Do you like cooking? What’s your favourite dish? Today we’re in the kitchen, so join us to improve your cooking vocabulary on Aprender Inglés con Reza y Craig

What’s cooking? = What’s happening? / What’s going on with you?

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Email feedback from Martin Heras who is currently in Manchester:
Hi Reza and Craig,
My name is Martin and, I am from Spain but I am currently living in the UK, concretely (actually) in Manchester.
First of all, I’d like to say that you both do a really great job helping thousands of people to improve their English skills, and I consider that very remarkable.
Even more (Whatsmore), when you do it using a lovely sense of humour. That’s why I listen to your podcasts every single week.
Having said that, I’d like to comment (on) something about XtheX episode 124 ( https://inglespodcast.com/2016/10/09/how-not-to-repeat-yourself-in-english-airc124/ ) where you spoke about how not to repeat yourself in English
and you gave us different alternatives about what to say when you can’t hear someone properly and you need the other person to repeat it again.
You spoke about “sorry” or “could you repeat?” but, I was really surprised when you didn’t mentioned “Pardon” or “say again” which are the most popular ways at least here in Manchester.
Did you forget them or these two ways are not so common in London or Belfast?
Another thing I can hear every single day at work is “TA” instead of Thank you or cheers and, If I remember well I think you didn’t mentioned it either, did you?
Also, I’d like to share with you that the most common way to name the three principal XfoodsX (main meals) in a day in Manchester is as follow: Breakfast, Dinner and Tea.
Regards. Martin.

What are you doing in Manchester, Martin? Could you send us a voice message and tell us? How long have you been there? Your writing is very good.

Audio message from Mamen about a great way to improve your English

Also, why not sing Karaoke to practise English, Air B&B and Couchsurfing to practice with a guest and make money. And why not be a paid tour guide and show them the city?

Couchsurfing: https://www.couchsurfing.com/
Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/

A suggestion from Maite on our blog. Why not speak about cooking vocabulary (Maite likes cooking) We spoke about cooking back in episode 20 

Revision from episode 20
To boil = hervir
to simmer = to cook (in) a liquid on a low heat = hervir a fuego lento
stock – caldo
to steam = cocinar al vapor
to cut = cortar
to chop = trocear, picar
to slice = cortar en lonchas, rebanadas
to dice = cortar en daditos
to heat = calentar – ‘heat’ is also a noun: “The soup is ready, take it off the heat.”
to heat up (phrasal verb) and to ‘re-heat’ = to heat again.

More verbs

to add: To put ingredients together; to put one ingredient with the others. – añadir

to beat: To mix quickly and continually, commonly used with eggs. – batir

to combine: To put two or more things together. – mezclar, combinar

to crush: To cause to separate or flatten by extreme force, often used with garlic. – apretar, machacar

to grate: To divide into small parts by rubbing on a serrated surface, usually used with cheese – rallar

to grease: To coat with oil or butter. – engrasar

to knead: To press and stretch dough, usually used with making bread. – amasar

to mix: To combine two or more things using a spoon, spatula, or electric mixer.

to measure: To obtain an exact quantity. (medir) What sort of things do we measure?

to melt: to make something become liquid through heating. derretir(se) and fundir(se)

to mince: to grind food, normally meat, into small pieces (trocear, picar),. A machine is often used to do this. eg. minced beef (British) = ground beef (American)

to peel: To take the skin off of fruits or vegetables. (trocear, picar), ‘peel the potatoes’

to pour: To transfer liquid from one container to another. (hechar, verter). Shall I pour the wine?

to stir: To mix liquid ingredients by moving a spoon around in a circular motion (mezclar, revolver)

to weigh: To measure the weight (grams or pounds) or something

Verbs of Ways of Cooking

to bake: To dry cook in an oven by using heat. (eg. bake bread, bake a cake, bake potatoes)

to boil: To cook (something in) a liquid at a very high/maximum temperature

to broil (American English): To cook meat or vegetables on a rack/grill at an extremely high temperature by exposure to direct heat.

to grill: To cook by putting the food on a grill; similar to broil.

to barbecue: To cook foods (primarily meat) on a barbecue/grill by using fire or hot coals.

fry: To cook by putting the food into extremely hot oil. – freír

sauté: To quickly fry food by placing it in hot oil in a frying pan.

stir fry: To cook small pieces of food by moving it quickly in hot oil

roast: To cook in the oven or over a fire, usually with oil/butter. (eg. roast beef & roast potatoes)

stew : To cook a heavy mixture slowly for a long time – estofar

scramble: To mix the white and yellow parts of eggs together while cooking them in a pan. Scrambled eggs – huevos revueltos

 

Improve your speaking with an italki teacher

More common vocabulary of Cooking

raw = uncooked – the opposite of cooked (crudo/a) – ‘Sushi is raw fish’
rare – poco hecho; medium – medio hecho; well-done – muy hecho (for meat) – ‘How would you like your steak, sir?’
underdone/cooked = not cooked enough; overdone/cooked = cooked too much
runny = solid but becoming more liquid
paste = between solid and liquid consistency (eg. pate)
chunks (n.), chunky (adj.) = (with) big bits
peanut butter – mantequilla de maní / crema de cacahuete
bland = without much taste/insipid – soso (NB. false friend, NOT ‘blando’ in Spanish!)
tasty = with plenty of taste (sabor); the opposite of ‘bland’
savoury = all food that is not sweet (eg. meat)
salty = with a lot of salt (eg. tinned anchovies)
sharp = acidic/not sweet
sticky = with a tendency to stick – pegajoso (eg. sticky toffee pudding – Yum yum!) Can a person be sticky (pegajoso)?
yummy (colloquial) = very tasty
to die for (colloquial)/ mouthwatering = extremely tasty (food) (eg. Angeles’ homemade mango chutney is to die for)
mouthwatering – muy apetitoso, que hace la boca agua
stodgy = heavy, dull, unoriginal, filling, high in carbohydrates (eg. stereotypically British food). This type of food is difficult to digest. Examples include Yorkshire pudding, sausage rolls, meat pies, dumplings and stodgy sticky toffee pudding

Craig’s favourite food: Salmon (smoked and grilled), sauté potatoes, steak, lamb
Reza’s favourite food: a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese. A good Spanish omelette (with onion – it’s bland without it!), spicy food, (including curry, Mexican dishes and Latin American ají,) traditional Valencian breadsticks (rosquilletas valencianas – they deserve to be much more famous,) Irish potato bread & Toffee.

