Hey ladies, we all want to be master chefs when we invite someone over. It’s so easy to find recipes for just about anything, but do you understand them? I have gathered all the verbs, appliances, and utensils that you need to know to own your kitchen and follow any recipe in English.

First, let’s have a look at the main cooking verbs first.

  Preparing food

Wash /rinse – We normally wash or rinse fruit and vegetables, or even rice before we prepare them. This means you just hold them underwater for a little while and make sure they are nice and clean. Some fruit and vegetables come as pre-washed, which means they have been washed before they were packed.

Wash the salad because it was not pre-washed.

Peel – We peel fruit and vegetables when you don’t want to eat their skin. That is easily done using a peeler.

Do you peel your fruit before you eat them?

Cut – To cut means to make them into smaller pieces. So, we cut just about anything while cooking, but there are different ways you can do that. We slice the bread, chop onions, dice feta cheese for Greek salad, or grate cheese for pizza.

Are you ready to cut the cake?

Chop – Cut into small pieces, usually even pieces.

Could you help me chop some vegetables for the risotto, please?

Dice – Cut into little cubes.

If you go to the butchers to get some fresh meat, you could be asked “Do you want it sliced or diced?” Which means do you want it in slices or cubes?

Slice – Cut into slices. We slice meat, fruit, and vegetables, bread, or even cake. 

May I have a slice of cake, please?

Grate – made into tiny pieces. 

We don’t have grated cheese. Could you help me grate some, please?

                        melted cheese                       grated  cheese                         sliced cheese

Marinate –To put meat or vegetables into a bowl with oils and herbs, or a sauce before cooking, so they will soak up all the flavours.

You must marinate the chicken in the BBQ sauce the night before to get that rich flavour.

Combine - To mix

We must combine all the ingredients together.

But, how can you do that? Well, you can whisk/beat, blend or stir.

Whisk/beat – using a whisk to combine the ingredients while moving the whisk quickly.

Whisk three eggs, add some milk and flour to make pancakes.

Stir- mix gently in a circular motion.

Stir the soup occasionally, so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Blend – combining/mixing the ingredients using a blender.

Put all the fresh vegetables in the blender and blend them together for a healthy breakfast smoothy.

 Mince – make it into small pieces.

We must get some minced beef if we want to make lasagne tonight.

Crush – compress or squeeze forcefully.

The last thing you need is some crushed garlic.

Crack /break – Opening, breaking the outer layer of foods with shells, such as eggs, nuts, etc.

Crack two eggs and whisk them for two minutes.

         These were the main verbs you need to prepare food, now let’s get to the real job. Let’s have a look at the verbs that describe different ways we cook food.

          Cooking using water

Boil – cook something in very hot water. We boil eggs, vegetables, pasta and so on.

You mustn’t boil the pasta for longer than 11 minutes.

Steam- using the heat coming from the boiling water to make the vegetables softer.

Steaming your vegetables is the best way to keep all their vitamins.

Simmer- simmer is when water just starts boiling, so we can see some little bubbles.

Once the sauce starts simmering, you can lower the heat.

  Cooking using  oil

Fry – cook in oil, with a small amount of oil.

Would you like your eggs fried or boiled?

Stir fry – fry in high heat while stirring them briskly.

 Should we have stir-fry chicken and vegetables tonight?

Deep fry – fry things in a large amount of oil, for example, that’s how we make chips.

 Deep-fried chicken wings are the perfect starter.

Baking

    The cooker is the general word describing the whole appliance we use for cooking, but when cooking we use two names, the stove which refers to the top part,  the part where you boil and fry food and the oven is where you bake and roast. 

    Here are a few verbs that are mostly used when baking, while we prepare the dough (the mixture of water, flour, salt, and oil), and when making pies and cakes.

Knead – make dough while massaging and squizzing with hands.

Knead the dough into a big ball, then cut it into eight pieces.

