Cooking & Food Vocabulary with Grammar and Measurements

Cooking Verbs

• add
• mix
• melt
• chop (picar)
• stir (remover)
• peel
• pour (verter)
• core (remove the center)
• roast (asar)
• heat
• simmer (fuego lento)

Key Words

• blankets (completely covered)
• wreaks havoc (causes chaos)
• swathes (large areas)
• trend
• to latch onto (become interested)
• a hunch (feeling based on knowledge)

Sounds

• squeaks (chillido / chirrido — nieve)
• rustles (crujido — hojas)
• splashes (salpicar)
• taps (golpes)
• squishes (chapotear / escurrir — barro, toalla)
• claps (palmada)
• squelches (chapotear — barro)

Phrasal Verbs

• eat up (buen apetito)
• cut back on (reduce; make something shorter)
• give up (reduce consumption; stop)
• work on (produce results; improve)
• keep up with (understand something changing)
• turn down (reject an offer)

Health Vocabulary

• digestive system
• eye infection
• health service
• heart attack
• migraine
• overweight
• prescription
• stroke (ictus / derrame)

Heart Expressions

• a broken heart
• a heart of gold
• a hearty meal
• from the bottom of your heart
• good-hearted
• hand on heart
• heart attacks
• heart disease
• the heart of the matter

Food Vocabulary

• pulses (legumbres)
• cinnamon
• bay (laurel)
• parsley (perejil)
• clove
• basil (albahaca)
• cumin
• thyme (tomillo)
• ginger
• saffron (azafrán)
• turmeric (cúrcuma)
• bass (lubina)
• spinach
• chilli
• anisette / aniseed (anís)
• coriander (cilantro)
• nutmeg
• dill (eneldo)
• squash (calabaza)
• kale (col rizada)
• chickpeas

Quantities

Imperial conversions:

• 1 gallon (4 qt, 8 pt, 16 c, 128 ounces)
• 1 quart (2 pt, 4 c, 32 ounces)
• 1 pint (2 c, 16 ounces)
• 1 cup (8 ounces)

Other quantity words: amount, cup, dozen, drop (gota), heap (montón), huge, kilo, load (carga), million, number, pile (papel), sip (sorbo), spoonfuls, spot, teaspoonful, thousand, tonne, vast

Capacity

seat, serve, take (up to), contain, hold

Grammar

Wish / If Only

Use past perfect to express regret about the past: I wish you hadn't lost the photo. Use past simple to complain about the present: I wish I were rich. Use would for a future change you want someone to stop or start doing: I wish they would stop fighting. Use could for ability you want in the future: I wish I could go to the beach this weekend.

Alternatives to If

as long as, provided, providing, supposing, suppose, unless, on (the) condition (that), otherwise, in case, even if

Conditional Sentences

• Type 0 (natural laws): present + present
• Type 1 (real or possible): present + future — If you don't study you will fail.
• Type 2 (hypothetical): past + conditional simple — If I were rich, I would buy a yacht.
• Type 3 (lost opportunity): past perfect + conditional perfect — If I had studied more, I would have passed the test.

Mixed Conditionals

Talk about a present result of an unreal past action: if + past perfect + conditional simple — If I had won the lottery, I would be rich.

Talk about a past result of an unreal present situation: if + past simple + conditional perfect — If I were a man, they would have given me the job.