…and now it’s your turn to practise your English. What’s your favourite food?
Do you have a question for us or an idea for a future episode?
Send us a voice message and tell us what you think. https://www.speakpipe.com/inglespodcast

Send us an email with a comment or question to [email protected] or [email protected].

If you would like more detailed shownotes, go to https://www.patreon.com/inglespodcast
Our lovely sponsors are:

Lara Arlem
Carlos Garrido
Zara Heath Picazo
Mamen
Juan Leyva Galera
Sara Jarabo
Corey Fineran from Ivy Envy Podcast
Manuel García Betegón
Jorge Jiménez
Raul Lopez
Rafael
Daniel Contreras Aladro
Manuel Tarazona
Mariel Riedemann
Maite Palacín Pérez
Lorena
Pedro Martinez

We want to thank Arminda from Madrid for continuing to transcribe full transcriptions.
Full transcriptions are now available for episodes 131, 134, 135, 136 and 137

On next week’s episode: Immigrants and Immigration

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’

 

FULL TRANSCRIPTION by Arminda from Madrid (Thank you so much!)

Do you like cooking? What’s your favourite dish? Today, we’re in the kitchen. So, join us to improve your cooking vocabulary on “Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig”.

Hello! I’m Craig and I’m Reza. With over 45 years of teaching between Reza and I, we’re going to help you improve your English and take it to the next level. Hello Reza.

Hi Craig. How are things?

Pretty good, my friend. How are things with you? How are you doing?

Not bad. […] What’s cooking?

What’s cooking in the kitchen? I don’t know, man! What’s cooking in your kitchen?

I’ve got this and that. I’ve got a concert coming up. I’ve got a few interesting things to do. We’re talking about what we’re doing, our plans.  You can say: What’s cooking? Right?

Yeah! What’s cooking? What’s happening?  So, in this episode, we’ve moved the microphones, or the podcasting equipment into the kitchen. We’re now sitting in the kitchen and we’re going to speak about food and cooking.

Craig, do you find the kitchen a bit hot?

Yeah!

Well, you know what they say.

What?

If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen. Which means, if a situation is too much for you, well, get away from it, leave it alone.

If you’re under too much stress then, leave it. Go away. Don’t do it. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Before we speak about food and cooking, we have an email from Martín Heras, who is currently living in Manchester. Reza, what does Martín say?

“Hi, Reza and Craig”, writes Martín. “My name is Martín and I am from Spain, but I am currently leaving in the UK, concretely”. I think you should say “actually in Manchester”.

That’s “concretamente” which translates as “actually”, wouldn’t it? “concretamente”. Would you say “concretely”?

No.

You could say “actually” or maybe “specifically” or something like that, in Manchester. “First of all, I’d like to say that you both do a really great job helping thousands of people to improve their English skills, and I consider that very remarkable.”

Thank you.

Thanks, Martín. “Even more, when you do it”. “Even more”, I think you mean “What’s more”. “What’s more, when you do it using a lovely sense of humour. That’s why I listen to your podcast every single week. Having said that, here it comes the bad news. “Having said that, I’d like to comment on, you need to add “comment on”, something about episode 124”. No “the”, “the episode”, no. Episode 124. No “the” with numbers, in English. “… episode 124 where you spoke about how not to repeat yourself in English and you gave us different alternatives about what to say when you can’t hear someone properly and you need the other person to repeat it again. You spoke about “sorry” or “could you repeat” but I was really surprised when you didn’t mentioned “Pardon” or “say again”, which are the most popular ways, at least here in Manchester. Did you forget them? Or, are these two ways not so common in London or Belfast?

We did forget them, because they are common, aren’t they? We didn’t mention those.

Well, you know Martín, say again. I wouldn’t say. I would say: say it again. Can you say it again?   

No, in London we’d use that.

Do you say: say again? All right! In Belfast we don’t, at all. So, maybe that’s why I didn’t think of that one.

My father, or my dad, uses that all the time. Say again? Because he’s going a bit deaf, “un poco sordo”, he’s going a bit deaf. Say again? It means: repeat it, please. But it’s quite informal, you would not use that in an interview or a formal situation, but “pardon” you would, “pardon” is very polite. Pardon? If you want repetition. So, thank you for that one, Martín. I completely forgot those two expressions.

It’s good to have listeners who are living in a native English speaking environment and they can update us on these things. Because, Craig and I don’t know Manchester so well. So, thanks, Martín. Martín goes on: “another thing I can hear every single day at work is Ta, instead of Thank you or Cheers. And if I remember well, I think you didn’t mention it either, did you?”

No, we didn’t. We didn’t mention Ta, which again is very informal way of saying Thank you, especially in the North of England. Do you say that in Belfast?

Some people, yes. But I identify it more with the North of England.

Yes, me too. Ta very much.

“Also, I’d like to share with you that the most common way to name the three principal foods”, you mean the three principal main meals, “in a day in Manchester is as follows: breakfast, dinner and tea. Regards, Martin.”

So, he’s saying that the meal in the middle of the day is called dinner in Manchester and the meal in the evening is called tea.

That’s quite common in the North of England. And we did say it on the episode that, perhaps in the South is more common to have breakfast, lunch and dinner, that’s what I would say.

And in Belfast, the most common is breakfast, lunch and tea. Kind of a mixture.

So, just know that tea can be a drink and it can also be a meal, in the UK. A full meal can be your tea, so it’s strange.

Isn’t that really strange that the word dinner can mean the meal in the middle of the day or the meal in the evening, depending on where you are. That’s different meanings for different people. It’s very confusing, isn’t it!

I think “almuerzo” in Argentina can be lunch, can be “comida”. You can say “almorzar” for “comer, medio día”. So, that’s confusing there, as well. Interesting.

You’ve helped us to clarify argots about the North of England, Martín. Thanks very much.