Roll out – use a rolling pin to make the dough balls into thinner pieces.

Roll each piece out into big circles.

Layer – put one on the top of each other – Cakes/ pancakes.

 You need to layer a few pancakes on top of each other and put cream and fruit after each layer.

     Roast or bake?

Well, in both cases you cook food using the oven, but here is how you can remember the difference.

Bake – cooking things in the oven. Usually used for bread, cakes, pies, etc.

Let’s bake a cake this afternoon.

Roast – cook food (especially meat and vegetables) for a prolonged time in the oven until they become brown and crispy.

Are we having roast chicken or roast beef this Sunday?

Sunday roast is a traditional British dish and a lot of families have it every Sunday. Of course, it’s not the same, you can change the meat and vegetables, but it must have roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, and gravy. Yum!

                                                              bake/roast

Heat – to make something warm/hot.

Pre–heat – make it hot before you start using it. So if you need to pre-heat the oven to bake your cake then turn it on as soon as you start baking, so once your cake mix is ready, your oven will be pre-heated.

Heat the oven at 200 °C. Don’t forget to pre-heat it because the oven must be very hot when you put in the potatoes 

Warm-up – to make the food warm using the stove, oven, or microwave.

 I’m starving. I can’t even wait to warm up my food. I’m going to eat it cold.

Cool off - to let it sit so it is cold enough to be eaten. For people like myself who like their food hot, you just skip this part.

How long does this pie need to cool off? I can’t wait to dig in.

Grill – to cook something using a grill inside the oven.

 What’s that smell? Grilled cheese sandwiches.

Barbeque – to cook something using a barbeque.

Let’s have a barbeque at home today. It’s the perfect weather for that.

 And some more verbs you must know.

Scramble – cook while mixing up.

Scrambled eggs are my favourite breakfast.

Add – put some ingredients on the food.

Add some milk, some flour and mix them all together.

Melt – make it into a liquid form using heat. You can melt butter, chocolate, etc.

First, melt the butter, then add the flour.

Drain – Remove the liquid from the food after boiling.

Drain your pasta before you can pour the sauce.

Season – put salt, pepper, and other spices on the food. We season food to give it a taste.

Season the salad and put it on the table.

Squeeze – firmly press food to get the juice out. You can squeeze a lemon by hand if you just need a few drops, but you will need a juicer if you want to make a freshly squeezes orange juice.

Just squeeze some lesson over it and it’s done.

Sprinkle – Scatter small amounts of a particular food over something. We sprinkle cheese on the top of a pizza, some icing sugar on the top of homemade cookies, or cocoa powder on your coffee.

Sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the salad, please.

Serve – Separate food and hand it to other people. As ladies, we do this every day. Once the family is at the table, it’s time to serve our masterpiece dish.

Food is being served everyone.

      Now that you know all the verbs you need to start cooking, let’s have a look at the appliances, cookware, cutlery, and utensils that you need to know.

The first things you see in a kitchen are:

Countertop – It’s the top of the bottom cupboards, where you can prepare food.

Cupboards - Where you store your food, your plates, glasses.

Sink – the sink is the place you wash/rinse your food or wash the plates afterward.

Tap – Water comes out of the tap in the sink.

So, if you go to the UK and you’re offered tap water, don’t get too excited, it’s just water that comes from the tap.

Fan – It’s the appliance over the stove, which sucks up all the smell and the steam that comes from cooking, so people can’t tell what you’ve had for dinner every time they come around. 

Fridge/ freezer – It’s where we put our food to stay cool or to freeze.

 Have you ever tried sharing the fridge with people you don’t share your food with? Yes, you understood it well. You share one fridge, so you put all your food in one compartment, and you do not touch what is in the other compartments…..hmmmmm…IT’S HARD! Well, if you’ve ever shared a house with other people, you know that feeling. It took me a lot of time to get used to it. 

