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by p1necone 505 days ago
Imo both cooking and baking are "science" until you have the requisite experience to mess around, then they both become art. You can absolutely guess your way into a great cake recipe based on feel.

I think the two important differences are that the results of bad cooking tend to be slightly more edible than the results of bad baking, so many people don't even realize they can't cook. And many more people are forced into cooking via necessity, so the average skill level is higher.
3 comments
bena 505 days ago
Having a temperature preference for steak is just that, preference. Saltiness is a preference. As is most things in cooking.

Raw dough is always raw dough. You can't fake rising, etc.

Not to mention, if you watch cooking/baking shows, you'll see just how much overlap there really is. Some challenges in Masterchef involves baked goods, cakes, macaroons, etc. Some challenges in the Great British Baking Show involves cooking things. Either to make savory pies or to make compotes or jams, etc.

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nkrisc 505 days ago
It's certainly true that there is plenty of science in cooking and plenty of art in baking. My comment is very reductive.

That said, cooking is generally far more forgiving that baking. If you put some amount of chicken in an oven set to a temperature of "very hot", you'll eventually have cooked chicken.

If you mix some amount of flour, water, and yeast, let it sit for some amount of time, and then put it in a "very hot" oven, you're unlikely to end up with what anyone would call "bread". It may not even really be that edible unless you were to grind it back into a power and mix it with water.

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bruce511 505 days ago
I'll back you up here. While i don't do a lot of baking, I've done enough over my life to get a feel for what the ingredients do. I adjust enough that I think most folks would describe it as "not following the recipe".

I will often reduce sugar, add things (cocoa, nuts and so on). As an example if you add cocoa you need to add fluid to compensate. More butter (or oil) leads to a "wetter" crumb and so on.

It takes more experience than regular cooking to do this though, and th feedback cycle is slower.

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