Exercises related to food and cooking 

1. Fill in the following sentences with the following idioms containing fruit names: a
bad apple, compare apples and peaches, give a fig, to cherry pick, sour grapes, a
peach, the apple of one’s eye, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, go bananas:

a. Comparing the salary of a person that lives in Spain and a person that lives in
Sweden is like…….
b. When I told Luis that he could go on the school trip, he ………..
c. Karen’s attitude towards the competition winner was………….
d. Thank you for helping me paint, James, you’re…….
e. Helen and I are no longer friends; I don’t ………… whether she comes to the
party of not.
f. John little girl is………., he loves her so much
g. Paul always ……… the best books from the second hand book shop.
h. All of Sue’s friends are lovely and very friendly. Except for Ben, he’s …….
i. Jane’s mother was a thief and bad person and so is Jane. ……….

2. Fill in the following sentences with food idioms: souped up, use your noodle, spill the
beans, a grain of salt, peach fuzz, a hard nut to crack, big cheese, full of beans, butter
up, bring home the bacon, carrot top, bread and butter, the gravy train, hot potato:

a. You're going to have to really ………. on this crossword puzzle. It's an extra

difficult one.
b. Just explain the …………. of your report. You don't have to go into details.
c. We'll have to ……… Angie…. before we tell her the news about the broken vase.
d. Angelo is …………….. when something is bothering him like this.
e. Except for a bit of …………, the baby came out bald.
f. Choosing a location for our new store is a………….right now.
g. Take Mandy's advice with …….. She doesn't always do her research.
h. The car was ……….. with shiny rims and a loud stereo.
i. I thought I was just going to interview the secretary, but they let me talk to
the ……………. himself.
j. The unionized grocers have been enjoying the …………. for twenty years.
k. On Monday, I'm going to ………..about my travel plans.
l. The kids were ………… after the circus.
m. Simon is the first ………. I've ever gone out with.
n. My husband has had to …………….. ever since I broke my leg.

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 3. Match the cooking activities with their definitions and organize them afterwards in 3
columns (preparation, dry heat, moist heat):
a. Slicing 
b. Chopping
c. Boiling 
d. Deep-frying
e. Sautéing
f. Barbecuing/grilling
g. Dicing
h. Grating
i. Baking
j. Simmering
k. Roasting
l. Mincing
m. Broiling
n. Poaching
o. Steaming

1. cutting through or across into slices, generally of uniform size

2. cooking food in a rapid boil
3. cooking food surrounded by hot air, usually in an oven
4. cutting food into very small pieces
5. cooking delicate foods in liquid that is hot but not boiling
6. similar to roasting, but done over a charcoal or hardwood fire
7. cutting foods into uniform square pieces
8. cooking food in a hot liquid that is bubbling but not boiling
9. cooking meat, poultry or vegetables surrounded by hot air; usually in the oven;
food is not covered
10. cooking food in steam created by boiling liquid in a covered pot; food does not
touch the liquid
11. rubbing food against a serrated surface to create fine shreds
12. cutting food into smaller pieces of no particular size or shape
13. cooking with the heat source above the food
14. cooking food quickly in a small amount of fat
15.  cooking food by submerging it in hot oil

4. Translate the following recipe into English:

“Se taie puiul șuvițe și se pune ȋntr-o cratiță cu unt, pe foc mic, să se ȋnăbușe bine cu
ceapa tocată, acoperit cu un capac, apoi se toarnă cȃte puțina apă si se lasă să fiarbă.
Cȃnd carnea este gata fiartă si apa este scăzută, se toarnă smȃntȃnă ȋn care se amestecă o
linguriță făină și sare. Se mai fierb ȋmpreună 4 clocote și se presară pătrunjel verde tocat mărunt.
Se servește cu mămăliguță.” (http://www.retetepentrutine.ro/reteta/pui-cu-smantana-
moldovenesc)

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 5. Translate the following recipe into Romanian:

BRITISH CURRY SAUCE RECIPE

YIELD: makes 1 1/2 cups ACTIVE TIME: 40 minutes TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes

Ingredients

 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

 1 medium onion, grated on the large holes of a box grater
 2 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons)
 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
 1 teaspoon paprika
 1/2 teaspoon curry powder (such as Madras)
 Pinch of red pepper flakes
 1 tablespoon tomato paste
 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
 1 1/2 cups water
 1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon
 Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat vegetable oil in a medium non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.
Add onion, garlic, and ginger Cook stirring constantly with a spatula until onions soften about
5 minutes. Add cumin, turmeric, coriander, paprika, curry powder, and pinch of red pepper
flakes and continue to cook until the spices begin to smell toasted, about 6 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium and add tomato paste and continue to stir until tomato paste is evenly
incorporated and has begun to reduce, about 3 minutes. Add flour and mix until there are no
lumps and no white spots left in the pan. Pour the water and lemon juice into the pan and stir
until the mixture begins to thicken, allow curry sauce to reduce until the mixture has reduced
to about 1 1/2 cups. Curry sauce can be stored for up to a week in the refrigerator.
3. At this point you can decide whether or not to puree and strain the mixture. If you decide to
puree and strain the curry then run it through a food processor or blender and the pass
through a fine mesh strainer. Season with salt and pepper, then use to make a variety of
delicious curries. (http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/01/british-bites-curry-sauce.html)