Yes. And if you’d like to go back and listen to the episode in which Reza and I spoke about different ways of repetition, asking for repetition and saying thank you, that was, as Martín says, 124, so inglespodcast.com/124. And thank you, Martín, for your email. If you’d like to tell us what you’re doing in Manchester, are you working, are you studying, we’d love to hear your voice, so, maybe you could send us a voice message and tell us how long you’ve been living in Manchester, what your impressions are, any problems you’ve had, perhaps, what you’re enjoying. Your writing is very good. We’d love to get a voice message from you, or even a video. We’ve never asked for videos from our listeners and I know sometimes it’s difficult, you feel embarrassed recording an audio and a video is even more, perhaps, more challenging, more difficult so I’m wondering who is going to be the first listener to send us a video. So, if you feel like recording yourself on your phone or with a camera, speaking English with a video, we’d love to see that and we’ll also include that on our website at inglespodcast.com.

Craig, I think we have more feedback. I think we have a message from Mamen, is that right?

Yes. Our good friend Mamen has sent us a voice message, so let’s hear what Mamen has to say:

“Hi Craig, Hi Reza. This is Mamen from Biescas. How are you doing? Finally, I can return to listen to your podcast and I miss you so much those last few weeks. And, well, I want to share with you one thing about how to improve our level of English, because I was listening to one of your podcasts in which one of your listeners told us about how to improve by listening to your podcasts and the Luke’s English podcast also and I think that put your devices on English language is a very good thing to learn. I don’t know, I have my phone in English, my computer in English and so on. I think it’s a good practice that you can do if you want. So that’s all, only to share with you and thank you so much for your amazing work and a big kiss and a big hug. Thank you. Bye!”

Thanks very much for your message, Mamen. And I’m really sorry. I didn’t get back to you. You wrote me an email just before Christmas and I meant to write back to you but I got really busy and it slipped my mind, I mean I just forgot. So, I’m really sorry Mamen. I hope you’re doing well up there in Biescas. And thanks very much for the advice, good advice Craig, no?

Yes, I think that’s a really excellent, I mean I use a lot of software in Spanish because I live in Spain and it’s definitely helped me to improve my Spanish, having computer programs in Spanish, forcing me to use it. So, why don’t you try for one month. Just change everything on your computer to English, try it for one month, and you can always, you can change it back if you’re not happy. But just see how you can improve your English and learn new vocabulary by having your operating system in English. Another idea, karaoke. Practice karaoke in English. You could go to a karaoke bar and sing some English songs or you could practice at home and use your computer to sing along with karaoke on You Tube, for example. And another idea I got from a recent interview I did with Jack Askew from tofluency.com. He suggested Airbnb and Couchsurfing. You could go and stay with an English speaker, you could invite English speakers to come to your flat if you have a spare room, if you have a spare coach or sofa bed. Why not put an advertisement on Airbnb or Couchsurfing, invite English guests to stay with you. You can practice English with them and you can earn money at the same time.  With Airbnb you can charge for the room. Couchsurfing is usually free but it’s a great way to have free lessons in English because you have an English speaker in your flat. So, that’s another idea of how you can practice. And if you have a higher level of English you can also be a tour guide in your city. So, you could have people staying in your flat, you could show them your city, speak to them in English, take them to popular restaurants where you live, make money and improve your level. Think about it. You’re making money, you’re practicing your English, all you do is you open your house or your flat and let somebody sleep in your spare room.

Although a word of warning. I think they’re all great ideas and I would do them myself. But, be subtle, s-u-b-t-l-e, “sutil”. If you’re going to be a host, “un anfitrión”, in Airbnb, because it’s happened to me in fact that I’ve been, not in Airbnb but I’ve been in hotels or guest houses, “una pension”, or things like that, and the owner has wanted to practice their English with me, which is fine, but don’t bother your guest too much. Just have normal conversations with them in English and don’t say to them, as people have said to me: Oh! you’re an English teacher, Oh good! I’m going to practice my English with you. That kind of turns me off a bit, “me quitas las ganas”. If they just spoke to me in English, even if they made mistakes, that’s fine! But if they say to me: I’m going to practice my English with you. Well I think: Well, you know, actually I’m on holiday. I’m paying you money to stay in your hotel and you’re asking me to work. I’m paying you to work for you, it’s a bit annoying.

Did they ask you to correct their English?

Yes.

Oh! That’s not good!

I think it’s a great idea but just be … don’t kind of demand, demand is “exigir”, that your English-speaking guest helps you. But you speak to them in English and it will improve your English, but don’t demand, don’t ask them to correct you. They will naturally do it but you have to be subtle about it.

And don’t be a nuisance, we had an expression in last week’s podcast, “ser pesado o pesada”. Do you remember what that was, “pesado”?

Don’t be a pain in the neck.

Yeah! Don’t be a pain in the neck or a pain in the arse, be nice, don’t be too suffocating.

A funny thing happened to me many years ago. I’ve just remembered. It was in the street, it wasn’t when I was staying in an Airbnb it hadn’t been invented then, we’re talking about twenty years ago or twenty-five years ago when I worked in Turkey. And I was speaking to another English-speaker who then had to go away. And I was on my own. And a person had been standing beside us, about to cross the road, in Turkey, in Ankara, and they said to me in bad English: Oh! You’re an English teacher, I guess you’re English. I said: well, Irish actually, but yes, Ok I speak English. She said: Oh! Would you just correct this for me? And took out some corrections out of her bike and ask me to correct them. This was before she said hello, what’s your name? We’d never met before, ever. A complete stranger at a traffic light … produce corrections … would you correct this form me?

What did you say?

Well, perhaps I was a bit naïve then and I did correct them, very quickly. But I don’t know if I would now, I wouldn’t be so patience now with someone who was so cheeky, “tener tanto morro”. Would you?

No. I probably laugh and say: Yes. I charge forty euros an hour.

So, I’m just saying it’s a great idea but be subtle about it, do it discreetly, don’t demand that the English person helps you with your English, just have a natural conversation with them.

Yes. Good advice!

We have had a suggestion from Maite on our blog, inglespodcast.com, who says: Why not speak about cooking vocabulary? Because Maite likes cooking. So, we’re going to take her advice and, to use a phrasal verb, we’re going to take her up on her suggestion and speak a little about cooking. Now, we spoke about cooking way back in episode 20.

Uuh! That was a long time ago.

