Btw, very important cooking action that's missing: marinating/pickling/soaking.
Hmm. I could include this as a cooking action. Because it wouldn't require as much gameplay, it would be an occasional category.
Perhaps it could be like charging up for a turn before an attack - soaking increases the flavor or improves the texture so it's like a buff or bonus?
Oh, that's clever! Especially for marinating, since that's usually optional. (Like a pickle isn't a pickle unless you pickle it, but a chicken dish is still a chicken dish if you don't marinate it, it's just not quite as good.)
Speaking of turns, were you thinking of having a turn-based or real-time... uh... "battle system" equivalent? Or something in between, like KoTOR (technically short turns but portrayed as if simultaneous and done in realtime) or SNES/PS2 Final Fantasy "Active Time"?