Hun satte stekebrettet på benken og rørte videre med vispen mens sausen kokte i kjelen.

Because the verb is sette (to put / to set) and it takes an object: stekebrettet.

• å sette → satte = put / placed
• å sitte → satt = sat / was sitting

So:

• Hun satte stekebrettet på benken = She put the baking tray on the counter.
• Hun satt på benken = She sat on the bench.

A useful shortcut is:

• sette = to put something somewhere
• sitte = to be sitting

The ending -et shows that the noun is definite singular for a neuter noun.

• et stekebrett = a baking tray
• stekebrettet = the baking tray

So stekebrettet means the baking tray.

This noun is also a compound:

• steke = roast/bake/fry
• brett = tray

Together, stekebrett means something like baking tray / oven tray.

Yes, benk can mean bench, but in kitchen contexts benken often means the counter / countertop / worktop.

So:

• på benken = on the counter/worktop

This is very natural in Norwegian kitchen language. Native English speakers often expect bench to sound odd here, but in Norwegian this usage is normal.

Because the same subject, hun, applies to both verbs:

• Hun satte stekebrettet på benken
• og rørte videre med vispen

This is like English:

• She put the tray on the counter and continued stirring

You can repeat the subject in some contexts, but you usually do not need to when the subject stays the same.

Rørte is the past tense of å røre, which here means to stir.

Videre means further / on / onward, and in this sentence it gives the idea of continuing.

So rørte videre means:

• continued stirring
• literally, something like stirred on

It adds the sense that she was already stirring, and then kept doing it.

Med means with, and here it introduces the tool used to do the action.

• røre med vispen = stir with the whisk

So vispen is the instrument.

Also, vispen is definite singular:

• en visp = a whisk
• vispen = the whisk

Using the definite form can mean it is a specific whisk already known from the situation, or simply the natural whisk being used in that cooking scene.

Yes, you could, but the meaning shifts slightly.

• med vispen = with the whisk
  → a specific whisk, or the whisk understood from the situation
• med en visp = with a whisk
  → less specific, introducing it more as one possible tool

In a cooking narrative, med vispen sounds very natural because the tool is usually understood as part of the scene.

Because mens introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses in Norwegian do not use the normal main-clause V2 word order.

Main clause:

• Sausen kokte. = The sauce boiled / was boiling.

After mens:

• mens sausen kokte = while the sauce was boiling

So the pattern is:

• mens + subject + verb

This is a very important Norwegian word-order rule.

It can cover both, depending on context.

Norwegian often uses the simple past where English might prefer either:

• boiled
• was boiling

In this sentence, because of mens and the ongoing cooking situation, English usually translates it as was boiling or was simmering.

So:

• mens sausen kokte i kjelen = while the sauce was boiling in the pot

Norwegian does have ways to emphasize ongoing action, but the simple past is often enough.

Because the prepositions reflect different spatial relationships:

• på benken = on the counter
  → on a surface
• i kjelen = in the pot
  → inside a container

This is very similar to English logic:

• on the counter
• in the pot

Also, kjelen is definite singular:

• en kjele = a pot / saucepan
• kjelen = the pot / saucepan

The whole sentence is in the preterite (simple past):

• satte = put
• rørte = stirred / continued stirring
• kokte = boiled / was boiling

Norwegian commonly tells past events this way, even when English might use a past progressive in part of the sentence.

Yes. Og simply links the two actions:

• she put the baking tray on the counter
• and continued stirring with the whisk

So the structure is:

• Hun satte ... og rørte ...

Very straightforward coordination.

Yes, very typical.

It has:

1. a main clause: Hun satte stekebrettet på benken
2. another coordinated main-clause verb: og rørte videre med vispen
3. a subordinate time clause: mens sausen kokte i kjelen

That combination is extremely common in natural Norwegian narrative style. It is a good example of everyday word order, past tense storytelling, and how subordinate clauses work.