It was! So, if you want to revise your cooking vocabulary that’s at inglespodcast.com/20, but just to do a very quick revision, Josep, revision of those words that we covered in episode 20. Reza, if you say the Spanish, I would leave a gap and maybe the listener can say the English word before I do. So, we’re testing you. Reza is going to say the word in Spanish, I’m going to say the word in English after a short pause, so you try to say the word as quickly as possible and then repeat it after me to practice your pronunciation.

So, this is revision. If you remember from our previous episode, we were asked to explain the difference between revision and review. Here is revision from episode 20.

Hervir – To boil

Hervir a fuego lento – To simmer, which means to cook in a liquid on a low heat, to simmer, s-i-m-m-e-r.

Caldo – stock. And one of my favorite “caldos”, although, in general, it’s good, “caldo gallego”, very good! Let’s continue. I’m getting hungry.

Cocinar al vapor – to steam, s-t-e-a-m, to steam, steamed vegetables.

Cortar – to cut.

Trocear or maybe picar – to chop.

Cortar en lonchas o en rebanadas – to slice.

Cortar en daditos – to dice, d-i-c-e, dice.

Calentar – to heat. Heat is also a noun, remember: the soup is ready, take it off the heat. Or heat the soup. Or, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Recalentar – Here we need a phrasal verb, that’s to heat up. So, you could say: Can you heat up the stew, or heat up the soup, it means to heat again or re-heat.

So, we hope you remember those verbs. If you haven’t there’ll be in the show notes of this episode or go back to episode 20. Let’s look at some more verbs connected to cooking, Reza, what do we have?

The first verb is add, a-d-d, to add, that means to put ingredients together, or to put one ingredient with the others.

That’s very common in recipes, isn’t it? Add the salt, add the flour, add the eggs, “añadir”.

Because sometimes the order is very important in cooking, so you have to put certain ingredients before you add others, you’ve got to get the order right.

The next verb is not so common, it means to mix quickly and continually and you often use this with eggs. Is it “batir” in Spanish?

That’s right.

In English to beat, b-e-a-t, so you beat the eggs. Can you think of any other things that you beat in cooking? It’s usually eggs, isn’t it? You beat the eggs.

Eggs or beat a mixture, a kind of, a semi solid, semi liquid mixture you could beat. Of course, another meaning of beat means to win in a competition, so beat with an object: Valencia, in my dreams, beat Real Madrid. But, in reality it’s probably not true but I wish Valencia beat (“ganar”) Real Madrid.

Yes, you can beat an opponent or beat a team or beat a person. You can also, when you hit somebody, “pegar” is to beat, you can beat up a person, “pegar”. So, Reza, how would you say when you put two or more things together, “mezclar” in Spanish?

That would be combine, in English, combine, “mezclar o combinar”. Crush is another common word for cooking, that’s to cause to separate or flatten, “hacer plano” by extreme force.

“Apretar o machacar” in Spanish. That’s often used with garlic, isn’t it? You’d crush garlic, for example. You could say: we’re crushing it with this podcast, if you’re becoming really successful and lots of people are listening, you’re really popular, you could say: Oh! We’re really crushing it! Also, if you’re making a lot of money in business, for example, we’re crushing it with this new software, for example.

Craig, what does the word grate mean, g-r-a-t-e?

G-r-a-t-e, that’s when you rub something on a uneven surface, for example, with cheese. If you’ve made food and you want to put grated cheese on top, in Spanish, “rallar”, so, that was what you do with the cheese to make it into very, very small tiny pieces, divide into small parts is to grate. You could also have the expression: Her voice grates on me.

That’s another meaning of grate meaning that irritates me like it rubs against me, it irritates me.

The sound of nails, “uñas”, on a blackboard grates on me.

Craig, do you know what the next word is? Grease is the word, is the word, … Oh, no! I’ve gone and sung again. Grease is the word. Grease is the word on the street.

Grease. Don’t worry I’ll edit.

Don’t edit it!

I’ll remove that when I edit the podcast.

G-r-e-a-s-e, grease, is to coat, “cubrir” with oil or butter, “engrasar”. So, grease, you grease a baking tin, for example, if you make a cake it’s a good idea to grease it so that the mixture doesn’t stick, “pegar”.

And, why is that famous film with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John, why is that called Grease? Is not about cooking.

Isn’t he a car mechanic or something?

Exactly.

So, he works with grease and he looks greasy, greasy is the adjective. So, his hair looks greasy. We had, where I grew up in a suburb of London, we had a local cafe called “The greasy spoon” and they sold like beacon sandwiches and fried breakfasts and all that greasy food that you sometimes get in English cafes.

Craig, I think you need to talk about the next word.

I need to, yes, because the next word is knead, exactly the same pronunciation but the spelling is k-n-e-a-d. What does that mean? To knead, for example, knead dough.

Well, I need dough because I’m very poor. ”Necesito la pasta”.

You’d better explain that.

I’m getting ahead of myself. “Me estoy adelantando”.

K-n-e-a-d, knead, as Craig said, is to press and stretch dough.

What’s dough in cooking?

Dough is “la masa”, d-o-u-g-h. Dough is “la masa”. So, you get “la masa”, the dough, to make the bread. So, the word knead is associated with making bread and cakes and similar things, “amasar”.

So, that’s easy to remember because if you remember the expression “you knead the dough”, which is “trabajar o amasar, trabajar la masa”, so, you knead the dough. Well,  of course, you knead dough to make bread. The thing is, knead is spelled k-n-e-a-d when it is “amasar”.

And, just the same as Spanish, “pasta, la pasta, las masa, la pasta de amasar” means money also in English. It means money. You probably didn’t know that.   

So, we need dough to live, we need dough to buy food.

I guess you all’ve heard of a doughnut, right? Well, in British English we spell it d-o-u-g-h, dough, nut, n-u-t, it’s like, not it’s like a circular thing, like in mechanics you have circular metal things that are called nuts. So, a doughnut is like “un anillo de la masa”. But, in American English they just spell it d-o-n-u-t, but that’s where it comes from “un anillo de masa”.

Exactly. Next word is a little easier, to mix, you may have heard, to combine two or more things when you use a spoon, a spatula, or maybe an electric mixer. When you mix the ingredients, “mezclas juntos”.

