Lesson 19 – Delicious dishes

Asking Questions:

[When did you last  + verb + ….]
When did you last go to a restaurant?
When did you last eat out?

[What did you do …]
What did you eat?

[Do you + verb + …]
Do you have a favourite food that you order at a restaurant ?

P.S – “In/ On/ At” revision, again!

[Can you + verb + …]
Can you explain what is in it?

Great! Let’s me try to use the language, that I learnt in the lesson, to describe how to do with cooking and flavor.

Example:
A: Excuse me, I am not sure what “Mai Tai” is?
B: “Mai Tai”? Ah, it’s a kind of cocktail made with Curaçao liqueur, orgeat syrup, and lime juice.

A: Sound delicious. Would you recommend it?
B: Certainly, it’s one of my favourites.

A: Mmm… This dessert looks great. What exactly is it?
B: We call this “酸炒排骨”, in the English – “Fried pork dice with sweet-and-sour source” is kind of hong kong style food that you could find at most fast-food restaurant and even at the Cantonese-style restaurant. It’s made of diced pork, pineapple, bell pepper, onion and the appetizing sweet-and-sour source.

A: Wow, it sounds scrumptious (yummy)!
B: Ha, you should try my mother‘s. She is talented at cooking.

A: Well, could you get the recipe from she?
B: For the dish, you could visit this link. Indeed, as I said, for the dish, you need diced pork, pineapple, bell pepper, onion and the appetizing sweet-and-sour source.

A: Golly gosh, it seems quite difficult to me.
B: Come on, not really, the most important thing is practicing, isn’t it? lolz.

Why don’t you have a go on the dish at the coming weekend. Alright, to let you more easy to understand how to read the recipe, these languages could help – Cooking methods and Utensils (also ref . #Wiki)

• Baked – cooked in an oven for a long time (e.g bread or cakes)
• Boiled – cooked in very hot water
• Steamed – cooked over very hot water
• Grilled (鐵板燒) – cooked on a hot metal plate OR directly over the heat
• Roasted (BBQ) – cooked over a fire
• Fried – (Shallow fired/Deep fired) – cooked in oil in a pan
• Stewed – cooked for a long time (taste usually strong and rich ; source usually become thick and sticky)

Boil – in cooking pot

Break – an egg

Carve – the turkey

Chop – the carrot

Drain water – by using Sieve/Stainer

Flatten the flour – by using the Rolling pin

Fry food – by using Saucepan

Knead the flour – by using hand

Mash potato – by using Masher

Grate cheese – by using Grater

Mix (sth.) – by using Mixer

Roast Chicken Drumstick – over a fire

Pour (sth.) into another utensil

Peel fresh ginger – by using Peeler

Slick the tomato

Sprinkle salt/ cheese on a pizza

Stir (sth.) – by using the spoon?

Whisk the egg – by using the Whisker

Spread the butter over the brad – by using the bread knife?

Squeeze the juice from the lemon

In terms of flavor – we could say something like:

Basic flavors:

1. sweet – sugar coated, sugary, a bit treacly (=over-sweet) 
2. sour –  too acidic, a bit tart, a bit vinegary (=over sour)
3. bitter – a bit harsh ; the aftertaste give you sense of astringent
4. spicy – hot, appetizing, piquant (=pleasant sharp or spicy taste) v.s a bit sharp,  caustic (=over)
5. salty – cured, marinate, briny, brackish (= too salty)

Negative descriptors:

1. unsweetened, plain, bland
2. Acrid – chocking and unplsant 嗆喉
3. gamy, malodorous (=smelly), rancid (e.g spoiled oil), rotten smell

Neutral descriptors:

• mild
• gentle
• smooth
• rich

Positive descriptors:

• juicy – succulent, luscious
• tangy – flavor/smell is pleasantly strong and sharp
• delectable – yummy, delicious, tasty
  (≠ palatable – edible, just OK)
• Appetizing – mouth-watering
• Appealing -attractive, temting
• Charming – fascinating, glamorous
• Crispy – Crunchy 脆卜卜
• Scrumptious – tasting extremely good
• Delicacy – something especially rare or expensive that is good to eat
• feast – opulent meal
• Divine ambrosia – the fucking awesome food, the god-food

Special descriptor:

• Acerbic – sour + bitter + sharp
• Sweet-and-Sour – Cantonese (Chinese) Specialty
• Full-body
• Mellow