Okay maybe this isnt the best demographics here but like I mean as in if you know someone who’s Gen Z, do they have a “idk how to cook” issue?
(Please don’t be like “omg its easy, how could you not know” in the comments, be nice in the comments okay 🙈)
I can cook just fine! Now baking, that takes skill and effort and I’d often rather not.
It took me longer to cook the noodles and brussel sprouts last night than it did to prepare the cranberry bread I made this afternoon. Cooking feels like coordinating the landing of a half dozen aircraft on a single runway. “My onions are browning too fast and I don’t have my other reduction ready!”. Baking feels like, “I can calculate the trajectory of this artillery shell, then set it and fire it off when I’m good and ready. I’ll check on the crater in 30 minutes.”
I’ve thought about it a bunch and I think it is art vs science. Cooking requires adjusting constantly to how it is going as you do it, tasting it until it is right. Baking requires precision at every step in most cases and preparation. I’ve rarely met someone that sees themselves as both a baker and a cook. I suck at baking but can cook.
I’m great at both, and they feel pretty similar to me. Never understood this attitude, personally.
I’ve been a professional cook and worked in bakeries. It’s all just kitchen work. Lots of “cooking” recipes end up in the oven at some point, lots of “baking” requires prepping various ingredients on the stovetop. Also hot take but most home bakers aren’t even very precise. Pros measure by weight, not volume, and adjust the heat and bake time based on ambient humidity and temp…
People just lack experience, IMO with some reading and practice, any good baker can be a good cook and vice versa.
No
Bake
Cookies