Measure is a very important verb in cooking. It means to obtain an exact quantity, “medir”. What sort of things do we measure, Craig?

That’s very important if you’re making a cake, when you’re cooking you have to measure the ingredients. You can measure temperature, you can measure distance, [there are] lots of thing you can measure.

The next verb is a bit tricky to translate into Spanish, melt. It could mean to make something become liquid through heating.

Like to melt the chocolate, for example.

Yes. Or, it could be to become liquid through heating. In other words, it could have two translations in Spanish. It could be “derretirse”, which is to become liquid through heating, or it could be “fundir”, which is to make something become liquid through heating.

But wat happens with, like snow. Because snow melts naturally, you’re not heating it.

“Se derrite”.

“Fundir” you use in the kitchen because you’re applying heat so that something melts. So, to melt is when it becomes liquid, basically. So, in English there’s only one verb. Snow melts and chocolate melts when you heat it.

In English, it’s the same for reflexive or not. Snow melts, there’s no object. But I melt chocolate, chocolate is the object. The difference in Spanish would be “fundir o derretir”, that’s with an object, or “fundirse o derretirse” which would be without an object because it’s reflexive. In English, we don’t bother about reflexive.

Sometimes when you’re cooking you need to take some meat and make it into very small pieces. So, in Spanish that would be “trocear o picar”. So, the word you need for that is to mince or to grind food. So, mince, m-i-n-c-e, and grind, g-r-i-n-d. To grind food or mince food into small pieces, usually with meat. The thing is, in British English, beef that has been minced is minced beef, with –ed, minced beef, although Americans would probably say ground beef.

From grind, ground, ground.

Exactly. So, ground coffee, ground beef is more in American English and minced beef is more in British English. 

Our next word is very easy, peel, “pelar”. To take the skin off fruits or vegetables. 

I often confuse that in Spanish. I say “pelear”. “Voy a pelear una banana”.

I wonder who would win the battle!

It’s my mistake. It’s “pelar” not “pelear”. So, to peel, p-e-e-l, double e, also a noun. So, peel, orange peel, is “corteza”. 

Craig, let me try and pronounce this as close as I can to the dictionary. Pour. 

Very good! That was excellent! 

That was a big effort. I wanted to say “pour” but I said “pour”. 

That was fantastic! 

To pour the water, p-o-u-r, is “echar” or “verter”. Shall I pour the wine, for example. I’ll pour you a beer. To transfer liquid from one container to another or into a glass. So, you pour wine and you pour liquid into something. 

I was trying to pronounce it as close as I could to Oxford English which of course is without any final r sound, “pou”. But if you come from Belfast you say pour. And if you come from America you say something like “pour”. 

Very different.

And it’s exactly the same with the next word, stir or stir, in Belfast. 

What was the first one you said? 

“Ster”

 That sounds like stare, which is … 

Oh! Do you see? I’ve got it wrong. Because, this is fascinating. I am mispronouncing this word, because for me it’s tricky. Give me another chance. “Stir”. 

Yeah. That’s better. From where I’m from, from the South of England, it is the same vowel sound as “her”, “ella”, so “her” or “were”, w-e-r-e, “were”, “her”, “stir”. It’s that “e” sound.

For me, if I just do it without thinking, I’d say stir. It’s quite a different sound, stir.

You make it shorter. 

Yes, and with a bit of “r”, stir. 

Stir. Stir the liquid, stir the tea.

And if you go to parts of Scotland, they might say: what are you doing there […]. I’m stirring the tea, Sir.

Roll the “r”.

It’s very exaggerated but, you know, there’s differences.   

I’ve noticed that some Spanish speakers roll the “r” like that, when they’re speaking Spanish. They might say “revolverr”. Have you heard that? And some don’t. So, it’s strange. 

So, stir is “remover”. And remove is not “remover”. It’s stir.

Another strange spelling, w-e-i-g-h, is pronounced “wei”, “pesar”. So, to measure the weight of something, in grams or pounds, Kilograms is to weigh and the noun is weight. So, the vowel sound in weigh is the same as in pay and stay and may, etcetera, “ei”, to weigh the flour, weigh the ingredients. 

Let’s go on with some more vocabulary. This time let’s look specifically at ways of cooking, because there are many ways of cooking and we’ve chosen the most common as a little selection for you, now. Let’s start off with bake. How would you define to bake, Craig? 

Well, you use an oven.

What’s an oven? 

“Horno, un horno”, so, you use an oven and you cook it, you dry cook it, you cook something in an oven by using heat. So, examples of things that you would bake, you can bake bread, you can bake a cake, you can bake a potato, you can have a baked potato.

Do you like baked potatoes? 

I do. I don’t have them often but I love baked potatoes but I think these days I usually cook them in a microwave, because you wouldn’t say bake them in a microwave, would you? Bake is usually in the oven.

A baked potato, if you’ve never had one, because it’s certainly not typical in Spain is, you get a large potato, a baking potato, and you put it in the oven and bake it and then, traditionally, when it’s baked, then you slice it in the middle and open it up and then you put in a filling, a filling, whatever it’s going to be. 

Butter is very nice. Irish butter. 

Of course! The best in the world. Sorry for the French, but it’s true. And typical things to put in in Britain and Ireland are things like tuna, sweet corn or grated cheese or baked beans. “Baked beans” is another classic, yes. 

With tomato sauce mixing with the butter of the baked potatoes, delicious. 

And if you use a really big potato, so just the one big, big potato and the filling is a meal, that’s it! You don’t need anything else.

And if you clean, if you clean the potato well, clean the skin of the potato, the skin goes really crispy, “crujiente”, so you got the soft smooth potato inside and the lovely crispy potato skin that then with butter is delicious. 

Another thing you can do to potatoes, well, you can do just about anything to potatoes if you come from Ireland, is boil them. What’s boil, Craig? 

Boil, I think we mentioned before, which is to cook something in a liquid at very high or maximum temperature, so you see bubbles. So, you can boil water to make tea, for example, “hervir”. There’s a similar word in American English which is broil, with an “r”, so b-r-o-i-l. What does that mean? 

That used to confuse me when I was a kid, that word, because it doesn’t mean the same as boil. Broil, in American, is to cook meat or vegetables, on a rack, that’s like a kind of shelf, with open space for heat to get in. 

