When reading Adrienne Lehrer's piece on "The Culinary Triangle," I was amazed that I have never thought about the structure of food language.  Lehrer works off Levi-Strauss' idea of a Culinary Triangle, which has corners of "raw," "cooked," and "rotted," with the "main" cooking functions being roasting (associated with raw because you can roast something so that it is cooked on the outside yet raw on the inside), rotted is linked with boiling because the boiled "simply resembles [spoiled food]." Cooked food is associated with smoking. In between processes, such as grilling, steaming are the midpoints of triangle sides, and the triangle can also be modified by the medium of cooking (like oil in frying). All in all, this analysis of food meanings is a complex jumble of qualifiers, rules, pluses and minuses.
Qualifiers:
-distance from heat source
-medium: water, fat, oil, wine
-type of heating, direct vs. indirect
-time
-cooking action, vigorous v. non vigorous
-level of submersion
-utensil
-special ingredient
-special purpose

But then I thought, what about foods like salsa, guacamole, antipasto, salads, wraps, hummus, vegetarian spring rolls, ice cream? I suppose the distinction could be that they could be "prepared foods," versus "cooked," because according to Lehrer, "all cooking words presupposes a heat source."
Oed says:

1.  a. intr. To act as cook, to prepare food by the action of heat (for a household, etc.). (Now regarded as the absol. use of 2.)

 2. a. trans. To prepare or make ready (food); to make fit for eating by due application of heat, as by boiling, baking, roasting, broiling, etc.

"Application of heat."

I suppose  this  does  make sense, as foods such as salsa and guacamole are prepared from raw foods, and never have heat applied to them. Thus, if the definition of cooking includes the use of heat, if I made the most complex, balanced salad, then I wouldn't be cooking, I would be preparing it. That makes sense, because nobody ever says "I'm cooking a salad tonight!" or "Let's cook some guacamole!" It is instead, "Let's prepare a salad," or "Let's make some guacamole." But, the culinary triangle describes a set of processes, and even mostly raw, prepared foods involve processes.

I compared the words used in two easy level recipes by Alton Brown,  one for guacamole and one for baked macaroni.  Note the bolded words in the recipe:

 Guacamole:

Ingredients

• 3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

>>Note, in this recipe for preparing guacamole, the verbs used. Aside from add, place  and serve  which could be applied to any cooking process, the other verbs like toss to coat, drain, reserve, fold in  are processes in themselves, unique and that would need some explanation...especially  "let sit," which sounds weird. Why let sit  instead of stand? Overall, the processes seem to be less intensive than broiling, boiling, roasting, etc.

This makes me wonder how these words fit into the, or next to? the culinary triangle, like outside the triangle? Perhaps they don't fit at all, and these prepared dishes don't count somehow as real dishes, perhaps these are more closely related to the preparation of drinks.

Prepared foods: [-heat], [-vigorous action],[+raw food] and time is not necessarily a factor because the mac and cheese recipe below takes about the same amount of time. 

Mac and Cheese:

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.

>>Each of the verbs used in this recipe include smaller processes that are similar to the guacamole recipe: whisk, keep it moving, toss. But the recipe also includes processes that are in the triangle, such as: simmer, temper, bake. Again, there is something odd:  rest for five minutes. Thoughts: Cooked dishes involving heat include processes that are in the culinary triangle like simmer and bake, while also including smaller processes without heat, like season, fold, stir. 

Conclusion: Cooking and preparing food involve a set of processes which can be described as in the culinary triangle, cooking process that involve heat use, and processes that are meant to be prepared, and applied only to raw foods, raw dishes, or as steps in a preparation of a heated, cooked dish.