Why is it that cooking some foods with dry heat in an oven is called roasting but cooking other foods the same way is called baking?

What-A-Mess

Meat versus Dairy. Mar 22 07, 8:29 PM

gmackematix

Hmm, Messy...I don't think that explains much at all. Run me through how "Meat versus Dairy" tells us why, for example, bread, pies and haricot beans are said to be baked while a joint of beef, peanuts and coffee beans are roasted. Mar 22 07, 8:41 PM

What-A-Mess

Firstly, baking utilizes the bottom heat element only while roasting would utilize a top element (one CAN roast using the bottom method). Using the bottom element more evenly supplies heat which is a necessary factor when baking because starch conversion is the goal. Secondly, broil or roast is direct heat application with the intention of caramelization of surface juices without cooking through or only partially. broil: "cook," 1375, from O.Fr. bruller "to broil, roast," from brosler "to burn," from L. ustulare "to scorch, singe," from ustus, pp. of urere "to burn." Alt. by infl. of Gmc. "burn" words beginning in br-. bake: O.E. bacan "to bake," from P.Gmc. *bakanan (cf. O.N. baka, M.Du. backen, O.H.G. bahhan), from PIE base *bhog- "to warm, roast, bake" (cf. Gk. phogein "to roast"). Baker is O.E. bæcere. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bake&searchmode=none http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bake&searchmode=none Mar 22 07, 10:09 PM

Baloo55th

And what if you've got an oven like most gas ones I've seen (including the currently not working cooker in my kitchen, and the one waiting to replace it) which has a set of burners at floor level at the back? Cooking is done by the convection of hot air. Electric cookers may have elements in various places, but gas ones don't. I've often wondered about the difference between roasting and baking. One is that roasting in origin involved using direct heat from flames (roasting on a spit) while baking involved sheltering the product from the direct flame by the use of a metal or clay container. With the advent of ranges and cookers, the difference seems to have become blurred. It's similar with grilling. Very few cookers actually have a grill. They have a broiler. A grill is in origin a metal latticework to go over the flames to hold smaller pieces of meat than could be put on a spit. The heat came from underneath. In the US, the term grill is used in its original sense, but in the UK and Australia we call a broiler a grill. (Broiler is used only for a type of chicken.) Mar 23 07, 6:05 AM

What-A-Mess

Ah! Many, many good (even some cheapos) gas ovens have a Broiler drawer underneath that is BELOW the gas jet bar. Mar 23 07, 7:11 AM

peasypod

Most ovens I'm used to are fan forced, with a separate grill compartment no-where near the oven itself. (Yes, I'm talking non-commercial everyday household kitchens, not the one I work with; that's supersonic...) Having said that, when I 'roast' something it usually has a lid on it. I like to keep juices flowing in my meats, there's nothing worse than chewy, dry Chateaubriand. On the other hand, I 'bake' cakes and biscuits (cookies) on a 'baking' tray. Guess it all depends on what corner of the cabbage patch we all emerged from. Mar 23 07, 7:13 AM

What-A-Mess

It also depends an proper usage of terms, which, as we all know, does not occur often enough in our World today. A blurring of EVERYTHING. Mar 23 07, 7:14 AM

Baloo55th

I'm just sitting down with a gin and Vimto, and I'm not blurred. Yet... Mar 23 07, 11:08 AM