In the oven?

Rack or a grill, at an extremely high temperature by exposure to direct heat. 

But, is that in the oven?

No. It’s not in an oven. It’ll be an open space on it. So, there’s direct heat cooking it. So, there’s no oil, or there’s no water, it’s direct heat but it’s an open space, is not in an oven. Right. That’s to broil, isn’t it? 

So, that sounds like I would know as a grill, g-r-i-ll, which is, I remember in the U.K., a grill was something above the hob, the hob is the gas or electric rings that you cook food on, and then the grill … 

Or sometimes it’s below, sometimes it’s below. In my cooker, in my parent’s cooker it’s below. But yes, it can be above. 

The grill is below.

Yes. It’s actually below. 

Oh, really?

Yeah. 

Ok. 

But, yeah, it’s more often above, isn’t it? 

I mean, is that what you’d use to broil? 

Yes. As far as I know the American word for that is broil and the British word is grill. 

Ok. That’s clear. Right. 

Although the Americans would use the word grill if it was done “a la plancha”. 

They speak about grilled cheese a lot. 

“A la plancha”. 

Right.

When you get a big piece of metal over a direct heat, Americans would use grill for that and British as well.    

A grilled hamburger. 

Exactly. But if it was like, as Craig said, with heat above it, you know, so it’s not actually touching “la plancha”, the grill, Americans would call that broil. But, in British English we would also call that grill, wouldn’t we? 

We would. Yeah! 

The next word is easy, barbecue, because we use that in Spanish. To cook foods, mainly meat, on a barbecue or on a grill, in American English, by using fire or maybe hot coals, coal is “carbón”. So, you would barbecue sausages, chicken, meat, etcetera, steak, perhaps.

Coal or, maybe, charcoal, which is “carboncillo”. To fry, well, you can’t really live in Spain and not eat fried food. The Spanish fry a lot of food, more than the British I would say. What does that mean? 

When you cook something, when you cook food in extremely hot oil.  So, you could fry an egg, for example, you could fry beacon, you could fry things in a frying pan and fried food, as Reza said, is very common in Spain and in the U.K., fried food for breakfast is pretty common in the U.K.

You can fry potatoes in little bits and then what do you call them?

Aren’t they called sauté potatoes?

I was going to say chips. When you fry potatoes in little bits. But maybe I’m very working class, I don’t know. Craig wants to call them sautéed potatoes, he must be, he must have a different childhood than me. I call them chips, Craig. But at Craig’s house, they call them sautéed potatoes.

No, no, we didn’t call them sautéed potatoes. I thought you were testing me. No, they are all called chips, you’re right. I just say chips, is easier.

What are sautéed potatoes? Or, what is the verb to sauté, s-a-u-t-é, accent. It’s just like a French word? 

I don’t know much about that, Craig, I was brought up on chips, so, you’d better tell me! 

Ok.  I get it, I get it! But, speaking French, as you do, is it a French word? 

I’m sure, yes, it comes from French. Like so many words in English about cooking. 

And, what does it mean? To sauté.

It’s a form of frying, isn’t it? But, when you quickly fry them, things in hot oil. So, you can fry potatoes and then they’re chips or you can sauté them, but then you have to call them sautéed potatoes, which means they’re not fried as much. It’s a big quicker.

So, growing up in the U.K. in my house, while my mum, while my mother was sautéing the potatoes, she, sometimes, stir fried food, which is another use of fry, to stir fry, what’s that? 

That’s a very popular expression but only in the last twenty or thirty years because it’s a very typical oriental method of cooking: China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, all those countries. It’s to cook things in small pieces frying them and moving them around. Therefore, we say stir, because that’s to move around. So, you’re frying them and constantly stirring them. So, stir fry.

 Usually in a wok. 

In a wok, yes. So, as I said, that’s an oriental influence, which has got into European cuisine, or cooking these days. There’s another French word: sauté, cuisine, … There are many French words which have got into cooking expressions in English.

Bon appetite. A word which I don’t think is French but it’s also a way of cooking something is to roast, r-o-a-s-t, to roast. 

In fact, it’s a very traditional British way of doing things. The British like roast food a lot. 

Roast beef, roast chicken, roast potatoes. It’s to cook in an oven or over a fire, usually using oil or butter. So, there’s nothing better in the world than having roasted potatoes cooked in butter or margarine, with onions in the oven. To roast food, very British. 

Yes. The Spanish word would be “asar”. Don’t confuse it with bake which is also to cook in the oven but dry, not with oil, which isn’t a common word in Spanish but I guess it’s “hornear”, so it’s not quite the same. What about stew, Craig, s-t-e-w? 

“Estofar”, that’s to cook in a heavy mixture, to cook slowly for a long time, like Irish stew, for example. Lovely in the winter, very thick gravy, gravy is “salsita”.

Scramble is an interesting word. What does that mean? 

That’s often used with eggs. To scramble eggs. To mix the white and the yellow parts of the egg together while you cook them in a pan, that’s one of my favourite ways of preparing eggs. To scramble eggs.

I guess the Spanish version of scrambled eggs is “huevos revueltos”. 

Yes. Exactly. 

I must admit a dish I really like, a classic and simple Spanish dish is “jamón y huevos”, “revuelto de jamón y huevos”. Really good. “Jamón serrano”, of course, “serrano ham” with eggs.   

Oh! We’ve got some of that for lunch by the way, some “jamón serrano”. 

Let just take a break and leave the kitchen for a minute and talk a little bit about how you can improve your Emglish. Italki, who are the sponsors of “Aprender Inglés con Reza y Craig” offer a one to one service for those of you interested in classes with native speakers on line. So, because it’s on line is very convenient. You can book the time that best suits you, any time you like. To do that, you go to their webpage. If you go to inglespodcast.com/italki you’ll find more information and you will see that it’s very affordable because different teachers, depending on their experience and their qualifications, offer different prices. So, hopefully, you can find the native teacher that best suits you. You might like to have specifically a British teacher or you might want to have an American or an Australian or New Zealand or whatever. This is the great thing about italki, the choice is yours and you can do it all from the comfort of your own house. So, Craig and I would like to say thank you to Italki for sponsoring “Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig”. 

