Sunday, December 13, 2009

Are you a baker or a cook?

Having recently witnessed lots and lots of cookies being made, I'm wondering the difference between baking and cooking and the personalities of those who prefer each of them. Baking seems to take precision with ingredients, and a watchful eye on the oven while cooking takes knowledge of each individual ingredient and a vision for their integration. I'm beginning to think that people who enjoy baking are very precise and excellent at math. A baker as opposed to a cook views the dish in distinct steps that must be completed in a specific order and with precision. Bakers seem to take comfort in their knowledge of the interaction of their ingredients and the predetermined portions required and the outcome they can envision even before adding the first ingredient. Cooks on the other hand are interested in the ability of an ingredient to completely dominate a dish and free styling to find others to compliment or jade the dominant ingredient. Cooks view the dish as a progression that could take several paths along the way with the end unknown until it arrives. A cook may have a good idea of how the different ingredients will interact, but has the luxury of tasting along the way(glasses of wine help) and improvising to add a personal touch. To me it seems like bakers are detailed planners while cooks just want to get started and deal with the problems as they arise. Both can end up with excellent results, but it's interesting that differences in personality types determines which type of food you like to make.

2 comments:

  1. i am definitely a cook (in the literal sense too once I got married) Love to cook, but my baking skills don't go too far beyond frozen cookie dough.

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  2. I'm definately a cook too. I only recently got my first complete set of measuring spoons.

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