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Cooking vs. Baking - Is There An Overlap? Are There Stereotypes Of Each?


Waitman

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Having an discussion and would love to hear educated guesses by this educated group viz the following questions:

1) What percent of people who "cook" seriously, "bake" seriously?  Some people are definitely big bakers, and you rarely see them spending hours reducing a stock, spatchcocking a chicken or smoking home-cured bacon.  Others -- like me -- spend a lot of time on the range top but - while they can bake competently in a pinch -- just don't see it a a primary focus.  I suppose there is a third group that is culinary ambidextrous.  Given a free Saturday afternoon, they're equally likely to embark on a bouf Bourguignon or a batch of brioche.  Just for funsies,  what do thing the distribution of fairly serious home cook (defined these days by someone who cooks their own food for a pot-luck or bake sale rather than going to Trader Joe's)?

2) Among bakers, what would you guess gender ratio is? More men, more women, or roughly equal numbers?

Thanks.

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Having an discussion and would love to hear educated guesses by this educated group viz the following questions:

1) What percent of people who "cook" seriously, "bake" seriously?  Some people are definitely big bakers, and you rarely see them spending hours reducing a stock, spatchcocking a chicken or smoking home-cured bacon.  Others -- like me -- spend a lot of time on the range top but - while they can bake competently in a pinch -- just don't see it a a primary focus.  I suppose there is a third group that is culinary ambidextrous.  Given a free Saturday afternoon, they're equally likely to embark on a bouf Bourguignon or a batch of brioche.  Just for funsies,  what do thing the distribution of fairly serious home cook (defined these days by someone who cooks their own food for a pot-luck or bake sale rather than going to Trader Joe's)?

2) Among bakers, what would you guess gender ratio is? More men, more women, or roughly equal numbers?

Thanks.

1. I think I probably qualify as a serious cook.  Although I don't have a grill or a smoker (darn you condo living).  I also enjoy baking, although I don't do it as often.  I probably bake once every 3 weeks maybe?  More often if I have more free time or around any holidays/birthdays.  Summer I tend to bake more I think just because work is a little less hectic.  I am not sure how many people like me are out there.  As I like to do it more than just when in a pinch.  I know a lot of Mom's in Alexandria who are Junior Friends that bake a good bit and cook.  But I only know a few who enjoy baking as much as cooking.

2. Among professional/amateur (but very serious) bakers I think the numbers are pretty even.  I would say among people in this category like me I would guess it is more women.  But that's just my humble opinion and guesstimate.

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I'm also a pretty serious cook.  I spend less time baking than I did many years ago, but baking was my main entry into the cooking world and I still love to do it -- unfortunately, most baked goods don't love me back.  <sigh>

As for sweets baking vs. bread baking, I would say the serious home cooks have men overall being more bread-focused and women more sweets focused, but overall I would give the nod to more women being bakers overall, especially due to one wage-earner couples where predominantly it's the wife that is the stay-at-home spouse and generally takes on the bulk of the cooking and baking

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When I was much younger, I used to bake more than I cooked.  I started out baking.  Then, for a time, it was probably about equal.  Now, we're not eating much in the way of bread and baked goods/desserts, and I cook far more than I bake.  Usually I bake now most often if I'm bringing food to an event.  A batch of cookies at home lasts months.

I'd say I'm about equally decent at both.  At one point I would have said I was a better baker, but since I'm doing that less, some of my skills have waned.

I have no idea on the m/f balance generally.

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I've been seriously cooking for a long time, and for much of that time I never baked at all. I would even say, when talking about cooking, that I did all kinds of cooking but no baking. Then one day, I thought, why not? That was somewhere between 12 and 15 years ago. I started modestly, with pizza. I bought a stone and a peel, made dough following somebody's recipe, and turned out some pretty good pizza. Then I went on to loaves of bread. First lean-dough bread shaped into boules and baked on the stone, then rolls, and then enriched-dough sandwich bread baked in a pan. And then brioche, which I never quite got the hang of. Some batches turned out well, others dense and dreary. I'll have to try again. What I haven't attempted is croissants, but I will.  I grew to love flour. I loved and still love handling dough, although the very pleasantest dough, to me, is one that doesn't get baked, i.e., pasta. And then I thought, why not pastry? I've mostly made free-form fruit tarts. I made a two-crust pie about 8 years ago that wasn't altogether successful, although the reason I haven't tried again is more lack of occasion than sour grapes. For a few years I was baking something maybe two or three times a month. And I don't know why, but I haven't baked anything in ages. Anyway, even at the high-point of my baking career, I still was much more cook than baker.

