cook up a storm verb5 •(informal) To do a large amount of cooking at once; to prepare a great deal of cooked food.When I started to lose weight, she started cooking up a storm. — 1997 •To make a big fuss, generate a lot of unnecessary talk or activity; make a scene.If she was mad at me, she'd frown, stomp around a lot, cook up a storm, then talk when she'd calmed down. — 2013 •(figurative) To create a stormy situation; agitate or enrage.Given this information, my imagination was cooking up a storm of other disrupting possibilities. I slept badly and woke up sick to my stomach. — 2009 •To make a splash; to create a spectacle.Kaffe is really cooking up a storm here, with polychromatic fireworks in shimmering primaries exploding and rioting all over the canvas. — 1991 •To cause a storm (weather phenomenon)."Sounds like it's cooking up a storm outside." Jennifer nodded. — 1996 formscooked up a storm · cooking up a storm · cooks up a storm