Starchy foods, such as bread, cakes, and pastry, are nearly always baked, and gradually other foods, such as meats, fish, and vegetables are being subjected to this method of cooking. In fact, persons who are skilled in cooking use the oven more and more for things that they formerly thought had to be cooked in other ways.
But the name that is applied to the process depends somewhat on custom, for while meat that is cooked in the oven is really baked, it is usually termed roasted meat. It seems strange, but it is nevertheless true, that ham cooked in the oven has always been termed baked, while turkey cooked in exactly the same way is said to be roasted.
Baking Methods
By baking is meant cooking in a heated oven at temperatures ranging from 300 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit(150 to 240 degrees Celcius). As the term baking is frequently used in a wrong sense, the actual conditions of the process should be thoroughly understood.
In both grilling and the original method of roasting, the heat is applied directly; that is, the food is exposed directly to the source of heat. Actual baking differs from any other cooking process in that it is done in a closed oven or by means of heated air.