Benjamin: Hi there, and welcome back. Today we are using the vocabulary of cooking; foods
and ways of cooking, and we're going to learn to create a dish whilst practicing our English.
So, what are we cooking today?
Speaker 2: Well, we are starting by making a sauce for some spaghetti bolognese. And
here, I have some chorizo from Spain, which I'm actually going to fry with these onions
which I've already started frying with some olive oil.
Benjamin: Perfect. So, this is quite a low heat, a small heat at the moment. Is that right?
Speaker 2: Yes, it is. We don't want it to be too high, in case...
Benjamin: What? The heat. Not too hot.
Speaker 2: The heat. Not too hot, in case the chorizo burns or the onions burn.
Benjamin: Chorizo, that's the meat. Okay?
Speaker 2: The meat. It's a Spanish meat. You can't ever have enough chorizo.
Benjamin: Sorry if you're vegetarian. We'll do a vegetarian one next time. So, we are
stirring. Yeah? That's mixing, isn't it?
Speaker 2: And this is a frying pan.
Benjamin: And it's on... What is it on? It's on top of a...
Benjamin: A hob. It's an electric hob that is providing the heat. So, how long do we
Speaker 2: Well, we are going to stir it and cook this until the chorizo is nice and crunchy.
Speaker 2: And I'm also going to be adding some garlic. I'm going to add some garlic to...
Benjamin: Great. Let's chop the garlic.
Speaker 2: Yes, and you can do this over the top...
Benjamin: These are very thin slices, thin.
Speaker 2: Of the frying pan. Okay? Thin slices of garlic. The reason we add the garlic at
the end is so that it doesn't burn, because garlic takes less time...
Speaker 2: To cook than onions and chorizo.
Benjamin: She must be careful with her fingers, because it is a sharp knife.
Speaker 2: Very. Now, later, we're going to be adding the spaghetti bolognese... Sorry,
Speaker 2: The spaghetti, the spaghetti, not the sauce, to the hot boiling water. So...
Benjamin: Boiling, when it has bubbles. Okay? Little bubble, bubble, bubble. Then we put
Speaker 2: Yes. And as we... And I'm sure you know, it takes about 10 to 15 minutes
for the spaghetti to cook, and then we will put it into this sieve to drain it.
Speaker 2: So maybe you can come back later, Benjamin.
Benjamin: Yeah, maybe we'll come back later when the water is ready for the spaghetti.
I'll go and get the spaghetti. Okay.
Speaker 2: I'm going to add a few herbs. This is thyme-okay?-which we grew earlier this
year. Okay? So it smells really nice. It smells a little bit like lemon. So we add this herb
to the sauce once... Well, once we've added the garlic. Okay? And you can never have enough
garlic-okay?-in a sauce, so I'm going to add a little bit more. But I will see you later,
once we get the spaghetti going.
Benjamin: So, welcome back, and we've put the spaghetti in, and it's boiling in the
water. It's heating. It's getting hotter in the water. The spaghetti. The spaghetti is
Speaker 2: It is. And here is my sieve.
Speaker 2: And it's ready to be sieved. Okay?
Benjamin: To drain, to be drained.
Speaker 2: So, Benji, if you'd like to hold the sieve over the sink and I will now pour...
Benjamin: Careful. It's hot water.
Benjamin: I'm sure you've all cooked spaghetti before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody knows how to do this. Okay. And now if you could pop that
on top of the sauce pan, Benji?
Benjamin: I'll just drain the water a little bit, get rid of the water. Like that?
Speaker 2: Thank you. Okay, so as you can see, it's steaming. It's very, very hot.
Speaker 2: This is called steam.
Benjamin: This, this stuff here, this is hot, it's coming off, steaming, yeah.
Speaker 2: Steaming. Okay, so now I'm going to move this over here to my plates... Are
ready for my guests. Here's the sauce.
Benjamin: We have some herbs, some green leaves, some herbs in here.
Speaker 2: This herb is actually called, because we put thyme in before from this plant here,
this herb is called coriander. Okay?
Benjamin: A bit of that, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Okay, brilliant. Now, if I just open my drawer here, I'm going to get...
Benjamin: This is a drawer, a drawer, a drawer. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Okay. And these are some... A spoon, a giant spoon and a giant fork. Okay? To help
Benjamin: Dish out. Serve out.
Speaker 2: Serve the spaghetti.
Speaker 2: On to the plate, yes.
Speaker 2: Then, on top of that... In fact, Benji, if you could get a spoon, please. Okay?
Just a teaspoon. Okay? I'm going to add a little bit of this crème fraîche. Crème
fraîche. Okay? Which is... It's like cream, but it's a little bit sour.
Benjamin: Sour, bitter. Speaker 2: It's normally...
Speaker 2: It's normally healthier than...
Speaker 2: Yeah, the ladies like a little crème fraîche instead of cream. It's meant
to be a little healthier. Okay. So now, Benji, if you could pop a little dollop on...
Speaker 2: Of the crème fraîche on top of the sauce.
Benjamin: A dollop, a spoon. My fingers are clean. Don't worry, you're not eating it.
Speaker 2: Okay, now we need the pepper. Benji, could you go and grab the pepper? It's on the table.
Benjamin: Did you say "Benjamin"?
Speaker 2: Benjamin, Benjamin. Okay, brilliant. So I'm going to carry on serving this;
Benjamin: Shall I grind the pepper? Speaker 2: Yes, grind it on top.
Benjamin: We say: "We grind the pepper." Like that.
Speaker 2: Okay, perfect. And then I'm going to do the next plate.
Benjamin: Now we'll do the next one.
Speaker 2: Okay. So, same as before. Benjamin's going to put a dollop of...
Speaker 2: Crème fraîche on top of the spaghetti. Okay, and a bit of pepper to season.
Benjamin: We give it more flavour.
Benjamin: Salt, pepper, herbs, spices, that's seasoning.
Benjamin: Like seasons. It's different. So in the U.K., we have spring, summer, autumn,
winter, these different seasons. We're giving the food different flavours.
Speaker 2: Okay, could you take those out?
Benjamin: I'll take those to the table.
Speaker 2: Just two more. Okay, so a little bit of spaghetti on that plate, and my last bit.
Benjamin: Then the only other thing we need is knives and forks.
Speaker 2: Which are in there.
Benjamin: In the drawer. They're in the drawer, aren't they?
Speaker 2: Yes. Okay. So the last bit of the sauce, just going to spoon it out from my
saucepan. Okay? And hope that my guests are very hungry. I'm actually very hungry now.
Benjamin: The guests. The guests are the people who are coming to eat. Okay? So we have two
guests today. And well, hopefully they like the food. I think that's pretty much it.
Benjamin: So today we've learnt about cooking spaghetti. Okay? We've learnt the different
foods. We've got spaghetti. We've learned words like: "boiling", we've learned words
like "drawer", we've learned "knives", "forks", we've learned to "serve" food up, we've learned
What I want you to do now is go to www.engvid.com and take the quiz so you remember these words.
Okay? Feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel, Benjamin, so you get more videos.
You also feature in the Chatting Up Women Like James Bond. It's quite a good one to
see. And if you want any other help, then check the link to Exquisite English. Thank