Theoretically, _cooking_ refers to any application of heat to food:

> **cook** |kʊk|
verb
1 [ trans. ] prepare (food, a dish, or a meal) by combining and heating the ingredients in various way

In practice, _cooking_ usually refers to stovetop prepartation and _baking_ refers to oven preparation. And each have their own more specific terms. *Frying* and *sautéing* are usually done stovetop and *broiling* and *roasting* are usually done inside the oven.