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In this lesson I will show you how to cook a basic soup in English!
Not only that, I will give you the recipe to the tasty soup.
In addition, I will give you 50 essential cooking words related to cooking and the kitchen.
Finally, you can get some great idioms too related to food vocabulary.
Table of Contents
Recipe
Carrot, leek and bean soup
- 1 Onion – (chopped)
- 2 Small potatoes – (cut into small chunks)
- 3 Carrots – (diced)
- 1 Leek – (sliced)
- 1 Can of broad beans
- 1 Pint of water
- Knob of butter, olive oil
- Salt, pepper and paprika to taste
Method
- Prepare the onion and leek, then fry in a frying pan, or a pot on a low heat for 2 minutes.
- Keep stirring and add salt, pepper and paprika.
- Put the onion, leek and carrots in a pan with a drop of water, put the top on and steam for 2 minutes.
- Shake the pan from time to time, so the ingredients don’t stick.
- Take the lid off and add a pint of water, the beans (drained with a sieve) and the potatoes.
- Add a knob of butter.
- Put the lid on and bring to the boil.
- When boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Taste and add more salt, pepper or a dash of vinegar if needed.
Cooking vocabulary
Prep = Preparation
- An apron
- An electric hob
- A pot (pots and pans)
- A frying pan
- A chopping board
- A sieve /sɪv/
Utensils and ingredients
(Cooking) utensils = tools for cooking
- A chopping knife
- A cleaver
- A paring knife
- A peeler
- A spatula / A turner
The 4 essentials of cooking
In her amazing book, Salt Fat Acid Heat, Samin Nosrat explains how these 4 things are essential to any dish, and how they work
Preparation techniques
- To chop = to cut into pieces with a knife
- To dice = to make into small cubes
- To slice = to cut into slices
Cooking styles (verbs)
- To fry = to cook with oil in a frying pan
- To shallow fry = to cook with a little oil in a frying pan
- To deep fry = to cook with a lot of oil in a frying pan
- To sauté = to shallow fry
- To steam = to cook with steam
- To boil = to heat to 100℃
- To boil water / beans / soup
- To simmer = to boil gently
Cooking actions
- To turn up / down the heat
- To turn on / off the hob
- To turn on / off the air vent
There are several ways to say ‘add’ ingredients
- To add
- To toss in
- To throw in
- To turn up / down the heat
- To stir (around) = to move the ingredients around in a pot, pan or dish
- To ladle out = to serve with a ladle To serve out / up
Quantities
- A pinch of salt
- A teaspoon of salt
- A dash of vinegar / water/ oil (a little)
- A knob of butter
Idioms and phrasal verbs
- To come along nicely = to make good progress
My soup is coming along nicely!
- To run out of something = to have none left
I have run out of oil, I need to buy some more
- To be partial to = to like
I am partial to carrots
- To give it a bit of a kick = to give it a strong spicy taste
- To play it by ear = to improvise, do something without a plan
- To wing it = to improvise, do something without a plan
- To take it with a pinch of salt = Don’t take it too seriously
- To shape up = to progress, to develop
Let me show you how this dish is shaping up
- Bob’s your uncle = That’s it! There you have it!
- To butter someone up = to praise someone so you can get their help
I tried to butter up my teacher so he would give me a good grade, but it didn’t work.
- To give someone the chop (informal) = to fire someone
Last week my uncle was given the chop, and now he is looking for a new job
- The best thing since sliced bread = the best thing ever
This new peeler is amazing. It’s the best thing since sliced bread!
- To roll the dice = to take a chance
Why don’t you try starting up your own business. Just roll the dice and see what happens!
If you have any more questions or suggestions, please leave me a comment below.
3 thoughts on “How to Cook in English: Cooking Vocabulary ”
hello to you!
As an English teacher, I’m impressed! Your lessons are clear, funny, engaging, and very practical!
Thanks a million for the vocabulary!
You are very welcome!
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