• Candelestine@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Roasting is something you can do with any strong heat source, you can spit roast with nothing more than a campfire, a stick and a hunk of meat.

    Baking is a specific branch of cooking where you measure very specific amounts of ingredients and cook them with a usually dry, indirect heat.

    An oven is capable of performing both functions. As well as others in addition.

    • jscummy@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      But sometimes the lines a little blurred, like what is the difference for meats? Chicken gets called baked or roasted when it’s cooked pretty much the same in the oven, maybe baked for pieced vs roasted whole?

      • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Colloquially, it just strikes me as language drift. Much like how people say “google” for any internet search, even though the word only really makes sense if you’re using that one company’s search engine.

        Because it’s drifting like this, the definition for colloquial usage won’t necessarily be technical, they’re more slang usages. “Baking” probably becomes anything done in an oven. Roasting probably remains something cooked with high, dry heat.

        So yes, some overlap if you dispense with technicality.

      • poppy@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        And some baking isn’t a dry heat, like water baths for cheesecakes! 😆