mood to improve cooking chances doesn't make much sense, as long as you have a reasonly good mood, your food will come out great because you got a positive attitude and know what you are doing. if you are angry, sad or tense, of course you are more likely to make a lot of mistakes and your food is likely to come out less desirable than you'd like (and i avoided using negatives as a rule as it is stilll possible to have made something good even when angry).

Edit: Forgot about having a storage area of foods, a pantry. it would be nice if that was made an addition with various features to store foods away in a safe location so they can be brought out and used at another point. it also adds an extra design to the house.

I’d like for it to be improved too. I’d like for sims to be able to cook with other sims, like parents and kids for instance.

Also could it be possible to use something smaller to make cupcakes because there’s no space in my kitchen for the cupcake factory machine.

I think it could be nice if sims could create their own recipes.

And I want more cooking appliances.

"Dianesims;c-17274040" wrote:
And I want more cooking appliances.

indeed. whisks instead of wooden spoons (and without that silly animation of stirring food in a pan without it spilling out), blenders (for smoothies and generally chopping up food if a knife is too much, it could be used at low level cooking skills where the knife replaces that at higher cooking skill).

more portable solutions like water coolers and vending machines for special lots, so sims can get a quick bite to eat.

Mini fridges for home use in bedroom/living room to avoid having a large fridge in the area (but are limited to only holding cooked foods), this way they are seperate from the main fridge and the food can be move around so a sim doesn't need to travel half way across the galaxy to get to the fridge and back.

Sandwich makers and waffle irons, for those lazy sims looking for a high fat less healthy option of grilled foods and doing a Homer Simpson, and let's face it we all wish we could have a day off to just go crazy making moon waffles! :D

What about the cooking system from sims 2 on console??
You picked your ingredients from the fridge, and chose which appliance to use, wether to chop it up on the counter, chuck it in the processor (RIP food processor lol), straight in the oven etc.. and you’d get a different meal at the end of it, according to what and how you choose to make it? You could experiment with your own recipes which obviously led way to some crazy concoctions lol.. There was a recipe book dependant on your cooking skill .

Everything else OP was saying sounds great though and would be a great cooking overhaul :)