Anyone who has tried both cooking and baking can tell you that there is a huge difference between the two. Many people prefer one over the other, and many times in cooking competitions, chefs tend to not do nearly as well if they are dealt a dessert to create. Is celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay able to work both sides of the kitchen? We know he can cook, but can Gordon Ramsay bake?
Yes – It’s not surprising that this chef, who believes that everybody should have the life skill of cooking, whether you want it as a career or not, is able to bake. He appears to have no achilles heel when it comes to the kitchen, with the ability to bake everything from bread to crumble to souffle.
These days, with everybody in lockdown self-isolation, more and more people are giving baking a try. Grocery stores have reported shortages on flour and yeast as the big thing was bread. Gordon Ramsay has been baking long before it became an internet sensation and even uses it for a good cause. Though, that’s not to say he doesn’t get bored and hop on the sensation wagon as well.
Baking Through the Ages
Baking dates back to the Middle Ages when most people didn’t have the luxury of having an oven in their house. It was more of a commercial industry in the larger cities, such as London.
Baking began with bread and moved onto pies and cakes. Not all pies were sweet though, originally they were made with meat and suet. Only the wealthy were able to afford desserts such as cakes, and their breads were made with white flour and exotic colors. If you were poor, your breads were usually rye and black bread.
In the 15th-century there was an abundant amount of various expensive spices available, and with this boom, also came a boom of types of delicacies that were offered up.
One of the largest explosions to baking came in the 16th and 17th centuries with globalization. There were more products available and knowledge began to travel with the products. The first written recipes came in the 16th century.
By the 18th century, cake making had soared in popularity as did the invention of the semi-closed oven. Then, by the industrial revolution, things went backward a bit as the working class was unable to afford the same delicacies as the upper class.
The 19th century saw more women leaving the house and working full time, leaving less time to make extravagant desserts, and opted for the quicker pies and squares. It also saw the introduction of baking powder and the style of cakes changed from dense, yeast-based bakes, into cakes made with flour, eggs, fat, and a raising agent.
And now, in the 21st century, we’re stuck indoors baking up a storm and posting it on social media for the world to see.
Infinite Possibilities
Baking presents itself with almost infinite possibilities. There are so many types of foods, such as cookies, cakes, breads, squares, etc. But not only that, there are several ways in which to make the same thing. If you search for a banana bread recipe, you’re liable to come up with several hundred different recipes.
It used to be that families would pass down recipes so you were usually used to one way, or maybe a couple of ways, in how to do something. Then, in more modern times there were recipe books, so people started exchanging information outside of their family unit.
Today, with the internet, anybody and everybody, are able to post a recipe. And, do to allergies and food preferences there are also a number of different variations done to the several hundred versions of the ‘regular’ recipe.
I think that the self-isolation has provided a mix of old and new. There are more people baking right now, Gordon Ramsay included, and there are more recipes to choose from. However, with the lack of yeast or flour, some people have to get creative and pull out grandma’s recipe again. It’s a great way to start an old tradition new again.
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