レシピ: A Recipe

A レシピ（recipe）is a machine for teaching sequenced instructions, and it runs on grammar English speakers systematically misread. Two traps dominate. First, recipe verbs in their plain dictionary form (切る, 混ぜる, 加える) are instructions — "cut," "mix," "add" — not present-tense narration about what someone is doing. Second, the たら that laces the steps together means "once / when (it's done)," a temporal trigger, not the doubtful "if" of a hypothetical. Add the te-form chain, the sequence adverbs まず／次に／最後に, and the prep-aspect 〜ておく, and a single short recipe drills half of N4. Here is an easy home curry, read from the ingredient header down.

The ingredient header: quantities and counters

材料（ざいりょう, ingredients）heads the list, and the servings are given with 〜人分（にんぶん） — "portions for N people." 分 here means "a share/portion," so 4人分 = "enough for four." It is a pure noun phrase, like a menu line.

Every quantity is a number + counter: 個（こ, small objects）, 本（ほん, long things — 1本 = ippon, sound-changed）, 箱（はこ, boxes — 1箱 = hito-hako). On why Japanese counts this way, see Counters (助数詞). Two measures come from the kitchen's own set:

大さじ（おおさじ, tablespoon; 小さじ こさじ is a teaspoon）is the cook's measuring spoon, and the number after it is Sino (大さじ1 = ōsaji ichi).

少々（しょうしょう, "a little / a pinch"）is a set quantity word — no number, no counter. Recipes are full of these fixed amounts: 適量（てきりょう, "as needed"）, ひとつまみ ("a pinch").

The steps: dictionary commands, the te-form chain, and 〜ておく

作る前に = "before making," the 〜前に ("before") frame. The line's real lesson is 〜ておく in しておきましょう: 〜ておく marks an action done in advance, in preparation for what follows — you get the 下（した）ごしらえ ("prep work") done ahead of time so cooking goes smoothly. See 〜ておく／〜とく: Doing in Advance. 洗って ("wash and…") is a te-form linking into the next verb.

まず ("first of all") opens the sequence. The instruction uses the gentle 〜てください ("please do…"), the polite-request form of the te-form, common in friendlier recipes (see 〜てください: Polite Requests & Instructions). みじん切りにする = "make into a fine mince," the 〜にする ("make it into…") pattern.

次（つぎ）に ("next") advances the sequence. This step switches to the plain ます-instruction 切ります — the neutral, printed recipe register you see in cookbooks, distinct from spoken commands. 一口大（ひとくちだい）に = "into bite-size (mouthful-size) pieces."

The te-form chains the steps: ひいて ("spread oil and…") flows into 炒めます ("stir-fry"), with tense carried only by the final verb (see The te-form and Tense Rides Only on the Final Verb). フライパンに marks where the oil goes.

Here is the recipe たら — 変わったら = "once (it) has changed." This is temporal, not hypothetical: the meat will change color, and that change is the trigger for the next action. Read it "once / when," never "if maybe" (see たら: The Versatile If/When).

それから ("after that, then") is the other sequence connector (see Connecting Clauses & Sentences). 中火（ちゅうび, medium heat）で uses the で of means/manner — by medium heat. 15分くらい = "about 15 minutes," a bare duration that — note — takes no を.

柔（やわ）らかくなったら stacks three things: the i-adjective 柔らかい → adverbial 柔らかく → 〜くなる ("become soft," see 〜くなる／〜になる: Become) → past + たら ("once it has become soft"). Then a te-chain: 止めて → 入れてください.

溶けたら = "once it has dissolved" — the たら trigger again. 弱火（よわび, low heat）; もう5分 = "5 more minutes"; 煮込む ("simmer / stew," a compound of 煮る + 込む) → 煮込みます.

最後（さいご）に ("finally, last of all") closes the sequence — the まず／次に／それから／最後に family gives a recipe its spine. 塩で = "with salt" (means), 味を調（ととの）える = "adjust the taste."

The warning uses 〜すぎる ("too much / over-do"): 煮込む → ます-stem 煮込み + すぎる → negative 煮込みすぎない = "don't over-simmer" (see 〜すぎる: Too Much). 〜ないように = "so as not to," and 気をつける = "take care."

One last たら — かけたら, "once you pour it over" — and できあがり (できあがる, "to be finished") + です closes the recipe. ご飯 is read gohan as one word.

Why Japanese needs a special instruction register

English cooks with one grammatical tool: the bare imperative. "Chop the onion. Add water. Simmer for fifteen minutes." English imperatives are neutral by default — no one hears a recipe as barking orders. Japanese cannot do this, because its true imperative (命令形: 切れ, 混ぜろ, 入れろ) is genuinely harsh — it is the form of drill sergeants, angry parents, and warning signs. So Japanese routes around it, and the choice of detour tells you the recipe's tone: bare dictionary form (切る) is the terse, neutral cookbook voice; 〜てください (切ってください) is warmer, like a friend walking you through it; and the plain ます (切ります) sits in between, the standard voice of TV cooking shows and published recipes. All three are "instructions," none of them is the raw imperative, and reading them as calm directions rather than commands-with-attitude is the register skill.

The たら here rewards the same second look. Japanese has four conditionals (と・ば・たら・なら), and a recipe reaches for たら precisely because it best expresses sequential completion — "when this step finishes, do the next." It is not weighing a hypothesis; it is timing a chain. Where English blurs "if it boils" and "when it boils" under one word, Japanese has already chosen "when," and mis-hearing it as "if" makes a firm instruction sound tentative.

Common mistakes

The core reading error. Out of context, 切る is just "cut(s)." In a recipe's numbered steps it is a command to you — "cut it." Read the whole step list as a series of imperatives, not as a description of what a cook is doing.

In recipes, たら chains completed steps in time: the pot will boil, and that boiling is the cue for the next move. Translate it "once / when," never "if (maybe)."

〜すぎる attaches to a verb's ます-stem (食べる → 食べすぎる, 飲む → 飲みすぎる), not the plain dictionary form. So 煮込む → 煮込み + すぎない. The same holds for adjectives (高い → 高すぎる).

A span of time (15分, 5分間) attaches bare, with no particle, as an adverbial. Marking it with を treats the duration as an object of 煮る, which it is not.

Key takeaways

• Recipe verbs in dictionary or ます form are instructions ("cut," "add"), not narration. The polite variant is 〜てください; the blunt spoken imperative 切れ／混ぜろ does not belong here.
• たら in a recipe is temporal — "once/when it's done, do the next thing" — not the doubtful "if" of hypotheticals.
• Sequence with adverbs まず → 次に → それから → 最後に, and chain steps with the te-form, letting tense sit on the final verb only.
• 〜ておく does an action in advance (下ごしらえをしておく); 〜すぎる attaches to the ます-stem (煮込みすぎない).
• Quantities are number + counter (2個, 1本, 大さじ1) or fixed words (少々, 適量); a bare duration takes no を (15分煮る).