Personally, I like the cooking system in general. I like the idea of ​​different cooking utensils and cookware. I also like the idea that things have to be processed multiple times before they are ready (first cut, then cook) because it makes the system more complex and realistic.
However, I don't think the actual execution of the idea is good, so I thought I'd just make a few suggestions on how it could - in my opinion - be done better.

- Simplify
One of the biggest issues I have with the cooking system and what makes it so unattractive to me is the sheer volume of ingredients needed. I understand that the devs wanted to take a realistic approach to cooking, but in the end efficiency and fun should be the main focus - in my opinion.
Accordingly, I would be in favor of making many of the recipes simpler and combining ingredients into one where possible. One type of meat, one type of wine, one type of bread - that's it.
I understand why there are different variants of things, but I think in a game it would be better to keep it a bit simpler, especially because even if you combine a lot of things, you still have a ton of ingredients that you have to have at home. Which brings me to my next point.

- Pantry
The cooking system requires a huge amount of ingredients, but there is no efficient and aesthetically pleasing way to store them.
The kitchen cabinets cannot be used as storage space - not even for cookware, which is a strange decision in my opinion since people usually keep pans and pots in kitchen cabinets. There is the refrigerator (I only have the first variant atm, and I can say that there is not enough space to store many ingredients in it. I realize that this is part of the progression and with better refrigerators, there is more storage space, I just want to say that at least at the beginning it is not suitable as a storage space. Plus many things do not actually need to be stored in a refrigerator.), and otherwise you have plastic boxes and shelves.
My suggestion would be a cache like the one you have for building, but for cooking only - in the form of a pantry. This could either be fixed built into the house or be purchased as a blueprint room that you could then freely build anywhere in the house. I imagined it to be like the room tool in Sims 4. That you have a room that is 2mx2m and you can simply place it anywhere in the house and then build it. And yeah, then you can open the door and get to the pantry UI, which works just like the building cache and you can put things in it.

- Cooking from the cache and the boxes
Definitely a QoL update, what needs to come is that you don't have to carry the ingredients you need for cooking with you, but can have them in the cache (if you install it) or in boxes on the farm, and cook out of them

- Recipes
It would be nice if we could simply apply the recipes to the corresponding utensils or cookware.
What do I mean by that?
Let's take lemonade as an example. I scroll through my Cook Book app, find the recipe for lemonade, click on it, see the ingredients, and then click on the picture (or a button) and add the recipe to my cutting board. If I click two more times, I have the recipe x3 on my cutting board and if I have the corresponding ingredients (with me, in the cache or in a box), the system takes them and makes the recipe three times.
In theory, you could even put different buttons on the cookbook page: 1x, 5x, 10x. So that you can cook larger quantities if you want. Because having to always select the number of ingredients by hand and then drag them onto the cooking utensil just takes up so much time and is simply no fun.
The number of batches you can make could also depend on the cooking utensil. On small boards, ovens, etc. you can only do it once, on larger ones, you can do it x5 or x10.

These are my four ideas on how to make cooking more enjoyable and efficient without losing the basic idea of ​​the cooking system. :)