topic Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why??? in Kitchen

Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

coffee drinker — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 16:30:23 GMT

My prefereance is cooking because it isn't an "exact" science. You can improvise with different ingredients and add a little of this and that. Cook it a bit longer than the recipe and in most cases, the recipe won't be ruined. Baking is more precise. But in all fairness, I love eating savory or sweet. No preferance there!!!

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

SHIRAZ — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 16:39:36 GMT

I'm actually a better baker than a cook. I've made cakes and cookies since I was a little girl, and even though I don't do it as much anymore, I guess I take my time and follow my recipe, and I usually get good results. I like cooking in theory, but I'm easily distracted and often end up burning things. I have certain recipes that I make over and over again, that always turn out well, but when I try to get creative, or I try to wing something because I don't have all of the required ingredients, my results are less than stellar.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

Snowpuppy — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 17:00:02 GMT

I'm a far better baker than I am a cook. Learned from my grandmother who was an immigrant from Germany.

As a little kid I would be her kitchen helper on Saturdays which was her baking day. She would bake enough for the entire week, including homemade bread. We never had store-bought anything. She thought everything in the store was inferior to what she could whip up.

I chuckle when people say baking is such an exact science! My grandmother had skills she acquired from decades in the kitchen and she knew by touch and feel what a recipe needed. If the flour was too dry, if the dough was difficult to knead, if her pie crust was a bit too crumbly, she just knew.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

chickenbutt — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 17:01:48 GMT

I don't think I've ever had a preference. If I create something that people love, I am happy about that.

I think that the fact that I have had to cook since i was a small child gave me the benefit of a great deal of experience. By the time I was an adult I'd been cooking/baking for so long that I could make anything.

I don't care if it came out of the oven or off the stop of the stove. I'm happy to make it if they love to eat it.

That said, however, I haven't made bread for many years, and I really have no desire to do so anymore, so any baking I do is probably going to be something sweet. Nobody needs to eat a lot of sweets so, for that reason only, I keep that to a minimum.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

IamMrsG — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 17:35:33 GMT

@chickenbutt Are you my sister? It is uncanny how often you take the words off my keyboard.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

candys mine — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 17:44:14 GMT

I like to bake because it IS exacting. This much of this and this much of that causes this to happen. Then you can play with the add in extras. Kitchen chemistry. Plus, It is only one production to think about. I don't mind cooking a dinner and if I could do one thing at a time I'd be fine but I need devine intervention to get a whole meal ready at the same time! For holidays, I make the roast. (Again, One thing) and leave the rest to better time management family than I. Kinda funny really. It's a true mutual admiration society when the whole thing comes together!

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

DiAnne — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 17:45:44 GMT

I love to cook and try new recipes and combinations of flavors. I usually take half of dozen cooking classes a year at my local co-op. I am always pulling recipes that look interesting out of magazines. Baking is another story. I don't really enjoy it - I also don't really have a sweet tooth so that may be why.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

chickenbutt — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 18:16:50 GMT

IamMrsG wrote:
@chickenbutt Are you my sister? It is uncanny how often you take the words off my keyboard.

Hey Mrs G!

Yeah, after I grew up and cooking was no longer something I HAD to do to feed the siblings and the mother's husband du jour, I found that I enjoyed it on my own merit because people love being fed really great food..

When I was living in Germany I used to invite as many of the guys who wanted to com, to our apartment for dinners. I would find out what everybody liked the most and cook it all! It was great. They were happy and I worked my butt off. Now, THAT is the kind of hard work that is worth doing.

We would clear out the living room and put long tables in there. For an army apartment, it was fairly roomy. It was always a big, fun time for everybody.

Anyway, being somebody who is very much NOT creative, this was always an area where I actually could create - and create really great stuff.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

coffee drinker — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 19:35:24 GMT

Sorry for the incorrect spelling. I didn't see the spell check. "Preferance" should be spelled PREFERENCE. I should know better.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

jaxs mom — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 19:38:49 GMT

It isn't an either or. I like both. I do bake a lot though. Everything from yeast breads, pies, cakes and pastries.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

eddyandme — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 20:25:56 GMT

It depends who's doing the cooking and who's doing the baking - I do have a 'gourmet' pallet to please!

Sorry, I try hard at both - used to be a good cook but only me and my furrybabe now so I don't do much of either anymore. Did flunk homemade doggie cookies though - guess she's got a 'gourmet' pallet also!

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

blackhole99 — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 20:44:41 GMT

In my humble opinion you can't have one without the other. If I'm cooking beef burgundy I need French bread to go with it. Of course choc. fudge cake is a must for dessert.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

spix — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 21:09:29 GMT

Cooking is more my "thing" baking is mostly at Holiday times, love to make elaborate dinners, my reply to what can I bring is usually dessert, so I guess that tells it all

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

Mominohio — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 21:15:32 GMT

@coffee drinker wrote:
My prefereance is cooking because it isn't an "exact" science. You can improvise with different ingredients and add a little of this and that. Cook it a bit longer than the recipe and in most cases, the recipe won't be ruined. Baking is more precise. But in all fairness, I love eating savory or sweet. No preferance there!!!

@coffee drinker

Funny how different people see things differently. I was going to say that I'm a better baker than a cook, and for the same reason you offered up for the opposite.

I don't find most baking to be so exacting, but a lot of cooking (certainly not all) is more precise to get the same results over and over.

I've always been a better baker than cook, and I think it is cause my mom was as well.

I do both, and enjoy both, and love to eat both!

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

KY_Liz — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 22:24:49 GMT

I am a much better baker than cook. I "get" baking. I've even done fancy things like choux pastry. I would love to take a baking class at a chef school.

However, I don't bake much any more because I certainly don't need it, and no one in my life does either. We're all trying to eat healthy and some are diabetic.

When I get in the mood to bake, I make a cake or cookies or bars on Saturday night or Sunday morning and take them to church to share with others.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

RedTop — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:47:41 GMT

To be totally honest, I would prefer to do neither. However, the one thing I like to do even less than spend time in the kitchen, is to eat out. Therefore I do cook daily, and bake, occasionally, for my family. Because of our diabetes, baked goods are not allowed to remain in the house longer than 2 days before I find them a new home. When my truck driving daughter is home for a break, I will make her favorite chocolate cake. We each get one slice, I wrap 2 slices for her to take on the road, and the rest of the cake goes home with her boyfriend.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

house_cat — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 03:18:48 GMT

I prefer baking and I think I know why. I can spend hours cooking a meal and it's gobbled up in minutes... then the clean up. Yuck.

When I bake something it usually lasts a few days. Also, the way the house smells when something is baking is the best fragrance in the world.

Re: Cooking or Baking -- What's Your Preferance and Why???

beach-mom — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 03:40:41 GMT

I like both too, but I probably prefer cooking. I love to try new recipes and use new (to me) ingredients. When DS was in high school, the first thing I did for ME was to join a cookbook club. This was the first activity/committee, etc. that didn't involve my children somehow and/or school. I even gave up another commitment on that night to do it! I actually said "I can't"!

We choose a new cookbook each month, then each of us makes a recipe from that. We meet and bring our recipes for everyone to taste. I love it! And I've gotten some really good recipes! So much fun!