Nay, I say a good cook can take something totally inedible and transform it into something delicious. Take the humble bean, any cretin can chuck a tin of kidney beans into a chilli but only a cook can take raw hard dried beans convert them into soft packages laden with absorbed flavour.
Any moron can roast a leg of lamb but only a cook can take a fatty sinewy a slab of breast and turn it into a crispy gooey wonder.
How many can't even joint a raw chicken or debone a pigs head or even fillet a flounder? How many think home cooking is when you open more than one jar of sauce?
Thoughts?