Grilling: FIRE!

Knowing the science behind all methods of cooking is what made me a better cook. Alton Brown is the shit for teaching the science behind why things are done. No other TV cook has taught me more about how to cook with my own ideas and not simply follow someone else's recipes.

As a former professional baker, nah.

Most of these home bakers talking about how “precise” their baking is aren’t actually that precise. They:

• measure ingredients by volume rather than weight
• have home ovens that vary in temperature wildly
• never consider ambient humidity/outdoor temp at all

Cooking and baking aren’t that different, there are hard and fast rules in both, but also if you’re good at one, you’re also good at the other, because they are the same thing. Can you follow a recipe that involves cooking meat in the oven? Then guess what? You can also bake a cake. I’m sorry to be the bearer of good news

What you can fuck with in baking is vanilla. Douse to your hearts desire.

Cooking is art.

Baking is science.

Source: username checks out

You haven’t seen me bake. There are no maps where we are going. I follow dark magic and shepherd the carbs to their full potential.

I remember one of the first days in my high school chemistry class our teacher said she was bad at baking and could never get recipes to work.

That was the moment I knew chemistry if I was going to learn anything it would have to be from the book that year.

Anyways so I don't think I ever learned chemistry

Cooking is an art, baking is a science.

Former head chef: Yes. Our pastry chef was the alchemist and I was the magebomb.

With sufficient experience, understanding, and intuition it is possible to yeehaw baking and get delicious results. I have enough of none of those things to do it, but there are at least several people who can.

My philosophy on recipes when cooking a new dish, is read at least 5 recipes, then follow none of them. I've made quite a few dishes with this method, most came out just how I wanted, and none yet have been bad. It's a bit free, but not full yeehaw.

Why does this get repeated so much as if it is some kinda rule when it often isn't.

I do all my baking on vibes. The sourdough feels about right, in it goes. Nothing at all was measured. Even temperature is vibe based.

As a former line cook and a baker this is correct.

My fiance is a professional chef who can't really bake, and I'm a schmuck who can't cook but can bake no problem. It wouldn't be a bad deal, except all her food allergies mean I have to find substitutions for practically everything. So you have any idea how many fucking things include corn byproducts? Almost all of them.

Simply stated, Cooking is art, Baking is science.

At least bread you can eyeball once you get enough practice at a specific recipe, a lot of it is about the moisture content which changes in the air from day to day so it’s never precise anyway

One requires specific chemical reactions to happen in specific orders.

One make food hot

Bread is like cooking there, I'll just throw stuff in and try new stuff while baking bread