From Cooking Wiki
Baking
BAKING is cooking in the oven. The temperature of baking varies with the food to be prepared. A slow oven should be from 250 F. to 350 F. A moderate oven should be from 350 F. to 400 F. A hot oven should be from 400 F. to 450 F. A very hot oven should be from 450 F. to 550 F.
Baking is hardening or cooking in a dry heat, as in a close oven. Nearly all flour mixtures--bread, pastry, and some forms of pudding--are more wholesome baked than when cooked in any other way. Many forms of baking are really stewing; but the closely confined heat of the oven gives an entirely different flavor from that obtained by stewing over the fire. This is seen in the difference between stewed and baked apple-sauce, beans, etc.
Baking Meat
Meat and fish, if baked in the right way, lose less in weight than when boiled or roasted. To bake them properly, the juices must be kept within the meat. An intense heat at first is necessary to harden the albumen; then reduce the heat, that the outside may not become too hard, and baste frequently to prevent drying. No water should be put in the pan at first, as it will then be impossible to have a greater heat than that of boiling water (212°), while for baking meat 280°, or more, is required. Put one or two tablespoonfuls of beef drippings, or some of the fat from the meat, in the pan, to use in basting, as the fat can be made much hotter than water. If the joint be very large, or the meat need thorough cooking, like poultry, veal, or pork, water can be added to check the heat as soon as the outside is cooked sufficiently to keep in the juices. This will keep the meat moist. Small cuts, and meats to be eaten rare, are better baked without water.
Many persons accustomed to meat roasted before the open fire object to the flavor of baked meat. If the oven be very hot at first, and opened every five minutes just long enough for the basting, which is an essential part of the cooking process, the smoky odor escapes. If there be no damper to check the heat underneath the oven, put the grate or another pan under the dripping-pan, as no heat is required under the meat. This will prevent the fat in the pan from burning and smoking the meat. Place the meat with the skin side down at first; then, if the juices begin to flow, the skin keeps them in; and, when turned, it brings the side which is to be up in serving next the hottest part of the oven, for the final browning. All baked meat or fish should be salted and floured all over. Salt draws out the juices; but the flour unites with them, making a paste which soon hardens, and keeps them within. Baste often, and dredge with salt and flour after basting. If there be no shelf attached to the stove near the oven, keep a box or frame of wood just the height of the oven, near by, and pushed up close to it; it will be found very convenient to pull the pan out upon it when basting or turning the meat.