Let’s look at some common vocabulary and cooking expressions. How would you say, Reza, uncooked, food that it is not cooked? In Spanish it would be “crudo” or “cruda”. The opposite of cooked. 

Like sushi, for example. Another word for uncooked is raw, r-a-w. 

That’s the same vowel sound as in words like door, “puerta”, or more, “más”.

If you’re English, yes. But not, if you’re Irish. 

How would you say it? 

Well. Raw, we agree with. But d-o-o-r I would say door, but you would say it more like … 

We’re saying it the same way.

If you’re speaking about steak, for example, or meat very often in restaurants they will ask you: How would you like it cooked? So, you have various options of how much you want your meat or steak cooked. How do you say “poco hecho”? 

Rare. 

And, how do you say “medio hecho”? 

Medium. 

And, how do you say “muy hecho”? 

Well done. 

So, those are the three ways you could ask for meat: rare, medium or well done. How would you like your steak, sir? 

And, let me add a little cultural piece of advice to that. Generally speaking the interpretation of rare, medium or well done is slightly different in Spain compared to the U.K. In the U.K. meat is done a little bit longer than in Spain. So, if you are a Spanish person or a Spanish speaker and you want what you consider medium, which is “medio hecho”, medium, if you’re in the U.K. it might be better for you to ask for rare, or you could even say medium rare, which means between medium and rare, because in Spain you cook the meat a little bit less according to your interpretation. 

That’s a good point. How do you like your steak cooked? 

Because I like my steak between medium and well done, in Spain I ask for well done and I get it just the way I want it which is a little bit less than well done.

So, do you like when there’s blood, a little blood inside? 

Tiniest amount. 

Tiniest amount, yes. I like it a bit less than that. I like it kind of medium or medium to well done. If it’s not cooked enough you could say it’s underdone. Under, “bajo”, underdone or undercooked. And the opposite of undercooked obviously overcooked. So, “demasiado”, overdone or overcooked. So, you could say: I’m sorry, this is overcooked or this is overdone. Can you change it, please? It’s cooked too much.

And many foreigners, for their taste, find the British food is overdone compared to their countries. The British tend to cook food a little bit longer that many other countries. 

If your egg is underdone it’s probably runny, r-u-nn-y. So, runny eggs. It’s more liquid than solid. You can also have a runny nose if you have a cold.

Yes. When what’s normally solid, you know, it’s becoming liquid and coming out of it. 

Children often have runny noses. 

And me. I have a runny nose most days. I couldn’t survive without a tissue.

Do you like your eggs runny? 

No, I don’t. 

Me neither. 

What about the word paste, Craig, p-a-s-t-e, paste? 

That’s a consistency. It’s like a mixture of solid and liquid. So, pâté, for example, would be a paste. How do you say pâté in Spanish? 

Pâté. 

Ah, it’s the same! 

Another word which we’ve got, not from Spanish, but from French, in English, pâté. 

“Trozos” in English, chunks. You can have chunks of meat or chunks of vegetables, and the adjective is chunky. So, “trozos grandes”, chunky. 

Craig, do you like peanut butter? 

I do like peanut butter in cakes and with jam, like the peanut butter and jam, if you’re American peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Sometimes they’re nice, yes.

Do you prefer smooth, “suave”, or chunky, “con trocitos”? 

I am a chunky guy. You know, the smooth peanut butter, it sometimes sticks to the roof of your mouth, “el techo de la boca”, it sticks around your teeth if it’s too smooth. 

Craig’s a chunky guy. I’m afraid I […]. I’m a bit of a smoothy, myself. 

Do you prefer smooth peanut butter? 

I’m a bit of a smoothy, yes. 

If food does not have a lot of taste, it it’s “soso”, you could say that it is bland, b-l-a-n-d, it’s very bland.

Or, possibly British. No, I’m joking. That’s a joke. Not all British food.

There are some Spanish dishes that are a bit bland for my taste.

So, bland does not mean “blando”, it means “soso”. 

So, what’s “blando”. 

Soft. 

It would be interesting to know your opinion. Give us some feedback. Is the stereotype true that a lot of British food is bland? Let us know what you think. Get in touch.

If you like the taste of something you can say it’s very tasty, it has a lot of taste, “mucho sabor”. So, that maybe, that’s the opposite of bland. You could pay a compliment on someone’s cooking by saying: Oh! This is really tasty, it’s very tasty. I like it. So, that’s a good thing to say when you want to give somebody a compliment. 

Now, a word that Spanish people often get wrong is the word to describe food that it’s not sweet. What’s that word, Craig? For example, meat. What type of food is meat? 

I would say savoury, s-a-v-o-u-r-y, savoury, because sweet and savoury often go together, don’t they? You can have a sweet pie or a savoury pie, for example. 

So, savoury pie would be a meat pie and a sweet pie could be, for example, apple pie. 

Exactly! 

But, salty is a different meaning. It means with a lot of salt. For example, tin anchovies, “anchoas, una lata de anchoas”, that’s something which is very salty. So, it doesn’t mean just salt in general, salty means with a lot of salt.

And something that’s acidic, something that’s not sweet, you could say sharp, it has a sharp taste, like a lemon, for example. Lemon has a sharp taste.

Sticky, Craig. What does that mean? Sticky.

Sticky is something that has a tendency to stick. It’s “pegajoso”. So, for example, if you’re playing with glue, “pegamento”, and you get some on in your fingers. It’s really, really sticky. So, in cooking you could have one of my favorites desserts called sticky toffee pudding. It’s lovely, isn’t it?

I love sticky toffee pudding.

Have you ever made it?

No, I’ve never made it but I’ve eaten a few in my time.

Does your mum make a good sticky toffee pudding?

No, it’s one thing she doesn’t, although she loves it herself but she’s never learnt how to make that.

Can a person be sticky, “pegajoso”? Because, sometimes people can be sticky in Spanish. You could say “es un pegajoso”.

Yes. In English, would you say it?

I don’t think so, no.

I wouldn’t.

A pain in the ass but not sticky.

Or pain in the neck for more polite listeners.

If you like the test of something you could say “mmm, yum, yum” or “yummy”. “Yummy” is colloquial English. It’s really, children say that a lot, don’t they? Oh, it’s yummy, it’s very, very tasty. This chocolate is yummy.

