Cook or Baker?

"Baking has the reputation of being more difficult than cooking -- the specter of chemistry frightens some people. And baking is different from cooking. A great cook may create dishes intuitively, almost casually, working with what is in the larder and refrigerator, tasting and correcting the work in progress. A great cake baker is attentive to technique, details, and timing. Unable to taste, correct, and create along the way, the baker is a stickler for measurements, insistent on proper pan sizes, and fussy about the temperature of everything from the oven to the butter. Because the same ingredients combined in a different order, mixed differently, or even used at different temperatures result in quite different cakes (or failures), good bakers are dedicated to the small things that produce beautiful cakes that taste heavenly." Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer et al.

I’m a baker. I love that if you follow the directions it will make something beautiful, like magic. Cooking is unwieldy and uncertain. My sister is one of those geniuses that can take random things from the fridge and turn then into dinner, never following a recipe -- just making it up as she goes along. That’s like hell for me. Give me a fantastic recipe, and I’ll make you a fantastic loaf of bread, dreamy pie, or beautiful birthday cake.

It’s been busy lately, but the kitchen has been calling. I made a beautiful key lime pie for a dinner party recently, and then I made a shoofly pie (a delicious, Pennsylvania Dutch molasses-based pie), a childhood favorite of mine. I cooked recently too, but that’s less interesting. I think I might make something today.... what should I make?

So, are you a cook or a baker? Or neither? What’s the last thing you made?