“The worst mistake of a woman is to go to the kitchen, because then she never gets out of there.”

Shakira, a Colombian singer-songwriter

If you don’t feel like going to your kitchen right now, just think about what you have there and what you normally do in the kitchen. Pictures of making morning coffee, family meals or popcorn for movie nights may come to your mind. But read this post to know the vocabulary you need to go into detail on various cooking actions. We’ll also teach you useful kitchen utensil and equipment vocabulary. Kitchen utensils are things we use for cooking or eating with, and kitchen equipment is equipment which is often electrical and which handles a bulk of prep and cooking processes.

KITCHEN EQUIPMENT AND UTENSILS

1. a cutting board
2. a set of knives
3. a (frying) pan
4. a grill
5. a pot
6. a lid
7. a (kitchen) timer
8. a food processor
9. a wooden spoon
10. a saucepan
11. a ladle
12. a mixing bowl
13. a grater
14. a vegetable peeler
15. a bottle opener
16. a can opener
17. a (meat) thermometer
18. a stainer

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• 19. a (hand) mixer
• 20. a whisk
• 21. a cookie sheet
• 22. a rolling pin
• 23. measuring cups
• 24. measuring spoons
• 25. a casserole (dish)
• 26. a (vegetable) steamer
• 27. a colander
• 28. a wok
• 29. a pie pan
• 30. a cake pan
• 31. a spatula

Apart from the words utensils and equipment, you should know the differences between the meanings of the words below:

• Kitchenware – things that are used for preparing and eating food. Thus, kitchenware includes both utensils and equipment (appliances) used for food preparation, cooking and eating.
• Tableware – things you use when you are having a meal (e.g. knives, spoons, forks, dishes, plates, glasses, etc.). Tableware also includes decorative items and napkins.
• (The) dishes – all the items that have been used in the preparation, serving and eating of a meal.
• Cookware (as well as bakeware) – food preparation containers (e.g. casseroles, pie pans, cake pans, etc.). Note that a saucepan, for example, is a piece of cookware because you cook using it, but it is not a piece of bakeware because you don’t use it for baking. But a pie pan can be considered both cookware and bakeware, but bakeware is more specific word.
• Cutlery (silverware – American English) – the knives, forks and spoons you use for eating food (not cooking it).

KITCHEN VERBS

1. to stir (Stir the sauce gently over a low heat)
2. to grate (She is grating some cheese)
3. to open (Can you open the can please?)
4. to pour (Pour the mixture into a dish and bake for 45 minutes)
5. to peel (First peel the potatoes and cut them in half)
6. to carve (Before carving, allow the chicken to rest for at least 15 minutes)
7. to break (Break the spaghetti in half and put it into the boiling water)
8. to beat (Beat eggs with an electric mixer on high speed for about 5 minutes)
9. to cut (I’m going to cut the cake now)
10. to slice (I’ll slice some bread)
11.  to chop (Finely chop the cabbage and cook it in boiling salted water)
12. to steam (Steam the vegetables for about ten minutes)
13. to broil (= to grill/barbecue) (I love broiled fish)
14. to bake (I’m baking a cake for Tom’s birthday)
15. to fry (Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion and garlic for 5 minutes)
16. to boil (Boil some milk in a pan)

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Materials used: “The New Oxford Picture Dictionary” by E.C.Parnwell, “The Heinle Picture Dictionary”

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