Dry Cooking Methods

Food Preparation & Nutrition: AQA GCSE, topic 3.1.4

Dry Cooking Methods - Baking

Baking involves using dry heat to cook foods. Baking is generally done in an oven.

Foods commonly baked include potatoes, cakes, cookies, some desserts, bread and fish.
Food bakes quicker higher up in the oven because hot air in the oven rises.
Fan-assisted (sometimes called convection ovens) use fans to improve the circulation of air inside the oven.
The advantages of fan-assisted ovens include:
Less energy is used (the oven takes less time to heat up and cooks food more quickly).
As all sections of the oven are heated to a similar temperature, you get a more even bake.

Relatively healthy - no additional fat is needed, and baking tends to remove the fats in foods.
Browns the outer layers of food, which also turn crispy. This gives foods added flavour.
Can be used to cook a range of foods.

Can dry out foods.
- To preserve some of the moisture in foods, bake them in foil.
Lots of energy is needed to keep the oven hot for long durations.
Slow cooking method.

Roasting is a bit like baking. We roast foods in an oven using dry heat.

Commonly roasted foods include meat (e.g. pork or duck, often large cuts), vegetables (e.g. parsnips and carrots), and potatoes.
We usually roast foods at higher temperatures than we bake foods at, which means foods turn brown and cook faster.
To help foods preserve their moisture and brown quickly, people often add fat to the surfaces of roasting foods.
Basting involves adding fat from the food that's melted to the food's surface.

Roasted meat fat can be recycled (e.g. used to cook potatoes).
Roasted food often has a moist texture.
The brown, crispy outer layer is very flavoursome.
It's possible to cook meat to have an undercooked (rare) centre, which many people prefer to well-cooked meat.

What cooking appliance is used for baking?
What cooking method involves using dry heat?
How does heat energy transfer when food is baked in an oven?
How is heat transferred during roasting?
What do people do to preserve the moisture of foods and help them brown quickly when roasting?