I did a bit of investigation into the issue of 'cooking in an unauthorised place' and could find no information on what this might entail. It isn't a military offence in the sense of the Army Act 1938. I can find nothing in the Manual of Army Cooking which defines either an authorised or unauthorised place. King's Regulations also do not mention rules about cooking. By definition, Army cooks have to be able to cook in the field when required, and in my personal experience that means setting up a cookhouse in some fairly dirty and unpleasant surroundings. The obvious point is that the cooking itself should be done in a hygienic manner, but I can't see how a place would be 'authorised'. The nearest I came to what might be an explanation was found in the Manual of Army Cooking 1915. This said that the Cook Sergeant was responsible for ensuring that the place where food was cooked by the company cooks was suitably equipped and in a clean state. However that applied before centralised mess halls were instituted, so I'm not sure how relevant that was to a cook operating in North Africa in 1945.
A severe reprimand is quite a serious punishment, albeit without any financial penalty or loss of liberty, and would usually only be given where the alternative punishment might be a reduction in rank. Since he was about to be demobbed and therefore lose his rank anyway, surely this would have been a fairer punishment.
