Cooking

Posted by MichikoNakamura Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:57:03 GMT

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Michael used a cook book in order to plan his menu. The first thing he did was to check the ingredients. Once you have everything you need, you can start preparing the food to cook. Listen to this next conversation:

Mom: Peter! Can you help me cook? I'm running late today.
Peter: O.K. mom. What should I do?
Mom: Well, first,   you can peel and dice the onions.
Then you can cut the zucchini and eggplant. Don't cut yourself with the knife.
Peter: Don't worry. I won't.

These days, most people are so busy that they don't have much time to cook. One good idea is to have your children help you. In this
conversation, the mother asked her son to help prepare dinner. Read these example sentences:

"Can you help me cook?"

"Could you give me a hand?"

"I need your help"

It's good for children to learn to cook but they have to be careful
with knives. Read this example sentence:

"Don't cut yourself with the knife"

There are lots of cooking words. For example:

peel, dice and cut

There are many different words that mean almost
the same as "cut" "Like" "slice" "chop" and "carve".

Read these example sentences:

"First, you can peel and dice the onions"

"Then you can cut the carrots and celery"

Another important thing to learn while cooking is how to measure. In the United States, people use cups, ounces, teaspoons, and tablespoons. A tablespoon is about the same as a big kitchen spoon. A teaspoon is smaller than a tablespoon. There are 3 teaspoons in 1tablespoon.   The largest unit of measurement is the cup. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup.    Read these example sentences:

"There are 16 tablespoons in 1 cup"

"There are 3 teaspoons in one tablespoon"

Not only are there many kinds of meals to make, there are also many different ways to cook food. Read these example sentences:

Michael: What method of cooking do you like?
Michiko: I like stir-fry.

Michael: How should I cook these potatoes?
Michiko: I think you should boil them.

Michael: How do you cook bread?
Michiko: I bake it in the oven.

Michael: How do you like your eggs?
Michiko: I like them fried.

Michael: What should I do with this popcorn?
Michiko: Put it in the microwave.

Of course there are other methods of cooking, such as broiling, poaching and steaming. Read these words you commonly read in a cook book:

"heat", "add", "cook", "turn", "season", "sprinkle" and "mix"

"Stir" means almost the same as "mix". You can "mix" by hand mixers or with an electric mixer. Besides mix and stir, you may also hear the word combine.   Read these example sentences:

"Stir the pot until it boils"

"Mix the ingredients"

or

"Combine everything in the pot"

Another word that means almost the same thing is "blend". To blend, you will need to use a blender. Read this next conversation:

       Michiko: What should I do first?
       Michael: "Heat the oven to 350 degrees."
       Michiko: Ok, I've got it. And then what?
       Michael: "Add the meat and carrots"
       Michiko: All right. And then?
       Michael: "Sprinkle the soy sauce."
       Michiko: OK. Next.
       Michael:   "Season the meat to taste"
       Michiko: Yes.
       Michael: "Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl"
       Michiko: And?
       Michael: And finally, "Cook in the oven for 30 minutes"

Now that you have learned how to cook, you might want to use some
spices.   Of course the most common spices are salt and pepper.

Michiko: What kind of spices do you like to use?
Michael: I like to use garlic and chili powder.
Michiko: Do you like hot food?
Michael: Yes, I do. How about you? What spices do you like to use?
Michiko: I don't use many spices. Just salt and pepper.
Michael: Spices really help to give food flavor. Some spices are hot, and some spices are mild. A good cook knows how to use spices well.

In this conversation, Michael made two good points about spices. Read these example sentences:

"Spices really help to give food flavor"

"A good cook knows how to use spices wel"

Cooking is not as hard as it sounds. It just takes a little preparation and a little skill. Read this next conversation:

Michiko: Dinner is served.
Michael: Wow, I'm starved. This food smells delicious.
Michiko: I hope you like it.
Michael: What is it?
Michiko: It's my own special beef stew.
Michael: Umm. It's delicious. Can I have the recipe?
Michiko: Sure, I'll write it down for you.
Michael: Thanks. I can try this recipe with my roommates.

After all that hard work in the kitchen, it's finally time to eat. Michael liked the food so much that he asked for the recipe.    Read these example sentences:

"Can I have the recipe?"

"Could you give me the recipe?"

"I must have this recipe"

Recipes are commonly found in cookbooks. I should mention that most Americans like to cook too much food. It's better to have too much than too little and you can always store the leftovers in the refrigerator.   Sometimes, you can eat this leftover food for several days. If you wait too long to eat it, you might get food poisoning.

Read this next conversation:

Michael: What's for dinner tonight?
Michiko: We're having leftovers.
Michael: Not again. We had leftovers yesterday.
Michiko: I know but we have to get rid of all this food in the refrigerator.
Michael: Yeah, but if we eat this food, we might get sick.
Michiko: Why?
Michael: Because there's mold on it.
Michiko: Oooh.

Mold is a bacteria that grows on spoiled food. It is usually green but can be other colors. Leftovers will only last for a few days in the refrigerator before they spoil and get moldy. In this conversation, they had a lot of food in the refrigerator because there were leftovers. The mother said:

"We have to get rid of all this food in the refrigerator."

How do you know if it's spoiled?    Read this next conversation:

Kid: Mommy, can I eat this piece of bread?
Mother: Well, look at it and smell it. If it is turning green or other colors and smells strange then it's probably bad.
Michael: Yuck! There's some green mold on it and it smells rotten!
Michiko:   Always check food that has been in the refrigerator for a long time, son. I don't want you to get sick.

In the conversation the boy also said:

"There's some green mold on it and it smells rotten!"

You should eat the leftovers as soon as possible. Leftovers don't need to be cooked, they need to be reheated or heated up. If you have a microwave oven, it's very easy to heat up leftovers. Read these example sentences again:

"I'm going to heat up the leftovers for dinner tonight"

"I'm going to warm-up the leftovers for lunch"

"I'm going to reheat this sauce in the microwave oven"