What are cooking times?

Cooking times are how long you need to wait for your food to be ready.

Imagine you're baking cookies in the oven. If the recipe says "bake for 10 minutes," that means you put the cookies in, and after 10 minutes, they’re done, golden and delicious! Just like waiting for a toy to finish printing at the store, where it takes some time before it’s ready to play with.

Some foods need more time than others. For example:

• Pasta usually takes about 8, 12 minutes to cook in boiling water.
• Rice might take around 15, 20 minutes to get soft and fluffy.

It's like waiting for different kinds of popcorn, some pop fast, some take longer. If you leave your food too long, it might become too hard or burnt. If you take it out too soon, it might still be tough inside.

So cooking times are like a timer that helps you know when to check on your food and when to take it off the heat, just like knowing when to stop waiting for your favorite game to load!