Cooking Vocabulary

with word definitions, example sentences and quiz

Photo: Cooking vegetables in a pan.

Knowing how to cook is a one of the most useful skills we can learn. If we can cook, we c
an eat healthy dishes made at home with fresh ingredients instead of having to buy unh
ealthy fast food or expensive pre-cooked or frozen meals. Cooking our own meals is not o
nly healthy and cheap, but can also be fun if we explore cookbooks and cooking website
s and find new recipes to try.

Frying, boiling and steaming

Even if you only have a small stove or cooker with a couple of hotplates, you can cook del
icious food at home. You can fry meat, fish or eggs in a frying pan with oil or butter. You c
an also chop or slice vegetables and sauté or stir-fry them in a pan or a wok. Another w
ay of cooking vegetables and grains like rice is by boiling or steaming them. You can pe
el vegetables like potatoes and carrots before cooking them, and even mash them after t
hey're cooked if you like. You can also boil other foods like spaghetti, eggs and certain me
ats, or steam fish and other seafood like crabs and mussels.

With a simple hotplate you can also make soups and stews. The ingredients for these ofte
n include diced meats and vegetables as well as a pinch of salt. You can also sprinkle in
spices like pepper or paprika or add herbs like basil or parsley.
The links below are to lessons for each of the 12 basic English tenses*. For each tense we
look at:

 Structure: How do we make the tense?

 Use: When and why do we use the tense?

Some lessons look at additional matters, and most of them finish with a quiz to check your
understanding.

 Present Simple
I do, I do do
 Present Continuous
I am doing
 Present Perfect
I have done
 Present Perfect Continuous
I have been doing
 Past Simple
I did, I did do
 Past Continuous
I was doing
 Past Perfect
I had done
 Past Perfect Continuous
I had been doing
 Future Simple
I will do
 Future Continuous
I will be doing
 Future Perfect
I will have done
 Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been doing

Many English learners worry too much about tense. If you stopped 100 native English
speakers in the street and asked them about tense, 1 of them might give you an intelligent
answer - if you were lucky. The other 99 would know little about terms like "past perfect" or
"present continuous". And they would know nothing about aspect, voice or mood. But they
can all speak fluent English and communicate effectively. Of course, for ESL it helps to know
about tenses, but don't become obsessed with them. Be like those native speakers! Speak
naturally!

*Some grammarians consider that strictly-speaking there are only two English tenses. Others
argue six or other quantities. For the sake of simplicity, Learners of English as a Foreign or
Second Language are usually taught that - taking into account aspect and future modals -
there are 12 tenses in English.