What are you cooking now?

[MrGongGong]

I thought that historically speaking

Baking means put in an oven without direct heat
and
Roasting means to cook something with a direct source of heat (as on a spit or in front of a fire).

But they seem to be interchangeable these days.

you wouldn't roast a cake
but you might "roast" a potato in the same oven while baking it

[jean]

You wouldn't attempt to roast and bake the same potato at the same time. That way madness lies.

But your roast potato will have the addition of fat on its surface, while the baked one won't.

[Beef Oven!]

But at the end of the day, DON'T ROAST FISH!

[jean]

Don't even do it for breakfast.

[french frank]

You wouldn't attempt to roast and bake the same potato at the same time. That way madness lies.

But your roast potato will have the addition of fat on its surface, while the baked one won't.

For me, the basic difference between roasting and baking fish is whether it's cooked in a dish/pan with a cover or not. Roasting will mean adding butter or oil or something, to prevent burning and drying out. If it's baked with a cover, perhaps sitting on a bed of vegetables, there should be enough moisture to prevent drying out.

Baking bread or potatoes doesn't need a cover because both start with, or gain, an outer crust/skin which acts like a cover and partially 'steams' the inside. Once you peel a potato, I don't think you would 'bake' it, would you? You would have to add fat or oil and roast it.

Theory - I know nothing.

PS By this definition, I roast fish (but usually think of it as 'baking').

[Nick Armstrong]

my advice is to bake monkfish, not sod-about roasting it!

So in your mind, what extra sodding-about is involved in the latter? and does baking involve a total absence of soddage?

[amateur51]

PS By this definition, I roast fish (but usually think of it as 'baking').

[amateur51]

So in your mind, what extra sodding-about is involved in the latter? and does baking involve a total absence of soddage?

The voice of reason in a fairly silly blokey chapter - no wonder my mother kept my father out of the kitchen

[Flosshilde]

Well, whether it was roasted or baked it was still good.

Following Jean's suggestion, presumably if fish is wrapped in bacon then it would be roast, if not it would be baked.

But ham is usually 'baked', even though it's got plenty of fat.

& what about Hamlet's 'baked meats'?

[Flosshilde]

The voice of reason in a fairly silly blokey chapter - no wonder my mother kept my father out of the kitchen

There used to be adverts by the lamb marketing board (or something) featuring an actor who's name escapes me (Wendy Craig's husband in 'Butterflies') that ended with the slogan "Slam in the lamb". Always sounded needlessly agressive & butch to me; it was presumably designed to encourage men to cook (thinking about ti, it was a sort of early Jamie Oliver)

[amateur51]

There used to be adverts by the lamb marketing board (or something) featuring an actor who's name escapes me (Wendy Craig's husband in 'Butterflies') that ended with the slogan "Slam in the lamb". Always sounded needlessly agressive & butch to me; it was presumably designed to encourage men to cook (thinking about ti, it was a sort of early Jamie Oliver)

Geoffrey Palmer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xER4tME05Ek

[jean]

So in your mind, what extra sodding-about is involved in the latter?

Adding the oil or fat and getting it to baste properly.

Lamb has so much fat on it already that you don't have to bother.

But ham is usually 'baked', even though it's got plenty of fat.

Yes, I don't know about that. Perhaps the curing process alters the chemical makeup of the fat so that it doesn't trickle down over the lean in the approved way for a roast?

& what about Hamlet's 'baked meats'?

What indeed! At that time of course meat didn't just mean animal flesh.

Interesting discussion here.

[Richard Tarleton]

Been out all morning so just catching up with this fascinating discussion! Thanks all for clarification (mostly).

[french frank]

Adding the oil or fat and getting it to baste properly.

I don't cook my fish long enough for it to need basting. Once it's flaking, it's done . Bit like scrambled egg, you allow for the heat already in the food to go on cooking it .

[mangerton]

My understanding (and of course, I may have misunderstood) is that baking is done in an oven, and that roasting is done on a spit, preferably turned by a scullion.

More information in A Dissertation on Roast Pig by Charles Lamb.

(Did a Pig ever write about roasting lamb, does anyone know?)