Food and cooking vocabulary

Bake

Meaning: We use this word to cook food such as bread or cake in an oven using dry heat as in microwave oven.

Example: We will bake few cakes for his birthday party.

Barbecue

Meaning: to roast or broil meat, chicken or fish over hot coals or an open fire.

Example: We barbecued fish and ribs last Sunday and enjoyed a lot.

Bite

Meaning: to cut food item by teeth to eat like cookies or sandwich

Example: He bit the cookie in half. She ate the sandwich in four quick bites.

Bitter

Meaning: a strong and unpleasant flavor or something too much sour

Example: These almonds are very bitter.

Bland

Meaning: lacking strong flavor and having no good or original taste

Example: This vegetable soup is very bland. It does not taste well.

Buffet

Meaning: Buffet is a meal with serving counter having multiple dishes in meal. It is normally served in restaurants and inns.

Example: We went to a Turkish buffet and enjoyed a good meal.

Creamy

Meaning: food made from cream or tasting like cream

Example: I would like to take a creamy peanut butter.

Crispy

Meaning: food that is dry and easily broken

Example: Fry the potato chips until they are crispy and brown.

Crunchy

Meaning: a type of food with hard texture and making a loud sound when chewed under teeth

Example: The peanut cookies were crunchy.

Dessert

Meaning: a sweet course normally served at the end of the meal.

Example:  I do not like desserts in dinner but I am crazy for desserts in breakfast.

Pudding

Meaning: A thick soft and creamy food usually made from rice, eggs or bread that people eat normally cold and served in meal as desserts.

Example: In Pakistan, pudding is served as a dessert after meal.

Fish

Meaning: meat of salt-water fish / sea fish or fresh water fish

Example: We barbequed fish at dinner on last Sunday.

Fried

Meaning: something cooked in oil in a frying pan

Example: My son is crazy for fried potatoes chips.

Game

Meaning: meat of wild animals like rabbit, hare, partridge, pheasant etc

Example: Game birds are those birds those are legally allowed to hunt.

Grill

Meaning: to cook, fry or toast food direct over hot surface over fire

Example: During the summer, we grill meat outside usually.

Gulp down

Meaning: to swallow or eat very quickly in large quantity

Example: He gulped down the pizza in four bites.

Guzzle

Meaning: to drink something very quickly or greedily and in large amount

Example: He guzzled a glass of water after he finished the job.

Loaf

Meaning: a piece of bread or cake

Example: I ate one loaf of bread in breakfast. 

Lump

Meaning: a small piece or amount of something

Example: Put of a lump of cream on top of the casserole to make the cake creamy.

Red Meat

Meaning: meet of lamb, pork or beef

Example: In Pakistani culture, people cook red meat mostly in wedding parties.

Microwave

Meaning: to make something heat up in microwave oven.

Example: Microwave the sandwich for two minutes and eat.

Mild

Meaning: not strong or harsh in taste

Example: The taste of these spices is very mild. 

Overcooked

Meaning: something cooked for more time than required

Example:  Overcooking made these potato chips crunchier. 

Pan-fried

Meaning: fried in a frying pan

Example:  Would you like a piece of fish fried in frying pan?

Pint

Meaning: a unit of measuring liquid

Example: She drank a pint of ale at the bar

Poach

Meaning: This word is used commonly (in food and cooking vocabulary) to cook in boiling liquid.

Example:  I prefer to poach eggs in breakfast.

Portion

Meaning: a quantity of food taken during male

Example: Have you eaten your portion of desserts?

Poultry

Meaning: (“white meat”) meet of chicken, turkey, goose or duck

Example: Poultry is cheap than red meat.

Pour

Meaning: to put some liquid into something like glass, cup, jug etc

Example: Pour the cola over ice cubes and taste it. 

Raw

Meaning: vegetables or food in natural state

Example:  Salad is made from raw vegetables. 

Ripe

Meaning: fruits or vegetable those are fully-grown and ready to eat.

Example:  Make sure the apples are ripe so we can use them in the juice.

Rotten

Meaning: rotted or decayed food that is not able to eat

Example:  This fish smells rotten; throw it away.

Roast

Meaning: to cook something with dry heat in an oven or over a fire

Example: Let us put chicken in the oven and roast for one hour.

Salty

Meaning: having a quantity of salt in it

Example: The potato chips were a bit salty and crispy.

Sip

Meaning: to drink in small quantity (to suck liquid by air into mouth)

Example: It is best to sip a coffee rather than gulp it down at once.

Snack

Meaning: a small amount of food eaten between meals

Example: I eat snack at four o clock usually.

Sour

Meaning: having an acid taste like lemon

Example: The milk had turned very sour.

Shake

Meaning: Move something forth and backward quickly to mix its ingredients.

Example: Shake the juice well and pour into a glass.

Starter / appetizer 

Meaning: the first thing eaten as part of a meal

Example: People usually prefer salad and drinks as starter in their meal.

Stir

Meaning: This term is used in food and cooking vocabulary for to mix something with spoon or stick making a circular movement

Example: Stir the sugar well and enjoy juice with your favorite lunch. 

Steam

Meaning: something placed in steam vapors before cooking (Steamed:  cooked over a saucepan of boiling water)

Example: The easy way to cook many vegetables is to steam them before cooking for few minutes.

Stir-fried

Meaning: to fry something over high heat while being stirred continuously

Example: Usually I take stir-fried eggs in breakfast.

Stewed

Meaning: something cooked for a long time on a low heat

Example: Stewed foods are easy to digest.

Tasteless

Meaning: food that does not has a good taste

Example: The meat has been cooked for too long. It‘s tasteless.

Tough

Meaning: food with hard texture, difficult to chew

Example: The cookie was very tough. I could hardly chew it!

Unripe

Meaning: vegetables or fruits those are not full-grown and not ready to eat or cook and picked before their ripen time

Example:  Oranges and bananas are picked unripe mostly and become ripe as they are shipped.