Advantages and Disadvantages of Baked Products

Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of baked food products is helpful in deciding which cooking method you will use to prepare a meal. It also helps to have the advantages and disadvantages on baked foods when you are preparing to dine out. Baking is a process of cooking food that involves dry heat and no exposure to a flame. Typically baking of food takes place in an oven or on a hot surface.

Often people who favour a particular cooking method, such as steaming, frying or baking are unlikely to try food that has been prepared in any other way. Upon investigating the reasoning and facts behind the taste comparisons for baking, a variety of factors come to light. Advantages in taste for baked foods include a more savoury taste to items with sauces, due to the caramelising process that takes place during baking. This process gives a more gooey texture for sauces and glazes. Baked food can tend to dry out if not properly covered during cooking, and due to this it can be less flavourful. Spices added to the items can help increase the flavour.

Baking foods is a cooking method that requires less fat than frying. There is no oil or butter needed to bake a piece of fish or chicken for example, whereas you would need oil or butter if you were to fry the meat. Because of this lack of added oils, baking is a much healthier cooking process. Baking has been shown to have an effect on the reduction of cardiovascular disease in patients that consume baked foods because of the lack of unhealthy oils and fats. These oils and fats can build up in the arteries and can contribute to causing long-term problems for people who eat a high fat diet.

When you bake an item in the oven or on a hot surface, the process is much slower than frying or steaming food. Because this process is slower, it also uses more energy to bake. This is especially true when you are baking for one or two people, because the oven must run for the same amount of time as if you were to cook for a larger amount of people.

If time is a factor, there is a distinct disadvantage in the baking method. While frying or steaming can be complete in a matter of minutes, baking an item like a piece of fish or chicken can often take twice as long or longer. Raising the temperature of the oven can cut down the time factor a bit, but it cannot diminish the time frame to come close to that of steaming or frying.