Why Is It?

[Andy M.]

If you cook a whole chicken in the oven, you are roasting it but if you cut that same chicken up into pieces you are baking it?

If you cook whole potatoes in the oven, you are baking them but if you cut those same potatoes into pieces, you are roasting them?

 

[blissful]

The question is: Do you bake your roasts? Why aren't you roasting your baked goods?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Good questions...

 

[Kayelle]

Seems strange to me too. "Baked Goods" seems to mean sweets or bread, when savory casseroles are baked and not called Baked Goods.

 

[GotGarlic]

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the difference used to be more clear but it has blurred because of modern appliances.

It used to be that in general, large, whole, structured things were roasted over an open fire - outside or in a hearth - to break them down, while less structured things were baked in an oven to give them structure. There are exceptions, like potatoes, probably due to the way language has changed from the past. Unless, of course, you're roasting your whole potatoes wrapped in foil in a campfire

More info here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/baking-vs-roasting

 

[Steve Kroll]

Some good information in that link. I remember another discussion on this topic. Might've been here or on another forum - I don't recall.

One of the things I remember reading was that until a few centuries ago, unless you were very wealthy, chances are you wouldn't have an oven in your home. Most of the ovens back then were owned by public bakers, or sometimes the villages themselves, and were only used for baking. Many family meals, on the other hand, were roasted in a hearth over an open fire.

So originally, roasting meant cooking over an open fire, while baking meant cooking in an enclosed oven. As GG points out, the lines have become blurred as we've invented new appliances and cooking methods. I suppose language has just struggled to keep up.

 

[Andy M.]

Thanks, GG and Steve.

My OP was intended to be more of a Steven Wright kind of question. Similar to "Why is it we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?"

 

[GotGarlic]

Thanks, GG and Steve.

My OP was intended to be more of a Steven Wright kind of question. Similar to "Why is it we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?"

Sorry. Can't help myself

 

[bethzaring]

Why does it take so long to cook bacon? A slice of meat 1/8th to 1/4 inch thick shouldn't take very long to cook.

 

[tenspeed]

Do you have a hot water heater?

 

[Andy M.]

Do you have a hot water heater?

No, my hot water comes preheated.

 

[Just Cooking]

Do you have a hot water heater?

George Carlin... Love that monologue..

Ross

 

[RPCookin]

Do you have a hot water heater?

No, I just have a water heater. I have never called it a "hot" water heater.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

No fair starting in on Carlin when I am at work.

 

[msmofet]

The fizz, the fazz, the fizz faz, the ..., the ... and the one that goes WHOOSH!

Carlin “Toledo Window Box”

 

[buckytom]

I just drove on the parkway to park in a driveway.

 

[buckytom]

If olive oil is from pressing olives, and peanut oil is from squeezing peanuts, where does baby oil come from?

 

[dragnlaw]

Can Vegetarians eat Animal Crackers?

 

[JustJoel]

Do you have a hot water heater?

OMG, it took me a whole three seconds to get that! Still chuckling!

I just love linguistic redundancies!

 

[dragnlaw]

I would say close to 90% say "ATM machine".