The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

cooking \cooking\ n.
   1. the practice or manner of preparing food or the food so
      prepared; cookery.

   Syn: cookery, cuisine, culinary art.
        [WordNet 1.5]

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

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cook \Cook\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cooked (k[oo^]kt); p. pr &
   vb. n. Cooking.]
   1. To prepare, as food, by boiling, roasting, baking,
      broiling, etc.; to make suitable for eating, by the agency
      of fire or heat.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To concoct or prepare; hence, to tamper with or alter; to
      garble; -- often with up; as, to cook up a story; to cook
      an account. [Colloq.]
      [1913 Webster]

            They all of them receive the same advices from
            abroad, and very often in the same words; but their
            way of cooking it is so different.    --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

cooking
    n 1: 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" [syn: cooking, cookery,
         preparation]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

23 Moby Thesaurus words for "cooking":
   a la mode, calefaction, dielectric heating, electric heating,
   electronic heating, furnace heating, gas heating, heat exchange,
   heating, hot-air heating, increase of temperature,
   induction heating, insolation, oil heating, panel heating,
   radiant heating, recalescence, steam heating, stroganoff,
   superheating, tepefaction, torrefaction, warming