I should have posted in my previous msg here that I decided to
convection Roast, (Not Convection Bake) the smoked ham shank.

But that brings up a question for your avid bakers or roasters
IE, --(The Oven Experts)!

You always hear of Baked ham, but you hear of pork roast?
What is the difference between baking and roasting?
I'm not so much asking about the oven functions, but the
"Baking vs Roasting" concept "In General"-----
"Inquiring minds wanna know"!!!

See, never to late to teach an old dog new tricks, Ya thinks?

Thanks!!!

Gary

Roast: heat from above

Bake: heat from below

In general roasting seems to go with meats and baking, cakes, breads and cookies BUT there are lobster bakes and baked ham -so really there is not much difference. It is nice to have the ability to choose a direction for the heat though, but that is a pretty new concept in the scheme of things.

Here is a little more.

Here is a link that might be useful: baking vs roasting

Thanks for that guys. Whether it was Convection roasted (it was) or convection baked the Pig came out great.

Gary

There is no difference in current American English between "bake" and "roast". People used to talk about baked meats all the time. England used to be famous for its roast meats, which were spit roasted and constantly basted. They cooked by baking.

As John.com said, a lot of appliance manufacturers use "roast" for top heat and "bake" for bottom heat, but that doesn't have a lot of meaning outside of knowing the name of the function for setting your oven correctly.

The biggest difference in actual cooking is that "roast" is applied to things that already exist as solid foods, like meats and vegetables, and which are getting caramelized in the cooking (hence the use of the word for the top heat, but top heat isn't necessary to "roast"). Bake applies to anything that cooks in the hot air inside an oven but is most often used for things that start as liquidy thing and use some chemistry to become something different, like bread, cake and casseroles, but it really can be anything.

Timely thread, as I've been wondering about the roasting vs baking thing recently. My interest has been focused on what the terms mean in a practical sense with my own oven's controls. I thought wekick's link offered a pretty good general explanation, but I'm still a little unsure how mine handles the settings. I wish the user manual had more detail.

Glad the pork turned out Gary. BTW- You mentioned baked ham. I think I've only ever heated ham :)

My oven (Wolf) does 90% from the bottom and 10% from the top for bake...and 70% from the bottom and 30% from the top for roast. More interested in caramelizing/browning the exterior, I'd guess, on roast than on bake.

For me, top alone means 'broil'. I would believe that 'roast' is heat from both top and bottom. That is, from all sides evenly.

My oven doesn't bother with words. You choose top or bottom heat or both and how much, with or without convection.

Each oven manufacturer has its own version of what the controls ought to be. Wpdoit, if your documentation doesn't have the information, try calling the technical help or repair line. Often, they know best exactly how the oven works.

Weedmeister, do you not have a broiler element? My oven has both top heat and broil. That is, two different functions.