Can we get an overhaul to cooking already?

"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.