How to Cook in English: Cooking Vocabulary

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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.

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.

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Keith O'Hare

Trinity Dip TESOL, MSc Digital Education (UK). Helping more than 40,000 students worldwide with my online courses. A lover of languages, teaching and lasagna!