Now that I think about it, I really must start baking again. Croissants. Puff pastry.

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I used to be ambicooksterous.  Baking and cooking use very different skill sets.  Baking you need to follow the recipe until you learn ratios, and even then, for the harder stuff, I would follow the recipe more or less precisely.

Cooking, eh, we don't need no stinking recipes.  Just wing it, baby.

Now, alas, I must eat gluten free, and there is no way to make croissants or puff pastry without the miracle of stretchy, clingy gluten.  The stuff is genius.  I can bake approximations of many things using non-gluten flour, but nothing challenging or ambitious, just the basics like muffins or cupcakes or pie crust and then I run into the carb issue unless I use almond flour or coconut flour. I could, and sometimes do, weep.

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I know a lot of cooks who *hate* the rigor involved in baking. In the 1950s, many American housewives used to roll their own dough, so even though it may be a dwindling stereotype (that perhaps shouldn't even be mentioned), females seem to have had a head start.

I remember a Mad Magazine "Then ... And Now" comic back in the late 1960s:

"Then" was an angry husband saying, "How come there's no dessert?" The exhausted wife replied, "I didn't have time to bake anything."

"Now" was an angry husband saying, "How come there's no dessert?" The exhausted wife replied, "I didn't have time to defrost anything."

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I used to be ambicooksterous.  Baking and cooking use very different skill sets.  Baking you need to follow the recipe until you learn ratios, and even then, for the harder stuff, I would follow the recipe more or less precisely.

Cooking, eh, we don't need no stinking recipes.  Just wing it, baby.

^I love this.

I started both baking and cooking at about the age of 8.  Cake, cookies, pie, pastry of any sort, croissants, brioche... everything except yeast breads, which I've never gotten the hang of, but never pursued seriously, either.  Baking takes a different mindset (for me) then cooking, and I would bake every day if I wasn't constantly on guard against gaining back all the weight I lost.  I still bake when very stressed or procrastinating.  Cooking I enjoy most when I can wing it.  I rarely follow recipes, except when cooking Indian.

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I would consider myself a serious cook, but I don't bake. Can't stand the rigor or discipline. Cooking is a pleasure...and part of that pleasure is improvising along the way. My mother is an awesome cook, but also never baked because she hates to measure. It's odd because she is also an excellent seamstress and measures precisely when she sews. Anyway, when she ventured into "baking" it involved a box with a label like Duncan Hines. My Dad likes brownies, which She made from a box in a jelly roll pan. The first time I had a thick, moist brownie I was shocked. From then on, we called her brownies "cracker brownies."

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Now with microwaves who needs to defrost?

I don't have a microwave. Haven't had one for 9 years now, don't miss it.

Now, I would say I am a fairly serious home cook. I have not yet smoked things as I am slightly intimidated. But I will get around to it. But I can butcher ok. I am pretty comfortable with all sorts of proteins and veg. I am good with organs. Not great at deboning because I prefer bone-in recipes most of the time (for flavor). I make cheese and sausage (though not salamis (yet!)). I can riff pretty solid recipes off the cuff. My wife can pick out a mystery basket for me and I do ok. My wife and I cook together mostly, and one of us usually takes the lead depending on the meal or idea or if we are breaking new culinary ground for us. She prefers less complicated dishes, I prefer more complicated dishes as it means I am learning more (or holding off forgetting a skill!) and it is good practice. Plus it is fun and relaxing and rewarding. We're both pretty good, but I think I might have the slightest of edges because I tend to do more of the execution more often. In a cook off though, I think we'd tie.