                          fridge/freezer                            kettle                                               toaster

Microwave – It’s the appliance you don’t need in your kitchen because it takes so much space and it is not good for your health, but people who use it, they normally heat up/ warm up their meals when in a hurry.

Toaster – This is a  must-have in every British kitchen because toast is a big part of British breakfast. (cheese on toast, beans on toast, eggs on toast, etc, etc)

Kettle – is the appliance used to boil water in seconds. By the time you put the coffee, milk, and sugar in your mug, the water will be boiled, and the coffee is made. Morning everyone!

Oh, I nearly forgot. It cuts down in half the cooking time for pasta and rice. Just boil the water in seconds and ta-da, no need to wait around for the water to boil.

Dishwasher –This is the appliance that causes the most arguments in a couple. Husbands say” well, I bought you a dishwasher, so it’s easy for you to do the dishes now” and the wife says, “as it’s so easy, why don’t you do it?”. Just joking. It’s actually a lifesaver. It washes all the plates, cutleries, pans, and pots better much better than your husband for you and you don’t need to do anything in return.

Cookware

Saucepan – A pan used to cook sauces, soups, and boil food.

Frying pan – A pan used to fry food in small amounts of oil. We use a frying pan to fry eggs, sausages, burgers, etc.

Stir-fry pan – is usually larger and deeper than a frying pan and it’s used for stir-fry- frying food while stirring them briskly.

Baking tray – a tin, a tray used to make food in the oven. You need a baking tray to make some homemade cookies.

Glass roaster – it’s a glass tray. It’s also known as a baking tray, but because it is made of glass and it’s used for roasting, people call it a glass roaster too.

Loaf tin – it’s a tin used to bake cakes and bread.

Kitchen utensils

The term utensils is used for all the tools, containers, and other articles in the kitchen. So here is a good list of what we all have in our kitchens and what we use them for.

Tongs – We use them to grab some salad, to serve some to other people too, and of course for any other food that is hot or you just can’t serve it with a spoon.

                                                              tongs

Wooden spoon/Wooden scraper spoon – Spoons we use to mix, stir food, but we use the scraper to scrape/ get rid of something that is stock on our pans or trays. 

                                             wooden spoons and wooden scraper

Can opener – this is self-explanatory. It’s a little tool we use to open the can. (not a can of Coca Cola of course, but cans of food, like baked beans, sweetcorn, etc)

Pizza cutter – It’s so annoying when you spend an hour deciding which pizza to order, then wait for 30 minutes for it to arrive, then you have to use your own pizza cutter because they didn’t cut it for you. 

Peeler – it’s the little tool we use to peel anything we don’t like to eat their skin. So, we peel potatoes, carrots, etc.

                                       peeler               pizza cutter               can opener

Ladle – That’s what we use to serve soup and casserole or pour a sauce.

Spatula /Turner – It’s what we use to turn food over while cooking, like pancakes, eggs, burgers, etc.

Spatula – You can find them in different shapes and materials like wooden and silicone and are used for spreading or mixing.

                                 spoon              spatula/turner              ladle

Pastry brush – this is a brush used to brush the pastry with egg wash ( Eggwash is a mixture of egg, water, and salt) or butter to make it crusty on the top.

Whisk – It’s what we must have in order to whisk or beat eggs to make an omelet or cake.

Rolling pin – If you love homemade pizzas, pies, bread, or cookies, then you must have one of these at home. It’s a thick wooden stick that we use to roll the dough before we bake it.

                             whisk                 spatula                   pastry brush

Measuring cups/measuring spoons – They are those magical little cups that help us measure ¼ or a cup, ½ tablespoon, and so on.

Shape cutters/ cookie cutters – Cookies don’t taste the same if they don't have a nice shape. Cookie cutters help us give our cookies cute shapes.  In my household, you can find hearts, stars, princesses, crowns, unicorns, and such.

Corkscrew/bottle opener – Make sure you have these at home before you decide to throw a party because that’s what you’ll need to open the drink and to pop that champaign.

