Interviews

Intermediate

What cooking tips can you recommend for preparing these items?

• eggs
• rice
• chicken
• fish
• bread
• soup
• steak
• salad

1. Anyone can become a great cook by following online recipes.
2. Using fresh ingredients always makes food taste better.
3. Cooking at home is usually healthier than eating out.
4. You don’t need to measure ingredients if you’ve been cooking for a long time.
5. Cleaning as you cook is the key to an enjoyable cooking experience.
6. Spices are more important than salt for flavor.
7. Microwaving food is just as good as using a stove or oven.
8. Baking is harder than cooking meals on the stove.
9. Cooking with family or friends makes the food taste better.
10. It’s a waste of time to learn cooking skills if food delivery is easy.

Here are some words and expressions that appear in the video:

along/in a similar (same) vein (expression): in the same way
– These books are written in the same vein as the ones you have on your bookshelf. They deal with very similar topics.

– Not all classes are taught in the same vein. Our teachers have many different teaching approaches and styles.

Bolognese  sauce (noun): a type of Italian sauce for pasta
– This Bolognese  sauce is very rich. Where did you learn how to make it?

versatile (adjective): having many uses or applications
– These ingredients are very versatile, and you can use them in a variety of cuisines.

– This pot is a versatile cooking instrument. You can cook almost anything in it.

Now, watch the interview and answer the comprehension questions. You can also turn on the automatically-generated captions for the video once you start it.

Randall: In this video, Aubrey and Emily, and I are going to be talking about some basic cooking tips to keep in mind to make some of those delicious meals that you inspire to make. Emily, any thoughts on just anything simple? A cooking tip, a cooking idea that could be a benefit to those that are watching this video.

Emily: Get an air fryer.

Randall: Ah . . .

Aubrey: Ah. Those are so nice.

Randall: Now, talk about an air fryer. What do you mean by that? And how has that changed the way that you’ve approached cooking?

Emily: Um, well, it . . . I Don’t I don’t know, by some magic, it fries things with air instead of oil, so it makes things a lot healthier because you’re not drowning things in tons of oil. My air fryer can also, like, bake or roast or make a rotisserie chicken. I don’t know. It’s just versatile, and I use it a lot.

Randall: Great.

Aubrey: I think on a similar vein, buying a pressure cooker. Um, because it’s so easy to cook things in a pressure cooker; you just throw it in and let it do its thing. Like I like to make bolognese sauce and normally that’s an all-day activity, but I can make it in like an hour, um, by putting it in the pressure cooker.

Randall: And what does that contain? That type of sauce?

Aubrey: Bolognese sauce. Like it’s, it’s meat-based, like meat and, um, like, so it’s like beef and pork and tomatoes and onions, celery, carrots, wine, you know, just a few things like that.

Randall: Okay. And Emily, you mentioned about using that uh . . . 

Aubrey and Emily: Air fryer?

Randall:  Yeah, the air fryer. The air fryer. Does it cut down on the amount of time that you cook?

Emily: The way I use it when I, uh, air fry like chicken thighs and stuff, instead of putting them in the oven, I can get chicken thighs out in 15 minutes.

Randall: All right. Well, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on cooking tips.

Many students who live away from home don’t have much money to spend on food. What are some suggestions on buying and preparing food for convenience sake? Consider ideas for cooking rice, meat, vegetables, and any beverage.

The following activities deal with related topics to give you additional language practice.

• Breakfast Meals
• Breakfast Recipes
• Dinner Meals
• Dinner Recipes
• Eating Preferences – Interview
• Gourmet Cooking
• My Favorite Meal – Interview