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Cooking with Phrasal Verbs |
In a recent program, we told you about phrasal verbs
related to food. The program centered on eating food:
what, how much and when.
You will remember that a phrasal verb is a verb made of
two or more words: a verb plus a preposition or adverb,
or both.
Today, we'll discuss phrasal verbs we use to talk about
cooking. If you watch television cooking programs in
English, you have already heard some of these verbs.
Many are used in recipes. Listen to a recipe for pasta
sauce. There are seven phrasal verbs. Try to find them
and think about their meanings:
Before you begin, thaw out the chicken for several
hours. OK, let’s get started. First, chop up the
tomatoes, onions, garlic and mushrooms. Next, add these
ingredients to a sauce pot with a little cooking oil and
put it on medium heat for about one minute. Then, mix in
the chicken, spices and a little salt. Let the mixture
cook until the chicken is golden – about seven minutes.
Next, add two large cans of crushed tomatoes. Cover the
pot. Then, turn down the heat. Otherwise, the sauce may
boil over. Let it cook for about 20 minutes on low heat.
Then, let it cool down before serving it over pasta with
a little parmesan. And finally: Warm up your garlic
bread to complete the meal.
Did you find the seven phrasal verbs?
Thaw out (something)
Thaw (something) out
The first one was thaw out. To thaw out means "to
unfreeze." Listen to how this verb is used in the
recipe:
Before you begin, thaw out the chicken for several
hours.
Thaw out is separable. That means the object may go
after the two-word verb, or it may appear in the middle
of it. The object is the chicken. Now listen to the
sentence with the object in the middle:
Before you begin, thaw the chicken out for several
hours.
Notice also that we used the imperative form because
this is a recipe, or a list of commands. In the
imperative form, the subject you is not written or
spoken. So instead of “you thaw out,” you hear “thaw
out.” You’ll hear the imperative for the remaining six
verbs also.
Chop up (something)
Chop (something) up
Our next verb is chop up, which is also separable. To
chop up means "to cut something into small pieces."
Today’s recipe involves chopping up vegetables. Listen:
First, chop up the tomatoes, onions, garlic and
mushrooms.
You could also say it with up after the object.
First, chop the tomatoes, onions, garlic and mushrooms
up.
But, it is easier to understand if you do not separate
chop and up when the object is a list of things.
Mix (something) in
Mix in (something)
Mix in is another separable phrasal verb. To mix in
means "to add one substance to others, especially in
cooking." Here’s how the recipe uses the verb:
Then, mix in the chicken, spices and a little salt.
Again, we are less likely to separate the verb because
the object is a list of things.
Turn down (something)
Turn (something) down
Now, let’s talk about turn down. In cooking, to turn
down means "to lower the temperature of the heat used to
cook food." Here's how the recipe uses the verb:
Then, turn down the heat.
Since the verb is separable, you can also say it this
way:
Then, turn the heat down.
Boil over
Next, we have boil over – one of today’s easier verbs,
as it does not take an object. To boil over means "to
flow over the side of a container while boiling." Listen
to how the recipe uses this verb and notice that it
appears at the end of the sentence:
Otherwise, the sauce may boil over.
Hmm…has your cooking ever boiled over? Mine has.
Cool down
Ok, let’s talk about cool down. In relation to food, the
verb means "to permit hot food to become cool enough to
eat." In recipes, we often use cool down with the verb
let. So, the sentence structure is a little different.
Listen:
Then, let it cool down before serving it over pasta with
a little parmesan.
The verb let is a causative verb. These verbs cause
something to happen. After the causative verb let, we
use the simple form of verbs rather than their
infinitives. Notice, in our recipe, that we said, "Let
it cool down," not "Let it to cool down."
Warm up (something)
Warm (something) up
Our final phrasal verb for today is warm up, another
separable verb. To warm up means "to reheat a food to a
desired temperature." Here’s how the recipe uses this
verb:
And finally: Warm up your garlic bread to complete the
meal.
Now that you know how separable phrasal verbs work, try
writing this last example with the object – your garlic
bread – in the middle of the verb.
Helpful tip
Most of the phrasal verbs you learned today are easier
than some others in English. That’s because the first
words of these phrasal verbs tell us their meanings.
And, in fact, often, we use them as regular, one-word
verbs rather than phrasal verbs. That means you could
say, “Let the sauce cool” or “Let the sauce cool down”
and it would have the same meaning.
Do you have a recipe you’d like to share? Write to us in
the Comments section using at least three of the verbs
you learned today.
I’m Alice Bryant.
Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English. Caty
Weaver was the editor. |
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Words in This Story |
- recipe
– n. a set of
instructions for making food
- pasta
– n. a food made from a
mixture of flour, water, and sometimes eggs that is
formed into different shapes and usually boiled
- sauce
– n. a fluid dressing
or topping for food
- tomato
– n. the usually large,
rounded, edible, pulpy berry of an herb
- onion
– n. a round vegetable
that is usually white, yellow, or red and has a
strong smell and taste
- garlic
– n. a plant that has
small sections which have a strong taste and smell
and are used for flavoring foods
- mushroom
– n. a fungus that is
shaped like an umbrella
-
ingredient – n.
one of the things that are used to make a food or
product
- spice
– n. a substance that
is used in cooking to add flavor to food, comes from
a dried plant, and is usually a powder or seed
- parmesan
– n. a hard Italian
cheese
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