According to Carla Hall, there’s no reason to limit yourself to only one specialty in the kitchen and there is certainly no reason to feel pigeonholed as either a maker of sweet dishes or a maker of savory dishes. You can and should try both. While many swear that you have to follow baking recipes exactly, lest you end up with a baking failure on your hands, cooking and baking are both all about culinary learning that extends into culinary experimentation. The key to success in both is to master a particular technique and then to branch out to make that technique your own by imparting your own spin on it.
“I suggest everybody try both sides because there’s a little bit of sweet in the savory cooking and there’s a little bit of savory in sweet and I think you’re bridging them,” advised Hall. “The people who are the most versatile make the most interesting food because they’re blurring lines.”
Indeed, some of the most satisfying dishes are accomplished by blending different culinary techniques, like browning butter in a savory dish or adding thick crispy strips of bacon to a sweet cookie. So go ahead, throw caution to the wind, and start experimenting!