A more adult expression would be perfect for Angeles home made mango chutney, which is to die for. “Para morirse”. So good that you would die just to get some. Oh, Angeles home made mango chutney, “el chutney es” like a kind of, a savory jam, let’s say, but you don’t put it on bread, you put it with other things.

Is quite spicy, isn’t it?

Quite spicy, yes.

So, you could say it’s extremely tasty or, it’s mouthwatering. If something is mouthwatering it’s so tasty you get like water juices in your mouth.

The saliva, just thinking about it.

A mouthwatering dish.

It’s happening to me now thinking about Angeles chutney.

Are you getting hungry?

Yes. My mouth is watering.

One or two more words and then I think we’ll break for lunch. What does stodgy mean, s-t-o-d-g-y, stodgy food?

Well, it’s not a good thing to say food’s stodgy. So, it’s a criticism often directed towards British food stereotypically. Kind of heavy and dull, unoriginal, very filling, you know, heavy and high in carbohydrates. Not very interesting, not very exciting, difficult to digest. All of those things. Can you think of any examples of stodgy food?

Stereotypically British food. Definitely. For example, sticky toffee pudding could be stodgy if it’s not well made. The typical pop food, like sausage rolls, meat pies, maybe Yorkshire pudding, dumplings. Very stodgy, heavy food that goes to your stomach like a stone and it’s really, really heavy and difficult to digest.

Craig, what’s your favorite food? Or, is there any food or dish that you really like.

Here in Spain I really like salmon. Well, I like salmon grilled with sautéed potatoes or chips, but I like any kind of salmon. I like the salmon fish. I like it grilled, I like smoked salmon, it’s one of my favorites sandwiches, smoked salmon sandwich. And I like a lot of roast meat like roast lamb, roast chicken and a good steak, of course, a good steak medium or medium rare on the grill. What about you?

I think I really like, you’ve reminded me, if it’s well done, is a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese. That’s good if it’s well done, isn’t it? A bagel, which is kind of, looks like a doughnut, it’s not very popular in Spain, it looks like a doughnut but it isn’t sweet, it’s more savory, isn’t it?

Yes. And sometimes, especially in America, in North America, you can get bagels with different flavors and tastes. You can have an onion bagel, a sesame bagel. You can even have a chocolate bagel. You can have different things, ingredients inside the bagel. But it’s, yes, like a sweet bread and you boil it first and then you bake it and that’s why it has, it’s very soft inside but it has a little crust on the outside, because you boil it first. What’s your favorite food?

Well, it’s hard to choose one favorite but somethings I like, a really good Spanish omelet is something to die for but a good one, a bad one is not all nice but if you get a good one, that’s another story. And for me, by the way, a Spanish omelet must have onion, some people just put potatoes. I don’t consider that a Spanish onion, it’s too bland if there’s no onion. If it’s without onion I call it “tortilla de patatas”. It has to have onions to be “tortilla española”.

So, your favorite omelet is eggs with potato and onion together.

Spanish omelet as I consider it. I like spicy food in general. I was brought up eating a lot of curry. I also like Mexican dishes which are often spicy, “picante” and Latin American “ají”.

What’s that?

Ají. Well, I first ate “ají” when Vero, Verónica, my friend, who used to work at the British Council, brought me some of her mother’s home made “ají”. Her mother and her are from Ecuador. And, it’s like garlic, and spice and hot, interesting things all mixed up. Anything kind of garlic and spicy is “ají”, I like that a lot. And, I tell you a thing I like. It may seem bland to you but I like it. It’s “la rosquilleta valenciana de toda la vida”. Valencian breadsticks. They deserve to be more famous. Traditional Valencian breadsticks are very, very good. Don’t you think?

They are good but do you mean the packets that you can buy in the supermarkets?

No. The ones, the artisan ones you get from bakeries, that they made themselves and they put different things, they put onion, olive oil, peanuts.

Do you eat them as a snack or do you eat them with something like hummus or some dip?

Both. Sometimes it’s a snack sometimes to accompany other things. But those things you get in a package from supermarkets in Britain are so bland in comparison, those French or Italian grissini, they seem boring in comparison.

I agree, absolutely. Yes.

Of course, I love Irish potato bread. I love toffee.

Do you mean the hard toffee that’s …

Hard and soft. Not too hard. Soft or semi-hard.

Do you like fudge? What’s fudge?

I’m not a huge fan of fudge.

It’s similar to toffee, but softer, isn’t it?

Softer. For me fudge is a bit sweeter, too sweet. Oh! I do love toffee.

Toffee apples?

Yes. Toffee apples are not bad, as well. But I’d rather just eat an apple without toffee. I’d rather have an apple first and then toffee later. But, if you want to combine then you’ve got a toffee apple, that’s true.

So, the toffee is your reward for eating your apple. Well, all this talk of food is making us both very, very hungry, so we’re off now to have our lunch. Thank you very much for listening this week and now is your turn to practice your English. What’s your favorite food? Do you have any questions for us about food or any ideas for a future episode topic? We would like to hear your messages on speakpipe, your voice messages, so go to sepakpipe.com/inglespodcast and leave us your 90 second voice message or send an email to me, [email protected] or to [email protected]. And, for our detailed show notes if you’d like to contribute to getting all of the past episodes transcribed, we would appreciate your support on Patreon, so that’s at patreon.com/inglespodcast and we’d like to thank our wonderful sponsors. Who are they, Reza?

They are: Zara, Mamen, Juan, Sara, Corey Fineran, Manuel, Jorge, Raúl, Rafael, Daniel, Manuel Tarazona, Mariel, Maite, Lorena and our new sponsor Pedro Martínez. And Lara and Carlos, you forgot because they’re on the other page. Sorry, Lara and Carlos! I beg you pardon.

Sorry, Lara and Carlos.

And, of course, we’d like to thank Arminda from Madrid who has been transcribing lessons for us and I’m pleased to say now we have four full episode transcriptions. If you do not understand anything and you want to check what we’re saying go to episodes 131, 134, 135, 136. Thanks, Arminda.

What’s on next week’s episode, Reza?

On next week’s episode, we’ll be talking about a very hot issue at the minute: Immigrant and Immigration.  

Controversial.

Until next week it’s goodbye from me and it’s goodbye from me. The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’.