My wife is a great baker. She loves it. She cannot not bake. When she gets the itch, she does it and whatever we don't or won't eat gets sent off to friends, neighbors or most often, coworkers. I am an adequate baker. I do not mind the measuring and the rigors of it at all. It means you have less chance to adapt, but it also means you search more for options where you can, or where you can learn a skill that can be reinterpreted a number of ways. But my wife is amazing. Cookies, cakes, brownies, quickbreads, claflutti (sp?), tarts, scones, PIES, breads, rolls, and even pastry. She would kick my arse in a bake off.

But together, as a team, we're great. We tend to balance each others' tendencies out and can pull off a winning brunch or dinner all the time, with delicious food and drink (I am a wine-o, she makes good cocktails). So for me, I'm in a win-win situation.

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I usually put so much time/effort into cooking that I have little time/energy for baking. Clearly my cooking skills are more developed than my baking skills. Years ago, when I first got serious in the kitchen I made my own puff pastry, cream puffs, brioche-based desserts. And lots of home made pastas. But ultimately decided that the effort:reward ratio wasn't enough to continue doing it. Made cookies more often when there was a child growing up in my home. I don't think I have made cookies since she left for college. Cakes and pies/tarts more often. I was making bread regularly for a couple of years, with my cousin Pedro Pan's wild yeast starter and no-knead method. But we decided it was too good and we were eating too much of it. With the stone fruit starting to appear, I can whip out a crisp for a weekday dinner without too much trouble. But baking is a different mind-set than savory cooking, and like Ilaine, I need to cut back on carbs.

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I do not mind the measuring and the rigors of it at all. It means you have less chance to adapt, but it also means you search more for options where you can, or where you can learn a skill that can be reinterpreted a number of ways.

I'd argue that baking lends itself to improvisation just as much as cooking, once you have the skills down and understand some basic concepts.  I have riffed on many cakes, pies, cookies, pastries, tarts etc over the years by getting ideas from different recipes and cobbling them together.

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I would say that I'm a pretty adventurous (and mildly talented) home cook.  I love baked goods, but I don't gravitate toward baking as much as I do cooking.  I think a lot of it has to do with the risk factor - in other words, in cooking, if I screw something up, the risk of not being able to salvage it is pretty low.  With baking, I have fumbled completely enough times to know how easy it is and how much it sucks (both financially and in terms of confidence/morale) to botch a batch of something.

That said, I am a pretty decent cookie baker, and I have a couple of easy pie recipes that I can churn out (though all of them seem to have graham cracker or cookie-esque crusts).

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I don't bake nearly as much as I used to- I have no taste for desserts (don't watch 'Chopped' after the entree round either), & my kids don't ask for them, either. But I made a batch of biscuits the other day, after having some awesome biscuits for breakfast down in NC (& over the course of several days, I ate them all-my husband is eating healthy), & they were amazing.

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I'd argue that baking lends itself to improvisation just as much as cooking, once you have the skills down and understand some basic concepts.  I have riffed on many cakes, pies, cookies, pastries, tarts etc over the years by getting ideas from different recipes and cobbling them together.

I agree. I bake, I cook. (The husband cooks, but only bakes bread.)

I think baking improv is easy. He says every time he goes even a bit off the recipe when baking, bad things happen.

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Some things about baking you can improvise, some not.  Or maybe you can, but I can't.

I can improvise pie filings but not pie crust.  I can improvise cake toppings but not cake batter.

And if you can improvise strudel dough, croissant pastry, puff pastry, phyllo dough, or any other dough where the ratio of fat, liquid and flour is very precise, including type and temperature of fat, temperature of liquid, and type of flour, you are a better baker than I ever was.

Tart pastry and crumb crusts are not all that hard, but they don't depend so much on structure.

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Well, my suggestion -- partially supported by this scientific survey -- that limiting it to a baking contest would limit the number of potential participants, and possibly skew it towards women, was disregarded. Why?  Because they wanted to do it the same way they did it last year.

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I used to be ambicooksterous.  Baking and cooking use very different skill sets.  Baking you need to follow the recipe until you learn ratios, and even then, for the harder stuff, I would follow the recipe more or less precisely.

Cooking, eh, we don't need no stinking recipes.  Just wing it, baby.

This is exactly why I love cooking and never bake.

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