Cooling rack – When the food is too hot to be served we put it on one of these to let it cool down for a few minutes.

Colander – After you boil your pasta or vegetables this is what you need to drain all the liquid out of the pasta.

    Cutlery

Cutlery(UK) – utensils or silverware (USA) is the general name to talk about things you need to eat- spoon, fork, knife.

Teaspoon – the little spoon we use to stir our tea or coffee, or why not have some ice cream.

Tablespoon – the spoon we use to eat at the table.

Fork – we use forks to hold our food while we cut it, or to pick it up and put it in our mouth if it’s not soup or any other kind of liquid food.

Dessert fork – the little fork, which we usually use to eat a piece of cake or something similar, that’s why it’s called dessert fork.

Knife – this is the term used for the knife we use at the table, to just cut our food or spread some butter because when we prepare food, we use a sharp knife and when we need to cut bread, we use the bread knife.

The dining set is the expression referred to the set of places you use to serve and eat the food.

A normal set has a:

Dinner plate – the plate used for the main dish.

Side plate – the smaller plate used for the starter, salad, or even dessert.

Bowl – the deep dish used for soups, casseroles, and cereals.

Mugs – it’s what we use to drink coffee or tea at home. They come in all sizes and shapes and in the UK you can get one of those as a present too.

Water glasses – Simple glasses that we use to drink water, milk, or some juice, they are also known as water glasses.

Wine glasses – Wine loves would not enjoy a glass of wine in a water glass, and the more expensive the wine the bigger the glass. That was a joke, but when you go to an expensive restaurant, their wine glasses seem to be bigger, so I made that assumption.

Pint glasses (beer glasses) In UK, if you are invited for a pint, you are invited for a beer.

Are you up for a pint after work?

Things that we use in the kitchen every day

Apron-  is what the chef/cook wears so he/she doesn’t get dirty while cooking.

Tea towel – Cloths, towels we use in the kitchen to dry our plates or glasses.

Oven glove /oven mitty – The big glove/mitten we use to protect our hands when we’re handling hot food.

Where is your oven glove? I need to take the pie out, it’s ready!

                        tea towel                      apron                    over glove/mitty

Storage containers/ food container – Any plastic, ceramic, wooden, glass container that you use to store your food in the kitchen, fridge, or freezer. There are quite a few of them and of course, they come in different sizes and shapes.

                                                                     Containers

Zipper bags/ sandwich bags – little plastic bags we use in the kitchen to store things in the fridge or freezer or to take a sandwich or snack with you at work or university.

Aluminum foil- We use it to wrap a sandwich or other foods if we want them to keep the temperature for a little bit longer.

Wrapping paper/ cling film – Cing means hold on tight, so this is the plastic paper we use to cover any food when we want it to be air sealed because it clings on the sides of the plate, so our food is not squished, just covered.

Baking paper- This is the paper we use to put on the bottom of our baking trays when we bake biscuits and cake, so they don’t stick to the tray. It also saves a lot of time cleaning the trays afterward.

Now that you've learned all the vocabulary needed for you to rock that kitchen, here is a little bonus - some expressions related to the kitchen and cooking. 

Homemade – something cooked at home.

Is this cake homemade? It's delicious. I must take your recipe.

Everything, but the kitchen sink- all things, not necessarily needed.

It takes me days to get ready for the holidays because I take everything, but the kitchen sink.

Too many cooks in the kitchen – too many people are trying to control, influence, and have their say.

I'd rather not get involved, there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen- if you can’t handle the pressure, you should leave that situation. 

  I find my new job really stressful. I don't like the pressure that comes with it. - Well, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

 Now, you are officially ready to understand any recipe you can find online, and if cooking is what you enjoy doing, use that to improve your English. Watch cooking shows in English and expand your vocabulary every day.

Sending lots of love from my kitchen to yours!